Chevron signs Venezuela oil deal; Pres. Trump says he was not serious about renaming Strait of Hormuz 'Trump Strait'; House votes down proposal to require Supreme Court have nine justices

0:00Welcome to Washington. Today on Seaspen Radio for Wednesday, September 2, 2026. Chevron signs an agreement to invest $7 billion in Venezuela to double its oil production in five years. We'll hear from Chevron CEO and the US Energy Secretary in Caracas. President Donald Trump says he was joking when he posted the straight-of-war moves should be renamed the Trump Strait. He's also asked about the resumption of US and Iran treating missile strikes for the past several days. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik hosts technology company CEOs for a G20 Innovation Ministerial in North Carolina, talking about development of artificial intelligence. US House Democrats meet to discuss possible changes to party rules after two House Democrats devoted with Republicans to advance Republican bills that were set to fail. The House today defeated a proposed constitutional amendment to require the Supreme Court to have nine justices. Plus, the House Intelligence Committee hearing on national security threats includes discussion

1:02of Chinese spying and re-thlaying at the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. on this V.J. Day marking the Allied victory over Japan ending World War II in 1945. New York Times writing that Chevron plans to significantly expand its operations in Venezuela, US oil giant, set on Wednesday, taking another step to broaden the US fear of influence in the South American country. The Houston-based company, already Venezuela's largest private oil producer, said it would more than double its production in the country over the next five years to 600,000 barrels a day that represents more than half of Venezuela's current output. Company announced its plans days after President Trump said his administration was pursuing a highly unusual partnership with a different oil company that would give the U.S. government a direct hand in extracting oil on foreign soil. The two deals are separate, but both advance, Mr. Trump's goal of exerting much more control over Venezuela's energy industry after U.S. forces captured the country's leader, Nicolas Maduro, in January. That was from

2:03the New York Times. Chevron CEO Mike Worth spoke at today's signing ceremony in Caracas that included the Venezuelan president, Elsie Rodriguez, and U.S. Secretary Chris Wright. For more than a century, Chevron has been part of Venezuela's story. That history is why this moment matters. Today's agreement is an important milestone for Chevron, our partners, and the Venezuelan people. It reflects progress toward a more competitive and durable framework for long-term investment. Importantly, it creates the opportunity to unlock growth and development. Together with our partners, we expect to invest more than $7 billion in double production to approximate 500,000 barrels per day over just the next five years. I want to recognize President Rodriguez and the Venezuelan government for the steps taken to significantly improve investment terms and provide greater stability and certainty. Progress like this is built on constructive engagement

3:06between government and industry, and today is proof of what that engagement can achieve. I'd also like to thank Secretary Wright, the Department of Energy and the administration for their leadership in helping create the conditions for investment, production, and partnership. Their engagement helps build confidence that lets companies invest capital, technology, and expertise for the long term. And most importantly, I want to recognize Chevron's Venezuelan employees. Their professionalism, resilience, and commitment over many years helped make this opportunity possible for their expertise will be essential for our future here. The world needs more affordable, reliable energy, not less. Venezuela with its extraordinary resources and talented people is helping meet that need. That is why we're here, not just to mark an agreement, but to build on a century of delivering the energy that powers progress, lifts economies,

4:11and improves lives here in Venezuela and around the world. Chevron CEO Mike Worth in Caracas, Venezuela, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright also spoke in support of today's agreement. Today is a historic day in the transformation of Venezuela and the expansion of the possibilities for the Venezuelan people. President Trump's mission in Venezuela is straightforward. The mission is to bring peace, freedom, opportunity, and prosperity to the people of Venezuela. I believe the deals that are signed today, tens of billions of dollars of investment, ultimately many thousands of jobs. These are critical in starting this ball rolling of peace, opportunity, and prosperity for everyone in Venezuela. I have a huge thank you from the

5:15President of the United States, from myself, and from the people of the United States of America, to Chevron, to E&I, to GE, and to the many companies that will follow behind you to bring capital, technology, and opportunity into the country of Venezuela. I came down here seven months ago to meet President Rodriguez and her team about how we could work together to better the opportunities for Venezuelans and for Americans by developing energy resources and knitting our nations again close together. Our teams have worked day and night, every day, every day since then. To make the transformations in progress, it takes building trust and respect and knowledge across our teams. That work is never easy. As Claudio from E&I mentioned, this is just the start, but today

6:17is a transformative day. We were trying to work at what I call Trump's speed. President Trump didn't want to nudge or slow drift in the positive direction. He wanted to see as fast as possible transformation in Venezuela in the US, Venezuela, in relations between the people of the United States and the people of Venezuela. US Energy Secretary Chris Wright today in Caracas, Venezuela, at the Chevron Agreement signing ceremony. Also there, the Venezuelan President, Delsey Rodriguez, who said this is the transformation that Venezuela needs, overcoming difficulties in advancing through the development of its natural resources. National Public Radio writes the Chevron deal comes less than a week after the Trump administration announced a new deal to develop 17 Venezuelan oil fields with an estimated 65 billion barrels of oil in a joint venture with North American blue energy partners, a private oil company headquartered in Barbados from a political

7:20article. President Trump's oil deal with Venezuela may eventually help tackle America's energy needs, but many in the Venezuelan political opposition fear it could cost the country its shot at restoring democracy. They worry that the agreement which gives the US a sizable stake in a Venezuelan owned oil company and access to preferential pricing could entrench a regime that has shown no eagerness to move forward with promised elections. President Trump asked about elections in Venezuela, replying today, I still don't think they're ready. We got them out of a dictatorship. We want elections, Delcy wants it too, but they're not ready yet. Wall Street today, the Dow, up 295, NASDAQ, 118, S&P up 35, CNBC reporting more than 17 million barrels of oil, translated the Strait of Pormouse by ship on Monday, a record since the Iran war began in late February, US energy secretary Chris Wright told CNBC in an interview Wednesday. President Trump writing on Truth Social today, now that we have it under USA control, should we change the name

8:23Hormuz Strait to Trump Strait, like America itself, it would be hotter than ever before. Thank you for your attention this matter. President Donald J. Trump, President Trump told reporters today, he was not being serious. President Trump responding to reporters questions in the White House of the Office, AP writing that Iran fired on US allies in the Gulf early Wednesday, following a night of American bombardment that Iranian officials say included a deadly strike on a wedding party. The latest violence came after a month-long low in fighting, again reporting from AP. Back to the Oval Office, another reporter asked President Trump about the state of the war. He also spoke of oil prices. Present a resumption of US strikes that Iran have sent oil prices back up to $95 a barrel. How long will this renewed campaign go for? I think too long. And also given what you've said about having destroyed the Iranian military, what is there still left

9:26to strike? Why? Okay, we have controlled and we are controlling the Hormuz Strait. We are bringing lots of boats out every day with millions of barrels of oil. We are for the most part doing it without trouble. Every once in a while they shoot a drone and knock it down. But we have control, a very strong control. They were trying to rebuild their radar systems and a missile system and a mine drop. You know we got rid of all the mines and the Hormuz Strait. They were trying to build a rocket that drops mines. Who does that? Did you ever build a rocket that drop? I never heard of such a thing, but that's what they were doing. They were building it. It was almost finished. So we took it out. We saw that they were building it. We see everything that they're doing. They can't go to the bathroom without us seeing it. So we saw that. We took it out. We took out some other things and then we hit them last night because they took a shot at us in Jordan at our base in Jordan. We knocked all of them down. There were I guess eight missiles that we shot.

10:27They were all knocked down. When we let go because it was so inaccurate it landed in the middle of the desert someplace. So let it go. Sometimes we let them go if they're not aimed correctly. It's an amazing science. What they can do is absolutely incredible. We had a case where 111 were shot at a certain ship fellas and a hundred out of 111, all 111 were knocked down. Can you imagine that? Five years ago, seven years ago, you couldn't do that today. We have technology that's incredible. Nobody has technology like we are. So we hit them hard last night. Very hard. They gave a little love to that but we hit them very hard last night. We took out all of the new equipment that they tried to build along the straight of our most. Some defensive, some offensive. They were trying to see the ships because they can't see the ships. We take it out a lot of ships. They can't see it because they have no radar because we blew it up and we blew up much more than their radar last

11:29night. It was a very heavy attack last night and we're prepared to do another one and anytime we won. I do think this. We had gasoline selling when I decided that I'd have to go and swap this because we can't let Iran have an unclear weapon. So a little more than a year ago. Gasoline in Iowa. I was in Iowa making a speech. It was a dollar and 95 cents and then it went to a dollar 85 past another station. I went one 95. Think of that. And 185. And right after that, I called everybody into the office made my speech and I said we have a problem because Iran is soon going to have a nuclear weapon. And I hate to do this but we're going to have to do it. Oil will go up and probably the stock market will go down. Well the good news is the stock market hits new records every day so the stock market wasn't affected. Although it would even be higher believe it or not. The stock market will go up. But it's very simple. Iran cannot have a nuclear

12:30weapon as soon as it's over which I don't think it would be very much longer. I don't know how much more they can take but you know whatever it is it doesn't matter. And I'm not affected by the election. Number one, I'm not running. My party is running and I'm going to help my party. But I think my party respects the fact that we're not allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapon. And frankly other presidents should have done that but they didn't have whatever it takes to do it. President Donald Trump in the White House, Oval Office holding a news conference today. He posted on Truth Social Tuesday night. I'm not trying to force Iran to the bargaining table as ABC fake news reported. I couldn't care less if they sign a worthless to them agreement. I like our position now much better with almost total control of the Hormuz straight and their economy totally collapsing. They are just playing out the inevitable when are the Iranian people going to rise up and fight. Side President DJT. This is Eastman Radio is Washington today. President Trump called reporters into the Oval Office initially on a different subject as Reuters writes it. President Donald Trump will meet with major travel company executives on Wednesday including

13:34representatives from American Airlines, Marriott, MGM Resorts, and Carnival. I made a decline in international visitors. U.S. tourism got a big boost from the FIFA World Cup this summer. Travel spending rose 6.2% year over year in June to $122.1 billion. It's strongest monthly reading in a year and FIFA reported its best ever attendance at this summer's tournament. That was from Reuters. Here again is the president. In the last three months, travelers logged 290 billion miles on American highways, our national parks welcomed 78 million visitors, all records. And on 11 separate days, more than 3 million travelers flew through the American flies. The American skies were loaded up with planes and loaded up with a lot of happy people going to various destinations. In June, America welcomed visitors from all over the globe for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and Andrew Giuliani did

14:36a fantastic job. Andrews with us also. Match day spending at local restaurants rose 80% and across 11 host cities, determined added more than $18 billion to our economy and supported more than 160,000 jobs. President Donald Trump in the White House Oval Office. On Capitol Hill, the U.S. House Financial Services Committee held a hearing today on the health of the U.S. economy. One witness, Lynn Martin, president of the New York Stock Exchange, said she has seen evidence of strength. The good news is as I sit here today, the IPO markets of 2026 are telling a very different story. This story is a compelling one about the health and vitality of the U.S. economy. Global IPO proceeds in the first half of 2026 have tripled year on year. From roughly $58 billion raised previously to a record $178 billion raised

15:45in the first half of 2026. Further, the S&P 500 has closed at record highs 25 times this year, which is not paper gains. It's the collective judgment of millions of investors that American companies remain sound, innovative, and worth owning. This momentum reflects real policy progress. The SEC has moved with vision and urgency to reduce unnecessary burdens on public companies. The Bipartisan Invest Act and the Genius Act have sent a powerful signal globally that the United States is committed to leading in capital formation and the digital economy. Lynn Martin, president of the New York Stock Exchange, testifying before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, also at the hearing, Congressman Gregory Meek, Democrat from New

16:48York asked another witness, Derek Hamilton, AFL-CIO Chief Economist and Economics and Urban Policy Professor at the New School about the economy. I'm sure you'll agree that working people in middle class Americans are not experiencing the economy through aggregate statistics. They are experiencing it through the cost of groceries, the cost of healthcare, the cost of their rent, gas prices, while the labor share of national income also remains historically low. So I want to ask you, Professor, beyond the headline job numbers, what is the single best indicator of whether workers are actually getting ahead and achieving things, for me, in a district like I represent, like Homo Nishim or building their savings? What would you say we should be looking

17:49at? That's a difficult question to find a one single bullet, but with clarity, looking at growth alone with no understanding of distribution clouds the picture of the ways in which the typical American experiences the economy. Why? Because we have so much asymmetry with regards to power. And first and foremost, our growth statistic, even in and of itself, is not doing so good. So we don't have a high level of growth, but whatever growth where we have is being propped up by, again, the now infamous K-shaped economy where those that are most affluent amongst us are doing exceptionally well, where we have divergent pathways of income, employment and wealth for everyone else. Derek Hamilton, a chief economist with the AFLCIO, also economics and urban policy professor at the new school, questioned by Congressman Gregory Meeks, Democrat of New York at today's financial

18:52services committee, hearing you can find the full hearing at our video library at cspan.org. CNBC writing that artificial intelligence is taking center stage at the G20 gatherings this week, Nvidia, CEO Jensen Wong, and Thropic co-founder Tom Brown and open a ICEO Sam Altman, highlight the tech focus guests on Wednesday for day two of the G20 Innovation Ministerial in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Commerce Secretary Howard Ludnic and White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kretzios are leading the conference which gathers representatives of the G20 nations, including China, Brazil, Canada, Germany and others. That was from CNBC. Here's the Commerce Secretary, Howard Ludnic, opening the meeting. President Trump is trying to deliver the framework that will help America lead the world in artificial intelligence and the technologies that define the next generation. So it's a framework coupled with markets that will help unleash innovation, not

19:57regulated out of existence. We want businesses to invest. We want developers to discover. We want entrepreneurs to feel safe taking risks because that's what entrepreneurs do. We want our companies preparing our workforce for the advanced jobs that are coming and for the new technologies that that technology will unleash for our workers. So these are our principles and this is what I want to discuss and make sure we all share in this ministerial. So over the course of the ministerial we're going to discuss, we're going to try to discuss common sense policies that promote innovation, they accelerate scientific discovery, they strengthen our supply chains, and they build confidence across all of our emerging technologies. Commerce Secretary Howard Ludnic at the G20 Innovation Ministerial in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

21:05Part of the controversy over AI is the construction of thousands of data centers to support it. President Trump posted on true social a couple of days ago, the only reason the communities throughout the USA should not want data centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor, if they want to be successful and rich with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let data rain. Commerce Secretary Lutkin was interviewed on CNBC today ahead of that ministerial and was asked about data centers. One of my favorite things is when people talk about data centers using water, the number one product in America that uses water is cattle. I mean data centers don't use water. The data centers, this is propaganda by our adversaries to try to slow us down, right? We've got the greatest chips in the world, we've got the greatest economy in the world. Data centers are really world-class production. Build a data center, produce huge economics, right? And that economics will

22:06go to the community that surrounds it. So I think those who are inviting to data centers will win them and their economies and those communities will just be better off. It's obvious black and white. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutkin and interview today on CNBC. A Gallup poll earlier this year found seven and ten Americans opposed constructing data centers for artificial intelligence in their local area, including nearly half or strongly opposed. Not surprisingly the issue is coming up on campaign trail this year. It was a question at Tuesday's debate for US Senator from Nebraska between Dan Osborne and independent and the incumbent Pete Ricketts, a Republican. First Dan Osborne. Data centers is something that comes up always in a town hall and people have concerns for good reason. You know, and when you're talking about data centers you have to talk about the fact that there's potentially taken advantage of our public power system. We have cheap power here. So ultimately for me our power bill shouldn't go up $1 for these billion dollar corporations coming

23:13in setting up shop in Nebraska. And then we have to talk, like you mentioned, the Oglala aquifer. There's definitely parts of the Oglala aquifer that have been depleted. In fact, we're depleting it six times faster than it gets replenished. So we can win this race with China, but we could also do it with guard rails to ensure that data centers aren't going in spots where the Oglala aquifers in trouble. And with community agreements from people who live in the areas that should be benefiting from these going in. And you know, that's what I'm going to go fight for. But you know, being tough on China, I think, you know, since that was mentioned, it is about military readiness. I understand that deeply that we have to have that level. So we have to be investing in modern day drones, et cetera, not archaic battleships. But my opponent has given $800,000 in tax credits to data centers. Meanwhile, our property taxes continue to rise.

24:19Then Osborne Independent candidate for U.S. Senator from Nebraska in Tuesday nights debate with incumbent Senator Pete Ricketts, a Republican who also answered the question on data centers. When it comes to data centers, local control is the name of the game. If communities are considering a data center, what they should do is negotiate first, they are in charge, they're in the driver's seat. They should make sure, yes, you shouldn't impact my power rates. You should conserve water, close loop systems. But then they can ask for more. Property taxes are one of the biggest issues here in Nebraska. There's counties in Georgia that have asked data centers to pay their property taxes. Louisiana has data centers paying 50,000 teacher bonuses. Communities should ask for those things first. This is a national security issue. This is how China plans to be with AI. Democrat Dan and this Democrats in New York and Pennsylvania are trying to shut down data center statewide, which hamper local communities choice and hamper our ability to fight AI in China. Senator Pete Ricketts, a Republican from Nebraska, Tuesday nights debate at the Nebraska

25:22State Fairing Grand Island, Nebraska with Dan Osborne, who is running as an independent. There is no Democrat running in this race. The woman who won the nomination is pulled out to try to give Osborne a better shot at the victory. Osborne lost to Senator Deb Fisher, a Republican from Nebraska in 2024 by seven percentage points. Ricketts was appointed to the Senate in 2023 after Republican Senator Ben Sast resigned. Then won a special election in 2024 to fill out that term. It's now running for a full term this year. The Cook Political Report rates this year's general election race as likely Republican. So see the press writing that U.S. Senator Ed Markey secured the Democratic nomination in Massachusetts Senate primary Tuesday. Once again, fending off a push for generational change as he seeks a third term. Markey, 80 years old, defeated Congressman Seth Molten, 47 years old, who had attempted to argue that it was time to do away with the status quo in his pursuit to oust the octogenarian from AP. Markey beat Molten 65% to 35%

26:28and the Cook Political Report says the general election for Senator in Massachusetts is solid Democrat. Senator Markey spoke to his supporters Tuesday night in Boston. We need to tax the rich, block the bombs and stop data centers from polluting our community. We must fight for the laws that put people of had a had a profit. Why should we be hopeful in this moment when there is so much fear and hate? Why am I so optimistic? Because there are more of us than there are of them. Because when we stand together with better ideas and stronger ideals, they do not stand a chance. Because the many will always beat the money. And we know, we know, we know that our work is more than a campaign, more than even just this moment in which we are all

27:31being called to act. Our progressive movement knows how to fight. We cannot surrender. Tomorrow, for the next eight weeks, in every corner of the Commonwealth and across the country, we have to hit the streets. Senator Ed Markey at his Democratic primary victory party in Boston Tuesday night, his opponent congressman Seth Maltin spoke to his supporters in Dorchester, Massachusetts. We ran a race that stood on principle that wasn't just about politics as usual, and that elevated the voices of Massachusetts citizens who have been left behind by the status quo in Washington. Challenging the establishment and calling for a new generation of leadership isn't easy, but it is necessary. We started conversations that needed to happen, and I will never stop pushing the Democratic party and our country to look toward the future. Congressman Seth Maltin, Democrat from Massachusetts Tuesday night in Dorchester,

28:34after losing the Senate Democratic primary to incumbent Ed Markey. Washington today continues at a moment. Welcome back to Washington today, available as a podcast wherever you get your podcasts and on our free app, C-SPAN now. House Democrats are considering new rules for their caucus rights Bloomberg government after the surprised defections of two members on a procedural vote Tuesday. The House Democratic Committee on Caucus rules met Wednesday to discuss votes by Marie Glucencamp Perez, Democrat of Washington State and Jared Golden, Democrat of Maine, in support of the GOP's legislative agenda. The panel discussed rule changes, but said any discipline of the members would have to come from leadership. Golden is retiring at the end of this Congress, and Glucencamp Perez is running for re-election in one of the most competitive races this cycle. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee will continue to support Glucencamp Perez, according to a person familiar with the group's thinking, reporting from Bloomberg government. The House minority leader,

29:37Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat from New York, was asked about this on the Don Lemon Show on YouTube, by host Don Lemon. Two House Democrats Dan Golden and Marie Glucencamp, Glucencamp Perez broke ranks and joined Republicans to force a 210 to 208 vote, advanced in resolution condemning socialism, which the House den adopted 2020-192. How do you feel about that? Because a DSA and social living has been a big issue, it's going to be a big issue going into November. I know that may not be a short answer, but I'd like to hear one if you haven't. Yeah, and I think it was it's Jared Golden was one of those two Jared Golden, not Dan Golden, that's right. And thank you. I want to make sure that I don't hear from Dan after this conversation. But listen, we issue the statement yesterday that was pretty clear

30:37from House Democratic leadership indicating that we viewed the fact that we were blindsided by two of our colleagues as a significant breach of trust. With respect to a procedural vote that was on its way to failing, had everybody remain unified and every single Democrat who was present but to voted against the rule. Now the rule is what gave the Republicans the ability to advance several different bills on the floor this week, including a resolution that in part related to the advancement of the voter suppression piece of legislation that Donald Trump has been so obsessed with the so-called Save a Matter Act, which is really the suppressed the vote act. So we indicated that it was a significant breach that requires a serious response.

31:39And we have referred the matter to the committee on caucus rules for further discussion and action. House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat from New York, interviewed by Don Lemon on his online show. That statement the Congress will refer to reads the decision by two of our colleagues to blindside the entire House Democratic Caucus and join with Republican majority to pass a procedural rule on the brink of failing represents a significant breach of trust. It is an action that necessitates a serious response and we have asked the committee on caucus rules to take this up in short order. One of the bills that the procedural vote allowed to come up dealt with fishing regulations and that was supported by those two Democrats, one from Maine, the other from Washington State. House Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican from Louisiana, telling reporters that had all the Democrats voted no on the rule on Tuesday, he would have convinced enough Republicans who had voted no to switch to yes to have it pass.

32:47This is not the case. But the idea here that you had helped from the Democratic side of the aisle and some potential threats about the Democrats to punish their members, you ever wanted to punish some of your members as they voted against you? Yes, you know, we always work through our issues and we get people to yes and pass rules even when they're difficult and I thought we might have to do that in case we move forward and we got very important legislation done yesterday. House Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican from Louisiana, answering a question from Fox News Chief Congressional correspondent Chad Pergram. This was not a news conference and that explains the laughter. It was the end of a ceremonial swearing in for the House's newest member, Aisha Wahob, Democrat from California, who won a special election this month to replace former Congressman Eric Swalwell, also a Democrat who resigned in April. The House now has 433 voting members,

33:51218 Republicans, 214 Democrats, one independent Kevin Kylie, who caucuses with the Republicans, and two vacant seats, one in Florida, one in Texas, no special election scheduled to fill them. The House today defeated a proposed constitutional amendment that reads the Supreme Court of the United States shall be composed of nine justices. The vote was 212, the 206, it was a majority, but short of the two thirds needed in order to pass. Forbes explains that reforming how the Supreme Court operates is expected to be part of Congress's agenda next term if Democrats regain control of the House. With House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries saying in August he believes dramatic reform is necessary. I'll speak to Mike Johnson suggested Tuesday Republicans main aim in holding the vote was to force Democrats to publicly come out on whether they are definitively against adding justices telling reporters the vote would make Democrats quote put their money where their mouth is. That was from Forbes. Here's part of the House floor debate. It began with Congressman Andy Biggs,

34:53Republican from Arizona. The Supreme Court's job is to tell the American people the truth about the law even when that truth is unpopular. Even when a president doesn't like it, even when Congress doesn't like it. That only works if the court is independent. Alexander Hamilton expressed this in Federalist 78. He explained that the courts must be insulated from the political branches where they cannot do their job of protecting the rights of the people. Disagreting with the Supreme Court is not just legitimate. It is American. We amend the Constitution or we pass new laws. We elect presidents who appoint different judges. That's how you change outcomes you don't like. That's the process the founders gave us. But there's a world of difference between changing the law and changing the rules of the game because you don't like the last call. Packing the court is not simply a policy disagreement. It is an attempt to change the structure of one of the three branches of government in order to guarantee the outcome you want. That's not reform. That's revolution.

35:57And here's the question every American should ask. If a sitting majority can change the size of the Supreme Court the moment it dislikes rulings, what happens to the next time the other side is in power? What stops them from doing the same thing? As Justice Breyer said, this will start in arms race. Congressman Andy Biggs, Republicans from Arizona, on the House floor. Congressman Jamie Raskin, Democrat from Maryland, spoke against this proposed constitutional amendment. If we decided this on an originalist basis we might move to place 13 justices on the court to match our 13 federal circuits or we might go to six justices which was the original number there. But Maga's proposal is to strip Congress of all authority in the matter to freeze it and cement it permanently in the constitutional architecture for all time with the suddenly magic number nine. This is odd. Nine is neither the number of federal circuits we have. That's 13. Nor is it the original number of justices Congress placed on the court. That was six. So what's going

37:02on here? Well, surprise, surprise America. It's another partisan power grab by Maga. Our colleagues who fear for the results of the November election as their policies have brought us nothing but war, inflation, corruption, lawlessness and a $40 trillion debt. One quarter of it supplied by this presidential administration. So the Maga party wants to cement into place a profoundly partisan and lopsided six three Roberts court that was gerrymandered and engineered by Mitch McConnell after the untimely deaths of Justice Scalia and Justice Ginsburg each in the final year of a presidential term. Congressman Jamie Raskin, Democrat from Maryland on the House floor before the unsuccessful vote to pass this proposed constitutional amendment vote was short of the two thirds needed to 12 to 206. Last time a proposed constitutional amendment was approved by the House was 2005. It required a balanced federal budget. It failed in the Senate. The last time a proposed

38:05constitutional amendment passed both the House and the Senate was 1978. District of Columbia voting rights amendment. It failed ratification by three quarters of the states expired in 1985. This is Washington today on C-SPAN radio. Story from the independent two senior Trump administration officials have stated that Chinese state-owned shipping giant Costco uses hidden onboard equipment to intercept military communications off the coastlines of targeted nations including the United States. According to the officials who asked to remain anonymous discuss the American intelligence assessment Costco maintains a decades-long espionage partnership with Beijing. The arrangement reportedly enables China to gather signal communications from commercial military ships and aircraft across North America, Europe, and Asia. That was from the independent. Chinese espionage was a topic today during a U.S. House Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats and the ability of U.S. intelligence to deal with it. Congressman Joaquin Castro, Democrat from Texas, asked about automatic license plate readers from the company Flock Safety.

39:10ABC News reports there are more than 120,000 Flock Safety cameras actively operating across the U.S. You'll hear an answer from Seth Jones, CSIS senior vice president. The surveillance here is massive. These Flock cameras are even near police departments, military bases for all we know intelligence, important intelligence sites in the United States. Just to give you an example, there was one city in Georgia that allowed up to 2,000 other agencies to access the information from its Flock cameras and it was receiving information from 1,300 other agencies. As you all know, the regulations, the laws and the regulations on security required by these agencies is almost nonexistent. We almost require no security at all from them. Whatever they do is voluntary. My concern here is that we have essentially centralized this pot of data, of surveillance

40:18for China. It doesn't matter whether they own the camera or not. If they can hack into a weekly protected system, they can access the information. I think that that's exactly where we find ourselves today. I'd like to see if you all can speak to that so that we face this hard truth as a country. I would start broad and say that the challenge we saw with Vultiphone was that the Chinese will penetrate a range of critical infrastructure. For me, the cameras are part of a broader challenge of the ability of the Chinese and intent to penetrate systems that include the cameras you talk about, but also CCTVs in private settings, critical infrastructure, financial, healthcare, networks. My question is who is overseeing the cyber defenses of these networks to strengthen on the defensive side

41:19the ability of adversaries to penetrate? I think we all know the answer to that. The answer is that there's very little protection or that it's voluntary. Why would they need to send a spy to take photos when they can hack into the unregulated and vulnerable cameras and just take the data? To me, we've essentially set up an opportunity for espionage by proxy. Congressman Joaquin Castro, Democrat from Texas at today's House Intelligence Committee hearing, the answer coming from one of the witnesses, Seth Jones, senior vice president with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, CSIS, also a former senior defense department official. Congressman Rick Crawford, Republican from Arkansas, the committee chair also mentioned China when he closed out the hearing with a warning about data privacy. I think our whole of government approach is inadequate to defeat the threat that is composed by the Chinese Communist Party. I think we need a whole of society approach and the reason I say that and why this distinction is important to be made, the Chinese Communist Party

42:24owns everything in China. They bring it all to bear against our culture, not just our society, our economy, our entire culture. This is a real threat. I really wish more than 25 years ago we had a panel like this that was brought before Congress and sounded the alarm and maybe we could have prevented a 9-11. But I'm going to tell you this, I have a solemn responsibility to the American people and to the citizens of Arkansas's First Congressional District who put me here that when I see smoke, I've got to tell somebody about it. I see smoke, I see flames. Today I am pulling the alarm. Mark this day in history that on the other side of a God forbid, another calamity on the scale of 9-11 that you three were here warning us and that this committee convened this hearing to do just that to warn the American people. So I'm asking for people who at home who are listening, you don't realize

43:29everything about you, your personal profile, your financial profile, your medical profile, everything about your family, you're giving it up willingly and it's an important piece of the puzzle and taken as a whole, that is how we will be defeated by the Chinese Communist Party. Guard your piece of the puzzle. It's that important. Congressman Rick Crawford, Republican from Arkansas Intelligence Committee Chair at today's hearing on national security threats. Associate of press writing, prominent Hong Kong Pro-Democracy activist Joshua Wong pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security under a Beijing imposed law that has effectively stifled the city's once thriving pro-democracy movement. In Washington DC, House Speaker Marathon Antiploci Democrat from California spoke about this case on the House floor. Rise today to call attention to what is happening in Hong Kong, especially to Joshua Wong, as a teenager led millions of people to the streets of Hong Kong to speak out for democracy

44:33and for freedom in Hong Kong, for the Chinese government to honor its commitment to the basic law which was the foundation of the transition in 1997 from the Great Britain to the Chinese government having control over Hong Kong. Speaking out for freedom should not be against the law. In a sense of basic law, the Chinese have passed its security law, which is anything but security. It's a repression law. And under this law, if Joshua Wong has pleaded guilty to speaking out for freedom, he said, yes, I have done that. He can be sentenced to life for speaking out for freedom. This House, this Congress has always been bipartisan and joining together for freedom, whether it's in Hong Kong, whether Tibet, whether it's wherever in China, human rights in China, let us not forget Joshua Wong at this time and not forget Jimmy Lai at the other end of life.

45:40This is a young teenager who is doing this now as early 20s. Jimmy Lai, who had to end this life in prison. We must speak out for freedom. We must not let this be ignored. The most horrible form of torture that the Chinese have over these people is to tell them, nobody remembers you or why you're here. We want to be sure that they know. We remember them. House Speaker of Marathon Antipelosi, Democrat from California on the House floor in Washington, associated press writing about the Joshua Wong case, the offense is punishable by a prison term of three to ten years, were up to life imprisonment. If the offense is deemed to be of a grave nature, pleading guilty could typically result in a reduced sentence and his lawyers expressed hope for a penalty that would not be crushing. He was already serving a prison term of four years, eight months after entering a guilty plea in a separate national security case linked to an unofficial political primary, that was from AP. From political less than a month ago, a huge bipartisan Senate majority voted to honor the late Senator Lindsey Graham and past legislation,

46:44he pushed aimed at sanctioning Russia's trading partners. Now the bill is at serious risk of languishing in the House, where it's suffering from significant democratic opposition, lack of Republican enthusiasm and fading impetus to honor the late South Carolina Senator, that was from political. From Reuters, European Commission Chief Ursula Van DeLayen vowed on Wednesday to increase pressure on Russia, including with new sanctions after an attempted drone attack at a light-seek airport in Germany that she said showed Moscow's growing recklessness. Airport workers last month found a drone laden with explosives and a detonator at the airport, an important civilian freight and NATO logistics hub in eastern Germany that's also a base for several giant Ukrainian cargo planes. That was from Reuters. Here's Ursula Van DeLayen at a news conference in Brussels at NATO headquarters with the Secretary General Mark Ruta. We meet today to discuss Russia's attack in light-seek. The German government has identified Russia as behind an attempt to attack

47:48cargo planes at light-seek-halla airport. Had this attack succeeded, this would have resulted in enormous damage and possibly even loss of life. So I want to be very clear about what this was. This was an attack using military-grade material carried out by Russian operatives on European Union soil. We will not tolerate it. We stand in full solidarity with Germany. And if the intention was to make us think twice about supporting Ukraine, I can tell you it has only strengthened my resolve. Intimidation will not work and this is why I'm meeting with NATO's Secretary General today. We are united. Europe and NATO will not just maintain our pressure on Russia. We will increase it and we will not stop. Not until Russia stops bombing and killing innocent children,

48:53men and women in Ukraine. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at NATO headquarters in Brussels with the Secretary General Mark Ruta, more from the Reuters article, Russia denies involvement. It says it will respond to what its foreign ministry spokesperson called anti-Russian action and summoned Germany's top diplomat to Moscow. The 81st anniversary of the J-Day victory over Japan Day in the end of World War II was commemorated today with wreath laying at the World War II memorial in Washington, D.C. One of the speakers was David Joho, a World War II U.S. merchant marine veteran. And you may never be able to capture everything here if this is a casual admiration. If you instead search for the meaning of these things and what this ground means to us, this is wholly, wholly ground to us because it represents all of those who cannot speak for themselves.

49:56And I am fortunate to be in an age where there aren't too many of us left. We die, there are 40,000 of us estimated and we die at the rate of 119 every day. But veterans, the whole class is 23, take their lives every day because the truth of being a veteran is things happen to you that you don't want to talk about. You shared about your husband, your father, and how much they were willing to talk about it because it's about here because the un-stung yet significant number of people who suffer post-traumatic stress. We can't correct it, can't even sure it, can we understand it. And the World War II supposedly ended on August 15th, that's where I was in the Pacific, August 4th, 15th, 1945, and four days later, I turned 17. And then I mourn, I weep for those who cannot speak, and I weep for our

51:03educational system which doesn't provide an understanding of what it is we went through. I was fortunate, I've been invited twice as a guest speaker in the D-Day. And this year I sat at the table with the producer, the director of a movie called Saving Private Rhyme. And I said to them, there is one passage in there that is so significant. It deals with an old man kneeling out across and he is searching for a name and he weeps as he says these words in that film. Did I lead a worthy life? Did what we did have significance? Did what we say and do today have significance? And the answer is yes, if you make it so. David Yoho World War II, US Merchant Marine

52:09Veteran, today at the World War II Memorial in Washington DC on this VJ Day, the 81st anniversary of the end of the war in 1945 with the formal surrender of Japan on the USS Missouri. About 16 million Americans served in the Armed Forces during World War II, about 400,000 died. David Yoho said there about 40,000 World War II veterans still alive. And finally on Seaspen Radio's Washington today is the House of Representatives returns to session after its August break. Today they honored the late country singer Dolly Parton who died last week at the age of 80. You'll hear from Congresswoman Diana Harsh Barger, Republican of Tennessee and Congressman Steve Cohen, Democrat of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to speak out of order. The general woman is recognized. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a true daughter of Tennessee Dolly Parton, a woman who needs no introduction. Dolly was the native of my district in East Tennessee

53:10and she was from Locust Ridge in Severe County. She never forgot where she came from. Her music told the truth about hard work and faith and family and that truth is why the whole world fell in love with Dolly. But it was her heart that made her a legend back home. She rebuilt the community after the wildfires in 2016 that tore through Severe County. She opened doors for children to learn to read through her imagination library. She supported health care and research for Tennessee families and she protected the mountains that she loved. Most people will know her theme park this in the district called Dollywood. She was guided by her faith in her East Tennessee upbringing and Dolly used her success to lift people up around her at every turn. My prayers are with her family and everyone who loved her. The Tennessee delegation is committed to ensuring that her legacy is remembered for generations to come. And with that, Mr. Speaker, I'm going to give to my colleague, Representative Cohen.

54:18Thank you. This is my first opportunity to serve as the dean of the Tennessee delegation and it didn't come too soon. Time running out. Dolly Parton was a phenomenal Tennessee and the best representative we ever had. She never looked down on anybody. She had a big heart. She never there was a tragedy or somebody in need. She came forward and wanted it to be anonymous. She was a good human being and she had a beautiful voice. I had a friend who was involved in music business in the early 70s in Laurel Canyon when the Eagles and all were getting together. And he told me about Dolly being out there and that's where she got to know Linda Ronstadt and others and he said she had such a beautiful voice and she did. She will be remembered forever for all she did for humanity. Tennessee is proud to have her and will always love her. Thank you. Congressman Steve Cohen, Democrat of Tennessee and before that, Congresswoman Diana Harshberger, Republican of Tennessee on the House floor surrounded by other

55:19members of the Tennessee congressional delegation and they did ask for a moment of silence for Dolly Parton who died last week. Thanks for listening to Washington Today. Remember next week is the first ever Republican National Midterm Convention and C-SPAN is the only network bringing you every speech, every speaker in every minute. It'll be live and uninterrupted so you can watch, listen and decide for yourself. From Dallas Wednesday September 9th and Thursday September 10th from 3-11 PM Eastern. At the same time, C-SPAN two television will be following Democrats on the campaign trail in key battleground states. Check out C-SPAN.org or our free app C-SPAN now for more information. Hope you have a good night.