c-span now, your front row seat washington, any time, anywhere. >> since 1979, in partnership with the cable industry, c-span has provided complete coverage of the halls of congress, from the house and senate floors to congressional hearings, party briefings, and committee meetings. c-span gives you a front row seat of how issues are debated and decided, with no commentary, no interruptions, and completely unfiltered. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. ahead and open up our phone lines for open forum. you can continue to call in with your remembrances or thoughts about former first lady rosalynn

carter, but you can also call in for any topic, any political topic or news of the day. we are now in open forum. democrats, your line is (202)-748-8000. republicans, (202)-748-8001. independents, (202)-748-8002. you can also send us a text message at (202)-748-8003. remember to include your name and where you live. we are on facebook and x and instagram. it is time for open forum. your thoughts on any political topics or news of the day, but of course you can continue to speak about rosalynn carter. stanley in massachusetts, what are your thoughts this morning? caller: my thoughts are with jimmy carter, who was the

president who put us on the right track, that we have to take care of the world. it was said that he caused problems but it was debunked. he was ahead of his time. and today, we have the orange sky in the morning and orange sky at night. a dangerous guy. that's sulfur dioxide. both acidic properties. taking down the oceans. oxygen levels are falling. the only thing that treats all of that back is to use sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide. host: we appreciate your call this morning.

as we shift into open forums, i want to bring up, this is today's usa today front page. of course on the front page, there is an article about former first lady rosalynn carter and her advocacy, particular when it comes to health. there is an article about food banks and how inflation is affecting food banks and nonprofits, but i want to talk about an article, a third article that is on today's new york times front page, and the headline says black voters more in play in 2024. it is a look at what issues, particularly our important -- particularly are important to black voters in the upcoming 2024 election. i will read an excerpt from this article. it says, a core part of the democratic coalition, black

americans appears to be more in play than ever after recent polls show former president donald trump pulling support from a shocking 22% of black voters in six key battleground states. the president joe biden won 92% of black support in 2020, a september yahoo! news poll found that only 66% of black voters would choose him if the 2024 election were held that month. the november 7 election results showed that black voters are still performing for democratic candidates and issues. black voters laid an important role in enshrining abortion rights in the ohio state constitution and in flipping the virginia house to democratic control while rejecting a black republican candidate for governor in kentucky earlier this month, demonstrate and their enduring electoral strength, even as questions emerge over the ski group's --

over this key group's support for biden. that is usa today, an interesting article about the role of black voters as we look ahead to 2024. we are in open forum. we want to hear your thoughts about politics or the news of the day. let's go to san francisco, california. marylin, what are your thoughts? caller: i wanted to comment on rosalynn carter. like your other caller you had i think from grass valley, i am too young to remember the carter administration, but i would like to hear more about how she advocated for mental health, because i don't know if there was a reason, that she had it in her family or what you did specific we to advocate for it, but i do remember the reagan

administration growing up and i know how he decimated mental health care by closing all of the facilities and when i was growing up, that was the first time i ever started to see on house people on the streets, when reagan decided to close all of the mental care facilities. i would like to know what she did prior to his destruction of that system and i would just like to say one of the thing about first lady's in general. i want to say that we really should honor their service to our country. they are the unsung heroes. a lot of times, i don't care what their cause is, whether they are republican, they really do set aside their lives to be in the spotlight for four to eight years or whatever it is, and serve our country's needs, and i don't think that is mentioned enough, even with betty ford and what she did, post white house, starting the

recovery movement. i think it needs to be talked about more. thank you. host: thank you. let's go to goddess, calling from new haven, connecticut on the democrat line. caller: yes, excuse my voice, i have a bad cold, but i am so sorry for their loss. both of them were very good people and no one has mentioned the housing projects that they did, for people who couldn't afford a house. that is all i have to say. we need more people like the carter's. . i am sorry for their loss. that is all i have to say. host: our previous caller said she wanted to hear a little bit more about rosalynn carter's

legacy when it came to advocating for mental health. i want to start by bringing up the carter center. this is the nonprofit that the former first lady and former president started after they left the white house and of course there are a lot of tributes here. a lot of discussion about the different things they did. npr in their obituary about rosalynn carter, specifically addressed her work on mental health and i will read a portion of that. it says in the white house, carter's top priority was mental health. it was a passion she developed years earlier when she was campaigning across georgia and heard from people who had family members struggling with mental health. there were a few community-based mental health services in georgia at the time, especially for children and carter became

concerned by the deficiencies in state resources which included hospitals and institutions that were known for mistreating patients. as first lady of georgia, carter encouraged her husband to establish a governor's commission on mental health which outlined an influential plan to shift treatment from large institutions to community centers. there is a quote from a person who said she really began the effort in this country to modernize mental health care and the mental health care system that we have today in many ways reflects her 50 years of advocacy. carter was also an early advocate for reducing the stigma around mental illness and in speeches, often framed mental health care as a quote, basic human right. in 1980, president carter signed the mental health systems act which provided grants for

community mental health clinics, one of many achievements credited at least in part to his wife's advocacy in the u.s. and globally. that's a little bit more from npr about former first lady carter and her advocacy on mental health. we aren't open forum. you can talk about rosalynn carter or any other news of the day or political topic on your mind. democrats, (202)-748-8000. republicans, (202)-748-8001. independents, (202)-748-8002. let's hear from david in upstate, new york. independent line. what are your thoughts? caller: i was going to say, the polling don't mean nothing. joe biden is going to win. pay attention to the 13 keys of the presidency.

that's all i've got to say. host: thanks david. selena is next in rochester, new york, democrat line. go ahead. caller: good morning. i would like to have a few words about rosalynn carter. i respect her so much for being a woman and a lady. she seemed to have been married to a man who respected her rights as a woman and she was not hampered in any kind of way as long as she was thinking for the people. i'm not feeling sad that she has passed away because she really lived a wonderful life of service and being a leader. thank you. host: thank you. the previous caller mentioned the polls and said that democrats shouldn't worry about the polls. this is an article from politico. it was published just last night

and it says five ways democrats are coping with bidens terrible polls. i want to read the beginning of the article. it says, poll after poll has brought bad news for joe biden, what of the incumbent president is trailing his likely 2024 republican challenger, hitting a new low in approval or seeing the majority of democrats raise concerns about his age. the numbers should be disconcerting for the biting camp. despite the grim data, so far democrats are sticking with their man. rather than confronting just how bleak things look at the moment, any democrats are finding solace in a cycle of self soothing spin that explains away difficult political reality and says here are some of the rationalizations. the first one, biden was underestimated in 2022 -- 2020

too. many people like to point back to the 2020 election as proof that biden can beat the odds. people doubted biden then and they turned out to be wrong. i will read a quote. the campaign can either build a campaign that is knee-jerk responsive to the same washington sources that were wrong in 2020 or they can put in the historic time and money they are right now, to mobilize their coalition to win a year from now. personally, i think acer certainty centered on voters, not washington is the right one, one pro biden source told politico playbook. that is some of the analysis. we know the polls have not been great for president biden but we also know there are a lot of democrats who say they are going to stick beside him. we are in open forum, we want to

hear from you about the news of the day, to bring up some of those topics. let's take a look at this morning's new york times front page. i like to go through all of the front pages. it is interesting to see how different media kind of breaks down what they think is important on the day. the new york times front page has a lot of ground. i will start with at the very top of the -- they get into both the war in ukraine as well as the war between israel and hamas that right now is in gaza and in gaza, over the weekend, 31 infants were evacuated from a hospital in gaza. i will read a little bit from the new york times. the latest on the war in gaza between israel and hamas. it says four days after -- but

is really troops, the gaza's largest hospital has become a quote, death zone. 31 premature babies in extremely precarious health were evacuated on sunday. emergency medical workers from the palestine red crescent society and the who, united nations agency transported the babies by ambulance from the hospital to the neonatal intensive care unit of a hospital in the city of -- about 25 miles away in southern gaza. that is the latest from the war in gaza. the new york times also does have a tribute to first lady rosalynn carter. but they also talk about the election in argentina, and why that is of news, because the new

leader of argentina is considered a far right personality, somewhat similar to former president trump. i will read just a little bit of that as well. it says argentina elect -- in three for far right. argentines chose how your melina -- javier melia, a far right leader who has drawn strong comparisons to donald trump, a large -- 53, an economist and former television personality, has burst onto the traditionally closed argentine political scene with a embrace of conspiracy theories and extreme proposals

he says are needed to upend a broken economy and government. that is the latest on argentina elections. that is the news of the day, that we are covering right now. we are in open forums. it is your chance to weigh in on any political topic that is on your mind. give us a call. democrats, (202)-748-8000. (202)-748-8001 republicans. independents, (202)-748-8002. you can also send us a text message, (202)-748-8003. or hit us up on our social media. facebook, twitter and instagram. we would love to hear your thoughts this monday morning, but we are also mourning the loss of former first lady rosalynn carter. here is her speaking during an event in 2010.

[video clip] >> he ran for governor the first time and lost. we got in late, the leading democratic candidate dropped out. this was 1966, a long time ago. so no one -- we can't just let him have it, so we got in, we didn't have long to campaign, but i got in the car and drove from one town to the next and passed out brochures and went on to the next town, a very disorganized campaign. 1963, the health center -- was passed and they were beginning to move people out of our central state hospital's, big institution, overcrowded, terrible conditions, into the community but there were no community mental health centers

yet. i had so many people ask me, what will your husband do if he is elected governor? they kept saying that and one day i was standing at the gate of a factory in atlanta, georgia for the shift change. that is a great place to be because a whole bunch of people coming in and a lot going out, passing out brochures and this woman came out and she was really small, elderly, and i said -- you could tell how tired she was from working all night. i said i hope when you get home, you can get some sleep and she said, i hope so too because -- but we have a mentally ill daughter and we struggle to pay for her care and my husband stays with her at night while i work and i stay with her in the daytime while he works. that haunted me. what was she going to find when

she got home? worrying all day about if their child was awake when she got home. i was thinking about whether she got any sleep. that time, i came to town, jimmy was going to be in that night and i told you it was a disorganized campaign. so i stayed, he didn't know i was there. it was a big rally close to the election. i got in the back of the room and he was shaking hands and i don't know whether you stand and receiving lines but it is a part of my life and he was talking to someone like this and reach for the next hand and he had my hand and i got in front of him and he said what are you doing here? i said i want to know what you are going to do when you're governor for people with mental illness.

he said we are going to have the best program in the country i'm going to put you in charge of it. [laughter] he didn't put me in charge of it because i didn't know anything about it, but when he was elected governor, i think it was only about a month before they established the governor's commission to improve service to mentally and emotionally handicapped and i worked on that for 40 years and we actually put community mental health centers in 123 communities but they were not comprehensive. some of them were offices in the center of town where people could go to find out where to get help. i was really proud of it. host: we are back. "washington journal" again.

that was former first lady rosalynn carter, speaking at an event in 2010. she died on sunday at the age of 96. you can call us now to either reflect on rosalynn carter's life or you can weigh in on any political topic or news of the day that is on your mind. we are in open forum. joyce is calling on the democrat line from silver spring, maryland. go ahead. caller: good morning and thank you so much for taking my call. this is my first call to c-span. i live in silver spring but i am a nurse by training and i had worked at the children's hospital in washington, d.c.. i came to washington, d.c. in 1978 when president carter and misses carter were in the white house. i recalled so many visits that they had made to the children's hospital. at that time we were just

learning about and beginning to treat and intervene for abused and neglected children, particularly children who were victims of child sexual abuse and it was pioneering work at that time and it caught the interest of mrs. carter. in her efforts toward advocating for children with mental health needs, it was a tremendous help and pioneer work, not only here in d.c. but throughout the country. it was several occasions when they visited the hospital and interacted with the staff. all of the children who had various physical injuries as well. they encouraged all of us as staff, young physicians and nurses, and made our work so much more manageable in the area

where we were developing protocol, ways of interviewing and talking with children, and from that point, to this day, i have spent my entire career focusing as an advocate on children with needs and children's issues. we had a department in the hospital for child health advocacy and so they spearheaded the visits and we were fortunate because we were in washington, d.c., to get the involvement of many individuals who were certainly -- but carter sticks out. she was quiet and a very thoughtful person and as she asked questions about the kinds of problems that we were seeing, the kinds of developmental issues that the children had and how did we go about trying to

gather information and providing support, not only to the children but to the parents as well, i would always speak very highly of her. host: we appreciate you calling in, being a first-time washington journal caller. you did great this morning, sharing your thoughts about the former first lady. we are going to go next to hyattsville, maryland. on the independent line, what is your comment this morning? i think we lost them. let's try katie in michigan, republican line. katie? caller: yes. host: go ahead with your comment. caller: first off, i want to say

-- number two, winter the democrats going to wake up to what is going on in our country? i have been a democrat for many years. but i sure am a republican now. after what we went through in the last year. host: all right. let's go to philadelphia, pennsylvania -- pennsylvania. miller is calling on the democrat line. you are on. caller: how are you doing? host: doing well. caller: calling to let you know

that i sell lumber. host: turn down your tv and keep going. caller: i just wanted to let you know, the carter's were pretty good for building houses and habitats. i used to haul lumber for them and i wanted you to know that they were everyday people. they were not bougie. they wouldn't let him cut lumber so much but she would be there with him and they be working together. host: appreciate those reflections on the carter's this morning. let's hear from janice now in louisiana, independent line.

go ahead. caller: hello. rosalynn and jimmy carter are wonderful examples. look out for the south american dictators and mike johnson is dangerous. he speaks one way to one group and another way to another group. he wants to be president and will do anything to get there. joe biden is good, the world respects him and vice president kamala harris is a strong woman. immigrants can be handled. with respect and care. we and putin should get out of ukraine. china is trying to help. he is>> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back.

we are in open form, your chance to weigh in on any political topic or news of the day. democrat line is [indiscernible] [indiscernible] (202) 748-8000, republicans c-span.org (202) 748-8001,s independent (202) 748-8002. this is an article from npr. i will read a little bit from this npr morning edition article.

that's the article from npr about today's hearing.

caller: i am glad to see some traction is going to happen on raising the tax cap on the social security trust fund. currently it is $160,200, and if they raise the cap to $200,000 or less, social security could be saved for 75 years. the republican in my district, i wrote him a letter, he refuses to do that because he says it is a tax. all of my seniors out there, you need to get with your congressional leaders and talk about the bill raising the cap. robert reich trying to push that, i'm trying to push that,

because right now the social security trust fund will only be able to pay benefits 77% starting in 2032, because we in this country pay out social security helps 26 million americans and there is a lot of seniors that only rely on social security. so i urge my aarp people, senior people, to contact your congressman about the bill raising the cap to save social security for 75 years or more, because right now the tax cap is $160,200, and if they raise up to $200,000 or less, they will be able to capture those funds. host: connie is next -- let me know how to pronounce it -- illinois. republican line. caller: thank you for taking my

call. i really would have wanted to speak to that young man before, when he was talking about the corruption and conspiracy theories and everything. i wonder what he would have thought when he heard president obama's right-hand man the other day when he said joe biden should not run again. but he is planning on there being enough corruption to put him back in office. now, that's from president obama's right-hand man axelrod. and that's not a republican statement. that was a democrat.

host: all right, connie, appreciate your call. joy in louisiana, independent line. caller: yes, ma'am, i appreciate you taking my call. i want to thank the man that just was on talking about social security, and i will do what he said. and also i want to say that i don't think they should stop donald trump from saying whatever he wants. it was ok for nancy pelosi, chuck schumer, all them to get out there and say things. they need to let donald trump alone. if they don't want him to be president, then they need to leave alone. as far as trying to put that man in jail for what hillary clinton did? she should have been in jail. so, i mean, so that's what

really makes me think they want -- the democrats want to go after him because they know they can't get him in their back pockets. that's all i got to say. host: all right, joy. next up, georgia. gwen on the democratic line. caller: hi. thank you for taking my call. i just want to say about that man that called from virginia spouting all of that crazy conspiracy stuff about president biden. i am so tired of these people talking about what they know absolutely nothing about. they put those together but they forget and listen to the other name, trump, the main one corruption. i am amazed at people that call in and support of a man they

know has done wrong. they claim to be religious and espouse all of these religious views about trump is a great president. do they call up another president and asked -- the greatest president would call up the people in faith and ask him -- [indiscernible] the greatest president we've ever had? i mean, come on, people. i'm tired of hearing all this craziness espoused on the line. thank you for taking my call. host: all right, gwen. marcy is up next in north carolina, republican line. caller: good morning. yesterday the "washington journal" chose a forum that was

unfair concerning the faith and belief system. the body of christ were preparing for the weekly worship service. calling into "washington journal" was the last thing on their mind. let me say all people have a belief system. it is in everything they do. so the world takes their tools into the marketplace, but expects christians to lay down their christian values, so christians do not buy into that. the biggest problem that christians have is they look at the same secular news that the world uses. we have options, christians have got to look at the world through a christian perspective. we've got people like victor davis hanson, bob woodson, programs like "faith nation,"

"focus today," cal thomas, church, we have got to look at the world through a church perspective. thank you for taking my call. host: all right, marcy. robin is up next, independent line, kentucky. caller: yes, i would like to caution everyone about what has been said so far in this country has seen far too many people who are comfortable in their own ignorance, bigotry, and vanity. this is something we will have to look for through self reflection and reassessment before we open our mouths. thank you. host: all righty. we are in open forum right now. your chance to weigh in on any political topic or news of the day. democrats, your line is (202) 748-8000. republicans, (2048