♪ host: good morning to get it is sunday, february 18 -- good morning.

it is sunday, february 18, 2024. the national debt this set to reach a record high and interest on the debt is threatening to crowd out our other priorities. this morning, we want to hear your ideas to address the national debt. our phone line for republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents can call in at (202) 748-8002. you would like to text us that number is (202) 748-8003. please be sure to let us know your name and where you are writing in from. you can also go to facebook.com and x. last wednesday, the cbo director about the top one budget projections in front of congress. here are some comments. [video clip] >> the budget predictions we

released last week, the deficit grows to $2.6 trillion in 2024, measures in relation to economic output, deficits during the coming decade are about 50% larger than their historical average over the past 50 years. net interest costs are a major contributor to the deficit. they are equal to about three quarters of the increase in the deficit from 2024 to 2034. by the end of that 10 year period, net interest costs are roughly 1.5 times larger than either defense or nondiscretionary spending. they are also boosting deficits, two familiar underlying trends, the aging of the population and the growth in federal health care costs per beneficiary. those trends put upward pressure on mandatory spending. from the 9% in 2024 to 116% in 2034 surpassing the historical

peak. debt continues to rise to him reaching 172% of gdp 30 years out. host: let's look at some reaction from various members of congress about the national debt. here we have a tweet from the house budget committee. democrats on fairbury seven saying america's economy is this druggist in the world and today the cbo report shows american families will continue to benefit from falling inflation, steady job creation, and sustained economic growth. that is when the cbo's budget projection came out u on forever a sev -- out on february 7. and then the debt is increasing per hour, that means the debt is piling up at about one dollar per hour per u.s. citizen 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. imagine trying to work off this debt. another democrat, represent of

mark pocan, we noticed have discussions around the national debt seemed to magically surface when we talk about investing in health care and education but take a backseat when it comes to exorbitant military spending. a republican says for every second, we add nearly $88,000 to our national debt. this is completely unsustainable and why i helped introduce a balanced budget to compel the federal government to operate within its means, getting our nation's fiscal health back on track. at a final quote from another republican -- and a final quote from another republican, for the first time in american history our interest spending will eclipse defense spending. this is not sustainable. let's go to a bit more data about the national debt here from the peter j peterson foundation. it says while the covid-19

pandemic exacerbated an unsustainable fiscal trajectory, the national debt was already growing because of the fundamental imbalance between spending and revenues that will continue to grow into the future. the congressional budget office project that federal spending will climb from 23.1% of growth domestic product in 2024 to 27.9% by 2054. that growth is largely due to spending on health care and retirement programs for elderly americans along with rapidly growing interest costs. revenues on the other hand are only projected to climb 17.5% in gdp in 2024 to 18.8% in 2054. and here is a chart showing that, this match between spending and revenues. you can see here that revenue has gone up, is projected to go up. this is where we have been so far, but spending is projected to go up as revenues are projected to stay more or less

flat. and as i mentioned previously, the health care costs are a driving contributed to those costs. here is the way that the united states spends on health care compared to other countries. the u.s. health care costs per capita, per person being roughly $12,555 a year. now let's go to one of your calls. rob is in new york on our independent line. good morning, rob. caller: good morning. thank you again for taking my call. this is real low hanging fruit again. the answer is pre-obvious. -- the answer is pretty obvious. the tax rate was to pay for the wars we just came out of, and we just came out of a whole bunch more, 20 years in afghanistan, screwing around in iraq,

helping neighbors. they should raise the tax rate on the richest people from 91% to 95% until the debt is paid off. it is pretty simple you know so i don't understand why c-span is going here. when the world is on fire, joe biden is being tried, he is being impeached, and will you guys cover that? no. you covered trump's impeachment everyday but you will not cover biden. why is that, c-span? host: i want to go back to last week's hearing where we heard from representative jan jankowski, a democrat from illinois, asking the cbo director about the role specifically that immigration plays in the u.s. economy. let's go to that. [video clip] >> to me, one of the key findings from your research is that immigration actually has a really positive effect on our

economy. unfortunately, yesterday the secretary mayorkas was removed, doing nothing to help with the problem of immigrants or the border. but in fact, overall, immigration is a good thing. it looks like you found that you project that the economy could grow $7 trillion -- was that -- over the next decade. and also that found that the government itself revenue would be increased, it is estimated, by $1 trillion over the next

period. so i wonder if you could comment on immigration, why it is a plus for our economy, and what you think of comprehensive immigration reform instead of kicking people out of their office, if it would do something? >> thank you. it is a key finding in our report, the role of immigration in the economy and the budget. of course, i recognize there are many aspects to immigration, and the sepia was focused on the economics and budget but i want to start by acknowledging the social and security aspects and many others. we find that the labor force is more than 5 million people higher at the end of the 10 year window than we previously expected, and that is because of the surge of immigration. records means more output, more income -- more workers means more applicable more income, and

higher rep, the $1 trillion figure you mentioned. >> so the answer is we need the workers and would have more workers if we had more immigrants in this country. is that what you are saying? workers. >> that is right. the domestic utility in the united states as been declining, and there is a sense to which immigration is now offsetting the decline in fertility. host: that was the cbo director talking to members of congress about the recent semiannual report on the debt and deficit. let's look a bit more for information on where our federal dollars go. here is a chart that says most of the budget goes to defense, social security, and major health programs with 13% of the budget going to defense, 21% to social security, 24% includes

health-care programs like medicare and medicaid. economic security programs, 8%. benefits for veterans and federal retirees, and then interests on the national debt is another 10%. and there is a category here that breaks it out even further for smaller percentages. 4% on education. 2% on transportation. 1% for natural resources and agriculture. 1% for science and medical research. 1% for law enforcement. 1% for international aid. 4% for all other. let's go to more of your calls. jeffrey is in greensboro, north carolina, on our independent line. good morning, jeffrey. caller: yes, good morning. thank you very much for taking michael as my call and this is a very -- taking my call, and this is a very important topic today. the breakdown about how immigrants do magnify our

economy and more importantly in america you have immigrants because it takes down the stigma, just keeping a particular people in this country. host: jeffrey, what are your ideas to address the national debt moving forward? caller: yes, i feel the national debt is very important because if we have two that's political bodies -- two sets, political bodies debating war, immigration, that should be rectified. but you don't have the same outrageous going back and forth when it comes as a point you said to defense. a high budget for that. they are just shooting rockets up to the moon, going to mars. there is no debate on tv or in

america about how we will pass the bill to fund that. it gets funded. so there is no question -- host: you think we should be spending less on defense to address the national debt? caller: in all respect america . host: ok, let's go to ray and pensacola on our republican line. caller: good morning. how are you? host: i am well, thank you. how do you we should address national debt? caller: we need to cut back on programs. i know when i had a mortgage commitment time i saw the monthly bill, the interest, paying the interest, all that is is somebody making money off of me. but also, i understand $80 million was spent on aid. a museum or a library for a deceased x congressperson -- ex,

that came out of covid money. how can we keep doing things like that? our current president said we had to borrow money to get out of debt when he was vice president. that makes no sense whatsoever. we are spending a lot of money right now on our defense to try to help other countries. we are spending a lot more than anybody else on defense overseas . i want to see the end of it. i am 81 years old. host: ray, there are several pending pieces of legislation in congress related to foreign aid, including aid to ukraine, israel, as well as some asian countries as well. what do you think of that foreign aid? caller: well let's go back to ukraine. we were helping ukraine before russia attacked them. russia attacked them, we are

pouring money in there. to me, it looks like a stalemate. we will send another billions of dollars over there for two or three years and have another stalemate. it is not accomplishing what we thought it would. host: ok, thank you, ray. john is in massachusetts. good morning, john. caller: good morning. it is not a stalemate. it is preventing world war iii and it is our responsibility as a superpower of the world. i will tell that gentleman that there are bigger problems that eclipsed what he is talking about. the elephant in the room to be is we have a wealthy class that is leeching off of society incrementally over decades to the point where the average person can't afford a house, can't afford health care, can't afford a car, has to work multiple jobs. this is not the american dream. though -- the wealthy class

is skimming off of us every single day. host: what do you think should be done in terms of the national debt? caller: we need to bring in more revenue from this class that is leeching off of us, and it is so obvious we created a society that cares for the business, not the citizen, and we have drifted away from that so far to the point where we have almost half the nation's conservatives -- nation's conservatives getting on their knees for this concept and taking the perverted bootstraps story that he's to have some validity maybe some decades ago and they are kind of weaponizing it to pull the wool over everyone's eyes here. it is pretty simple. tax the rich. tax the wealthy. bring in revenue. this is not a spending issue on programs. in america, we have social programs. we have homeless people rotting in the street.

we have people not getting health care that they need. this is not a welfare issue. conservatives would like to brainwash everyone into believing. this does not have to do with social programs. all right? host: revenues and higher taxes is your solution. let's hear from alan in florida on our democratic line. what are your ideas to deal with the national debt? caller: the national debt is a hoax. there is really no crisis. it was salt a long time ago. we have to learn by history. back with eisenhower, the national debt was a little higher than what it is today. it was 100% of gdp, and today it is 100% of gdp. just a little bit lower. eisenhower was president, and he had world war ii and created debt.

plus, at the end of his term, he started the interstate highway system, which is the biggest infrastructure program ever. so he did all of that and started paying down all of that debt. how did he do that? he did that by taxing the rich at 91%. so the rich could only take home nine dollars on the last $100 they earned. they had to pay taxes, $91. and now we have a debt that is as high as it was when eisenhower was president and the economy is doing great. so why would you say that debt is a big problem? obviously, it is not. today it is not a problem. inflation is ok. everything is running good. so there is no reason to be upset about the debt. none at all. host: because you brought up some history, i wanted to point to a chart that actually looks

at national debt and how much it changed over time. so here you have this chart by u.s. presidents in the 20th and 21st centuries, and here starting with roosevelt, this is looking at the debt can be measured by comparing the national debt lever when a president entered the office to the level when the president leaves and calculating the percentage of increase in debt during the presidency. however, it is important to note the president does not have much influence over the national debt during their first year in office. presidential influence over the budget and national debt does not start until after the federal fiscal year that ends on september 30 during the new president's first year in office. so with that in mind, you can look down here at this chart and see huge changes in the roosevelt administration.

obviously, that has to do with war. woodrow wilson, reagan, less of a change. things to stay stable all the way down here. going back further to this, this was based on the fiscal year that was closely allied with a president's and i commission. interesting -- inauguration. lee, funding war is one of the main ways a president can impact the national debt. almost all budget deficits run by the american government where the results of war. the civil war left the u.s. government owing more than 2.6 billion dollars after the war in 1865. five years earlier, a year before the civil war started, national debt was only $64.8 million. similar story talking but world war ii in the 1940's. muska back to your cause. mike is in houston on our republican line.

go ahead, mike. caller: good morning. it seems like a problem in america is too many rich people. like just get rid of them. it is amazing. i did not know they were such a problem. first of all, i think the top 10% of income earners pay about 50% or 60% of the income taxes. that is an irs numbers, not mine. the bottom 50% pay less, so the problem is not wealthy people. the problem is we need more productive people at the bottom. there are a lot of who don't have jobs who are at the bottom 50% of the incomers. we should reform the tax could because everyone calls in and place into which people. i am not wealthy but we need more wealthy people. second thing, social security. do you think bill gates and warren need social security? where are they going to be on capitol hill -- when are they going to be on capitol hill to

testify? what are they receiving social security? and the health care. you mentioned health insurance. i saw that on the list. people own their health insurance. they make better and more informed decisions and price is a factor. when people have medicare and medicaid, all good programs. i want to help people who cannot help themselves. however, if people own the decision and the health care and the cost of the service and make more informed decisions about what they do with health insurance, right now they don't. we have these big round fat programs that do the same things like we are all robots. host: i want to pause you and come back to you but i want to read and little more from the peter j peterson foundation on health care, saying put simply we are paying more than other countries but we are not see better results. health care experts have estimated 25% of our total health care spending goes to

unnecessary and wasteful services. furthermore, health care spending is projected to keep rising faster than inflation, wages and the overall economy. not only does the system result in health outcomes that are generally no better for patients, but inefficiency creates challenges for the u.s. economy and government. the primary reasons why the health care system underperforms is because the typical factors that fuel improvement and innovation in other industries are lacking in health care. historically, consumers have not been cost sensitive because their employers and health plans often cover a large share of their cost and because they lack information required to assess quality and cost. it also mentions here employers's insurers are playing a passive role and providers generally often operate under a model. those are things you are mentioning as well, mike. caller: doctors have to practice

print and forget they have to do tests to protect themselves from legal jeopardy. and in texas, we had some reform about 12 years ago and we have the world's largest medical center in houston now. that is not just by accident. doctors come to places where they have fewer costs to run their business. so when you have reform, doctors don't have to practice defensive medicine and have four tests instead of one or two. host: now let's hear from ed in pennsylvania on our independent line. caller: good morning. i think the problem is the amount of money we are spending in the defense department. actually, first of all, we should rename the department of defense to the department of defense because the money spent on the defense department is getting us into trouble because we are more likely to get into wars in foreign countries.

the situation out in the middle east where israel is asking us to come up with roughly $10 billion every month, kyiv is asking for $60 billion, probably next month it will be more, so yes, we have a problem with revenue. we probably have to increase taxes somewhat. but for the time being, i think we need to talk about defense spending. they have to look at the department of offense. host: wayne is in spring, texas. excuse me, joel is in spring, texas, on our republican line. just let you go, joel. let's hear from joe. good morning, joel. caller: yes, ma'am. you are with "washington journal ." i want to associate myself with mike's comments from houston. i would like to add to this. when i look at state and local

taxes, i am pig just about 50% of my total income that i am paying just about 50 -- i am paying just about 50% of my total income. it is not worth it. i work too hard to get too little. the income when we had it in the 1950's was directed to about families in this country, which pumped at the foundation, etc. -- which prompted the foundation of the ford foundation, etc. we have over 150 military bases. we have over 150 military bases around the world. we have to scale that back to a manageable number, and i am talking about 1/10 of that now, something like that. we don't need it. we entangled ourselves and other

people's problems. we are going to have to address entitlements. host: how do you think we should address entitlements? caller: i think people, and i have set it for almost half a century now, are going to have to save for their own retirement and their own health care tax-free. we can start that now. it starts for people that are 40 and under, and we don't tax of two $25,000 a year -- tax up to $25,000 a year. their own retirement in their own health care, and then they get to pass that down and we start generational wealth amongst the people who need it most. and the people that are above 40, we are to be there for them. we have to revamp the system. the federal government is to

promote the general welfare, not provide it. it is not for that. if states want to do this, let them do it, but do not prevent the taxes the federal tax burden. it is their decision if they want to live in california, new york, or somewhere else. pay your own way through this thing. host: thank you, joel. let's now hear from david in minneapolis on our independent line. go ahead, david. what are your ideas to address the national debt? caller: good morning, ma'am. i have quite a few ideas. i did like the last guy saying we need to cut dod spending. if you go back to the last time we were not actively involved in a war, which i am thinking of 2000, our dod spending was $320 billion. and i am wondering now why it is over $1 trillion a year.

and the other thing we could do is look at our historic tax incentives to help us get out of debt and pay for things in this country where in the 1940's we had a top income rate, x rate of 90% -- tax rate of 90%. in 1986, reagan started cutting it and if you look at a chart of the debt, it rapidly increases after reagan's term when we cut the marginal tax rate. and for social security, we can simply remove the $168,000 income cap where they stop contributing. and we can just apply that to all income, and if we switched over to a single-payer system, our government would be able to negotiate those prices like they do in every other country, and that would reduce all of our health costs overall, and people would not even notice the income

difference on their check because they would be paying much less per month for health care. host: ok, quite a few ideas. tier from angela in maryland on our democratic line. what are your ideas? caller: my ideas are similar. let's say with medicare, how about a medicare buy-in for people? for instance, like me, i paid into private insurance for 50 years. i am not on social security or medicare yet but if i think of all the money i pay for 50 years including my family from the time i was born until now, that would be $500,000 roughly. i never hardly used any of that. that is money that would have gone to medicare so i would like the option to buy into medicare instead of my money right now going to the private health companies. that would be money to medicare i never used that would be sitting there helping other people and helping me when i get older. that would definitely help the

situation. also, i believe personal responsibility. you would have to raise the fica tax 2% or 3%. that is your federal income withholding that goes to your social security and medicare. i think it is about 12% they take out of the checks, and that has not been changed. i don't think that formula has been changed since the 1980's. of course, health insurance has gone up since then so if you raise it to percent, that is 1% for the employer, 1% for the employee, that would also short up the social security and medicare programs. and definitely cut the pentagon spending. that is a lot of wasteful spending at the pentagon, but the debt is not so bad as the deficit. we can get the deficits more balanced, the yearly deficits, eventually the debt will come down. i would not worry about the debt so much as yearly deficit. there has to be money in the

system and it frustrates me when i hear republican compass people say they will never raise taxes. i am not rich. all people pay fica. people that don't pay federal taxes pay fica. let me buy into medicare now. i want my money going to medicare, not the private industry. host: thank you, angela. want to go back to more comments from congress we started this show off with from the questioning of the cbo director about the impact of increased federal spending on higher interest rates and on the interest of the debt costing more. [video clip] >> aren't interest hikes directly related to inflation, which i cement are directly related to the overspending and the squeezing of the supply-side? is that a fair characterization? >> i think that is right. the fed was funded to the high

interest rate by taking action that high inflation, by raising that. >> i try to be careful for not blaming the president or my democratic colleagues for everything, but i think their failed economic policies and their unbridled spending has put us in a situation where we have to bring these costs down. let's talk about the interest for a minute. prior to president biden taking office, your projections over 10 years for interest expense related to servicing the debt was about $4.5 trillion. today, it is over $12 trillion. i think the interest costs for the year the president took office was about $340 million. today, your new projection is as i said higher than the expense of the national defense of the greatest country and military in

the world, $870 billion. is that a fair depiction of our balance sheet and some of these factors? >> absolutely. you should interest costs are now about defense spending. host: once again, we are taking your calls on your ideas to address the 34 to that. our phone lines for republicans are (202) 748-8001. for democrats, (202) 748-8000. and for independents, that is (202) 748-8002. and if you would like to text us by that number is (202) 748-8003 . let's go to a couple of your comments from social media and our text message line. from facebook, mark says the $34 trillion debt solution is a flat tax. except message from mike in

illinois, save on our national debt if we stop all wars and convert the money to our debt and improving quality of life and the pursuit of happiness in the united states of america. the government spends $2 billion annually to maintain empty buildings and offices. that is from john in tucson, arizona. stephen in gladstone, michigan, says we cannot cut our way out of debt. there must absolutely be revenue increases. mark says cut all foreign aid and all nonessential government spending. eliminate the redundant and all debts owed by our allies. ken is in florida on our republican mind. go ahead, ken. caller: yes, ma'am. good morning, everybody. to stick to the topic briefly,

raising the caps on social security tax income, that is i think around $155,000. i make around $100,000. now it is worth $80,000. social security can be saved by wiping out the cap on the social security tax income -- taxed income. number to come i would say export oil and gas to get rid of these crazy environmental regulations that are going on now. everyone is tightening their belt because of it. prices have gone up. you pay down the debt with royalties. the defense, there is plenty of room to cut there but we cannot be spending $150 billion. host: you mentioned a moment ago about the social security limit

point. here is a bit that says the social security tax hasn't an annual limit. individuals pay while self-employed individuals are responsible for paying the employee and employer portions on their own. but as you mentioned, the social security tax limit increases to $168,600 and 2024, up from $160,200 in 2023 which can result in a higher tax bill for some taxpayers at his social security and ministership increased the benefit about by 8.7% 23 2% for 2024. now let's hear from ron in wilmington, north carolina, on our independent life. caller: good morning. hey, i feel that we are -- in

the past about america was stronger when we had more manufacturing. our trade balance is partly to blame. there are more people employed in government jobs today in america than there are in manufacturing, and i think a nation's backbone is linked partly to manufacturing. host: ok, thank you. next up is mary in illinois on democratic line. what are your ideas? caller: my idea is we should tax the rich. they have been taking money off of us for years. it is about time we start getting some of it back. as far as social security, well, i don't think they should tax social security because people are getting older now in ages. a lot of people are living longer. and when they have worked all of their life they should have

social security money. me myself, i started working at the early age of 16 doing small jobs. i am 70 right now today. i had a birthday. i happen retired for 15 years. i have worked overtime on my job during those 31 years. i built up my money, and to this day, i have not suffered one day of not paying my bills, being able to eat. as far as health care is concerned, we need our health care, and i feel that right now the benefits are kicking in and people need to give it a chance. i have seen a big change and i have been out of work 16 years retired. i see food pantries opening up and giving people free food. so that insurance rates so i

don't understand where all of these people are coming from like they are hurting. host: what do you think should be done to actually address the national debt? i understand you think there should not be any cuts to social security or medicare. what do you think should be done? caller: tax the richcaller: -- caller: asked the rich and some of these government programs that are not helping people, i think they need to get rid of them and save money that way. try building up another energy in ways that people can get benefits. host: ok. mary was talking about different strategies that people have floated to address the issues with social security. the wall street journal has an editorial talking about former president trump and what he said about the national debt. the headline being trump is not serious about the national debt.

it starts with maga republicans are worried about the debt and this week, the house budget committee advanced a bill to create a bipartisan commission. have they checked with donald trump? scroll down a bit further in the article and there is a quote. americans were promised a secure retirement. nikki haley's plan adds that says the grim narrator of a trip advertisement in new hampshire. year after year you pay into social security and now dickie haley wants to keep you from collecting what is yours. the term campaign alleges nikki haley would cut benefits for 82% of americans. this is dishonest. social security is running out of money and doing nothing more results in a cut to benefits within a decade. the retirement trust fund according to the latest report will be depleted in 2033, at which point the incoming cash will be sufficient to pay 77% of

scheduled benefits. does mr. trump have any plan to prevent this outcome in only nine years? no. this haley has not issued a detailed proposal but what she says does not fit mr. trump's narrative. i will protect those receiving medicare, that a promise last fall. anyone in their 40's, 50's, 60's, or 60's, and she would limit benefits on the wealthy and raise the retirement age only for younger people who are just entering the system. americans are living 15 you use longer than they were in the 1930's. let's hear from clearance in kentucky on our republican line. what are your ideas to deal with the national debt? caller: hello? host: hello, we can hear you. caller: what did you just asked me? host: what are your ideas to address the national debt?

caller: well, i am just going to make a couple comments. i remember when i was in high school when ronald reagan was president in america had reached the debt of $1 billion. wow, are far we have come -- how far we have come. host: you think there are any strategies from back then that could help us now? caller: here is what i think is going on. with the soviet union collapsed -- host: we will skip the history of the forward. let's go to florida on our independent life. go ahead. caller: good morning, c-span. i am hearing so many great ideas over there. some of these people have really hit the nail on the head, but yeah, i think we should audit the dod because they are spending way too much money on war, and yes, i think we should

tax the rich class a lot more than we are because they are really getting away with scheming. they have a ponzi scheme to take away from the lower class and keep it in their pockets without spending anything on our country. they all own corporations. they are involved with the dod and the medical system so they all have benefits, they all have a benefit coming from that. and i have two more suggestions. i think we should have e-verify as lord of the land so all of these corporations and businesses cannot hire immigrants without paying taxes and not having social security because they're getting away with paying their federal, state, and social security taxes . now you have immigrants that are not paying an employers that are not paying into the system. there is where we are being raped because the only people

paying into the systems are the people who are and legal social security numbers, so give everybody a social security number and let them all pay their fair share of taxes that would be irreverent to the country where we would not have to tax the rich anymore, but they don't care about that because they are getting away with all of this, so that is both of my suggestions. host: i want to follow-up i couple point to make them a first of all of all other immigration and taxes. this is from the national immigration bok center which is despite any misconceptions to the country, it weakens pay taxes just as everyone else does , and this includes immigrants without authorization to be in the u.s. they are required to do so by law. also, immigrants want to file their taxes because they see it as an opportunity to contribute to prove their economic contributions to the u.s. and to document their residence here. he also mentioned the pentagon and that it should be audited.

the pentagon is regularly audited, and in november, the pentagon failed its audit for the sixth year in a row. this article from reuters, the pentagon failed an independent audit of the accounting system for the sixth consecutive year. things are showing progress but it is not enough. the defense department chief financial officer told reporters. austin thinks we need to be doing better at this and moving faster. the pentagon is striving for a clean audit, but that is years away. the audit consists of 29 sub audits of the department services. 1600 auditors conducted 700 site visits and sent 3.8 spent $3.8 trillion in assets and $4 trillion in liability. required by law, it assesses the record-keeping processes for the

pentagon's weapon systems, military personnel, and property around the world. on facebook, cheryl hernandez says that her solution for the national debt is to raise taxes on billionaires, hire more irs agents to get the job done. let's now go to matthew in detroit on our democratic line. good morning, matthew. caller: morning. one thing that will help the debt, if the fed will lower the interest rate, the interest we are paying will be lowered, too. the interest rate is up to 5% or something. that affects the way our government has to pay the same rate so that should help, just lowering the interest rate will bring down the debt. am i right? i wish you had an expert on to tell us this. host: ok, thank you, matthew. go to rich in fairfax, virginia. caller: hello, c-span. we have had some really

outstanding suggestions here and i want to as they say on the hill associate myself with the woman's remarks about increasing staffing at the irs forgetting the billions of dollars that are known -- for getting the billions of dollars that are known to be owed by people and not paying what they owe. following the example at the base realignment and enclosure, as i recall, this was the means by which congress was able to get over each representative saying no to reducing the expenses of military installations here in the united states and of course, no representative would want that in their particular district but we were able to get that done. if we can get a similar type of model together like that to

address the needs to reduce the deficit, i think that would take some of the politics out of the situation so we are not vilifying the rich and not being responsible for what we need. host: you mentioned the irs and increasing funding there. here is an article from a magazine back on february 6. the irs as it will collect $560 billion more from rich text sheets thanks to the inflation reduction act. the irs is poised to take in hundreds of billions of dollars more in overdue and unpaid taxes than previously anticipated according to a new analysis released by the treasury department and irs. tax revenues are expected to rise by as much as $561 billion in 2024 to 2034 thanks to

stepped enforcement made possible with money from thes's inflation -- from the democrats's inflation reduction act. another comment. let's hear more comments from you. chuck is in south carolina on our republican line. good morning, chuck. caller: yeah, i think debt is like most of the problems, lack of education. they will not teach money in high school or college and the average human being in the united states is totally ignorant how money works. let the government take money on a weekly paycheck basis and not pick up interest that money is a fool. you have to study compound interest to find out what they are doing to you. and if you don't know compound interest, they are cheating you every year, so what they need to do, this country is founded on the idea that everybody has to

be educated for it to work, and that includes knowing how your money works. the best thing we can do is allow these young kids to put their money in a ritual fund or something that will pay them compound interest, and then we would not have debt. we would all retire with $1 million. host: thank you. we have a comment from david in akron, ohio, and he says we need to cut military spending and collect owed taxes by the body. president eisenhower told people to be aware of the undo -- of the military-industrial complex. this makes us less safe, not more safe. lou is in florida on our democratic line. what is your idea for the national debt? caller: thanks for being there. but curiosity, no one has really mentioned that i could hear of tax reform from 2017.

host: the tax cuts and jobs act? caller: the tax reform. host: yes, the tax cuts and jobs act. caller: yes, that is tax reform. it is costing us to trillion dollars a year on average in lost revenue for our taxes. where is that money going? how do you justify something like that when the country is having issues? especially with the pandemic. host: ok. i am pulling up hear something from the committee for responsible federal budget, which looked at how much president trump added to the debt, and part of that was from the tax cuts and jobs act, but here is just a little bit of that. of the 8.4 trillion dollars president trump added to the debt, 3.6 trillion dollars came from covid relief laws and executive orders, $2.5 trillion

from tax-cut laws, and $2.3 trillion from spending increases with the remaining executive orders having cost savings that largely offset each other. the largest bill includes a $1.9 trillion from the 2020 cares act, another $1.9 trillion of tenure borrowing from the 2017 tax cuts and jobs act, which is what our last caller was just referencing. now let's go to richard in nashville, tennessee, on our independent life. go ahead, richard. caller: good morning. it is real simple. it is real simple. other than the military to protect this country from foreign nations who want to do harm, you take every one of those buildings behind you, education, economic, all of these agencies that should be read by the state because when the state runs them, the people -- in other words, nashville is the capital of tennessee.

tennessee is a conservative state but is a liberal city. property taxes went up 34%, $800 more a year of my house that i worked 31 years pay for. now i am having to take a second job at 68 to pay my taxes. we sent it back to the state and hold them accountable. i would rather have a few million people in the state arguing over whether you should have abortion rights or not than have a federal government of 350 million people controlling that. so another was to make the states compete against each other. edward we have a problem -- add what we have a problem with our country, then we can send the money to the department of defense and control it at a state level instead of having bureaucrats in washington. as to walk out of his mansion in nashville and go to work downtown at the state capital, he would have to do with the people in his state and it is a whole different story.

in washington, you cannot get to them or touch them or see them. so that is what i would do, send it back to the state. thank you. host: thank you. markets in california on our republican line. what is your idea, mark? caller: good morning. thank you c-span.by somewhat controversial but eminently logical and worth considering philosophy is it is very simple to end the national debt. legalize drugs. host: which drugs? caller: all drugs. all drugs should be legal. america is based on individual liberty, personal freedom, and personal choice. individuals that choose to use drugs are using drugs today and will continue to use drugs. at the war on drugs has been an abject failure costing us hundreds of billions of dollars. instead, we should create and make available clean drugs that are inexpensive to manufacture

instead of making billionaires out of outlaw organizations in mexico and use that money to offer rehabilitation to those who choose to be rehabilitated and take the prophets out of those billions -- profits out of those billions of dollars. the damages are just monumental. host: you are talk about all drugs including drugs like but to no and like fentanyl and drugs to kill people? caller: you don't need fentanyl if you provide inexpensive cleat hero and a people jet drugs. yes, i am talking about all drugs. when you have not effectively eliminated the use of any drugs in this country over decades, so the fix is -- we can also by the way remove hundreds of thousands of nonviolent drug criminals from prison and make room for

the people that are in there. this watch an episode of "cops." host: i think we got the idea. let's hear from laurie and pennsylvania on our democratic line. what is your idea? caller: a good start is to elect people that represent the people at the country as a whole instead of sitting and arguing constantly over this and that. what happens, they brutally cut the budget and education and social programs. they need to -- they are not represent the people anymore. it is coming out of my taxes. the wealthy, i don't want to say the wealthy, but we need representatives that actually it down and explain stuff to us at help us the people that they are working for because they are not.

herbert hoover is secretary at one time said they were getting rid of the rock during the depression. company-sponsored things, they got rid of them. when the chip manufacturing companies start up, and i hope they offer some pension to people. or the health care system, they take everything. when they cut the budget, they really cut it and they cut the taxes on the rich, but we need representatives that represent us. host: ok, thank you. mike is in crescent city, florida, on our independent life. mike what is your comment? caller: i hear republicans complaining about government overspending but a lot of these republican red states they get over 30% of federal buddy to balance their budgets. they should look into that.

billions of dollars are ported to the states to balance the state budget. i think somebody should look to audit some of that and make the states were responsible for their budgets instead of the federal government. host: ok. next up is judy in sherman, texas. are your ideas to fix the national debt? caller: good morning, everyone. i agree with several of the comments that have previously been made, especially the one about electing officials in congress that actually represent the people. they are the ones making the big bucks. they are not going to reform taxes. they won't tax themselves that way. we need to eliminate the polls that the old truck -- the loopholes that the ultrarich used to avoid paying taxes. i don't that is something that probably what happened but that will be a good start.

as far as the manufacturing jobs as the other gentlemen mentioned, we need to bring our workforce back in the united states. we buy so many products from other countries and we need to eliminate that and create jobs here. i would be willing to pay more for items, knowing -- i always try to stick -- always try to shop made in america because that is supporting people here. if people here have jobs, they pay more taxes, so we can eliminate the debt that way. as far as social security, i believe that anyone -- first of all, social security taxes, are being taxed twice on the money we have already paid taxes on during our working lifetime. i think anyone making $100,000 or less shouldn't pay income tax on their social security at all. the ultrarich should do the

right thing and refuse to take social security, because they don't need it. those are my observations. host: let's go to john in south carolina on our democratic line. caller: there is a lot of fussing going on about money, taxes and everything. we've got problems at the border, we take people in. host: thank you john. let's hear from tim on our republican line. what are your ideas? caller: i want to complement the biden administration and the democrats on what they are doing to diminish the national debt as an issue by inflating their way out of it.

that meeting -- that being the main problem, inflation. interest has gone up over 200%. overall inflation since biden came in. 20%. the value of the dollar is the democrats solution. of course people have to pay more, but that's everybody that buys stuff. the national debt, it becomes a minimal issue. host: what are your ideas to address the debt? caller: keep voting democrat and the national debt doesn't matter. the inflation reduction act, had almost $500 billion just going to clean energy subsidies. host: let's hear from michael in florida. good morning.

what are your ideas? could you turn down the volume on your tv? caller: i will. ok. my solution is simple. in texas, new mexico, arizona, give them back to mexico and let them deal with it. thank you. host: we are going to end the segment there. coming up, we will have two different perspectives on campaign 2024 and the role of voters of color. up first we will hear from melanie campbell, president and ceo of the national coalition on black civic participation. later, we will have isaac willour, a college student and journalist focusing on race, culture and american conservatism. we will be right back. ♪ >> this week on the c-span networks, the house and senate are both adjourned for the

presidents' day holiday and will return later this month. beginning thursday, live coverage of the conservative political action conference with many political leaders speaking at the event including former president donald trump. live coverage of the national governors association winter meeting. and on saturday, live coverage of principles first, a 500 plus group of pro-democracy anti-trump conservatives and centrists serving as an alternative to cpac. speakers include bill kristol, cassidy hutchinson and former rnc chair michael steele. also on saturday, live coverage of the south carolina republican primary. watch this week, live on the c-span networks or on c-span now, our free mobile app. also head over to c-span.org for scheduling information or to watch live or on demand at any time.

c-span, your unfiltered view of government. weekends bring you book tv, featuring leading authors discussing their latest nonfiction books. organ democratic senator jeff merkley shares his book, filibuster, where he argues that bringing back the talking filibuster will fix the problem of stalled legislation in the senate. then on afterword, professor -- talks about his book who is black and why, which looks at how the concept of race emerged during the 18th century enlightenment period. he is interviewed by a george mason university history professor. watch book tv each weekend on c-span2, and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch any time at bookyv.org. >> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back. we are joined by melanie

campbell, president and ceo of national coalition on black civic rticipation. welcome to the program. guest: thank you for the invitation. a beautiful cold sunday morning. host: can you tell us more about the national coalition on black civic participation? what your organization does, where your funding comes from and who is involved? guest: the -- focusing on voting, empowerment, issues of importance. we get our funding from myriad places. individuals, foundations, donations, unions. host: what kind of work do you do? are you partisan in any way? guest: we are nonpartisan. it's about empowerment. it's about power building and fighting for justice. host: how many members do you have, and who is generally involved?

guest: we are a membership and leadership organization. we are in 12 states with affiliates and state partners, mostly in the south but also in the midwest and northeast. host: how do you see your organization's role in the 2024 president election? guest: we focus on the black community to make sure they are civic we engaged. we work to engage our communities around local elections and national elections, and all between -- and all that in between. we also focus on leveraging that vote, engaging people on how to vote. we come to capitol hill once a year and have a day on capitol hill. we are starting a black men's gathering later on this year, so

the people can connect the dots to their vote. through our state affiliates, they work on a local level and a state-level to do the same. host: recent polls have illustrated that the democratic party and president biden are losing ground, not just among black voters but also among hispanic voters. the past three years in particular have shown a steep decline in the support among black voters. i will show some information on this from gallup that kind of gets into these numbers. scrolling down a little bit, here it is. that decline among non-hispanic black adults as well as hispanic adults. i wonder, your take on this, the decline in support of democrats by some black voters. guest: i think part of it is the biden administration has not

done a good job, showing what they have done and showing what unfinished business they plan to address if they are reelected. we had a bus tour with five cities in three days, small towns and big towns. we are nonpartisan. we are not telling you who to vote for but just to own that ballot. we had a conversation with black men, and folks didn't see the connections and most of it was other people in those conversations you had information about what happened with student loans, that there were things done on criminal justice. we didn't get the george floyd justice in police act passed yet. we need to be able to correct what happened with the roe v.

wade overturn. as a black woman, i know that for us, we have also seen some great things. we have different conversations, conversations with black women. they've got to do what they need to do to change that. host: we're going to be taking your calls coming up on these issues and for democrats, that number is (202)-748-8000. republicans, (202)-748-8001. independents, (202)-748-8002. miss campbell, i want to ask what you think some of the top issues facing voters of color are in this election and if they are different from other voters? guest: a lot of it is about justice. there are also economic issues. a couple of small towns in florida, they are not necessarily seen, they are not seeing that 3% unemployment.

there is still a big wage gap. and then of course, issues of inflation, hitting people's pocketbooks. those are some of the things that i know need to be done. there are still people concerned about what is happening with over policing. at the same time, people want to deal with issues of crime, as well. the issues are very personal to people's quality of life. but also, we want to deal with the things i mentioned, about our lives. black women, we are the strongest vote when it comes to the election. i also know that there are some things that they have done. we know we have more judges, black women judges on the bench. we have ketanji brown jackson. this is one of the ministrations that has have one of the most

diverse administrations in my lifetime. we have our first black woman as vice president. we also have to get down to how does this make you feel? if i don't feel we are doing well then we have to address that. some of that is sharing what you have done but also share what you haven't done in a way that people say, this is going to be my choice because they are fighting for me. host: you mentioned black women in leadership roles. there is an article here in the 19th news, saying for the first time, black women are leading democrats in early primary states. the women serve as the public face of the democrat party in south carolina, nevada and michigan. i wonder what you think the idea -- do you think that the democrat party leadership and its apparatus are reflective of the prominent black women who are at the grassroots in the

united states, organizing for democrats? guest: i think georgia has a black woman too. i think you see it is better. it can get better. we are the most loyal vote and we need to see that. we are moving in the right direction but more needs to be done. there is also pushback on black women in leadership. when you think about what happened with vice president kamala harris, letitia james, fani willis. there is a concern that as black women are moving and progressing, there is a backlash. that needs to be spoken to as well. host: you mentioned vice president kamala harris. republican for the initial candidate nikki haley -- republican presidential candidate nikki haley a few weeks ago was saying that vice president harris is not up to

the job of being president. here is that. [video clip] >> it is from an experience standpoint. she has never been a governor. she's never had executive experience. she was a senator for a couple of years. the things that biden gave her, she didn't do anything with. the border, she didn't do anything. i spent more time at the border than her. when it came to artificial intelligence, he gave her that and she didn't do anything with it. america has behind everyone else when it comes to artificial intelligence. i haven't seen her do anything. she went to oversee -- he sent her to a foreign policy conference. she should have been talking about how we will have more allies. she didn't say anything. china just had their way with that conversation. it is not about her personally. it's about the fact that we are looking at a dangerous time in our country. this is not the time to go and put someone in and say we are going to do this because.

you do it because we've got to get the right person in. stop with the labels and stop with the division and stop with who is in whose camp and focus on how we are going to get america patriotic again and loving each other again. host: what do you think of this argument that the vice president hasn't accomplished any of these tasks set out before her? guest: i think it is bogus. i think dickie haley is not being sincere and she is not doing women a service and what she is doing and running for president and that is my personal opinion because i don't want to be partisan. but the reality is vice president kamala harris has done a wonderful job. she is not the president. she has been on the foreign policy stage and domestic stage, focusing on some really challenging issues. unfinished business yes for the administration. i think she is exceptionally

qualified for the role of vp and who knows? maybe one day president. host: let's go to some calls. roger is in brooklyn, new york on our democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? host: doing well, thank you. caller: there are two issues -- three issues i wanted to address. one going back to a previous issue if i could say subbing about that for a moment. host: let's stay to this topic if we can. caller: ok. i'm a former new york city school educator. i do local politics as well. i feel that one of the issues that affect black voters is we don't make our votes count. it's not that we don't vote. we do. we don't vote in blocks.

we don't organize our votes. we are primarily democrat and we vote democratic, without requesting of our leaders, to represent us on a full-scale of what we want in our community. whether it is crime or schools or hospitals. whether it's any of those, mandatory things that are needed to promote our own personal growth. we also need to look into how to create policies that change some of the previous apologies -- policies. we are still at a disadvantage with mortgages. how are we doing that? lastly, making the primary vote count. a lot of us spend time voting for larger leadership, presidents and governors, but we don't vote in the locals, city

council, alderman. host: i'm going to stop rodrick there to let you respond to some of those points. guest: one, i think black voters are -- voters. i think we can do better at a local level. people don't vote as much on a local level as they do the presidential elections. it is something we all need to continue to work on, i agree with that. we talked about the issue of housing and affordable housing, it is a major issue in this country. i know that the hud secretary was a former mayor of a city in ohio but i knew is -- that i know is doing an exceptional job trying to address that as well

as affordability, but there is much more that has to be done and i think i heard you say you were elected to some kind of political office in new york. being a new yorker, i know that you know when it comes to affordable housing, this is an issue that i think is something that affects not just wealth building, it is about quality of life and having an affordable safe place to live and gentrification of this country, which is a local problem which is why when need to vote more on a local level as well as nationally. host: another high housing area, fairfax, virginia, on our independent line. caller: good morning. i'm very confused. i don't want to bring up the point but bringing up to town gibran jackson and sandy willis, they are black faces in high places. 10 years ago, sandy willis was pressing rico charges against black teachers in atlanta.

how has that benefited the students of atlanta? has testing been any better? i feel like you see how fannie messed up, she stepped out of line and now her business is on front street. we vote every two to four years and between that we still have to live life and organize. i encourage black people to look site -- look outside of the democratic and republican party i looked elsewhere. you have the green party, organize with my organization, black lives for peace. we meet often and we talk about things outside of democrats and republicans. you see these back and forth between both parties for hundreds of years and nothing is happening. just like white faces in high places has not helped for white people. black faces in high places are not helping black people.

it is a class difference. we need to look at class too. you don't see ketanji out there organizing for people dying in the street. it is poor black women and poor black trans people who are helping. guest: thank you sister. i spend a lot of my time in atlanta, georgia. run for office. you don't like what you see? run for office. whatever party you choose. my mother was a public school teacher, so i get that about public school teachers. and also you are the change, and i hear that you are organizing, so organize. i'm not here to be a mouthpiece for anyone. the reality is we all do what we can because of the end of the

day, i want to figure out how i can help my people for whatever seat i can. all of us have a role to play so if you don't like what you see, organize yourself and do something about it and put the people in office that you want to see. that is what my role is. i don't tell anyone who to vote for. own your power. we are not a defeated people. we organize, we don't win everything every time but we are winning. we are winning. look at what we are able to accomplish we do put people in office and we make sure that we make the change that we want to see. it is not a perfect system, but until we find another way, we have to make sure we use what we have and make the transformation and change we want to see by staying active and doing what we can. we have a finite time. we all want to live and we are all going to die. i'm going to make sure that whatever i do makes a difference. host: you also work with the

black women's roundtable public policy network. can you tell us more about that? guest: it is a women and girls group, a national coalition. one of the things that got mentioned earlier, we have a women of power national summit. that is coming together, we bring our policy agenda. we release a poll that we do every year. to see what the black women want from the vote, what we want from the president and from congress. what are the issues of concern for our community? that is going to be coming out march 13, in washington, d.c. and in virginia. that is one way. we also fund entrepreneurs. we have a -- in atlanta that we established, called a social

justice institute, named after a mentor of mine. we have some of those things, this is focused on mentor and girls. -- mentoring girls. focusing on prosperity and global empowerment. host: let's hear from john in california on our republican line. caller: i have a question. you call it the national coalition on black civic participation. who funds your organization? guest: all kinds of folks. individuals, companies, unions. a myriad. it is not one source. the organization is 48 years old. we have 80 organizations and yeah.

caller: i have one other question. why should we not consider your organization a segregationist and racist? guest: you can decide whatever you want to. we are not. we lift up black people and that is our role and i am unapologetic about that. host: next up, we have kashim on our democratic line. caller: i am a 45-year-old black man and a lifelong democrat. i have voted democrat since 18 but i have grown more frustrated. i think that our issue is we don't focus enough on the economic piece. like america is specifically in this country, we've been economically segregated, we don't get any contract from the government on the federal, state or local level and we also don't

get any sort of contracts with the private sector. the dnc does not spend money on black-owned media, they don't do contracts, they expect black people to just pound the pavement for free and everything is just free, free, free when it comes to black people and will you please speak to them about where our concerns are? not people of color, not all these other groups or whatever, black americans. when he contracts and we need economics, economic integration into this country or nothing else is going to work and that is just my two cents. guest: one of the things that i know is happening, a lot of what we do get is under attack. taking our own money and trying to invest in people of color but

a lot of that money is going to black women entrepreneurs. host: i want to for a moment to give a little more context, you have a fund that them -- that focuses on investing a black women owned businesses and they have been sued for being to scrum in a tory. -- for being discriminatory. guest: thank you. the reality of -- all we are asking for is that our tax dollars come back into our communities. it's about equity in this country. these more recent attacks, we don't vote enough for the judges that are elected. there was a case that was about higher education -- we have a

lot of work to do, but i am glass half-full. we are going to keep fighting and we have to do that. otherwise it will never be over. i feel your frustration and i am just trying to do my part, all of us are just try to do our part. it does take all of us to do what we can. host: one our previous callers was asking about where you receive your funding and i know you mentioned individual donors as well. i will also point folks to your website for the national coalition on black civic participation, on the mission and vision page, it also lists some of the sponsors that you all have worked with in the past, including aarp, at&t, coca-cola and google among others. that is on your organization's website.

you can call in with your questions and comments. for democrats, (202)-748-8000. republicans at (202)-748-8001. independents at (202)-748-8002. don't forget you can also reach us on social media. facebook.com/c-span. we are also on twitter. let's go to levar in washington, d.c. on our independent line. caller: hello. guest: good morning. caller: good morning. i would describe myself as an independent. i am a proud black man born and raised in washington, d.c.. i don't vote for either candidate because none of them are putting black empowerment on their ticket. we are always asked to save america because of tyranny, this, that and the third. then we are promised -- this is what we will give you, we will

give you a good hug and when you get locked up we will make i'm not a criminal, i'm not in prison, but we've been economically sanctioned out of the game as far as like the last caller said, as far as i'm concerned, everybody had a job during slavery and it didn't equal black empowerment. black ownership is not a stress and as far as our politicians are concerned they are talking heads and political mouth pieces for the white establishment behind it. and as far as the white sprems sis to call you should we call your organization segregationist, they never say that about all mexican restaurant that ends up in a black neighborhood. nobody's saying anything about segregation. but i'm going to give you a chance to speak to some of those

points. guest: i believe it has power in it and you use it as you choose. and so all i can say that i respect your opinion. host: let's hear from jackson, mississippi on our independent line. caller: i'm independent and like your previous caller i'm a proud black descendant. i voted democrat however i will not be voting for them until they address three issues and i want to see how your guest feels about this. one, linage based reparations for black americans, two, an anti-black american crime bill; three, stopping illegal economic immigration. and my last point is please stop referring to black american descendnts of slaves as african americans. it helps create an ethno type

against black americans. guest: from mississippi again we have an affiliate in mississippi doing a great job fighting for economic racial gender opportunity in the state. i would say that when it comes to, those are the issues of concern, i know that when it comes to the issue of reparations it's something i believe in, we need to keep fighting for. in some cases, people are on a state level, sometimes we have to go down to that level where we can. i think one of the other issues, immigration. so when it comes to that i think people have to look at the issues of concern for them. i say the same thing a little more, those are the issues that you have concern about you have a right to do what you want with your vote.

my job is to encourage people to try to point out the issues, to show people how to leverage that vote, and use it, because its powerful. otherwise it will continue to this day. why would the supreme court care? why would they strike down the power of the voting rights act so we can't fight back? it has to have a meaning or state passing laws, including your own state, to try to make sure that we are not able to vote. so for me it's precious and i'm going to use it and try to get as many people as i can to use it. i also respect those who decide not to. host: there's been quite a by the of coverage of support for democrats within the black community. here's a story.

how concerned are you about voter turnout? guest: i think south carolina primary when it gets, a lot of

black people showed up in that race. when i was on the ground in south carolina people were not talking about not voting. but i do believe that this administration has a lot of work to do. the real poll is who shows up at the ballot box. so we have to listen to that but they also have to make sure that they, it's the work of getting in and listening and addressing the concerns that people have. i'm not here to be a mouth piece for any party or any candidate but they have work to do. i did hear that. but i also know people showed up in the primary and that was important to say people are paying attention. but a lot of times people don't vote in the primary. that's not what happened in south carolina. was it as high as it was in four years ago? no. why? you don't have that incumbent races, you don't have that in

republicans, those running who's functioning like he's an incumbent. so but the poll that matters is who shows up because the poll says doing, who is going to show up. if you see what congress is made of. so the poll says one thing and the people say another thing. host: a couple more calls. kyle is in buffalo, new york, on our republican line. go ahead, kyle. caller: good morning, c-span, a great topic, something we don't hear more about in the political sector when it comes to at least the black low economic disparity of the caller from d.c. really hit it on the head because we don't get the got contracts, local contracts, we ask that a small percentage of minorities are added to some of the government contracts.

and then i think in at least in this area we have about 30% dedicated to the at least the contracts that come to construction. but a percent of that also requires white women. they always include white women into the the percent for minorities. and they take a good portion of the jobs away from the black americans. now, my problem i have is that you have these people who call in and talk about it's racist that we have our groups that focus on black people but they forget that legacy, the history of discrimination -- i mean, gosh, they had to come on with the credit bill in the 70s to make sure there was credit fairness, that's why the credit score was introduced. we're just seem like we're always behind, education the kids come out owing hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans. we have no legacy when it comes

to trickle down wealth that the republicans promised in the 80s. it seems like neither side does anything to address these issues. the democrats come out and wave the carrots since the kennedy era. host: i'm going to give her a chance to respond. how do some of those issues translate to either party? >> a lot of what we heard today is about economics. i hear you, kyle. ifs i worked for the late maror jacksons who transformed when it came to minority set asides and black people being able to get government contracts. 35% i believe was the number. so it does matter. but also, the elected officials but judges, not the only part

but a lot is discriminatory practices. but it's also making sure that we can win in the courts as well as electing people so we can change those numbers. it is abbomb nabl. all we're saying is we want part of our tax dollars just libelling everybody else. that doesn't have to be a race issue. it can be a fact of how much money are we putting into the tax system and do it that way. but that still will require political will getting the right people and we can't wring our hands and not fight for what we deserve and what we want. host: tim in university place, washington. caller: [inaudible] why aren't we talking about the bombing and the war going on in the holy land? host: we have been talking about that and if you look at

priest episodes you'll find lots of discussions about that. but for questions for ms. campbell let's go to maryland. caller: good morning. thank you, c-span, for what you do. it seems to be that the majority of black women are supporting the democrat party for the next election. can you tell us me percentage-wise how that breaks down as far as marital status, income, and age. thank you very much. guest: i think there's a black woman running for u.s. senate in maryland. maryland doesn't have one woman on their congressional delegation. i'm not advocating, i'm just saying. when it comes to that breakdown i don't have that in my head but i will tell you that women over

the age of 45 vote more but the largest growing demographic for black women vote are generation d, if you will, and millenals. so that's a critical area that whoever wins has to focus on and the issues both foreign and domestic all playing out in reference to the last caller and people have to pay attention and listen to the people. host: we don't have the data in front of us in terms of the racial breakdown of women, black women specifically and how they vote but here's some information from gallup on just for the u.s. in general how people lean by party. and if you're looking at men and women and the differences there, men tend to lean more republican than democrat, women tend to lean more democrat than republican. younger voters tend to skew more

democratic, even when you hit to the 65 and other but then there if you talk about people 50 to 64 they lean a little bit republican, as well in 30-49. but down to race and ethnicity you see a big overwhelming support here among non-hispanic black adults for democrat and for non-hispanic white adults large support for republicans and hispanic adults slightly more democratic there. the caller mentioned education. the higher the education level the more likely someone is to consider themselves democrat and the lower the education level you see a bit more of increase for republicans. so now let's hear from florida on our independent line. caller: good morning.

i'm just calling because i heard the previous callers and i think that the issues are we know what the issues are and the last election i voted as a democrat. however, i feel now that nothing is being done about any issues. for example, with the police, gun control, minimum wage, there's a lot of issues, it's not addressed by the republicans or democrats. so i feel i'm kind of confused now this year i'm not sure what to do about the election. so what are your thoughts about that? host: good to hear a floridian's voice. i say you have to do, do some research. the reality is that several

issues you have to look at who, at least make the atattempt to address it. so don't just wait to find out what you hear, but find out for yourself. because when it comes to minimum wage and some of the issues you talked about, there are, this particular administration has been focused on those issues trying to close the wealth gap. but it does matter who's in congress. that's why i talked about the unfinished business. the things that you voted for 40 years ago, and make sure you know and find out what did get done. because don't say that nothing was done because that's easier to say. but it takes a little more work, and i'm not trying to tell you what to do, i'm just suggesting that way you can have more information because you said you're not quite sure what to do. so the best to do is find out as much as you can about where they

stand, platforms, and being able to see what they said they did if they've been elected. i don't hear -- i only hear, i don't have it from the republican party. they need to do better and do more to close those gaps. host: gallup found that 66% of black adults identify democrat and lean democrat versus 19% who identify or lean republican. but the democrat lead over republicans among black american party preferences has shrunk by nearly 20 points over the last three years getting to what you were just discussing, ms. camp belle. and now our last caller pamela in upper marlboro, maryland. near here. caller: thank you for taking my call and thank you ms. campbell

for your organization. i want to share a bit of wisdom. black folks voting. we should not let one item, any item, stop us from voting from the best condition that we will be in after the election is over. we should not not vote for a particular party that would allow us to be in the best position that we would be in once the election is over. because voting in this system in america is the only way we have a voice, it's the only way that we have to exercise our fundamental rights and the only way to push our agenda. and like you're saying if you have some problem with the particular party then fight within. like we did in the 1960s and 1964 we fought for the democratic party who was

fighting for us to have voting rights in 1964 and for -- civil rights in 64 and voting rights in 1965 and we got those. and democrat flipped over to the republican party which we are facing today. so i just want to share with you. thank you for your platform and for your advice in terms of whatever you do, vote. host: ok. guest: that's a great way to end. it's about the power of the ballot. you have the power. it's yours, use it or lose it. but i do believe something you said is that we are in a moment in this country where it will matter in a whole different way who gets elected in 2024. there is no doubt about it. the structure as flawed as it is is on the ballot. our right to freedoms are on the ballot. the things we are concerned about are on that ballot. so i just encourage folks to do

it. i'm going to do everything in my power to do what i can to make sure that we do that in 2024 and beyond. host: thank you very much. thank you so much for your time this morning. guest: thank you so much. host: after the break we're going to get another perspective on campaign 2024 with isaac will our a college student and journalist focusing on race culture and american conserve tiz m. we'll be right back.

>> this week on the c-span networks, the house and senate are both adjourned for the president's day holiday and will return later this month. beginning thursday live three-day coverage of c-pac.

with many conservative political leaders speaking at the event including former president trump. live coverage of the national governors association winter meeting. speakers include u.s. supreme court justices. and on saturday, life coverage of principles first a 500 plus graup of pro democracy anti-trump conservatives serving as an alternative. bill crystal, cassidy hutchinson and michael steel also on saturday live coverage of the south carolina republican primary. watch this week live on the c-span networks or on c-span now, our free mobile video app. head over to c-span.org for scheduling information or to watch live or on demand. your unfiltered view of government.

>> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome. we're joined by isaac a journalist and a senior at grove city college also a commentator on many political issues. welcome to the program. guest: thanks for having me. host: tell us about your background and what you study and the work you do as a journalist. guest: my personal background is that i was adopted at age one-and-a-half, lived in america for a little more than 20 years now, it's been weird to think about but political science soo and psychology. i've covered higher education, i've covered the war in ukraine, i've covered the death row in florida. there's a lot of things in the past three years, it's been a fun ride. host: you had an op ed that was published on january 29th, headlined voters of color aren't happy with biden. as a voter of color i'm not

convinced the democratic party cares about anything besides stoking racial divisions to grab my vote. can you talk more about the arguments that you have here? guest: sure. the essential argument that i've made about race is that voters of color and americans of color are not some unintelligencible breed. they're not impossible to understand. they're remarkably similar to every other american voter. so when we went, the point, a lot of people can resonate with is america is facing a presidential rematch from hell. i don't think anybody is outside of people who get their pay chechs from either candidate are happy about the fact we're seeing this rematch. so what that has created in a lot of americans is a sense of apathy and a belief that neither candidate care about me. i think that happens and i think that is happening with voters of color, as a voter of color

myself i feel that way. i'm not excited about either of the candidates and i think we have to realize that this shift of voters of color away from the democratic party is a microcosm of maybe a broader phenomenon, one that happens when a huge swath of american voters really just have stopped really being excited or hopeful about american politics in general, which is a really optimistic note to kick things off on. host: i want to bring back some data that we were bringing back about gallup about voters of cloer shows that 66% of black adults who identify democratic or lean democrat, 19% identify or lean republican, that democrat lead of republicans over plaque americans shrinking by nearly 20 points over the last three years. and then democrats lead among hispanic adults and adults age 18-29 have split nearly as much resulting in democratics holding

only a modest edge among both groups. i want to talk to you specifically about young voters. what do you think is going on there? guest: so a lot of young voters, as a conservative young voter i'm aware i'm somewhat of an anomaly. but i think what is happening is we are seeing the democratic parties divorcing of narrative from results. so the democratic party is very good at presenting a narrative on race that i would argue is in many circumstances is or appears better than the narrative than the republican party pushes on race. the problem is that does not seem mirroring results. so in the case of the biden administration particularly, so i think what we're seeing right now, and going back to the initial -- you have to review all of this, the entire lens of campaign 2024 is you have to

view it with a very heavy ven near of pessimism. we're looking at a moment where americans of all color, especially americans of color i would argue, are saying it is, these are two candidates that i really am not convinced that either have the talent to be president of the united states, they've demonstrated that. what am i going to do? i'm going to check out. one of the things i said in u.s.a. today and i quoted the radio host, that he lays out this dilemma. there are the cowards, crooks, and couch. i might disagree, but the third option, the couch, is a real one. if people are convinced, and they are, that neither political party, neither candidate cares about them, they won't just not vote, and that's a trend we have to contend with as well. host: we'll be taking your calls with comments and questions for isaac as well. the numbers are on your screen.

you describe yourself as a conservative. can you talk about you're political views? guest: unlike a lot of people my age, i've been tsh since november 2016 that was a weird moment for me because i knew enough through politics, and i knew enough to know that really was a turning point even for me who didn't know anything about politics at the time. and i started researching and reading. i initially was not going to study politics at all but the more i got into it, i started reading more, i gradually drifted to a center right point of view. i am -- the op ed in u.s.a.

today makes clear i'm not fan of trump, i do not believe that he represents a particularly great standard for conservative movement in america. i am also no fan of joe biden. i think he's done, through his actions and appointments he has made america more racially divided, not less. so there is that as well. my current views, center right, very strongly free market, but i also have a certain lens that allows me to see some of the failings of the conservative movement which i've written on fairly ex-tensively, specifically when it comes to racial narratives. the conservative movement and republican party maybe has fallen down on the job especially on the narrative front in a way that the democratic party has capitalized on. host: you've also said that president biden has become incredibly bad at marketing himself to voters of color. but earlier this month just

after president biden pretty commanding victory in the south carolina primary, representative clyburn who is a longtime biden ally, responded to a question about biden's falling support among younger black americans. let's hear a clip of that. >> well, i've heard from people in michigan asking me to come there and i plan to go there. i've heard from in michigan and in pennsylvania as well. i plan to spend some time in those states because as they said to me they want someone who has had the experiences of working with joe biden who knows the record and who can relate to young people. i do, i talk to young i do talk to young people all the time. i talked to them and i listen.

they tell me their only issue is with style. it is not about substance. what all of us need to do is get people to see the distant -- difference. joe biden did not need to quote the songs they listen to, but he will. he will make their medical situations better. joe biden is not the kind of person who wrote rap songs and a tv personality. joe biden is all about substance. to me, there is no substitute for substance. all of the style people get caught up on may be good for the moment. but it will not do a thing for

your future. host: isaac, what do you think, is it style over substance? guest: i think you are seeing his attempt to reunify the narrative. liz truss political party should be the one that can provide a compelling narrative of the things they do, but also then do things. i think that is what biden is trying to do. i think he is right that people my age care about style were the results. one of those things is because we are not politically informed. many will make their decision based on tiktok which is horribly depressing. it speaks to the way in which most people my wave make political decisions. it is emotional but also heavily narrative driven. tiktok this cultural narrative and snapshots -- tiktok is

cultural narrative and snapshots. it is difficult for me to sit down with the accomplishments of a given administration and say this is how i will vote. that is how i endeavor to do things, but it seems counterintuitive. that is not how people my age tend to think. i think he is exactly right on that. i quote from clyburn in the piece. this is clyburn saying this. the problem is they cannot get through the maga wall to speak to what the president has done. that is part of the problem. if you want to talk about narrative and results, who is perhaps the man most obsessed with his own narrative?

donald trump. he is, in a strange and our way, very good at creating a narrative where he cares about people, even people he does not actually care about. he is a narrative maker. we can debate about his results. but the narrative is what carries his most ardent supporters, not just his results. i think that is part of the problem. there is a maga wall. we can talk about that later if you want. clyburn was trying to merge narrative with results. he is probably correct. it is just a matter of if they will do it. host: i want to follow up on the point about republicans. the associate press says they see an opportunity with voters.

in this article, it quotes president trump speaking of his support among black voters saying we did better in 2018 and much better in 2020 but there is much more enthusiasm now. is that what you are seeing? guest: where did you get the quote? host: this is from trump in new hampshire. guest: just now. ok. i think he is probably overstating that a little bit. i know a lot of people are voting for president trump in 2024. i don't know many people voted for trump in 2024 that are super excited about it. it goes back to the charlamagne tha god trial. i think in a certain way, he may be right in that people who

believe in the trunk narrative will be fired up to vote for him because it is part of the story they are doing to support him. i can see how he believes it. i can also see how reality might not match up with that. stranger things have happened. host: let's take some calls. john is in maryland on the republican line. caller: hi. i find it funny he calls himself a conservative. that is another story. i want to know why he thinks minorities are not excited to vote for donald trump when you have a history, their lives up-and-down, financial, safety, businesses, 180 different from the way they are now.

everything biden does is horrible. the country is in a terrible position. you are saying they are not excited about trump. everybody's life was better, especially minorities, under trump. they are not excited about it? you talk about substance? biden has as much substance as chicken broth. the guy is not there. host: let's let him respond. guest: i definitely see why minorities would vote for trump. we saw the rioting in 2020 and $2 billion worth of damage caused. the democratic party goes i do not want this. in chicago with the migrant housing issue, that is what that is. you can be excited to vote about the results you think donald trump can give you and you might be right. we can have an argument about

what that is. i am not saying voting for trump is the outside choice in 2024. the way donald trump has marketed himself, voted for him means stomaching a bunch of difficult to stomach things about his own personal narrative , the way things happened in 2020. that part of trump may not be awesome to stomach. people are excited to vote for results. host: liz is in georgia on the democratic line. caller: good morning. i don't understand why anybody would be excited about a fascist or potential fascist president. isaac, i do want to say i am excited to see young black men engaged. i do have a question. i have seen the polls about

black people pulling away from joe biden and the democrats. but i do not understand how any reasonably intelligent person can think setting -- sitting on the couch and sitting out on election has any impact at all. i do not understand that. you have to live with it for four years. if you have any insight, i wish you would share it. how can you choose the couch? guest: that makes sense. i am not black, i'm indian. i should have mentioned that. in terms of the couch, this is something that requires you to understand how pessimistic we are about voting and america in general. most americans my age have real pessimism about america that i do not share but i have found is

prevalent. i can picture another 22-year-old being like, this is hypothetical, but with a sense of trump is successful himself, etc. biden failed to deliver results and displace signs of cognitive impairment. this is not what american politics is supposed to be, i'm not going to participate. i can see that thought process being very compelling to a slice of people. i don't feel that way, but i can see it. if you are burned out by politics, you are just tired of pulling a lever between the lesser of two evils, i'm not going to do this at all.

i can see that very clearly. host: someone in new york sent us a text message asking, what are your views on abortion and how do you think that affects support? guest: my views on abortion are determined by my belief in science and how it pertains to development and the value of human life. that is tangential to the question. post dobbs, the republican party has indicated it does not seem to know what to do with victory. pulling americans, they are

fairly close on average. i think if democrats do their marketing on abortion correctly, if they do marketing as focusing on liberty, we will probably get the better of the argument. i think republicans need to redouble their efforts to talk about science talking about abortion. i do not think those are at odds at all. the biggest this is maker in 2024 will probably be the economy. abortion is still a fairly important issue to voters. but i think the economy will come out on top. it will be a factor for sure. host: robert is in florida on the independent line. caller: one thing i would like

you to comment on, i am independent, i voted for obama and trump. i cannot understand why minorities are not calling out the democratic party for the way they support the teachers unions and stifle the rights of parents and children to go to charter schools which are markedly better in many instances. they are basically squashing a parent's rights for their children to seek a better education, and yet they get called out on it. they talked about suppressing the vote. what about suppressing your future? i think it is abysmal. it astounds me democrat and minority leaders -- host: let's let isaac respond. guest: it is a good question. i have done research on this and interviewed a gentleman at the

american enterprise institute who also runs charter schools in the bronx that serves underprivileged kids. this is true. education is also a big issue. the ability to have school choice for many families is the deciding factor between a subpar education or a good education for their kids. it can create the upward social mobility all parents want for their children. the democratic party has failed on the issue of school choice. i think they probably deserve to work with that failure. school choice is a big thing. republicans did the right thing prioritizing it. i think the democratic party needs to be called out more. they failed on it and they deserve to feel that.

host: edward in new jersey says, are you concerned with the current front runners in the gop pushing the narrative of allowing more policing of the minority communities citing police brutality videos on social media? guest: i have a couple of thoughts about this. police brutality is a problem. it is not a problem of power. it is a problem of lack of training. there is a persistent problem across america where police departments do not properly train. that leads to big problems. i think when it comes to policing, there is a right and wrong way to do policing. i am not a fan of any of that messaging coming from the top. i think that is a problem for

states to figure out. i have no interest in what donald trump or any gop front runner thinks about how we should be policing in kansas. i think the kansas police should be making that kind of decision. i think hard and soft on crime is disingenuous and unhelpful. i watched a lot of videos of police utility -- brutality. they said be available. it is a problem of power and training. i think if you are studying this issue, you have to study it. you have to watch videos of police brutality to understand what is going on. i have issues with that as with many things. host: let's go to diane in

kansas on the republican line. caller: thank you for taking my call. i am a 77-year-old grandmother. i have two granddaughters about the age of the guest. i would like him to know people of my age look at our grandchildren and we wonder what their future will be like. i don't care if you are black or white. you can worry about rent and groceries. i had hoped when i was that age that i could buy a house and survive with a basic job. that is not attainable anymore.

the older people, it is getting to the point where they cannot afford to exist even with social security and a pension because of the cost of electricity and necessities are so expensive. host: let's let isaac respond to some of those points you made. guest: let's go back to the question about pessimism. it also goes back to the question about school choice robert asked. the recent school choice and abortion are so important and elicit such fervor, and gun violence and these things, the reason they get this much energy and heat is because they are generational. it is not something people my age are great at doing because we only have one generation to think about, us. i completely understand your

concern about thinking generationally and how depression is real. the state of mind economic depression, so we are clear. i think it is very real. the market is not great. people my age are incredibly aware of how not great the market is. i was eight when that happened. we all grew up with that being part of a lot of people's formative years. that coast back to the question of broader pessimism about the government's ability to do things. it happened in 2008 and again in 2020. the government was unable to stop the feelings of fear, out-of-control, helplessness,

this kind of thing. these are things my generation is very familiar with feeling. you can connect that to politics. it feeds a lot of the pessimism i have been talking about. we have issues like school choice and the economy we talked about. host: ana is in texas on the democratic line. caller: yes, i am in texas. i'm sorry some people are having at hard. i am 75 years old and widowed. i do not go out. i drive a 2008 f-150 truck. one of the things that bothers me about what mr. isaac is saying, i have a group called the old lady gang. we get together and we go over

the whole state. that is what is important. we go to city council meetings, school board meetings. when y and city council, you can almost count on your hand how many of us are there. mr. isaac, you need to focus on the states, every state, and the people who they are voting for, city council people, mayors, judges, your state and representatives. i know who all of mine are. host: let's let isaac respond. guest: i don't disagree with this in any way. as a journalist, one of the things i see that has made americans really mad is the fact that we have a media cycle that trains us to care about things that do not affect us much. i could look on the internet

right now and find an article about nevada housing policy or something like that it would get me very upset when i start thinking about the values behind it. i'm sure we could all do the same thing. what happens in nevada is not really affect you that much. i live in pennsylvania. this is not going to do anything . someone from nevada might get mad at me after the show. i am completely with you in the way we need to care about state and local communities. that is where change has to come from. that is part of the whole point about america. will need to care about the things closest to us first -- we all need to care about the things closest to us first. we don't necessarily want that narrative messaging coming from the national level. these are questions best relegated to the state and local level. i don't think we have a disagreement on that.

i would guess we would have a disagreement on what we would tell those school board meetings and council meetings, but i do not think we disagree on the general sentiment we need to focus on our own backyards and make sure they are safe. that is why americans lose confidence in the democratic party like in chicago with the migrant housing issue. people were not happy with the democratic party. that kind of momentum is how you get the broader out of the democratic party trends you see on the federal level. good luck to the old lady gang. host: gus in new york asks how we can best promote civic education at all school levels. guest: there is a level of expense i do not have an public schools. there is a lot of ignorance on the part of young americans.

don't go reading about it if you care about this kind of thing because it will mess up the rest of your date. we need to have meaningful standards how to teach these kinds of things. every couple of years, there is a survey that comes out about how many americans could pass the immigration test, the civics portion of the immigration test. that only happens when you have a populace like my generation that is remarkably ignorant about civics. we need to teach civics better and maybe from the point of this is not just how the system works but this is the system built on certain values. but values reflect themselves practically -- those values reflect themselves practically. even as someone who does politics a lot, we can easily talk about civics with the american political machine.

it is not just a machine. it is driven by values and people with certain opinions about how it should be run. it is built with safeguards against certain things like overreach and tyranny. we should be teaching about that level of civics. we don't talk about it much. we really should especially with the challenges we are facing now. we need to teach values centered civics. i don't have a great system of how to do that at the public school level. at the private school level, we definitely need to teach about those values. at the public school level, there are a lot of people more educated than me when it comes to education policy. host: let's see if can get in a couple more callers before we have to let you go. ben on the independent line, go ahead. caller: isaac, good morning. i called in because we have a lot of parallels. other than the fact i am a 77-year-old white man in you are a 22-year-old black man, we

agree on a lot. host: he is not black, he is indian. guest: that is fine, keep going, we are good. caller: i'm sorry,. sir our philosophies are very similar. don't look at what the democrat and republican parties give us as pander. there is too much of that and not dealing with helping the people. if i could ask you to do only one thing, stay focused on bringing all people together. they have decided they are going to separate and divide and conquer so to speak. the simple fact of the matter is there's a whole segment of the american people that think a lot alike. we need to make sure white, black, the brown, the indian, the oriental, it does not matter what color you are. that those segment of people

speak up. guest: for sure. oriental? ok. i would agree with that. i think a couple of years ago, i think it was obama who said government is the one thing we all belong to. the problem is that is a toxic sentiment that tends to pervade a lot of politics. government is not the one thing we all belong to. america is the one thing that belongs to all of us. we need to embrace that reality regardless of race and realize our struggles and worries about the future are shared. there are not limited to black people or white people or republicans or democrats, we all share in the same fate of a

nation not living up to its best.. we need to always or member that. thanks, ben. host: they sit has nothing to do with age or race -- they say it has nothing to do with age or race. it has to do with power. guest: i think that sentiment definitely carries weight. host: let's hear from florida on the republican line. caller: good morning. you are brilliant. i wish people would tune into what you are saying and articulating. i had to almost spit out my coffee when one color came in and assumed you were "black." i choked on my coffee. i think with our problem of balkanization and racism on both

sides. i want to get your thoughts about this. have you ever heard of the old totem pole theory in economics on racism not only in america, but india with the cast system and so on? do you find a young black people understand the displacement that is eventually going to happen in america on the economic and job front when you have millions of illegal aliens coming across the border? guest: this goes back to the question about state and locality. texas might handle this differently from chicago because

they are very different. in chicago, it was a great piece about this in the associated press about black democrats in chicago suing the city over migrant housing. that is a perfect example of the kind of displacement you are talking about. not throwing black people out of houses but spaces are being appropriated by the government, the state for other purposes. this makes people think estate is not care about them and maybe they are right. there is a very real sense where both parties start placing the needs of other people above others that will get a very

harsh reaction. you get this across the political spectrum. i think about the weighted foreign aid is also -- i think about the way that foreign aid is often construed. i can articulate the emotional reaction behind it. whether it is right or not, that is why people get mad about it. that is part of the problem. host: the last call, robert in new jersey on the democratic line. caller: my question is about the science and consensus on climate change. i'm a few years younger than you and believe in the free market. it would be my assumption the market decides the primary energy source. just by allowing the market to

decide energy sources could act to the detriment of us and our children's children and not allowing the government to aggressively intervene and dictate. guest: this is a longer question than we have time for. i will say people who are policymakers need to look at science and be guided by the principles of the free market. that would be how i would do it. you need to look at the science to make sure you are not ignoring the signs on climate change. thatere i would leave that for now. host: that is where we are going to leave that conversation for now pretty hopefully, we can have you back another time to get in more topics. that is isaac well our coma

commentator for the young voices website and also a journalist and college senior. thank you for your time. guest: thank you for having me. bye-bye. host: coming up, we will have more of your phone calls in open forum to give you a chance to weigh in on any topic on your mind this morning. you can start calling in now. those numbers are on your screen. we will be right back. ♪ >> friday night, watch c-span's 2024 campaign trail, a weekly roundup of campaign coverage providing a one-stop shop to discover where the candidates are traveling across the country and what they are saying to voters along with first-hand reporters, updated poll numbers,

fundraising data, and campaign ads. watch friday nights at 7:00 eastern on c-span, online, or download as a podcast. c-span, your unfiltered view of politics. ♪ >> 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 to how issues are debated and decided with no commentary, no interruptions, and completely unfiltered. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. >> if you ever miss any of

c-span's coverage, you can find it anytime online at c-span.org. videos of hearings, debates, and other events feature markers that guide you to highlights. these appear on the right hand side of your screen when you hit "play" unselect videos. this helps you get an idea quickly of what was debated and decided in washington. scroll through and spend a few minutes on c-span's points of interest. >> be up-to-date on the latest in publishing with book tv's podcast about books with current nonfiction book releases, plus bestseller lists, as well as industry news and trends through insider interviews. you can find it on c-span now, our free mobile app, or wherever you get your podcasts. >> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back.

we are in open forum waiting to hear from you on whatever politics or public policy topic is on your mind. one source we have been following the global reaction to the death of alexei navalny in russia. her is a story from the wall street journal about that. he ran a long-running campaign against kremlin critics. this aluminate's the last opposition figure inside russia with enough political clout to be seen as a possible leader, marking the culmination of a long-running kremlin campaign to kill or force into exile any possible alternative president vladimir putin. reaction to his death was muted in russia friday where political dissent is effectively criminalized. in moscow, some laid flowers at a memorial to political repression in the shadow of the former kgb headquarters. russian prosecutors warned

people not to take part in mass meetings. skimming down a bit, even when ill, at 47, he was loath to show weakness to the kremlin and often used public appearances to taunt officials. a video clip dated a day before his death shows him smiling and teasing a judge about his salary. but acquaintances say he has suffered an accumulation of ailments. western officials have said we may never learn exactly how he died. this is one of many headlines we have been following over the weekend. now, let's hear your thoughts in open forum. we will start with edna in chicago on the democratic line. go ahead. caller: first, i would say good morning to everybody. second, i would really like to offer my sympathies to navalny's life. i lost my husband last year so i know how she is feeling. i would like to say this about

kevin scott. he is a disgrace to black people groveling at the feet of trump saying i love you. how disgraceful. he took them back 50 years. about navalny, i admire that man. i still do not know why he wanted to go back to russia when he know that they were going to kill him like they did the other man. they are killing people. i hope the american people are paying attention because if they put that orange man back in the white house, they will probably be looking at some of the same things. thank you so much for your call. thank you. host: friday, president biden delivered remarks on the death of alexei navalny. here he is addressing russian president vladimir putin's role in all of this. [video clip]

president biden: like millions of people around the world, i am literally not surprised and outraged by the news of the death of alexei navalny. he bravely stood up to the corruption, violence, and all of the bad things the putin government is doing. in response, putin had him poisoned. he had him arrested and prosecuted for fabricated crimes. he sent him to prison. he was held in isolation. even all that did not stop him from calling out vice. even in prison, he was a powerful voice for the truth. this is kind of amazing when you think about it. he could have lived safely in exile after the assassination attempt on him in 20 which nearly killed him, i might add -- in 2020 which nearly killed him, i might add. instead, he returned to russia. he returned to russia knong he could be imprisoned or killed.

in you to his work. he did it anyway because he believed so deeply in his country, in russia. reports of his death, russian authorities will tell their own story. make no mistake. putin is responsible for navalny's death. putin is responsible. what is happened to navalny's yet more proof of putin's brutality. no one should be fooled anywhere in the world. to end is not only target the citizens of other countries -- putin does not only target the citizens of other countries but he inflicts terrible crimes on his own people. as people are morning involving today because he was so many things put in was not. he was brave, principled, dedicated to building a russia where the rule of law existed and applied to everybody.

navalny believed in that russia. he knew it was a cause worth fighting for and even dying for. this tragedy reminds us of the stakes. we have to provide funding so ukraine can keep defending itself. against putin's vicious on slots and war crimes. host: back to your calls on any topic you like. we will go to jack in ohio on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. i wanted to ask you guys, i am a foundational black american, y'all. what we want and foundational black americans -- can you hear me? host: yes, i can hear you. caller: we want y'all to get somebody in there to represent black people and only black people. not just talk about black indian and all that.

foundational black americans all over this country -- host: earlier, melanie campbell, did you see her from the national coalition on black civic participation? caller: i want to ask you a question. i want you to ask your ceo. i want y'all to invite somebody who will represent us foundational black americans like dr. clyde anderson -- claudia anderson -- claude anderson and phillips got who will represent us black men and tell the truth. we have these weak people y'all keep inviting up here. host: jon in los angeles on the independent line, go ahead. please turn down the volume on your tv. [background noise] you can go ahead with your comment. caller: how are you doing? host: fine, thanks.

caller: i'm really glad c-span is having this open forum. i'm concerned about a lot of things in this country. one is the population being totally going overboard with the migration and no papers, no information, not done legally overcrowding our cities and trying to get people to bring them into the fold of this country illegally and causing a lot of problems. also, the money being spent on foreign affairs entanglements, israel, ukraine, taiwan, our tax money being sit out sent out and we cannot even afford it. our country is broke. we cannot even take care of our own and yet they bring all of

these people over here and get entangled with wars. it is totally disgusting. as far as political dissidents in russia, we have it here. host: ok. thank you very much. let's go to chuck in west virginia on the democratic line. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. going back to the first hour talking about ways to address the national debt, when i was watching the super bowl last weekend or the weekend before, i was watching the super bowl and looking at the astronomical amounts of money that goes into that event and how people would have no problem dropping $100,000 -- $1000 on a super bowl ticket in the advertising and spectacle, just enormous amounts of money, and yet we can

stage a spectacle like that at a time when there is communities in west virginia that do not even have portable drinking water -- potable drinking water. i would like to talk about it progressive text structure. i believe people who are wealthy or to pay a greater amount of taxes. consider the average sanitation worker, garbage collector, makes about $24,000 a year. the average worker in an advertising agency might make three times that amount. does that mean the advertising professional is working three times as hard? course not. i understand this is how professionals are marketed. but which job do you think is more crucial to the smooth functioning of a society?

if advertising professionals go on strike, no one cares. if sanitation workers go on strike, trust me, everyone cares. not everyone, people say people can work up and make a huge amount of money. no, not everyone can be a doctor or lawyer or investment banker. always be the need for people who do the dirty work. that is why i strongly support a progressive tax structure where the wealthy pay more. if the wealthy can increase their wealth by making a few well-placed phone calls to investment bankers, not only should they pay a higher tax rate, they should be happy to do so because they benefit so much. host: thank you. let's hear from joyce in georgia on the republican line. caller: yes, the lady talking about the orange men, people

hate trump because of the media. they have been lying about him. we have seen in real time fascism in america trying to take him off the ballot, with all of these indictments. it is election interference. we have never had anyone running trying to be put in jail or taken out of court. we are witnessing fascism right now and people do not even realize it. host: he said this has never happened before -- you said this has never happened before. how does this compare to the calls for arresting hillary clinton? caller: did he arrest her? host: but trump has not been arrested either. caller: but he was indicted for

the same crimes she did i believe. alvin bragg, was that about finances? hilary just got a financial penalty for like $100,000 for that. trump has gotten 34 indictments against him. even the fbi informant with the democrats, when he brought up the corruption about biden's family, now he has been imprisoned. look at the same type of think putin done. everybody says trump does what he wants but actually it is the biden administration that acts just like putin. host: here is a story in the "washington post" that a former

fbi informant has been charged with lying about biden's business. special counsel david white who previously filed criminal charges against president biden's son announced new charges thursday against the former p.i. informant officials say lied about the bidens business dealings. it accuses him of making a false statement and creating a fictitious record. the chairman counted the claims -- touted the claims they tried to build a corruption case against the president and his family. let's get a call from claud

e in washington on the independent line. caller: good morning. i am 70 years old, a black male. have converted over to independent. i have come to the conclusion both parties, you have the crips and the bloods. listen to your college spring listen to how angry they are. you have the republicans line, just listen to their voices how angry they are. you have the crips. listen to the other side, the democrats, you have callers going after their own race because another race is voting a certain way. you are isolating them or calling them names.

it is a gangster mentality. when these politicians keep the people pivoted against each other and they are spending millions and millions of dollars, i think in new york, the guy spent over $60 million. do you know what $60 million would do for poverty, housing, and schools? and yet they want to keep the bag over people's heads just like you this morning with all of the anger fussing at each other. host: ok, thank you. let's hear from larry in minnesota on the democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. what amazes me is everybody is ignoring the fact vladimir putin is a murdering communist and has been since he was with the k.g.b.

host: what you mean everyone is ignoring that? caller: when is the last time you heard anyone say putin is a communist? anybody who aids and abets the communists on ukraine's democracy is a communist themselves. i'm talking about the maga republicans and donald trump who refuse to help fund ukraine's democracy against communist aggression. host: ok. next is ben in maryland on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. you are a true professional. i want to piggyback on the caller before the last. i have been watching c-span for a while.

it seems the anger and positions political opposites are taking are so entrenched that there is no hope for any middleground or negotiation or compromise. it is kind of getting to a point where it is scary. people seem to take extreme positions and do not seem to be willing to have an open dialogue and use the system the way it was created to counter any type of progress. host: why do you think there is that divide? caller: unfortunately, september 12 after 9/11, the following day was probably the only day i have seen in a long time where people were actually willing to understand one another and work

together as one. i would hate to think it would take another tragedy of that scale. i am running out of solutions to this. host: next, rudy is in sun city, california, on the democratic line. caller: good morning. you have an excellent show this morning. i really have enjoyed it. i would like to let the people know that the wars in ukraine and israel, they will be over pretty soon, or however long it is going to take for these wars to end. all of that money they say they do not want these places to have will not be going to israel or ukraine anymore when the conflict are over. i want to see if these same people will say let's bring this

money here and help the veterans, help housing in metropolitan areas and rural areas. i want to see how many people will say let's spend that money. one other thing. as an older black american, i am tired of hearing about reparations. it just frustrates me to have this going on all the time because it is like beating a dead horse. it is not going to happen. we can pick up ourselves by the bootstraps of ways than looking for the federal government or states to shell out a little bit of change that is not going to last. host: ok, thank you, rudy. let's hear from david in south dakota on the republican line. good morning, david. caller: yes.

for a man who had a real estate license for 20 years, loan agencies do not go by what a property owner says the property is worth. they have people that decide. the george soros appointed judges and prosecutors can find somebody -- fine somebody for quarters of a billion dollars and say the properties -- three quarters of billion dollars. he said his property was worth -- host: i think you were talking about the case against former president donald trump in new york that he overinflated the property of his value, is that what you are discussing? caller: yes. why fine somebody that amount for his property when he said it was worth more than it was? it is ridiculous what these

george soros appointed socialists are doing to the guy to try to swing the election just like they cheated last time to put biden in the white house. thank you very much. host: ok. next is bill in pennsylvania on the democratic line. go ahead, bill. caller: good morning, kim. how are you doing? host: fine, thanks. go ahead. caller: i am up here in iraq, pennsylvania -- erie, pennsylvania. every couple of months, we get sleds of immigrants from texas i guess. last month or so, just about all of them have been chinese. i have to remind everybody out there, china, everybody they get here from china is being let out of china by the chinese

government less chinese communist government. the other thing is we know covid came from china, the wuhan lab. they are working on another virus because they would like to kill all of our kids and grandkids. host: thanks, bill. let's hear from the next caller on the independent line. caller: i want to say i am also a black american. i am 60 years old. i want to let everybody know i am concerned about the war but i want you to know that republicans do not want to solve the border crisis. they want to use it as a horse to ride. they have used it several occasions when they control the house, senate, and white house. the opportunity to solve the work crisis emerged and they passed on it. almost the same thing has happened now.

they do not want to solve the border crisis. in reference to the caller earlier, your guest earlier who was suggesting there is a shift among black people, the younger black people, that concerns me greatly because i want them to understand that for black people, the first thing we want is to be recognized as a human being. that has not always happened with the republican party. kevin phillips, his whole idea was, he said the secret to politics was knowing who hates who. for those people who want to sit at home and not vote, i identify with the younger people. i developed a program is sold at two hospitals that made $7.5 million for 13 years.

the caller from upper marlborough and edna from chicago, they indicated the republican party consists primarily of former democrats who left the republican -- democratic party to form the dixiecrat's. host: i want to get in a couple more folks before we have to finish up for the hour. let's hear from patrick in georgia on the republican line. caller: thank you. i want to talk about the media. the reason i feel so many republicans support donald trump is because of the media. an example of that is you had a caller a few minutes ago from georgia talking about donald trump and everything. you mentioned donald trump has never been arrested. that is fall spread donald trump was arrested in new york -- that

is false. donald trump was arrested in new york. she's been saying they are unbiased with an unfiltered view, and then for the host to tell us donald trump has not been arrested, that is misinformation. there are not a lot of sources we can go to out there for people who believe what i believe that is not pushing the hate trump narrative. host: apologies, patrick. you are correct that trump was arrested. i meant arrested on the street as is being called for for hillary clinton. thank you for that correction. let's go to johnny in mississippi on the democratic line. caller: thank you for picking up in the delta today. i'm curious about the president passing several executive orders in an attempt to remove systemic

inequities from the whole of government. has the executive order made a difference? if not, what do we need to do? please bring someone on to tell us about it. host: thank you so much, johnny. i appreciate that. that is all the time we have for our calls today. thank you very much for tuning into "washington journal" and to everyone who shared their opinion. we will be back tomorrow with another edition of "washington journal" starting at 7:00 a.m. eastern. thanks, everyone, and hope you have a good day. ♪ [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]