"washington journal"

continues. host: we are joined by a republican congressman from wisconsin, a member of the education workforce committee and budget committee. good morning. thanks for the time. we will start with marjorie taylor greene, the congresswoman half an hour ago saying she will move forward with that motion to vacate and try to remove speaker johnson from his gavel. your reaction to that? guest: i don't think she is going to be successful. you have got to remember, even

though mike johnson is a very powerful person as speaker, he is one of 200 the one republican congressman right now -- 200 between one republican -- 221 republican congressman right now. i think people overestimate of what mike was capable of doing. shutting down the government before the second big omnibus bill -- this was a disagreement that should not be surprising. host: is it surprising to you or a problem for you that it appears that democrats will vote to table a motion to vacate and essentially give mike johnson the votes needed to avoid the removal from speakership if it does actually come up? guest: you are right. it is bothersome. the problem is not everyone will stick to the majority. i would bet 190 out of the 220 republicans want mike johnson to be speaker more than anybody else. the traditional rule is once the majority of the republicans get together, everybody stick with it.

whatever it is going to be -- my guess is 10 to 15 republicans are going to break with precedent and it creates no choice. it is bothersome because then mike johnson owes the democrats his speakership position. but i don't put the blame on speaker johnson. i put the blame on the people who will not stick with the majority of the republicans. host: is that a favor you worry he will return at some point? guest: certainly, he did not have to give up anything there. it is a concern if we establish the precedent that some republicans will ignore the rule that everybody -- once the majority of republicans agree on the speaker, everybody is supposed to stick with that person. if you have a solid number of 10 to 15 or 20 republicans who say i am not going to vote for the speaker, you wind up inevitably having to go to the democrats for votes. it is a bad situation. i think in this case, the fact

that he brought the ukraine bill to the floor by itself will be enough for the democrats to stick with him. but we cannot have it become commonplace in which to elect the speaker you need democrat votes. host: on college campuses -- your reaction to the arrests overnight? police removing the protesters who occupied the hall at columbia university, and the clashes at ucla, the protesters and counter protesters being separated by the lapd? guest: it is something that had to be done. it is disappointing. a couple comments on it. as i understand it when i look into it, in many cases most of these protesters are not connected with the university, right? they are just troublemakers. maybe they are being paid to be troublemakers. maybe not. they show up to the university and protest. in a case like that, the universities get a bad rap. our universities and faculty -- in an ideal world, it would be

50% republican, 50% democrat. i think a lot of these campuses it is 90% to 95% democrat, 5% may be republican. you wind up having kids go off the deep end. that is what is going on. host: we spoke to virginia foxx, the chairwoman of your education workforce committee, calling these college presidents to task, requesting a hearing with leaders of yale, ucla, and michigan, who appeared before your committee on may 23. if they do show up -- do you expect them to? what are you going to ask them? guest: i do expect them to show up, and i'm going to ask them, what is the ideology of your campus? like i said, this country is about half republican, half democrat right now. if these campuses are made up of 80 or 90%, or in some departments 99% -- you are not

getting a balanced view of the world. and i think these presidents of universities right now are conscious of that and realize the leftward ideological tilt of their faculty is one of the reasons why these kids are participating in these stupid protests. host: congressman glenn close men joining us, a republican, a member of the education workforce committee on capitol hill, taking your phone calls this morning before the house is set to come in at 10:00 a.m. eastern. about 25 minutes left. democrats, 202, 748-8000. the antisemitism awareness act is going to be on the floor today. what is your understanding of

what that bill does? guest: it will be making more specific the definitions of what antisemitism is. it will give the department more clarity on what anti-semitism is going on on their campus, to crackdown on it. host: is it something you are going to be supporting? guest: i think right now, i would probably vote for it. you always have concerns when you are playing around with the first amendment. i think some of the definitions are a little bit vague. vagueness is never good. i think we have seen a lot going on in the last couple of weeks. as a result, a lot of people feel congress should be doing something. host: what is the line for free speech and hate speech? guest: well, i think hate speech can be something in which you are clearly trying to cause people to break the law or harm

somebody. i think that is where you cross the line, right? i'm not sure i like the idea of hate speech. who knows what hate means? host: the limits of free speech -- are there limits to free speech? guest: i think if you are encouraging or causing people to break the law, then the government has to do something. so far, i don't know. we have heard of some very serious injuries. somebody could be seriously injured, die, insofar as you are fermenting these riots. a lot of times, it is not even the university people. it is people we believe are paid for by outside interests to try to create the disruption in america and probably to encourage people abroad to dislike america, dislike israel. host: sharon is in greenville,

maryland, democrat. sharon, you are on with the congressman. caller: how can you be so negative about what is going on with the students, who -- on january 6, you did not do a thing. you let a crazy man control everything. people were murdered. please stop the hypocrisy. the home to where you came from. guest: there is a levelheaded woman. what side of the aisle did you think she was from? host: she called on our line from democrats. guest: i think we could have guessed that. on january 6, people were arrested. people went to prison -- sometimes went to prison for years. i don't know what she expected congress to do that day. run out there and fight with people? i think justice was certainly

served for anybody who physically tried to harm a police officer. host: independent. good morning. caller: if they love hamas so much, they need to get over and fight, is the way i look at it. that is all i have got to say. thank you. host: anything you want to respond to? he was saying if they like hamas so much, he should go fight for them. i think that means college students. guest: i don't think these people realize what a great country -- this is kind of a broad statement -- what a great country israel is, and what a problem these hamas people are. i don't know if your listeners are aware. people come from all around the world to live in israel, even if they are not jewish. you notice when they took the hostages, some of the hostages were from thailand. some of the people who were killed were from thailand. israel is such a great country

to live in, such am accepting country, people would come from thailand to work in israel. they are trying to work to get people from ecuador to work in israel. israel is such am accepting country of people from all sorts of races and backgrounds. it is hard to believe anyone can be critical of it. host: what do you expect from secretary of state antony blinken as he travels to israel? guest: i think he is purely a political figure putting a finger in the air. i think maybe he will appear a little bit more pro-israel this time because some of these protesters kind of are embarrassing to president biden. host: the icc, the international criminal court, there have been reports they may be considering issuing warrants against l.a. -- against israeli officials over the war in gaza. what do you make of that? guest: the united states should not get involved in any of these

international agencies. they are run by a bunch of left-wing kooks. israel has had 1000 people killed, their heads cut off of little children. and they are saying israel should be more patient. but israel has been very patient. the hamas fighters hide behind civilians, hide in hospitals and that type of thing where civilian personnel are, and inevitably anymore, if the war fighters are hiding behind civilians, some civilians are going to be killed. that is entirely the fault of the hamas army, it is hiding in the wrong places. i want to point out that war could end tomorrow if hamas would come out of their stupid tunnels, say here are our hostages, and then we would not have a problem at all. it is hard to think of anything other than anti-semitism to justify it. these people who blame israel,

the stupid international agencies blame netanyahu for defending israel. what type of country would enable neighbors to come in, kill a thousand people, and he is supposed to do nothing? of course he is supposed to respond. i think it is incredible, the restraint exercised against hamas. host: this is liza in charlottesville, virginia. good morning. caller: good morning. i have two questions really quick. my niece is currently at university. she was a stellar, most prepared student. and she got included in this incredible business school. she is more prepared and more educated than almost anyone i know. these kids work their tails off to get into the schools. i want to ask you -- what do you know specifically about their demands?

not the behavior -- what are they asking for? what do you know, and what is your response? guest: i think they are asking, among other things, to divest from any investments, which they think would favor israel. i think -- like i said, i met a lot of the people there. they are not necessarily students in the first place. and i think insofar as their demands are siding with hamas or the people in gaza against israel, or feel israel must pay any price whatsoever for defending themselves, i think your daughter is going down the wrong path -- which is not surprising. i think a lot of times at that age the children of the upper class or upper middle class are looking for a cause to live for, and they are getting sucked into this ridiculous hamas-palestine conflict. ik said, people come from all around the world to work in israel or parts of palestine.

just like the united states. people complain about the united states, but for some reason the whole world wants to get here. a lot of the world wants to get to israel. host: in october 7 -- what you think the last two weeks have become the flashpoint for these protests on college campuses? guest: i have no idea why all of a sudden they are more excited. like i said, i believe some of these people are not connected with the universities. perhaps at this time people may be getting orders or being paid by somebody, and that is why it is happening in every campus at the same time. another thing i know is a lot of times this is happening at the most prestigious colleges, right? harvard, penn, m.i.t. why isn't it happening at university of wisconsin in oshkosh or something, all the other universities around the country? this is why it is concerning

that it may be orchestrated, because it isn't popping up at anywhere except for the most well-known 20 or 30 universities in the country. host: orchestrated by -- who would want to orchestrate something like that? are you talking about an international group? guest: i mean, when you have people show up who are not connected with the university, simultaneously, all around the country, have got to wonder. there were riots a few years ago, right? those were inspired by the tragic death in minnesota. it would not surprise me if there are people, like the people behind the scenes who pushed antifa -- if those people are saying we are going to have riots in such and such a week. i think these demonstrations have international consequences because i think it encourages

people in other countries to think that we have a real problem in america and there are people supporting hamas, other than realizing where a country of 300 million people. we have a handful of people at the university of michigan or somewhere -- it is not a lot. it is not a significant share of the campus of columbia. host: rochester, a republican. good morning. caller: am i on? host: yes, ma'am. caller: i wanted to ask you gentlemen -- i know prior to the october 7 -- prior to that day, we were aware of the tunnels. that is what israel was contending with. allegedly, palestinians were coming over.

if we knew about it, why didn't they do some preventative measures to deal with those tunnels? guest: hindsight is always 2020, right? -- 20/20, right? they are there. they are monitoring. i think at the time israelis were more concerned about missiles coming from lebanon. i'm sure in time there will be plenty of internal investigations going on in israel in which somebody is going to get the blame. in the united states, we had a huge intelligence breakdown on 9/11. israel had its own intelligence breakdown. host: when the house comes in for the day, we will take viewers therefore gavel-to-gavel coverage.

we will continue to take phone calls. a republican from the state of wisconsin -- this is joel insult saint marie, michigan. good morning. caller: it is pronounced "sue" saint marie. host: i knew that. i apologize. caller: representative, the last time you were on, i was the last caller. search your archives. he called me an idiot and said i should read the constitution. second of all, i have two medical degrees and what we discussed did not involve the constitution. host: what is your question today? caller: it has to do with republican hypocrisy. the question is this. mike mccarthy and jim jordan were issued subpoenas. they never responded.

there are divisions or whatever you want to call it. the first word was we will use subpoenas to get what we want. what is the difference? guest: i don't know. i think there is a difference when you subpoena a sitting congressman. i'm sure mr. mccarthy or mr. jordan can speak for themselves. host: mckinley bell, california, dave, independent. good morning. caller: good morning. just back up what the congressman said, i saw the results of a survey that only 7% of the faculty members at our colleges and universities regard themselves as conservatives. so it is no wonder that the students are being radicalized when they only get exposed to a narrow, limited set of political and ideological viewpoints. i think if it were up to me, i

would require that until they get another dime of taxpayer money, these colleges and universities should require, one, take a course on the holocaust, so they get some understanding of what the jewish people have been subjected to. and maybe they will notice similarities between what is happening now and what was happening in nazi germany before the jews were rounded up and herded into concentration camps, where they were systematically exterminated. in ways not dissimilar to the ways hamas exterminated 1200 israeli men, women, children, and babies on november 7. the second requirement would be to require these universities and colleges to have affirmative action programs to attract more conservative faculty members, so that the students at these universities get exposed to diversity of ideological and

political viewpoints, so that they learn to think critically. i think it is more important to be caught -- taught how to think then what to think. maybe they would not be so easily indoctrinated by these extremists. guest: well, i agree with all you are saying there. i do feel that universities should aim for more ideological diversity. around the washington area, people register as a republican or democrat. it would be nice if somebody do a study of some of the local universities around the country -- george washington, georgetown, what have you -- say look at the journalism faculty or the law school faculty, or the literature faculty. is there diversity of thought there? instead they got hung up on diversity of rigor great, great grand parents were born. were they born in mexico, in france, in the philippines?

ideologically, they should ask themselves, if all of my faculty or 90% of my faculty in key areas is left-wing, am i giving my students a broad base of opinion? the answer is, with a few exceptions around the country -- it is overwhelming. it affects what they are telling the kids. in general, if i had to stereotype, the democrat, the left-wing is filled with unhappy people who don't like america. the statistics will show that they are unhappy. because they are unhappy, they encourage fundamental changes or revolution in the united states. if you think about it, we are the envy of the world, right? it should not be happening that you go on the news every night -- the whole world wants to get here. despite the fact that the world wants to get here, our

universities are filled up with faculty who too often think like barack obama did that america has to fundamentally be changed. host: why do you think left-wingers are unhappy with america? what are reasons why you think left-wingers are unhappy with america? guest: i think maybe sometimes they are overly concerned about money, so as a result, they are a little bit more subject to the sin of covetous. secondly, i think in general people who are less likely to believe in god are more likely to be unhappy. i think statistics will show that people who vote democrat are certainly less likely to believe in god. host: before the house comes in for the day, 10:00 a.m. eastern -- there is legislative business. you can of course watch that on c-span two. this is a call from lakeland,

minnesota, independent. caller: good morning, america. congressman, what do you think about the eco-health alliance subcommittee happening today? can you tell me, c-span, why it is not on your programming? guest: i'm sorry. i did not hear what his question was. host: i think he is referring to a hearing that is happening today, one of many hearings that happens on capitol hill. we cannot cover them all. we do have a meeting every day where we look at all the hearings that are happening and try to pick the few hearings that might -- that viewers may be most interested in. it is something that occurs on a daily basis. it is not a science. it is more of an art, try to figure out what viewers might be interested in. that is how our programming is scheduled on c-span3, online,

and on the web. there are more hearings that happen every day than we can actually cover. are there hearings you are not aware of, congressman? i will look it up. this call is from delaware, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning, thank you. representative mann and green -- matthews and greene said they will call for a vote to oust speaker johnson over his funding of ukraine and israel. i want to know if the congressman thinks this is a distraction that is needed right now, and how he feels about this. guest: you are right it is a distraction. there are some of the problems in the country we could be talking about. instead, everyone is going to be asking congressman how you are going to vote on the movement to remove speaker johnson. of course i am going to keep him there. we are in an election year. we have seven months to go before the election. now it's not the time to switch

head coaches, right? it takes a while for a head coach to get his sea legs. i think i have watched speaker johnson grow since he has become speaker. always go into disagree with him on something. i wish it differently on the border. he is the guy who was elected a few months ago, elected in part by congress woman greene, and i think we have to stick with her through the election. host: asking what we cover -- some information on what we are showing today on c-span, so viewers are aware -- the secretary is testifying on president biden's budget. we are going to show that on c-span3 at 10:00 a.m. eastern, also on c-sp.org and the free video app. house hearing on cyber attacks with the united health group ceo , talking about the recent cyber

attacks against that company. also on c-sp.o and the video app. and jerome powell, the fed chair, calling a news coerce today at 2:30 eastern time. we a gng to air that live on c-sp. that one is also on the free video app as well. that is to: 30 p.m. -- that is 2:30 p.m. there is a lot going on in a limited space and we try to show as much public affairs as we can. congressman, just about a minute and a half before the house comes in. we want to get you one more call. a republican from richmond, virginia -- good morning. caller: how are you doing, mr. congressman? guest: i'm very good. caller: good to hear. i am just curious. i mean, the holocaust did not happen, so why would anybody be -- host: you don't think the

congress -- the holocaust happen? congressman? guest: i did not understand the question. host: he did not think the holocaust occurred. guest: i would suggest there are many books on the topic, including people who participated in it. maybe that will educate your listener a little bit more. host: appreciate that from the congressman. appreciate your time this morning, joining