>> jessica vaughan of the can do for immigration studies talks about efforts by the donald trump administration to withhold grants from so-called sanctuary cities for their efforts to keep illegal immigrants from being deported. in the senior correspondent and government executive discusses the current size of the federal workforce amid the potential cuts to the force by the trump administration. watch "washington journal," live at 7:00 a.m. eastern monday morning. join the discussion. >> the confirmation process for supreme court nominee neil gorsuch continues this week in the senate judiciary committee and the full senate.

we learn more about the week ahead by talking to a capitol hill reporter. -- joining us is a senior staff writer for the hill. as a neil gorsuch nomination goes to the senate floor, who are the key senators we should be watching? >> two democrats came out on thursday in support, joe mensch of west virginia and north dakota, two states trump won in big margins. there are eight other democrats to watch, and an independent. the democrats are dianne feinstein, the ranking democrat on the judiciary committee. she is worried about roe v. wade being overturned. there is an argument it is better for the democrats to allow neil gorsuch to go through so they do not lose the ability to filibuster the next up import vacancy, which could make the difference with abortion-rights. the others to watch include members like claire mccaskill,

jon tester and joe donnelly, who came from states that donald trump won by double digits, as well as some pragmatists, mark warner and chris coons of virginia and delaware respectively. they are pro-business democrats and less likely to be swayed by arguments that neil gorsuch is too pro-business. >> you mentioned the filibuster. democratic leaders have announced their intentions to filibuster republicans. then, coming back and saying, we could use the nuclear option to break that. give us a little history how this was used back in 2013. and then how it might be used this time around. >> democrats say this is continuing the option the harry reid began.

that the 60 vote threshold for nominees is all but gone, so they might as well get rid of it for the supreme court as well. they say historically there successfuleen a partisan filibuster of a supreme court nominee, though there was a bipartisan filibuster that blocked the ascension to chief justice in 1968. they say this is returning the senate to where it has always then, where nominees are usually confirmed by simple majority votes. democrats say they explicitly carved out the supreme court nominee when they changed the rules in 2013 because they thought the court was too important. because of the important election to the highest court of the land, you need to have some consensus. if mitch mcconnell goes ahead and triggers the nuclear option, he would essentially need a ruling from the chair, most likely mike pence.

he would will that you only need a simple majority to invoke closure on the nominee and move him to a final up or down vote. that really would have to be sustained by a simple majority on the floor. republicans say they are unified on the issue and mitch mcconnell likely has the votes, but chuck schumer, the democratic leader, is skeptical and think they could be -- think there could be defection. >> thank you so much, alex. >> thank you. somence that interview, democratic senators have stated their position. claire mccaskill has announced she will vote against neil gorsuch. while joe donnelly says he plans to support the nomination. follow live senate debate all week on c-span 2 and www.c-span.org. you can also listen through the free c-span radio app.

>> all month we are featuring our student cam winners the videocam competition. this year students told us the most urgent issue for the new president and congress. our second prize high school winner our 11th and 12th graders from elk grove. michelle kwan and chris are students at frequent high school and their documentary of lgbt there be an conversion, take a look. are 318.9 million people living in the united states. 12,756,000 people of those identify themselves as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered. >> they have been receiving more attention, but not all of the attention has been positive. one of these issues is conversion therapy. >> we are going to end the

harmful practice of so-called conversion therapy. of so-called conversion therapy. >> conversion therapy. it is a topic that has come up in the last election and in recent years. but what is it really. to answer this question we turn to some experts. >> it has to do with changing somebody from gay to straight, usually is what it means, never the other way around. that is within the context of some sort of group therapy thing. there is usually a religious backing behind it, meaning they are converting into a religion. so, that is reparative therapy. there is a psychological approach to conversion therapy. it goes by the belief that there was some kind of disconnect between the male and his father or the female and her mother. >> make no mistake, conversion therapy is not about praying away the gay. it is an emotional torture

against our most innocent citizens, our children. >> according to the american psychological association, sexual orientation was unlikely to change due to sexual orientation change efforts and the national association of social workers states conversion therapy cannot and will much change sexual orientation. >> these psychologists stay there is no scientific evidence that conversion therapy is useful or effective. in fact, there are no scientific studies that indicate that there are any positive benefits from conversion therapy. >> despite this, both reparative therapies exist. sexual orientation change efforts have been around since the 1800s. first, do no harm, the lgbt q population reports reads that the early and extreme attempts included electroshock, lobotomies, and castration. these techniques are not in use

by modern practitioners, but conversion therapy is still harmful. >> what is happening in the shadows, where parents would find their kids up to be converted and some teen would come in the middle of the night and snatch them in the middle of the night and take into this camp where they would be converted to try and fix something in a child that was not wrong. these are the harsh practices that go back decades in an attempt to beat the gay out of them. their identity, whether it be their sexual orientation or gender identity, trying to force somebody to be something that they are not can be incredibly damaging to their development as an individual, to their relationships with others, and can really put additional stresses on their life that will cause harm across the spectrum of their development. >> while these their views have dangers of their own, their existence speaks to a larger problem concerning the safety and existence of lgbtq's.

>> the world in which lgbt's are growing up can often be hostile. there are assumptions people make. >> whether they were older or when jorda -- or went through it in my age group, or they were younger, it was the same place being uncomfortable being gay in their social environment. nine times out of 10 there is a religious element to this. regardless of this, there is an overwhelming sense of shame, being who you are because the environment in which you are raised says, this isn't right, you're not living up to your best. we know from the research that people who have gone through --version therapy tend to they are more suicidal, partly because the families are not as excepting, they don't have that acceptance. they tend to have a constant feeling they have failed god. they feel they never seem to be

who they are supposed to be because there is, like what i went through, there is this feeling that something is always wrong with you. >> according to the human rights campaign, highly projected lgbt's were more likely to be at risk for hiv and std's. >> at a really basic level, just love the child. not only to help them be whoever they want to be -- they could be a fireman or an astronaut or a teacher, but also tell them they can be whoever they want. they can have the opportunity to own genderr identity. of course, we as individuals cannot change every environment, every mind. hey are of lgbtq's feel t not accepted and 44% feel the same about the local government. governments are meant to protect them and their rights.

some states have recognized the harm of conversion therapy and of supporting it. it is illegal in california, oregon, illinois, vermont, new jersey, and washington dc. the five states out of 50 is not enough. we ask you, our congress and new president, to take on the urgent issue of conversion therapy and ban the practice in 2017. we ask you to stand up for america's lgbt youth. take a stand alongside our nation's capital. inor if you left behind or forgotten. all minors should be protected by their government. to watch all of the prize-winning documentaries in this year's studentcam competition, visit studentcam.org. >> next, the head of u.s.

central command, general joseph votel testifies on security challenges in the middle east. he also talks about a new investigation started by the military to determine if the u.s. was responsible for recent civilian casualties in mosul, iraq. this hearing was held by the house armed services committee. it is just under two hours. >> committee will come to order. today >> today we turn our attention to military power has been engaged since 1991.