should not have the ability to go into the private sector when it's in their best interest. when the care is better or specialized care is available that's not in the v. ample. i think we all believe that that that should be available. >> watch book tv every weekend n c-span2. >> earlier today following the vote on rules for an impeachment inquiry, house republican leaders spoke to reporters. while stressing their continued support for the president. the house voted 232-196 to formalize the impeachment inquiry this is about 25 minutes. mr. mccarthy: we just had a vote on the floor. in march, speaker pelosi said this about impeachment. impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there's something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, i

don't think we should go down that path because it divides the country. today the country just witnessed the only bipartisan vote on that floor was against. the question to the speaker are the same questions i provided in a letter about the unfair process that we had. hat has changed since march? in all the hearings there's nothing compelling, nothing overwhelming. so the speaker should follow her the sham nd end that's been putting this country through this nightmare. that's exactly what this vote shows today. i want to call up our whip, steve scalise. mr. scalise: thank you, kevin. when we talk about the vote, i

think it's important to note, when you see that not only did every single republican reject this soviet-style impeachment process but we were even joined by democrats who couldn't stand it anymore. if you look at where we are right now, we're at an important point in history. clearly there are people that we serve with that don't like the results of the 2016 election. that's their prerogative. but the country next year will be deciding who our president is going to be. it should not be nancy pelosi in a small group of people that she selects that get to determine who is going to be our president. if you look at the resolution today, they talk about fairness. now if they really think they can tell people it's fair that only the chairman gets to decide who the witnesses are, they give us an opportunity to call witnesses, but if the chair says they don't like the witness the witnesses don't come forward. they allow the president to have legal counsel in the room. unless the chair decides that

they don't twheant president's legal counsel in the room. that's never happened before. with the clinton impeachment, with the nixon impeachment. republican and democrat alike, both sides were treated equally. both sides could call witnesses. president's legal counsel was in the room. not at the discretion they have chair but because it's fair. so when you look at this soviet style process, it shows you that they don't really want to get to the truth. they want to remove a sitting president. in fact, the author of the articles of impeachment said if they don't impeach the president, he will get re-elected. now that's not why we have impeachment. alexander hamilton made it very clear. his concern when they were trying to promote the constitution was that he didn't want to see impeach. used for political purposes. yet that's what happened today. he predicted it. it happened today. it's a sham. it shouldn't have happened. it's a tainted process. that adam schiff has been

conducting that nadler might one day conduct. the house deserves better. the people of this country deserve better. we should be tackling real problems. we could have lower prescription drug prices today but pelosi won't bring those bills to the floor because she's infatuated with impeachment. our troops could be properly fund bud pelosi is infatuated with impeachment. we could have better trade relationships with canada and mexico and create 160,000 new jobs today but pelosi is infatuated with impeachment. our conference chair, liz chaney. ms. cheney: i want to make sure everyone is focused on a couple of things. you'll hear from a number of members about this. the first one is that the democrats cannot fix this process. they've now created a record over the course of the last several weeks with witnesses they selected, we know there are circumstances where chairman schiff told witnesses not to answer questions that our members were asking.

we know there have been circumstances where our members have attempted to go read transcripts and have been told by staff member they're not allowed to go read those transcripts. this is a process that has been fundamentally tainted. the president has had no rights inside these hearings. his counsel has not been able to be present. for them to claim they're going to open the process up which by the way this resolution does not do. the resolution says they're going to do what they want to do it gives authority for open hearings. but they cannot go back and fix what is a fundamentally tainted and unfair record. the second thing that's very important for the american people towns and you heard the leader and the whip talk about the things that are not getting done here. there's a long list of things the american people deserve to have done that simply are not being addressed because because of the democrat's obsession with impeachment. but think about what speaker pelosi has done for the last several weeks and what she codify today. what she did today is she said

she's going to take the intelligence committee of the house of representatives, which is argueberry the single most important committee when it comes to our oversight, when it comes to the national security of this nation, and she has told them stop all focus on any issue that has anything to do we national security of the nation. you saw democrats on the floor of the house arguing that somehow it was republicans who were putting politics above national security. there is no one who has done that the way that nancy pelosi and atam shafe is -- schiff have done that history will hold them accountable. hist will will judge them. we're at a moment where the nation faces grave, significant, ongoing threats. she has neutered the intelligence committee. she said they must be focused on a partisan impeachment process, not their oversight obligations we have as a body, that we have as an important branch of this government. they'll be held accountable for that. now i'd like to turn things over to the republican leader of the oversight committee, mr. jordan.

mr. jordan: thank you, liz. i want y'all to think about something. this morning i was in an impeachment deposition but had to leave that to come to the floor for a vote on the rules for impeachment. that says it all about this entire process and it is a sad day. it really is for this country. what the democrats have put our nation through for now almost four years. you go back to july of 2016 when they opened an investigation into the president, then candidate trump and spied on two america cavern citizens. that has never happened in american history, but that happened in 2016. and all we went through with the mueller thing and now this. and now this today. this as the whip has said the entire sham process. t is four facts will not

changed. four fundamental facts. we have the transcript. there is no quid pro quo in the transcript. democratic chairman said there is no quid pro quo but we they are going to keep on doing what what they put our country said. the presidents have said there is no pressure. the ukranians didn't know aid had been held up. what action did president zep lens ki take to free up the aid. they did nothing, no statement, no announcement. those facts have never changed but they don't care. they are trying to impeach the president of the united states less than 1 months before an election based on anonymous whistleblower who has a bias against the president. it is reported that the whistleblower worked with vice

president biden and on it goes. the american people see this for what it is because the american people are fair people, they are just people and people with common sense and will not tolerate this. and i appreciate the leadership of our leader and our team and how we voted against it because we see it like the american people and we know it's wrong. and i call up mr. mccaul. mr. mccaul: for 38 days, we have witnessed a one-sided investigation in the most secret room in the united states capitol without an opportunity to call witnesses on our side, without white house counsel present. this defies historic precedent. adam handcuff schiff said we have been sitting through these depositions but because the d.o.j. declined an investigation that he is deemed to be both the

prosecutor and the grand jury. i was a federal prosecutor and adam schiff was, too. he knows better. he can't be both. the american people have been shut out of this process defining democracy itself. every time we get close to a witness, close to the whistleblower, we get shut down in that room and you have to ask yourself this question, why? why does adam schiff not want to ask us those questions. what role did adam schiff have to the whistleblower? what role did his staff have to the whistleblower? for one man to turn this country upside down, to have this vote today. our founding fathers warned about this in the federalist papers that a future congress at some point in time would base an

impeachment, not on guilt or innocence, but rather on partisan politics. partisan politics. sadly today, in this chamber, there were fierce realized. i turn it over to lee zeldin from the house foreign affairs committee. mr. zeldin: in away you could say congratulations to nancy pelosi and wanted a bipartisan vote on her impeachment inquiry resolution and got it. it was a bipartisan vote against her inquiry resolution. there are a number of other democrats who chose to vote the wrong way and should have voted no and won't be here to serve anymore with us come january 2021. nancy pelosi as the leader, has chosen to sacrifice a few of her own members. those members are going to lose

for all of the right reasons. because as we have seen during this past vote, staffers were running on the democratic side of the aisle, don't cheer, don't clap. the eagerness, the happiness that democrats have and their enraged liberal activist base has at home to rip the country in half. steve scalise said we need to work together to pass usmca and reduce the cost of prescription drugs. instead we have colleagues who have gavels who are ripping our country in half. we have been saying for weeks not only should there have been a vote to launch an impeachment inquiry but the vote should ensure that the transcripts are released and republicans are able to call witnesses and equal

allocation of staffing, that the president's counsel should be present at these hearings. every single thing that we have been saying over the course last few weeks on those points aren't here in this resolution. and it's not just getting close to the whistle bloir, get this, the jurisdiction of the intelligence committee is to look into intelligence-related matters. but adam schiff decided two days ago in his most recent rule change that in no way, shape or form can you ask any question that has to deal with the intelligence community. you all are being used. some of you are happy about it.

some of you are not. but many of you are reporting zero percent of the story. one story that came out yesterday in politico that was filled with falsehoods, somebody lied to you. i watched cnn last night and saw a host one allege after another say something that was not true. your sources, those democrats in that bunker are trying to create a narrative because adam schiff is writing the world's greatest parody. right here, two floors before us, in adam schiff's bunker in the capitol basement, he is tearing up his parody and going to have to rewrite it. we can't talk about it -- they said the substance of the depositions. isn't it curious you don't know what is going on with tim

morrison in his deposition. why is it you don't have the opening statements? he was the boss on the substance that jim jordan pointed out. the ukraine aid was not even known to be held up. did not say anything to us until just before it was released. and then it was released. and as jim jordan pointed out, guess what ukraine had to do to get that release? nothing. adam schiff needs to release all the transscripts right now. [applause] mr. zeldin: on behalf of our constituents and on behalf of the american public, everyone misledpissed about being of adam schiff hiding in the capitol basement using you, release the darn transcripts and

let's have a conversation about substance. i tell you what. you lost the conversation about process. you are losing the conversation about process. bring it on about substance, because our president was right in being concerned about corruption. our president was right in looking into interference in the 2016 election and the president is right to be concerned about a corrupt foreign company run by a corrupt ukranian oligarch. d no experience for 50,000 a month and the vice president of the united states who was literally the most conflicted person out in the obama administration to be running point with ukraine. goes over to ukraine and threatens the loss of $1 billion if they don't immediately fire the prosecutor who had an open investigation into burisma.

and i don't believe they should be immune from scrutiny just because joe biden is running for president. and if it is not illegal, it should be illegal. and never again in this country should we have a son of a sitting vice president based solely on their name without any energy experience being paid from a corrupt company with an open corruption investigation into it. so on the substance, i say bring it on. release the damn transcripts and do it today. [applause] ms. cheney: i would like to ask the republican leader of the judiciary committee to join us, mr. collins. mr. collins: what you have heard so far is very true. but as i sat on the floor today, what you saw on the house was a dark cloud falling on this democracy and what is happening here.

and mr. mcgovern had the audacity to say all the republicans want to argue about process and not about substance. let me say something to mr. mcgovern, process leads to substance. when you screw up the process thaw are looking for an answer that you already determined. notice what they have done. we are putting it in adam schiff's purview but i want to go to the committee that has been the committee of impeachment. and the impeachment committee should be the judiciary committee. f you want to do this right, madam speaker, do it right. do not lie to the american people and say these procedures are the same as nixon and clinton. i challenged the rules chairman if you want to have that argument, give us plenty of time i will win. why? because we are right. 900 precedents in clinton and

nixon, i saw eight pages the other day. i saw things they are saying that adam schiff's committee gets to continue the process without presidential involvement and scrutiny or anything of fairness or bipartisanship and any way that we saw in others. how can they stand before you and when you talk to them in a little bit, ask them how is it fair and then get it to a judiciary committee that is completely newtered of its power. they have shown they were completely inept in handling the russian investigation. do i have to remind you of john dean. this is pathetic and writing the rules for us, the rules committee had to write the rules for the judiciary committee because they didn't trust them enough to do that. i ask you as members of the media, how can the american people trust this judiciary committee that the speaker doesn't trust enough to handle an impeachment inquiry. i do have one thing for mr.

schiff. if he wants to be a special counsel, here's my challenge to mr. schiff, you want to be ken star, be ken star. be the first witness and take every question that is asked of u starting with your own involvement with the whistleblower. folks, this ain't over. get ready. the cloud that is dropping will be dropping on their heads because process matters and substance will win out in the end and this president hasn't anything to worry about on substance. i yield back. [applause] >> congress will go back to their districts for a week. tomorrow will be november 1, one year before voters cast a vote not just for congress but for president. it is unfortunate in this congress when they go back, they'll run on the re-election

having more subpoenas than laws and not trusting the american people to have the choice. the vote today was bipartisan not to move forward. we have a speaker of the house who said that impeachment would drive the country apart, would have to be bipartisan. there was one clear voice on where this congress believes this should go. there is nothing the president did to be impeached. it is simply based upon election in 2016 they would not accept. questions. >> the president is asking you to defend him against the substance of these allegations? will you do that and go on the record and say that the president has not done anything ing appropriate. >> yes. mr. mccarthy: the question that adam schiff brought forth to us when he lied the first time was now that the administration was

withholding a whistleblower. but there was a phone call that there was quid pro quo. now you have a president who released the transcript of the phone call. we found out that adam schiff and his staff met with the whistleblower. the only person in this congress that knows who the whistleblower is adam schiff. the only person who is withholding the whistleblower from coming forward is adam schiff. we look at the phone call, somebody has to take an action for another, there is nothing in that phone call that is wrong or impeachable. if you have the transcripts that we have been going for more than three weeks that no one has been ble to read, you would again wonder why is this going forward? no one has ever said there was a quid pro quo. for the same fear that hamilton said more than 200 years ago is today. t came forth

this isn't about the republican party but about the republic. no one should ever go through this again. we believe in the rule of law. but unfortunately in nancy's house, we do not. reporter: are you ok setting precedent that any future precedent republican or democrat can ask a foreign leader to investigate their political rival? mr. mccarthy: every single day we work with another government to solve cases. what the president asked for was an open case that the attorney general was already investigating. it is nothing about the future but something happened. something that the entire country wants to know and get to the bottom of. we just went through two years of a nightmare. why did that happen? i believe you would be craving to know that answer. when we use taxpayers' money, i

want accountability. this is precious money that is taken from hardworking taxpayers. i want accountability about it. and the ukranians did nothing for the money to be released. when adam schiff looked into the american public and lied that he did not know who he was and taking us down a new nightmare, haven't we learned from the first time? why would we do this? are one year away from an election. [ [inaudible question] mr. mccarthy: one thing the republicans always believed on, show us the truth and we vote based upon the facts. when you ask every single democrat to justify everything that has happened down in that bunker that they have not read, ask me why they voted that way

or ask a number of democrats who voted for impeachment twice before the mueller report ever came forward, ask me what was impeerble at that moment. ask every single member of congress who has the transcript of the phone call, what is the impeachable offense. so offense. so i'll make you this one promise, republicans believe in the constitution. we believe in the rule of law and that's why we are standing here today and that's why the bipartisan vote in the u.s. house of representatives was no. thank you very much. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2019] captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org

>> former f.b.i. director james comey speaks at a conference in nashville. we are making it easy for you to follow the impeachment inquiry for pan dorgan several briefings and hearings and the administration's response during the impeachment inquiry process. log on to our impeachment quiry web page at crn -- -span.org.

>> c-span's "washington journal" live every day with news and policy issues. coming up friday morning, washington examiner discusses a new book about the burden the growing national debt will have on the millen national generation. d then the rise of vaping-related illness. watch "washington journal" friday morning. join the discussion. >> 40 years ago, iranian students overran the u.s. embassy in tehran and held 52 americans hostage. and sunday watch american history tv features on the hostage crisis. our guests on "washington they will be taking

viewer phone calls and tweets. the 1989 film, 444 days to freedom detailing the hostage crisis. >> with no help coming. they retreated floor by floor. one american who spoke to us. he was immediately blind folded and bound. e americans -- tv every history weekend on c-span 3. house democratic leaders held a news conference following the vote on rules for an impeachment inquiry. the house adopted the resolution 232-196. this is 25 minutes.