[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] ♪ host: it's the "washington journal" for march 19. this pinnacle basketball start of march madness. this series of games could garner close to online betting. 27 states in the district of columbia allow people to place their bets online which is causing interest of some members

of congress for more regulation, especially over concerns of risk of gambling addiction. should the fedent regulate online sports bet something if you say yes regulation is needed if you want to tell us why and to what extent, 202-748-8000. if you say no, 202-748-8001. maybe you're not sure, 202-748-8002. if you want to give us your thought via text, 202-748-8003. facebook is available to facebook.com/cspan and we have a twitter poll as you can participate as well on x. you can at @cspanwj. bets on basketball online saying the total amount of bets on all sports through legal wagering sites in 2023 from the previous year.

that's up from 7.5 billion. the american gaming association estimates that 2.7 billion will be bet this year on men's and women's sports tournament. some of those facts from sports betting from the united states 38 states, the district of columbia allow some form of sports betting. when it comes to the question of regulation there was a recent poll done by s c if more regulation was needed on

those are the poll. let us know. if you say yes, more regulation is needed, 202-748-8000. if you say no, 202-748-8001. and if you're not sure, you want to tell us why, 202-748-8002. and then you can facebook on x, you can send us a text as well at 202-748-8003. of the legislatures on the forefront of the world on-on-is senator richard blumenthal. he has a series of x tweets from yesterday regarding the start of march g posts addiction and

tragedy.eas adhaev betting small action of the budget could make a big difference. that's senator blumenthal from the x service there. if you want to make yourn x it's @cspanwj. it was this program in february that we invited keith white of the national problem on gambling to give his perspective on what's needed on these type of sites. here's what he had to say from back in february. >> based on our research, people's gambling problem, it's guestingly enough, most forms of gambling skew are overaggressive. they're more likely to have a negative impact except for sports betting. education is positive associated

with betting on sports. so the higher education you have, the more likely you are to bet on sports. to deal well the fact that in america surprise, it is so intertwined with college.t sports has been commoditizing but there's also, i think, and i think this may help an your questions about this, there's something to do with the fact that most americans think of sports as a game of skill. so there's an intuitive thing that the more educated you are, the more likely you may think that you're better than, that you understand the odds better

and you're making a more informed decision about betting and the more you gamble, the more like you you are to lose. and that belief that we all have we are, the better we are at things can work against you in the gambling space. host: that program back from february if you want to see it, go to tour website pat c-span.org and you want to give your input on more regulation is needed in the online gaming space, say yes. 202-748-8001 if you say no. 202-748-8002 if you are not sure. xavier our no line starts us off. good morning. tell us why.

caller: thank you for having me. i don't think that the government should regulate it because i think that that would be another inroads into somethinlse. just every industry, i don't think the government should be involved in everything that people do. and i think that it would end up driving up prices for everybody and, you know, many people whether they're using that particular form -- forum to maybe become entrepreneurs or whatever, they use it to make a living, i think we're beginning to regulate everything. and i don't think it's something that they should do. i think that people take their hard earned money. they put it in and if they win they win if they done, it's they don't, and so forth. and let people do what they do. host: what about some of the legislatures who want to respond to regulatioor concerns of those who might have addiction issues? do you think that's legitimate or do you think that should be served by other means? what do you think abouthat?

caller: i don't think that as far as addiction is concerned you're going to have addiction no matter what you do. and the government getting involved is not going to stop people from having addiction. the medicine industry and everything and you still have addictions. i don't think that has anything to do with it. i think that it's just another ploy for the g -- i mean, look, it's even like when you talk about the marijuana issue, you know. it's probably getting ready to be liz bit, you know, especially in a place like west virginia. it's more regulations than a little bit and they priced to where people to where you can open up one their apothecaries and they pr out of it. so if you're not rich, you can't even invest. host: all right. this is richard in our no line

from manhattan. good morning. caller morning. listen, i don't have a problem with allowing people to bet on their phones or anything like that. y would like to see is there are no advertising on tv to where there are no advertising of nicorette. host: do you see -- caller: if someone wants to gamble, they'll find the place because they know what they want. it's really that simple. the only other thing that i'm a little leary about is like i'm a sports fan. and i'm clearly engulfed but my 15-year-old son, he has password to log in, you know, they have to be some safeguard but that falls on the parents. the government really can't do anything about it. host: is it the

the ad or the style of the ad? caller: yeah, they should not advertise. if i'm watching let's say a hockey game and after one series they say oh you know, if the washington capitals scored two or more goals, it's plus 300. if you say no, it's minus 300. i don't need that come on during the game. host: ok, richardnhattan, also on our no line he talks about the access to these type of sites on phones, the siena college poll a look and asked people thing on their launch of march madness, the concerns over online gaming, particularly when it comes to more regulation and if it's needed, 202-748-8000, you say yes. 202-748-8001 if you say no. this is stephen from new york

state on our yes line. hello, thanks for calling. caller: well, like your previous caller who said no but he re meant yes because it's not just the advertising. you actually have the -- i can't hear you. host: it's ok i didn't say anything but keep going. caller:ctually -- it's the announcers are actually that are announcing the game. if you bet this now or whatever, i've seen that on. i can't remember which -- i watch all sports. you actually have the announcers talking about betting on the games. i mean if were to bet this, you could have won $4,000 if you put this in and that was just on a recent basketball game about two weeks ago. so if you were to bet $100 on

this, that should be regulated. i understand the advertising but if you just just want to watch sports on sports center or any one of those, you bet this and that, it's all intertwined now. now, the announcers are encouraging up you to bet. host: do you enjoy when you see those things happen? caller: no, i'm one of those people that would go overboard. host: ok, stephen there in new york, thanks for calling and giving your sports. the idea on-on, via phone or

other device. call the line, text, post on facebook and on x. on x, by the way, we have a twitter poll going on that you can participate in too about if there should be more regulation from the government on this front. you can participate on that by going to @cspanwj. on the no line, this is howard. good morning, you're next up. caller: good morning. hey, i like to one question maybe somebody could answer for me. name me one thing. we're so free in america. name me one thing that is not regulated by the government. anything. host: well if it's a rhetorical question, i'm sure go ahead and answer it. caller: well, i can't ever think of anything that is not related. the government seems to put their fingers in everything that we do or want to do. nothing -- there's nothing that's not regulated. there's not one thing i can think of that is not regulated.

the government needs to keep out of our business more. host: so when it comes to particularly online gaming, why is that, aside from the fact that not a general sense stay out of the business more? caller: well because i don't gamble that much very, very little but it's the point that the government wants to run our lives totally. get out of our lives. host: howard there in ohio on our no line. we will hear from robert on our yes line. he's in massachusetts. robert you're next up. hello. caller: yes, i'm from worcester massachusetts. gambling is a very very bad thing. i could go to my corner store i could scratch tickets. i could go to my corner store and i could -- at the corner store and i could buy papers.

now, as gambling, remember pete rose? pete rose? withwas a great baseball player. and he bet against his own team, right? today, we got college kids getting paid millions of dollars, 17, 18-year-old children getting paid millions of dollars with contract were gambling right? you can go all the way back to -- when you go back to something like donald trump at new jersey. donald trump has all these property in the trump tower and all those. i used to be a gambler. i got out of gambling because i seen what it do to people. it would kill a family just like alcohol and just like drugs.

gambling is a very very bad thing. when you can go to your cornere, your children, to go by papers up here in massachusetts. i don't know what it is across the country. but numbert's legal. i went to the store the other day and i looked around. i seen an 80-year-old white lady buy weed. you ever seen -- it's terrible. host: ok. robert there in massachusetts, giving his thoughts. some of you sin losing money but the federal government has other things they need to worry about secure the border which is not being done. frhi t to buys. again, the x site is @cspanwj. that's where the twitter poll they add this when it comes to the sports betting saying despite living where sports betting is legal, some fans still could be blocked from their teams or

favorite players. -- the ncaa has raised concerns that player specific bets can lead to problems including strain on their mental health. the organization says such bets entice players to wager on themselves plays. that's on that front. on the online front, you can talk about the accessibility. you can talk about the ads of some and concerns about addiction, whether you support it or you support more regulation. that's the yes line, 202-748-8000. and if you oppose it, 202-748-8001. if you don't, it's ok to not be sure. you can call into 202-748-8002

raymond in colorado on our yes line. good morning. you're next up. caller: yes. good morning. i'm 66 years old and i've been gambling for ever since i was 24. but i don't let the gambling control me. but here's the elephant in the room, i think, pedro, is that fanduel and other companies, you try to get in contact with them if you have a large winning ticket and there's no way to get in contact. they don't have a telephone number. they don't have a corporate number that you can reach. and the reason why i say that, i'm not sure. i had $445,000 ticket. i had five teams right. i took a partial picture of it and it disappeared from my transaction history. so, and i tried to search my franks history and that ticket is gone.

so i tried get in contact with fanduel for them to let me know if that ticket was a winner or not and i've been trying and the computer shuts off. it won't let me -- it times out. it won't let me find that ticket. so i'm concerned that there needs to be a better way of getting in contact with these companies if you have a big winner. and i believe they have control of everything. host: when you play these sports, is it primarily on your phone and if so, how much more betting do you do because of that? caller: do i a combination of things. i will play on my computer. i don't play on my phone but go to like casinos. i play casinos and i've seen machines from malfunctions and

i've seen people had to take casinos to court to win their money. i've kept up with those things like vegas. and when there's so much moneyvolved, there is an amount of control, i believe, that's involved in it. i'm not saying they all are crooked, but just try to get hold to fanduel or draftkings or any of those companies, they don't have a company that you can call. so what you end up doing is talking to a computer and it keeps repeating the same thing over and over again. thank you forget my point across. host: raymond, thank you very much for calling, giving us your perspective on your no line. te. good morning. caller: good morning. i'd like to say -- i'd like to quote george washington on the and this is a real quote. he said "gambling is a chi of

average, the brother of inkity and the father of mischief." now everybody knows gambling is a bad thing, basically but i just want to talk about hypocrisy. last man named pete the most it's ever played and he's not in the hall of fame because of gambling and there was never a case that he threw a game. it was assumed that he bet that the team he taught would win. he had more insight than the average player and they are putting him out of the hall of fame and now, they're promoting gambling and it's just a sad situation.

you can't s it's like a big mistake for the abortion. they say you can't have an abortion and that's not going to and they are now saying you can't gamble? it's just a hypocrisy. it's so evident, especially with a guy like pete rose. who played for a thousand years and got a million hits and he's not in the hall of fame because he gambled. host: ok. allen there in new york, bringing up pete rose and using that to talk about whether more regulations is needed of the online sports betting space. you can call us yes. how you do that is 202-748-8003 to give us your perspective. let's hear from victoria in connecticut on our yes line. hello. caller: good morning.

host: good morning. caller: i feel like the advertising is what should be regulated just like it was with cigarettes. if people want to gamble that's fine. and one of the comments betting on players. i think that probably also should be regulated. we don't want the players to you know be harassed if something goes wrong. so that's all i had to say. host: well, when it comes to the advertising, why focus on that? caller: becauset think that it enhances gambling and it encourage people to gamble. and i think that's probably a bad thing. if people want to gamble, that's ok but i don't think it should be -- i don't think it should be encouraged. your senator richard blumenthal is at the forefront. what do you think about those efforts his? caller: i think that's probably good ultimately. gambling is an addiction. it's kind of fun if you do it

with not a lot of money and maybe just a little bit of gambling but it can get out of control. maybe a fully regulation is in order. host: ok. talking about advertising, you can bring that into the mix as well. we will hear from wesley on our no line. wesley hi, there. caller: hi. host: you'read caller: yes. i feel like gambling should not be regulated because the gambling that they do regulate which is casino gambling, i do a lot of that, and they take one third. they want 10 times more than the church want. and that's a big hunk out of your money. so if they're regulate online gaming, does that mean that they'r to want one third of your winnings? because that's the only thing that they have against them.

they take too much of your win. same $1,000 that you go there with, you lose it you get nothing from them. but if you win, they want one third. don't you think it's a bit much? if i win $1,200, they want $400 of that. and that's money that i worked for in my job. host: you ever bet electronically on sports or do you stick games particularly? caller: i stick to games because of that one third. i don't want to have to go through all that sipangment to get the -- sipang. -- entanglement to get the rights to win.

host: this was last year -- 18 million more adults plan on betting the march madness. americans are expected to wager less on the tournament than they plan to wager on that big game. it was the american gaming association bill miller who did a rec on the cbs show "60 minutes" talking about the issue of addiction when it comes to online gaming and was asked about it. thoughts on that interview. >> take out our phone, 24 hours a day, a few swipes. this entertainment has the potential to addict users.

they are addiction element of people addicted to their common phrase. i don't believe that there's an addiction to mobile betting anymore than there is an addiction to utilization of your phone for any other reason. >> you don't thick adding a layer of betting makes the phone more addictive than just tooling around instagram? >> no. >> every clinician have said we've noticed a rise in problem >> i would concede to the fact that there are more known people with gambling problems because we in the flagging those people. the illegal industry doesn't flag any of them. host: again that's from the "60 minutes" interview. you can find that on line. when it comes to regulation gambling, give us your thoughts. yes, more regulation is needed 202-748-8001. if you say no, or not sure,

202-748-8002 vanessa in maryland calling us on our yes line. vanessa, go ahead. caller: hi, good morning. i think the government should regulate it. i think the guy from massachusetts who said he checked with fanduel and his ticket disappeared? well, if the government was involved, it would kind of change that. i remember as a kid my grandmother used to send me around the corner to play those three-digit. as it grew the government wanted to get involved. if there's money to be made in that industry there. are millions and millions of baby boomers who are in tint why not? it's a profitable business. you know, the government says that if you gamble and i don't the online gaming, you know? there are losses you can write off. i do write off my losses but i do gamble.

it's an addiction, yeah, it is but you have to learn ho control it. it's not easy to control. but if you broke you have no choi again, what's the difference in betting on the stock market? host: so vanessa, is your -- when you gamble, if i may ask, do you do it online? do you do it in person? how does that break down usually? caller: i do it in person. i don't do it online. like the gentleman said, fanduel, he wasn't able to get through. and then you got these a.i. and all his stuff going on and you don't know what's going on in the b if you went to gambling in person, i go to the casino and it's to the -- maryland is the highest grossing. it's a profitable business. and the person that opens the casino to operate it is, you know, but then think about the

games that's been going on for years the gays get together. they bet themselves. host: that's vanessa -- oh go ahead and finish. i'm sorry. go ahead. caller: ok. i'm just saying they've been betting amongst each other for years. it's just that you need some type of regulation with everything. i went to play a lottery number. the machine shut down. once my money left the there, i had about $50 left in there. the owner kept saying ok. we're notwhen i do the totals, i will give them. i had to call the maryland association and i got my money right away. host: ok, vanessa, we'll finish off this round of the first hour of our program today in talking about sports betting. you can continue to make your thoughts known on our social media site if you want, @cspanwj and facebook.com/cspan. you can also call us at the talk about

the sports betting aspect, you can continue doing that. but other matters of politics and elsewhere on this open forum, if you want participate, you can do that too. 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans. and independents, 202-748-8002. those are the numbers to call if you want to p forum. if you called the last 30 days, we would ask you to hold off from doing that. and make sure you pick up the best line that represents you. while those calls are coming in, we continue on in this half-hour. some news to share with you in and around capitol hill. it was at the white house yesterday where more was talked about when it comes to the white house asking an israeli team to come to washington to talk about their plans when it comes to gaza. president biden has summoned a senior israeli military

intelligence and humanitarian team in washington for consultation over israel's plans to launch a maj military operation in gaza tell the prime minister that every city would be a mistake. here is mr. sullivan speaking. you can find his complete comments on our website and his app but here's portion of that phone call. >> can youescribe the caller -- characterized what the tone was and then also did the president say that an invasion is in the red line? >> i've got nothing more to say on this front as you know particularly for me. that's something that is post in your questions. it's not stated as a declaration of our policy and we've made that clear. with respect to the call, i'm probably not the best person to,

you know, give the kind of assessment and body language and tone. it ended in a totally normal way when they had each gotten through all of their points and it was very business like. each of them recog moment in this conflict. they share a common objective that is for israel to prevail over hamas. and they have a different perspective on this operation in rafa and they went into some detail in that and had the opportunity to elaborate each of their respective views in a way they always do when president biden and prime minister netanyahu took over. this call was much like a previous call that each of them have had. host: you can comment with that in the open forum on our phone lines, democrats 202-748-8000,

republicans, 202-748-8001, i-n-t's, 202-748-8002. the "washington times" picks up the fact about fund fc deads lines that are fast approaching by the end of the week. mike johnson to extend homefield homeland security. -- host: so if you want to talk

about those domestic fronts on open forum, you can do that too. in the illinois, democrats line, stephen up first on this open forum. stephen, good morning. have a question from the congressman from florida matt gates. there's an investigation about with underaged female girls, might say actuallily involved. and there was a congressional investigation. whatever happened to that investigation? has it been finalized? and issue two is congressman colmer from kentucky supposedly about 10 to 12 years ago he paid for an organization for a girlfriend that he had. i'm not against that.

that's his choice, although i have specific opinions about abortions and they shouldn't be used for a certain purposes. but he always comes a rabid anti-abortion person. i don't know that he could have that attitude and pay for an abortion for his girlfriend. so i wonder whatever happened to that investigation. host: for the first one, i can give you information on this is from march 2024 by msnbc say the justice department's investigation into allegations that representative gates had sex with a 17-year-old girl ended with no criminal charges. the fallout from the now closed investigation continues to plague him as part of the lawsuit brought by the state legislature who said he was defamed in the course of the investigation.

-- he ahat they all accused him. in florida, republican line. this is william. caller: yeah. it's funny that guy should call in and talk about matt gaetz because there's over 900 indictments against the politicians of illinois. they're pending yes, but there's over 900 indictments. against the politicians of illinois. i used to live in illinois and that's onecrooked states in the country. host: ok. we'll move on to daniel from new york.

daniel in new york, are you there? caller: yeah. host: you're on. go ahead please. caller: yeah. [indiscernible] utica mission all they have to do is look for work. [indiscernible] host: ok. that's daniel there in new york city. again, open forum. 202-748-8000 for democrats. republicans 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. it was at the white house yesterday and in honor of women's history month that president biden gave remarks in the east room of the white house signing an executive order to prevent and diagnose women's health conditions. here's part of the president's comments from yesterday.

pres. biden: with all kidding side yesterday was st. patrick's day at the white house. todayor month. two of the best days of the year back-to-back. [laughter] [applause] learned my name. i rise, i rose up, i remembered it and now i can tell my story. it was different from the story told about me. end of quote. that poem was entitled mother ireland but she captured the history of american history as well. in your own way, all of you are generations of women before you have up, shown your power and told your story. we're the only nation in the world divided and defined. every nation is defined in geography. we're the only nation based on idea. think about it we hold these truth be self-evident that all

women and men be treated equally. we've never fully lived up to that but we've never walked away from it either. but jill and i and the entire administration have never walked away from anything, especially when it comes to women. women are half the population underleapt -- represented across the board but not in my administration. [applause] host: it was 1:00 that there will be a look at the u.s. withdraw from afghanistan. it will feature testimony from the former chairman of the joint chief of staff the former commander of central command. you can watch this in front of the house foreign affairs employee at 1:00 on espn3

c-span now the app and c-span.org. later onthebout t 202ose thn3. along there, the app and the according dot-org as well. phil, a republican from florida. go ahead. hello, you're on. caller: oh, thank you. afghanistan. first of all, i was in the military. you never leave weapons for enemy. that general should be court-martialed, ok? number two, we have a balloon that goes all the way across the country before it gets shot down. it should have been shot down in the pacific ocean. now we have 10,000 illegal chinese coming across the border. you don't thinkhere's a connection there somewhere? joe biden is putting our country at risk big time. we need to close the border. we got 27 bridges at the border. i watch contraband at the border

all the time. joe biden is not doing his job. host: let's hear from jenna in mesa, arizona, democrats line. hello. caller: yes. pedro, i'm calling in to talk about why i will not vote biden. i cannot vote as a defendant of slaves. i cannot vote for a gaza. that's my number one reason. i can't vote for joe biden. my second reason is that this illegal invasion devastates poorer neighborhoods. the schools are overcrowded. the hospitals are overrunning and going broke. the social services are overwhelmed by illegal invaders. those people moving to poor neighborhoods. that's who is hurt. poor and working class people. my third reason is biden needs

to stop paying off the loan of college educated people. they're young and vibrant. they can go to work to pay off their loans. they can work two jobs and then they should fight with the colleges and the universities in their states to get more reasonable tuition. and then my third reason is we need to stop this war mongering. biden is war mongering bombing wars everywhere. we need to stop the war mongering. and that's what i have to say this morning. host: veteran in tennessee. republican line. hi. caller: hi. mississippi is getting ready to file a lawsuit against the administration over letting the illegals vote and the people in prisons vote.

they're interfering with the state's control of the voting. and the d.o.j. supposedly, joe did an executive order and sent that out a couple of years ago for them to go ahead and do all this stuff. i just want all these people have to think about it. if you're in prison, you should be able to vote. if you're an illegal you should vote and you're not paying any damn taxes or anything. and i am one of them people. i'm not talking about migrants. people been here and work and and don't cause trouble. this whole of migrants. i'm talking about illegals and people in prison and the united states trying to make these people vote in our elections. did you know they're going to vote to for the people that let them run across the b and whatever they -- in prison. thank you. host: that's peter in tennessee

speaking of election roll calls. voters in california could fill a vacant house seat today. all elections in illinois and ohio will pick nominees for another empty battleground races. some contests have draw heavy spending. another has been fueled by bitterness between two republicans over making kevin mccarthy. and many districts which one party is heavily favored and there's no real process and there's more resignation and retirements than average. each of illinois running for re-election and 11 of them are unpete rosed in their party primaries in oh all of the five democratic incumbents are unpete rosed in the primary as are five of the eights running.

here is robert from california. caller: yes, i would hope that now that the democrats and the republicans have made theirons, there's a long gap between the conventions and the general election. i hope that c-span would make an effort to cover the third party candidacy of mr. kennedy and hopefully, he'll get a fair ballot access to me could appear in all 50 states. i don't see any real coverage of s candidacy at all on this station. and the major networks aren't going to cover him. so this is one of the few place who is i think he should be some kind of coverage since it's been predetermined to the major party candidates are and there is a yearning and the polling people want a third choice. and i hope that -- host: why are you a robert kennedy p caller: because he's honest. because he's very, very

intelligent. i watched him on a couple of podcasts with joe rogan. he he has a sense of responsibility. he's not beholden to any special interests. and that's what the country wants. the country wants an independent thinker and they're not someone like we have now. we have biden who is a guardian of the left. and you haverump who's a guard guardian of the right. and what people want is center governance. right now, what you're protecting is a two-party monopoly. and we need a third party candidate in this country now more than ever before. host: well robert, i would tell you that early on in mr. kennedy's campaign he appeared on this program in september of last year for an interview talking about at a time what he was interested doing and issues that he was interested in on september 13 of

2023. if you want, take a look at it. it took place on this program. you can see it in our website and the rest of you who are supporting mr. kennedy. let's hear from steve independent line. caller: yes. good morning. host: good morning. caller: my -- the reason i'm calling is i think a large portion of your -- or a good sized portion of your viewing audience are senior citizens. i'm one myself. and i just wanted to make them aware that there's a movie out now called "jules." it's rated pg-13. it's wonderfully entertaining and heartwarming little film. it's a rare little film that senior citizens especially will enjoy because filled with filth like so much of entertainment is nowadays. host: ok. caller: and i just want to share that with everyone.

it's a wonderful little film. it's senior citizens meet "e.t.." and it will put smile on your face. host: well movie reviewer steve is joining with us his recommendation on the open forum. thanks for that. is in ohio, democrats line. good morning. caller: good morning, pedro. how are you today? host: i'm fine, thank you. caller: great. i was interested in you had the topic of gambling this morning and as i listened to some of the callers, i thought to myself people seem to have a lot of money for gambling. when i listen to your callers and they talk about the high price of gas and food and, you know i'd like to gamble, i go once in a while and i spend what i think i can afford. but i never complained about the price of gas or food because gas, food, i'm retired.

it's been going up can down in my lifetime. it's just one of those things, living in america tha deal with. but i would suggest to your c-span listeners whenever they talk about the price of gas or food or how bad the country's going, they should take a look in the mirror and they'll probably find out the reasons why they feel the way they do. food prices, gas prices, the border, abortion all these things are just part of our lives and we just have to deal with them. and you shouldn't get so angry about things that you can't control. thanks, patriot, and you host: ron in ohio. one more call. martha in ohio as well. republican line. caller: yeah. immigration, asylum fraud is being committed by 150 countries crossing over our border. the first day of biden's government was found evidence of massive fraud. hundreds of brazilian i.d. cards

and passportsdiscarded by the haitians when leaving mexico and stepping into texas. the i.d. cards all had names and faces of haitian women and children. this was hundreds of them lying around on the ground. the reason the haitians tossed their i.d. cards is because someone familiar with asylum system told them their i.d. cards would be evident of ineligibility for would keep them from incredible check since theyidency, they would get a no-check instead. host: ok, martha in ohio finish finishing off this round of open forum for those of you who participated. up next on the program, we're going to hear from lev facher of stat news. coversparticularly issues of addiction in the united states. to talk about his new investigation into opiod you know that march 19 might be a regular date on your circle it in red here

particularly iday. it's 45th you foul march 19, 1979. we opened it to house gavel. do a whole lot more to politics to find out more of what we visit c-span.org/45. we had a chance toon with our co-c.e.o. about c-span's past and also a bit about our future. >> c-span's co-c.e.o. why the significance? >> well, media institutions have no guarantee. we've seen a lot of them go under. and c-span is still around 45. the good news of that is we're providing services that some people find valuable. and i think what we've tried do over the last decade is to build an institution that people can trust, that they're going to see the whole story and that we have the interest of showing the political process as it occurs without bias, without our own

interpretation and creating an archive that people can go back and find what public officials have had to say and what they think about it that's what c-span has been all about. and the fact that we're still around at age 45 means people have understood the role that played in american media. >> let's go back to the beginning. a reminder of viewers how we started. >> my time came in 1979. and tip o'neill speaker of of the house gathered in the first session of the >> the house will be in order. gentleman from tennessee. >> mr. speakern this historic day, the house of representatives open this proceedings for the first time to televised coverage. i wish to congratulate you for your courage in making this

possible and the committee who had worked so hard under the leadership of congressman charles rose to make this a reality. television will change this institution, mr. speaker, just has it had changed the executive branch. but the good will far outweigh the bad. >> for about two years before hand, private entrepreneurs have been organizing for that day. they built the first satellite in the whole washington, d.c. area to transmit that session of the house to the american public. 18 million american homes who had cable television could see that first session of congress and it started an evolution, realevised access to the political process. lots of people are now offering ways for people to follow washington, follow congress, but in 1979, this is a real use of technology to the public's good and there had been nothing like it before. this year for the first time for our anniversary, we're

celebrating it by calling it founder's day. why is that? what does mean?-- enormously. we have lost 40of the homes that carry cable and signal to them. we have done everything that we up in the face of change but the reality is a lot of people are accessing content now it's an expensive thing to do. we are marking founders day and kicking off a campaign andasking for public help to support c-span. we are still going to have the important dates of cable and

satellite companies carrying our signal. they pay $.75 per year to carry c-span and subscription fees. on cable who would like to help because, people using us online through youtube or social media, if they would like to help to support c-span so that we can continue to offer gavel-to-gavel coverage in congress, our history and books programming and alll materials that we develop for the classroom, all of which is available for free of the cable networks. we are asking now for people to help contribute. founders day is an interesting i think of the founders as the entrepreneurs who created the private enterprise of those who said yes to televising the sessions, and then seven years later the senate doing the same. the reporters that covered us when we were an unknown entity and they weren't sure what to make of it. and importantly, the viewers who

watched over the years. viewer support of the network has been critical. those call-in shows that you host support us online by using our products. and in many cases they have helped to get years when we sought to expand coverage. we are now calling on viewers to help us in a different way with a bit of support on founders day to help us a contribution that will sustain c-span into the future. >> with challenges and opportunities, what can viewers expect in the future? >> the goal is that the mothership c-span, c-span2 c-span3, providing linear service and we want to be everywhere thatffairsthat requires resources. if we are going to expand our social media presence, it takes people and technical resources. we will be there but we will do it faster and better with the help of our viewers. founders a contribution, that is what we are asking from viewers

today. our 45th anniversary. >> thank you. >> healthy democracy doesn't just look like this, it looks like this. americans can see democracy at work with citizens and a republic thriving. get informed straight from the source on c-span. unfiltered unbiased, word for word. from thes capital to wherever you are. the opinion that matters the most is your own. this is what democracy looks like. c-span, powered by cable. host: joining us from new york is lev facher, correspondent here to talk about his new series, the war on recovery which you can find online at statnews.com. guest: thank you for having me, happy anniversary to c-span. host:hank you very much. how do you describe stat to

people and how you are supported? caller: guest: -- guest: we are a health news website under the boston globe umbrella, but if folks are interested in premium health content, we there. we do a lot of general news coverage for much broader audiences as well. host: you write a lot about addiction in the united states but the latest series takes a look at recovery. the war on recovery is how you title it. how did you get interested in this topic? guest: i wanted to drill down on what's going on in the united states. we are obviously not handling our d crisis well. 10,000 people dying each year of drug overdoses. 80,000 are drug -- opioid overdoses. the premise of the series is that essentially we have two really effective medications

known to reduce the risk of dying of opioid overdose by about half. instead of doing everything we can to get these medications into the hands of the people that need them, in many cases we do the opposite, we make it difficult to access and place a lot of restrictions on use. people may know it by the brand name suboxone. that's the premise of the series. at many different levels we are restricting access to medications known to prevent overdose death and, of course, with over 80,000 people dying of overdose, it's something that needs to happen urgently. host: let's start with the drugs themselves. how do they work? guest: they are weak opioids. a bit like a nicotine patch or nicotine gum for someone trying to not smoke cigarettes. essentially, if you try to stop

using illicit opioids like heroin, fentanyl, or even a prescription painkiller, if you just stop cold turkey you will experience debilitating withdrawal symptoms. so severe that almost no one successfully does it. that was already true in the age of heroin. now that the drugs on the street are almost entirely this ultra potent fentanyl, it's doubly true. it'sust quit cold turkey. the medications essentially come in and bind of the receptors in your brain, the same asfentanyl. but they don't get people high if administered properly. for someone with addiction trying to stop using illicit substances, the idea is that the medication leaves them clearheaded, free of withdrawal symptoms, free to go about their as family members students employees, anything else. host: you said if they are administered properly.

typicay, they administered? guest: methadone is very effective to treat opioid addiction. it's only available at a special methadone clinic. in many cases they require patients to come in every day to get a single dose. you are essentially structuring her life around the ability to be at these clinics and in recent years more have grown lenient with take-home towing -- doses. giving you three days, week, two weeks to take-home, ke in little liquid bottles. but for the most part, people that go to methadone clinics have to comply with logistics in a way that a lot of public health experts believe is harmful to their recovery. because obviously you want to be able to have a source of income stable living situation, stable family situation. any of us who wake up and go to work every morni how difficult it would be if we added the requirement

of going to a medical clinic every day at 6 a.m., 7:00 a.m.. 's methadone. bucher nor frame is much simpler. you can essentially get it prescribed byors and you can get it from a doctor. host: our guest is with us here through -- if you want to give them a call, it's (202) 748-8000 eastern and central time zones, (202) 748-8001 for mountain and pacific. if you are a caregiver or medical professional, give us a call at (202) 748-8002, and you can text us at (202) 748-8003. the first part of the war on recovery is found online and you said it is conscious choices that are being made to keep these drugs from people. can you elaborate? guest: there are many different

levels of american society that in somes work harder to deny the medications to people that need them than to provide access to them. a few examples. until recently doctors required a special license to prescribe it. even though any doctor who is a licensed prescriber could of course provide patients highly addictive painkillers like oxycontin or any other opioid painkillers. even though there was a much safer, weaker medication used to treat addiction, those painkillers can cause the addictionhe to jump through hoops to get a special license just to prescribed the medication treatment. that's one example. i already mentioned the prescriptions around methadone clinics and how difficult it can be to receive care. one interesting and nuanced example is that of narcotics anonymous, the 12 step program modeled largely after alcoholics

anonymous. i t broad of a brush, there has been an evolution, different chapters are different from one group to the next, but in many cases these meetings, the organizational literature at a national level, opposes the use of these medications, even though they are essentially the best tool that we have to help people stop using illicit opioids and prevent them from dying of opioid overdoses. there is a view that people that use the medications are not clean, fully abstinent or in true recovery, but addiction doctors and many who use the medication as a part of the recovery would e them their life back and they are happy and thriving thanks to these medications. so, there is a lot of stigma to this day that people that take the medications face. host: the group that you mentioned, narcotics but it raises the question, do rtct using to listen and speak

with this is not meant to alienate or embarrass, but to preserve atmospheres of recovery. there is more on the website but i saw that one part and you did say it was a nuanced approach. can you elaborate in light of that? guest: to cast every meeting in the same light, many are increasingly supportive of this approach, known as medicated assisted treatment. but in the language you just cited, i heard the phrase still using, i believe. i think that's very telling in terms of the phenomenon we are discussing because of course there is a huge difference between, you know, smoking fentanyl you buy on the street or injecting it. and, you know, waking up in the morning and taking, you know, a pill or a sublingual film that is app fda and manufactured under tight regulations by a pharmaceutical

company and is safe and you know exactly what's in it. those things are clearly just not the same and one is, unfortunately, likely to kill you and one is likely to help enable your recovery and enable you to go about life as anybody else can. that's not just narcotics anonymous. it's more broadly true. people view these medications as just another form of addiction . tom price, president donald trump's first health secretary infamously kind of referred to medication assisted treatment as substituting one opioid for another, which in a technical and medical sense is true, but at the same time, again, taking an fda of fda medication is far safer and allows life than, you know, using fentanyl several times a day. that ease an attitude that remains pervasive throughout

american society. host: lev facher, who reportsction in the united states for stat news, you can find it online. (202) 748-8000 for the eastern zones, (202) 748-8001 mountain and pacific. for those of you with a special interest on the topic, (202) 748-8002. paul, you are on with our guest go ahead. caller: thank you for take my call. i had a couple of questions. i currently take opioids and i have for quite a few years. i've got five major third test had five major surgeries arthritis. you have kind of answered my question. is there a government formula that says x amount of milligrams is safe for a person that currently takes opioids? guest: yeah, i figured we would

get some calls from patients with pain, it's a huge subplot in my opinion. for those who may not know, you know, in the mid to thousands know, about a decade ago, there was of course a huge prescription opioid oversupply problem driven in part by companies like purdue pharma and the medication oxycontin. of course, the government response to that was to really restrict opioid prescribing and really encourage a change in the medical culture to prescribe fewer opioids and in some cases that is probably many vicodin i got when i got my wisdom teeth out, it was probably 20 times what i needed. but there are also a lot of pain patients who have been taking oil -- opioids for years and haven't oved suddenly those folks have found access to their medication restricted by doctors who are worried about crackdowns enforcement administration or patients

overdosing. so, there are a lot of patients who had been taking prescription opioids who lost access to those medications and because they had become physiologically depended on them had wound up using there is a convincing argument that severe restrictions in the wake of the oxycontin and other drugs crisis, it surely exacerbated the overdosed problem. but yes, there are prescribing guidelines from the centers for disease control that specified amount they believe is safe but they stress that it is not one-size-fits-all doctors and clinicians should use discretion. and i'm not a medical professional, so i don't want to quote anthere is government guidance on that, yes. host: john is in tennessee. good morning. caller: good morning thank you. according to what i see on cnbc

there is a pharmaceutical company called vertex that a non-opioid painkiller and has shown partial results. ev addictive that it is an effective painkiller. i'm curious about it. it sounds -- promising and i was wondering if you know anything about it. guest: there has been a big effort to develop non-opioid painkilli will admit, i don't know the specifics of this particular drug candidate. i will say that we are essentially talking about issues. one, how do we treat pain, how do we treat it in ways that are not going to give people access to huge quantities of potentially addictive medications? of course, there is this welcome effort to develop non-opioid painkillers to avoid another oxycontin situation in the future. however, there already is a huge of people taking

either prescription opioids for pain or illicit opioids because they have grown dependent or addicted to those drugs. so, there is the pain question butler is also the russian of what we do with the huge population of people who either opioids day to day or are addicted to illicit substances and, for the latter category, if people want to stop using, their best bets are these two medications, methadone and buprenorphine. host: has there been an official position taken on these drugs? guest: the director of the nora -- national institute of drug abuse is a huge opponent of their use. -- proponent of their use. buprenorphine, 40% less likely to die, 59 percent less likely if you're taking methadone. the agency position is that

these are effective medications. when i spoke to the agency director for the first piece series war on recovery, she told me that she believes if we made access universal essentially if we provided it to everyone in the country who needed it, we would see opioid overdose she stressed that was a conservative estimate, saying essentially that if we provided universal access, 40,000 fewer people, at least, would die every single year of opioid overdose in this country. there was an announcement earlier this year that hhs expanded some of that access to methadone through telehealth means. can you elaborate on if hhs has taken a position on granting more access? host: -- guest: hhs has gone back and forth on access to buprenorphine through

telehealth. they in the drug enforcement administration -- and the drug enforcement administration don't always see eye to eye, another thing we will cover in the series, the role of law jails, prisons, the court systems, and restricting access, but there has been a debate over how freely doctors should be able to prescribe buprenorphine by telehealth. as of now you can get a prescription without ever person. you can see them over video chat and they could write you a prescription and they could pick it up at a pharmacy. there is no by telehealth. for the most part people need to go to the clinics in person just to get a single dose. certainly, there have been efforts by the biden administration to expand access to the medications. early in his presidency, the house set one goal was that by the end of his first term would be to make access

universalhadone and buprenorphine. here we are in 2024, it's obviously not going to happen, but yes, hhs and the bite administration have taken steps to increase access. publperts tell you that for the most part they have not fast enough. host: this is lev facher joining us from statin news, looking at opioid addiction and recovery. kevin, your next, michigan. caller: thanks for taking my call. i'm a guy with permanent nerve damage done by a doctor. the war on opioids is really bad because it doe take into of account a guy who -- people who rely on opioids. i had a ba year ago they cut off his opioids. he had a quality of life, taking one opioid per day. he has now passed.

when you have a war on opioids and all doctors are scared to give them out, you know, it leaves us pain, which we shouldn't have to do and we should have to fight. whenever there is a hearing on opioid addiction, i have never seen anybody there who is a pain, has to deal with the pain, because they have taken their opioids away. there has got to be a middle there. 2% of people who are chronic opioid users od some of them are probably just sick of being in pain. nerve damage never goes away. 24/7 you are hurting ok? but can you get a doctor to help you out? no, they are scared of the government. that's not good. i would like to hear your response. thank you very much. host: thank you, kevin. guest: we just mentioned this, there's a huge population of

chronic pain patients in this country who rely on opioids to treat their pain. in some cases they are also physiologically dependent on those opioids in a way that hasn't crossed the threshold into addiction. these are differ concepts. there is the physiological dependence and then there is addiction, a psychiatric diagnosis about your behavior related to substance use. yes, there are tons of people in this country who regularly take prescription opioids who are not addicted in a medical and psychiatric sense to opioids. it is a huge problem that people are increasingly being cut off from pain medications they have relied on for years. there is anecdotal evidence, yes, that it has led to increase in suicide. certainly, there is thought that restricting pain medication for people who have used it for a long time has led to an increase in overdose. when people regularly use opioid painkillers and are suddenly cut

off, quitting cold turkey is usually not a practical ask to make of someone. a lot of people end up using heroin instead. now that the drug supplies fentanyl, they use fentanyl. as you can imagine you are way more likely to od on fentanyl then a prescription medication you picked up at your local rite aid. absolutely, that is a huge issue and i agree, probably one that doesn't get enough attention from policymakers. host: las vegas, go ahead. caller: mons to an article that you posted recently about private sectors overtaking methadone clinics. i was just wondering if the people manufacturing it are actually infected and those -- invested in those private sectors, in overtaking the methadone clinics. caller: he's referring to an art -- guest: he's referring to an

article i published this morning about the increase of private equity in methadone spaces. one third of them are owned by private equity firms, two thirds are run as for-profits. that is a big shift from a couple of decades ago when the majority of clinics were run by government agencies or local nonprofits. as far as i am aware methadone the medication, is not a huge moneymaker because it is a very common, generic medication. there is no patent or anything particularly specialized about manufacturing or selling methadone. i think the bigger financial implications are in the way that the clinics and the fact that they build to dispense the medication and hire patients to participate in counseling, drug testing,nd sometimes other services as well. they bill for those. it has turned into quite a large for-profit industry.

in that story we reported that acadia health care, only about 17% of their revenue is from methadone clinics. they callt a comprehensive treatment center. i believe that even that 17% accounted for half of a billion in revenue in the past year. yes, in some senses methadone clinics have become big business. i do think that this is more about them getting reimbursement for the services they provide as opposed to a huge profit margin on the physical medication itself. host: that was part three introduced today. in part two you introduce us to rebecca smith, who goes to her clinic every morning to get her treatment. you also describe why she has to go physically. can you elaborate? gues right. we were in detroit, michigan, and as you say we spent time with a patient named rebecca smith, who really was the model of what you would want recovery

from opioid addiction to look like. she had been in stable recovery for five or six she was active in her church. had great relationships with her kids and grandkids, working asteady job. she credits this with helping her put heroin. she had been going into the clinic. she met every week and met weekly with counselors, picking up medications to take home. she deliver life. she attended she had a small amount of white wine as a part of a toast they were making. she mentioned it to her counselor. a small amount of alcohol showed

up on her drug screen. i should note, this is not someone who has ever had a problem with alcohol. the clinic has never been worried about her alcohol use. but the clinic upon learning of this stripped her the take-home privileges, which they call them , making her come in every single morning. when she had to come in every single morning, this woman doesn't own a car, has had a kneelacement, needs another she was not able to show up at the cli also make it to her day job and she essentially told the clinic that if you need me here every morning, i have to quit my job. they were not swayed. filet, she has a great support system and she made it through. well even today. but i do think her story is illustrative of a very restrictive and sometimes even culture at methadone clinics that makes people who use drugs afraid to even seek care in the first place, or once they are enrolled in treatment

it can pose obstacles to them saying in stable recovery. host: that ist two of the series. you can find it at statnews.com. pennsylvania, you are next up. hello. caller: unfortunately, i have had a ton of experience with these problems of addiction. 13 people that i know personally have done this. my stepdaughter used methadone, which was a disaster for her because like you said, in your last story, running back and worth, determining how much you take, and if you're good about it you can do what you want and take it home. thing. addicts have a problem with the on-off switch in their brain. once they use something, they want more of it. my experience shows that when addicts go to a recovery house a recovery center, get through the detox part, the most difficult and dangerous part for

them, when they go to a 12 step program, they get a sponsor they work the program with a family of people doing the exact same thing that is the most positive way to get off the drugs. giving them more drugs is not the solution to the problem. it might stop them temporarily and they do abuse those substances. i have seen thousands of addicts in recovery and not a single one of them said they did it withth or suboxone. i know it is a treatment plan, like you suggested, for some people, but it is not a panacea. it's basically replacing one drug use for another drug use and if you really want to solve the problem the 12 steps changing mind, body, and soul, because they cannot deal with life on life's terms, once they learn how to do that, that's how they get clean. everyone in my life who used

drugs is clean, 12 step program. i wish they would do that more instead of people into more drug use. host: we will let our guest respond to that. i am happy that your kids are doing better. there are different approaches that work for different people. certainly, there are a lot of people happy and in stable recovery thanks to narcotics anonymous. i would doubt a couple of things . the drug supply being what it is today, fentanyl being so prevalent, asking people who want to stop using to just detox and go through a week or more of total agony as the -- they experience this, it is not always a practical asked. more importantly yes, people have achieved really successful happy lives in recovery thanks to 12 step programs and thanks thapproaches, that's certainly true. i want to stress that a pretty large body of researchpioid

treatments, essentially cold turkey detox, 12-step, and tera, is a lot less effective than medication treatments. simply put, people who take methadone more buprenorphine are far less likely to of course, in a drug crisis like this country has, not dying is i think, the most important thing. down the road people can choose whether they want to remain on the medications. doctors have mixed views about tapering folks off, if it's safe or if there is a reason to. yeah, i want to stress that. studies show that people who take the medications are far die than people who receive abstinence-based treatment. host: what's the costs of the treatment? guest: it really varies. one big issue is that historically insurance coverage for these medications has not been good. as well as the fact that as you can imagine, people with

particularly severe addiction many people who are experiencing homelessness, are not actively enrolled in insurance, don't have good id or records. pain is an issue. it varies so much from place to place, from medication to medication, one provider to the next, but some people pay very little for these medications and there are people who pay thousands and thousands of dollars year just to stay enrolled at the methadone clinic. host: new jersey, good morning. caller: thank youtopic, today, i really appreciate it. i never was an opioid addict. i used because of the spine injury at a neurological disease. back in january, the fda announced that buprenorphine was causing people to lose their teeth. this was on the heels of that other lawsuit where they were

lying to people about the pills no longer existing and trying to film. i'm starting to wonder, because of what's happening with people losing their teeth is that why doctors are not prescribing buprenorphine instead of the other opioid pain medicines? guest: i'm not aware of active change in prescriber behavior. it's true that one side effect of some forms of buprenorphine are dental decay. that is certainly something to be aware of. while we are omethadone is also a serious medication with potential side effects. first of all, it can and does cause overdose. in much smaller numbers than fentanyl or a more powerful, illicit. but methadone can also cause heavy sweating, weight gain, sexual dysfunction. these medications are, l said, not a panacea. they are medications like any other with because it is, negatives, side effects and

benefits. the bottom line is that people who take them are less likely to die, but there are side effects that lead people to want to di use. it's a good question about prescriber behavior in the wake of that warning about dental issues and somd. host: you used of the term filmic. are there various ways to get the medications, then? guest: it's like a sublingual film, almost like a listerine strip that you can put under your tongue and it dissolves and that is how you ingest it. it's not a liquid or a pill. it's a little film that you put on or under your tongue and that is how you take your medication every day. host: ron is in tennessee. thanks for calling. caller: thank you for calling -- taking my call. i have experience with this. you know, you don't oppress the

mental obsession. actual drug addicts live with this mental obsession until they can get a change. you are not addressing that. you are just putting a band-aid on something that is always going to be there until they go through this change. i don't see taking drugs to geke sense to me. i mean, there's always, there's different ways people do it, but if you don't go through that psychic change, the mental obsession will always be there. i've seen people be sober for years and go back. myself, i went back after -- i went back after 16 years, now i'm coming up on 10 again. it's just a band-aid, what you got. thanks for taking my call. guest: sure. i don't want to invalidate anyone's lived experience with addiction. i don't have lived experience with addiction. i know what the research says. i know what leading medical

groups and patient groups about the use of these medications. i don't there are too many people arguing, though, that people should use these medications in do absolutely nothing else in the worst of their addiction treatment or recovery. most people believe that therapy or some form of psychosocial counseling can be helpful. other structures, activities related to recovery and the underlying reasons they may have been drin to drug use in the first place, those are important and i don't mean to downplay their importance at all. there are doctors who will tell you, though, that you cannot treat dead. which is to say you cannot give someone access to therapy if they have already passed away overdose. so, there is a lot of stigma, a lot of thinking as we are hearing, in some of these calls that the medications don't constitute true recovery.

i guess the important thing to know is that these medications enable people to stop using illicit substances. they are associated with just terrific health outcomes across the board in terms of being less likely to get hepatitis c, hiv, endocarditis or any other disease associated with injection drug use. not a panacea. nor are they necessarily the sole component of countries that have made access to these medications easier have had great public health outcomes associated with their drug problems. the united states has kept these medications quite strict it and we know what the public health outcomes have been here. 80,000 people dying every year. host: how do we compare with other countries? are theregood job? guest: absolutely. i should say that we do better than some countries. in russia, i believe that methadone treatment is largely

illegal. however in other parts of europe like switzerland germany, the netherlands, even to a degree in france in the u.k., access to these medications is far, far better and they have far fewer opioid overdoses and drug-related deaths with far fewer adverse health events like the infectious diseases that i mentioned associated with drug use. it's not a totally apples to apples comparison. we have fentanyl here, illicit opioid in the drug supply. thankfully, for europe fentanyl doesn't have a huge presence. at least not yet. that said, everything i have set on this segment was true prior to fentanyl entering the american drug supply. access to these medications with worse public health outcomes likely as a result. host: let's hear from ed, in new jersey. for lev facher, e good morning.

d. caller: happy anniversary. i worked in the 80's at a drug have program at my turnout is marijuana and how that influences gateway drugs to higher use. guest: i will admit that i don't know for size numbers on recent studies about marijuana is a gateway drug. there are some concerns certainly, associated with the legalization of marijuana on the scale that it has been made available. generally speaking, speaking to folks in drug policy and addiction medicine, it's not high on their list of we know that opioids are killing people. we know that stimulants like cocaine and meth are killing people. marijuana is not. i'm sure that there are concerns

associated with legalization and use among young people. but in terms of the scope of the public health crisis, it's frankly just not a high priority topic in a lot of my conversations with people regarding dying of drug overdoses. host: one more call from danny, washington state. caller: yeah, hello? host: you're on, go ahead. just been sitting here watching this show and i wanted to add in, i'm a 35 year functioning addict, i go to work , i got addicted, but i got addicted to methadone, got on got on the merry-go-round. did all that stuff. finally got clean. the one thing he's talking about is the psyche. one caller called in and said no matter what, people who have been clean thousands of times

went to jail, got out. if you take them to jail and get them c, you release them, you give them the shot, they won't even think about it anymore. it's on. the craving, the idea you can get past the next fix, it's essentially gone. then you can deal with your personal issues. host: did you want to comment? guest: as we are hearing, it's a common sentiment. agai are not a panacea or the sole component necessarily, of high-quality addiction treatment. i will close by saying, again research shows people who take the medications are far less likely to die than people who pursue abstinence based courses of treatment. methadone and buprenorphine make you less likely to die,. , which is what the research shows conclusively. host: we talked about the

tangents of your reporting so far. what other avenues did you want to ask for? guest: folks can expect to hear more about the recovery community. we have touched on narcotics anonymous. we are als homes. we are going to talk about law enforcement and car sorrel settings. that's jails and prisons. as well as drug courts and the role of those systems in denying access to these medications. we will write about the health care system itself, which even though doctors buy a march support the use of these medications, access at hospitals and pharwe are also going to talk about the discrimination, particularly professional discrimination, that people who take these medications so often face. much more to come on the war on recovery at statnews.com. host: that is where our guest serves as an addiction correspondent. lev facher, think of her talking to us about your series.

guest: my pleasure. host:ouis and the potential for reese migration to the united states. before that, another round of open forum if you want to participate. free democrats -- fi stomac -- for democrats (202) 748-8000 for republicans independents and all others, (202) 748-8002. >> the house will be in order. >> c-span is subverting 45 years of covering congress like no since 79 we have been your primary source on capitol hill providing balanced coverage of government in some -- with the support of america's cable companies. c-span, 45 years in accounting powered by cable. >> since 1979, in partnership

with the cable industry, c-span has provided complete coverage of the halls of congress. from house and senate floors to congressional hearings, party briefings, and committee meetings. c-span gives you a front row seat of how issues are debated and decided, with unfiltered. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. >> you ever miss any of c-span's coverage, you can find a time at c-span.org. videos of key hearings, debates and other events with markers that guide you to interesting and newsworthy highlights that appear on the right-hand side of your screen when you hit play on selected videos. the timeline tool makes it easy to get a quick idea of what was debated and decided washington. scroll through and find a few points of i >> get contact information

for members of government in the palm of your hand when you preorder the congressional directory of 2024. bio information for every member of congress. important information on committees, presidential cabinets, and state governors. it costs $32 95 cents, plus shipping and handling, with every purchase helping to support our nonprofit code on the right or go to c-spanshop.org to preorder your copy for today. again this is open forum. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. independents, (202) 748-8002. nt will be announcing today a national program to

reach latino voters. reverse gains that former president trump appears to be making with hispanic voters. four years ago axios reports that biden was the winner of lano voters to-one but recent polls are showing that the fastest-growing segment of the u.s. population is diminishing their support. this turbine is traveling to nevada and phoenix this week after a fundraising trip to texas, part of the push after the state of the union to shore up the base and motivate voters. that is what is expected today as far as the presidential campaign is concerned. you can talk about that during open forum and other things of note in politics. you can post on socials or text us as well. bradley, michigan, democrats line. first up. hello. caller: thank you for taking my

call. to alert you maga people, cults never end well. consider that, history of proven they never have a good ending. number two, the swiftboat organization, they were so eager to eliminate john kerry, but where are they now? also, i would like to have more information on project 25. it alarms me and i see very little about it. maybe washington journal did something on it and i didn't catch it. but i appreciate that and every thing else. thank you, pedro. host: are you referencing project 2025? caller: yeah. host: we did a couple of segments on it go to the website, type it in and you can find have done on it. let's go to wil in north carolina, independent mind. caller: hey, things are taking my call. i wanted to kind of address the

previous segment. i have some experience with addiction in my past. turns out more than 93% of treatment centers in this country use the 12 step addiction model and that's not an accident. 12 approaches have among their traditions not to organize politically, that doesn't apply to friend organizations that they have that do lobby for this toi'm tired of seeing my friends and neighbors die. i'm tired of seeing my high school class with her over opioid addiction -- wither over opioid addiction. i'm tired of seeing the alternative that gives people a ladder out cannabis, be

criminalized. i'm tired of the way that, when we actually need medications in this country, for anything, from adhd to nerve pain to suboxone, we find roadblocks at every given turn. and somehow, the government not wanting it is making it more efficient? even though we pay the most for health care in the world. host: ok, that's will. texas, independent line, caleb. caller: i think that things are growing -- going i think we need to negotiate -- texas legislators need to help caliiafornisaster funds. it's looking bad with eight

point seven magnitude earthquakes in california and i would like for california legislators to negotiate for hurricane disaster funds. you know that hurricanes are hitting texas pretty hard. california and texas are the only victims of disaster and we don't help each other. i would like to see us come together on some house resolution bills this year. ot that, it's good to have a little tug-of-war but we need to remember that we are america and i want to thank -- you know, chuck schumer, for approving the hurricane disaster funds. we love y'all for that. host: part of the news, texas, coming out of the supreme port, this is from the peak -- the bbc , the u.s. supreme court has again blocked a texas immigration law and the biden administration called it unconstitutional it would have allowed local and state police to arrest those illegally crossing the border from mexico,

it woulde of the toughest immigration measures from any u.s. state. the court opposed an administrative cannot be enforced while the emergency appeals challenges play out. when it comes to the former president trump associates, chief justice john robert rejected an attempt by the former white house trade advisor, peter navarro, to stay out of prison as he appeals conviction charge and found guilty after refusing to comply with subpoena from the house investigative committee investigating the attack on the capital on january 6 2021. also "the washington post" reporting yesterday on the hearing about the presidential administration contact social media companies saying that the work seemed preped to reject the effort to sharply limit the government from pressuring social media companies to remove

misinformation and harmful post from the platform. a majority of justices expressed concern over hamstringing federal employees communicating with tech giants about posts the government deems problematic related to elections among other topics. there is more there. by the way, that hearing, you can still find it on our website , it's a part of the oral argumentgiven to us by the supreme court where you can follow on and see who is talking who's making the points. you can do that at our website c-span.org. it's open forum. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. for independents. richard, san diego, democrats line. caller: thank you. i called yesterday but not timed out, i'd like to speak. i watched a good film last night, it's called the boys in

the boat, a pin advising the american spirit, which is contradictory to the current situation. we are facing armageddon. it's a movement that's very similar to a movement from europe in the 30's and 40's. named adolph at the olympics where the americans with the winners, that behavior in those receptions around their, the symbols they used, they cheered people on. i see a lot of similarities there to what's going on in this country right now. the texas guys are pretty good, like the one i heard. he's doing well. that donald trump has got sort of a funny way, not really my thing, but donald trump is a putin want to be, donald trump i don't think

anyone should vote for him and i encourage everyone to vote for anyoneald trump. thank you for your time. host: thank you, richard. a couple of events today. at 8:30, it's already started but the american banking association has an event taking a look at regulation of banks featuring bank executives and former financial regulators on the banking system and financial services. if you are interested in that it may conversation with the house majority whip. that's at 8:30, it has already s'reon chity d afternoon today on c-span two, the app being c-span now and c-span.org. democratic line, tim in new york on this open forum. go ahead. caller: yes, i have had a flking about polls. but since 17, democrats been winning.

it's just confusing to me. biden raising more money, people spending, that people going to trump. i don't understand these polls. it's confusing to me. ask the next republican, why are they not winning elections? i just want to thank you. host: dan is on the independent line from florida. go ahead. caller: i want to talk about the comment he made. about the oil. you know what it was at the beginning? it was for the january 6 people in prison, where donald should be with them. he attacked the capital. there is no getting around it. if you listenj,b to mitch mcconnell, when he gave that speech right after, lindsey graham had enough. they had all had enough of it. donald trump came back. they let him right back in. him, they are

scared of them. those people think the capitol police -- they smashed them, they pulled the windows. that girl that came through the window she's not the victim. he's the victim. he brought them going to jail. he did the sweet. that's what he was in charge of. the january sweep. the people in congress make me laugh. they know. mitch mcconnell knows. lindsey graham knows. everyone in their nose. they are in there, romney knows getting out of there, calling it ridiculous. they are in there because thhost: ok. that was stan in florida concerning the former president having to come up with money to pay for the, $454 civil judgment against him. it was in a filing, an appeals court, the judge ordered last month that it was so large they

would require cash and not real estate to guarantee the bond. the trump organization would need $1 billion in cash to obtain the bond company does not have. "ongoing efforts have proven the bond and the full amount is a practical impossibility," according to the lawyers for the former president. derek in mississippi. independent line. caller: good morning. i want to touch on the black vote that has been talked about and will be talked about as this election goes on. i want to point out something the black vote. democrats seem to feel that it is theirs. i want to share something with the democrats. black people as a culture do not believe in using abortion as

birth control. a woman is in danger or the child is in danger or something like that going on, that's understandable. to use abortioas birth control, like people as a whole -- black people as a whole do not support that. when obama ran in his first term, if he said marriage was between a man and a abortion he would not have gotten the black vote and probably not gotten elected. he switched up in the middle of his term. the second thing. the gay marriage. culturally, you go back a little while, not far and you will see when you take voters, probably dirty, 35 and up my age -- 30 to 35 and up, that is something we

are not for that. they would not have such a hard time winning. who knows how this election is going to go. thank you. host: john next in ohio republican line. caller: these people say trump is a -- five different states by democrats only. letitia james is off thefannie lewis has her own problems. they are operating right out of pruden's can't -- putin's handbook. this is ridiculous. that is all i have to say. host: amongst the opinion pieces in the washington post this morning, one by joe manchin democratic senator of west virginia who writes under the headline the biden triumph his

advisors don't want you to know about. "i will do something. i want to congratulate president biden for the record-breaking energy production we are seeing states is producing more oil, gas and renewable energy than ever before. we are exporting more fossil fuel energy that we import. our country has never been more energy dependent -- independent than we are today. this is something to celebrate. it would not have been possible without the inflation reduction act and the bipartisan infrastructure law mr. biden signed. thanks to these historic laws we are unb country, implementing and all the above energy strategy that we need today while continuing to innovate the technologies we want tomorrow. you will not hear about the historic energy production on tv, social media or democratic campaigns. these bills -- because of these bills there has never been a

better time to invest in american energy." you want to read that in the pages of the washington post. joe from kentucky on the democrats line. caller: i get so tired of people saying the elite think that got trump convicted with sexual assault. if people do a sexual assault it's a politically correct word for rape. he's been convicted of rape. sexual assault. host: the court decision was a sexual abuse. the judge clarified in those terms but that has been well reported. caller: that's what i'm trying to get across. abuse, sexual assault, it still boils down to rape. if you want somebody running the country convicted of rape i guess trump is your man. host: joe in kentucky. robert in vermont, independent line. go ahead. caller: hello. i want to get back to a quick response to the addiction thing

you had before at the end. i had a relative that did get addicted right out of college. we discovered it when she took about $4000 out of our checking account. first she did a 30-day recovery place in maryland that cost us almost nothing because insurance picked up the first one. she got right back into it went to a second one for 30 days. this one was a little different. when she got out of that, that one cost $30,000 out of pocket. then she was required to go to a group home which was about 3000 miles away that was self controlling. if you brought cold medicine into the place the people that were in there recovering with throw you out. here he strict. she stayed there for over a

year. got a job when she was there. then she came home two years h%r and actually it worked. the big thing was that when she came home she met people who were still into drugs and got right back into it. you have to leave, go away for a year and get your brain back together. host: robert in vermont. if you want to see the interview with lev facher, you can find it on c-span.org and also available on the c-span now app if you want to listen to the unity. one of the people speaking yesterday the white house in honor of women's history month was the vice president harris --kamala harris encouraging female voters to use their vote to protect women's rights. here is a portionrom yesterday. [video] vice-pres. harris: even as we lift up in the women of our nation there are those who are intent on dragging us backwards. at this moment in states across

our nation we are witnessing a full lawn attack against -- full on attack against freedom and rights including the right of women to make decisions about their own bodies and not their governors tell them -- [applause] today in america one in three women of reproductive age live in a state with an abortion ban. since roe w oveurned i have met women with miscarriages in toilets because they refused. care women who went to an emergency room to receive care and were rejected because the health care providers thought they would be sued and potentially sent to jail if they administered care. it was only when she developed sepsis that she received care. just last week i visited a clinic in minnesota where i met with medical professionals women who provide critical health care and who see like we all do

clinics across our country which have been closing and forced to close, leaving millions of women without access to essential every day lifesaving care. in conclusion i will just say this, there is so much at stake in this moment. we each face a question. what kind of country do we want to live in? ry of liberty freedom, and rule of law, or country of hate? each of us has the power to answer that question. with ouree voice and with our vote. [applause] host: the app where you can find more of the vice president's comments. steve, good morning. caller: good morning. good morning america.

i want to say what a great job president biden is doing. on inauguration day, the president of the united states takes an oath to protect, preserve and defend the constitution of the united states. biden is doing that right now. i believe that in itself would qualify him to earn my vote on election day. he might be 81, but look at all he's done for this country. and, you know, abroad. when ukraine was surrounded, all the analysts and experts said ukraine was going to fall within days. joe biden cap nato together. he even expanded nato, adding sweden and finland. he played a role in doingthe guy has been hit with a lot. he got us through covid.

now he has israel. feet. on the other hand, we have donald j. trump, the man of anarchy. he cares about no one else but himself. he doesn't talk about america. he has no policy plans nothing. i'm just amazed -- i'm amazed at the republicans. i really would like to help you. i think we need an intervention. they need to set up a hotline or something. maybe call liz cheney or adam kissinger or other solid great i wish john mccain was still alive. what a hero and great american john mccain was. come on, america. let's get together. i still believe in the country. i believe in the rule of law. i believe in life, liberty, pursuit of happiness. something that works for all of us. host: mac in mississippi on the republican line. caller: thank you for taking my

call. i have been watching c-span for quite some time. one thing i want to say is that this border question that keeps coming up, the republicans are not normally republicans. they don't know how to handle it. they need to tell people what is going on at the border is what biden wants. it is his plan. here, it is what biden wants. he knocked down the doors the first day he got in office. we are suffering from it. the republicans won't ever say that. they don't say the -- they say the administration or the democrats, but they won't say biden owns this border crisis because he created it. that is what he wants. the mitt romney wing, the milquetoast, they don't have a backbone.

they don't realize we are going to lose this country if these people keep pouring in here unrestricted. they want to stay there and be safe and be in the same house until they get 92 years old and thi'm sick and tired of the republicans. they don't have -- they need to pound him like the democrats are pounding the republicans about abortions. host: ok. this will be from clark in florida, democrats line. caller: good morning, pedro. i have suffered through a few of my own addictions in life. the one addiction we never talk about is the global addiction to money. it will take you down the road to evil. everybody is striving forward.

everybody kills fort. it. everybody who has an agenda wants to hoard it but you never hear about it. to the gentleman about the emigration problem, we don't have an immigration problem. they keep looking for democrats and republicans for solutions. here the problem. -- they are the problem. there are men of power they went free labor, free health, and the taxpayers to bail them out. that is the way i see it. host: that is clark in florida democrats line. part of this open forum. you can follow along on our various channe. c-spans 1, 2, and 3. c-span.org. you can also post on x, @cspanwj . to talk about current events in haiti the u.s.

is coming up when washington journal continues. ♪ >> friday nights watching c-span's 2024 campaign trail around if of c-span's campaign coverage, a one-stop shop to discover what the candidates across the country are saying to voters. along with first-hand accounts from political reporters updated poll numbers fundraising data, and campaign ads. watch c-span's campaign trail friday night at 7:30 p.m. eastern on c-span, online at c-span.org or download us as a podcast on c-span now, our free mobileever you get your podcasts. c-span your unfiltered view of politics. >> c-spanshop.org. browse our latest collection of c-span products, apparel books home to court, and accessories.

there is something for every c-span fan. every purchase helps support our nonprofit operations. shop now or anytime at c-spanshop.org. >> be up-to-date on the latest in publishing the book tv's podcast about books. with current nonfiction book releases, plus bestseller lists and industry news and trends through insider interviews. you can find about books on c-span now, our free mobile app, or wherever you get your podcasts. ♪ >> the house will be in order. >> c-span celebrates 45 years of covering congress like no other. since 1979, we have been your primary source for capitol hill providing balanced, unfiltered coverage of government, taking

you where the policies are debated and decided with the support of america's cable companies. c-span. 45 years and counting. powered by cable. >> washington journal continues. host: we are joined by francois pierre-louis from queens college from the city university of new york. he serves as a political science professor and studies the topic of haiti particularly as it's undergoing much turmoil these days. good morning and thank you for giving us your time. guest: you are welcome. host: when you see the events going on in haiti how would you say we get here -- we got here? guest: it is a long history. we should start in the beginning of 2016 when -- left office. not elections the country went into a chaotic situation.

the provisional president had elections. that was contested by the opposition and the main members of the opposition. there was not a large purchase of patient of electors. and the parliamentary elections. by the time 2021, the country was running a without a legitimate government to administer things. in 2021, the united states supported the installation the interim prime and us are. -- minister. he was supposed to hold elections within a short period but it'sn the gangs began to invade haiti 's capital of port-au-prince.

they begin that effective rulers of haiti. t of c in. the officials are basically nonfunctioning. therefore you end up in a very in haiti. it has gotten worse now. host: the united nations tells us 3ternally displaced within the country. 5.5 million needing humanitarian assistance. we talked about the gang issues in 2023. 5300 and incidents including 1200 kidnappings. tell us about the gangs. tell us about who makes them up. guest: the gangs originally guards, a protective force for many businesses in haiti. they protected their businesses. this is how they squashed any kind of opposition from the population, from members of the

civil society who wanted to have a better society in haiti. the gangs also came unin and federated by the was government hoping that would control them. instead of controlling them, they went after others since no one could touch them anymore. between the gangs territory and the drug trafficking, more drugs are coming into haiti. many guns were coming directly from the united states. there was a lot of protests u.n., giving out reports and asking for the u.s. to take care of the gun trafficking in haiti. this did not happen. eventually because they were

supported by politicians, they had the money to function. they used kidnapping and extortion to get money. no one has control over them anymore. that is how they ended up controlling the capital and the judicial system. it is very corrupt. you end up having the gangs controlling the capital. host: there is a man at the center of that that is quoted often. he goes by the nickname barbecue. who is he? michelle martini. barbecue was made by members of the government as a way to make sure he could keep the population in check. he controls alerts for the slump

in bel air and port-au-prince. many of then the gangs were police officers or people closely aligned with the police. the support he was getting where the official members of the government. it is not just one that came out of the slums. these were police inistration. they empowered them to become the gang leader he is today. host: continue with our guest francois pierre-louis. if you have questions about what's going on in haiti and the role of the united states, (202) 748-8000. for those of you who are democrats (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. if you want to text us your questions or comments, do that at (202) 748-8003. it was recently that the

secretary of state antony blinken spoke with reporters last week about the situation that was going on in haiti. the u.s. efforts to stabilize them. i want to play what he had to say and what that means [video] >> on haiti, as you know, this has beenfolding story. the heart of the story is the suffering of the haitian people have a want to see that brought to an end. that requires a few things. it requires a more stable political system so that the country can function and function democratically. for that we need to see a transition to elections, to a clear return to democratic path. we need assistance humanitarian assistance, development assistance so the economy can get built up and people can have opportunity.

fundamentally, we need to see security. ge hard to do ththings in an environment that is dominantly insecure. right now in haiti you have pr insecurity that is being driven largely by the action of gangs who control the capital city, critical for stru we have been working on all these fronts. as you know, the united nations endorsed months ago multinational security support mission to help the haitian police regain control of security. as we are putting that together and can you stepped up to say it would lead to mission -- kenya stepped up to say it would lead to the mission we are contribute resources. we have been trying with the caribbean countries and other interest to help the haitians get back on better political path. host: that is the desire of the united states.

what is the reality as the days forward for haiti? guest: the reality is that since 2021 a population, the leaders into civil siting members -- and the civil society members have been a dialogue. first, he was not serious about having a government election so the countr legitimate state that can function. secondly, ariel henry was doing nothing to curb gang violence or bring them to justice. it is unfortunate that haiti has gotten to that point. no matter what they are told about the situation in haiti unfortunately this has led to the current situation.

it is up to society to choose other leaders that are more democratic in haiti and supported by the civil society population. they will force ariel henry to hold elections. there would have been other leaders in the country to bring us out of the situation. unfortunately, it has gotten so bad now that the country has been shut down. even the u.s. has evacuated its personnel in haiti. all of these things could have been prevented if the u.s. had not supported ariel henry. host: francois pierre-louis of queens college at city university of new york doing us for this discussion. let's hear from sean and cayou are on with our guest. caller: good morning. how is everybody?

i have a comment and a question. my comment is, i have been watching haiti for years now. i remember the young man barbecue when he was a citizen and his mother owned a business and haiti was trying to feed their local community after a lot of thes they had. i want to break it up to a question. what happened to anyone haiti --'s president being assassinated? why is it that haiti was not at the table countries deciding for haiti? how is it we can bring kenya who is having their own issues? they don't know that culture. it reminds me of the vietnam war. why is haitian people in the community that are at that table? i do not believe anything this

man is sitting up here saying. y'all are calling these people gangs and thugs and criminals in so many words when i am seeing nothing but gangs and thugs and criminals that are causing this problem in haiti. when they are having hurricanes, no one is helping them. host: sean from california. we will respond. haiti bringing its own voice into resolving its problem and the degree to which it is listened to? guest: that's a good question. they have been asking for it since the beginning. let haitians decide their own fate. the problems haitians have with the u.s. is the u.s. put its big thumb on the scale in deciding the fate of haitians. they have been doing this for a long time. the results have been terrible.

they brought in other countries to figure out the future of haiti. they kept supporting the same leaders in haiti that have shown terrible results over and over again. for example, after the elections in 2011, we had hillary clinton then secretary of state. she went personally to haiti to ask the president to choose michel martelly as president instead of the candidate officially declared the winner. his life was threatened and they would put sanctions on haiti in themselves unless they removed their own presidential candidate. this is how muchffort the u.s. has been doing in terms of

pressuring haitian leaders to remove what they want so they can put in their own leaders. host: christine, independent line, washington d.c. caller: hi. i am calling because we know the history of haiti. we know why they have been treated. they were a black country that in the formation revolted against the slave trade. there is a big history there. i believe they were treated like a stepchild. then hung out to dry. we have this interference with other countries tryg to put leaders in place, etc. i get that. what is the solution? if you don't want outside interference, which i agree with however internally you are dealing with major corruption. major poverty. when you say candlelit inside, i

totally agree. what does that look like? how does that work? what is the solution? this has gone on a really long time. it is really sad. haiti deserves better. that is christine and washington, d.c. guest: thank you for the question and comments. saying we don't want outside help. what they are saying is it is under conditions we want to set up. they are telling us what to at we want. condly, given the freedom to choose their own candidates. the past two elections that took place in haiti, the u.s. and basically the u.n. supported those candidates. they managed to keep them in po martelly in 2011 and 2016 did

not support any mystical elections. he was supported by the state department and the u.s. ambassador. they did not hold interim elections for parliament and minas apologies. -- municipalities. when he was assassinated, the state department did not ask the civil society groups and other citizens and organizations in haiti how a we have apartments or. -- a prime minister. the state department supported ariel henry despite the opposition and protests. this is not the way you should do it. you should have a conversation with us. the idea of treating haitians as children and knowing what is best for them has been a long history of the u.s. in haiti. this is what has created this situation.

1991, the haitian people elected -- within six monthscoup supported by the united states. it took almost three years for him to come back in 1994. when he came back in 1994, the u.s. -- jesse helms was the chairman of the senate ford affairs committee. he decided to forgo helphaiti. there is definitely a history of punishing haiti or making haiti look bad in terms of u.s. foreign policy. it's not that haitians don't like americans. haitians want the support of the international community. when you treat them as children and you are deciding for them,

anybody would not accept that. host: the current headlines out of haiti say they are vigilantes involved in battling the gangs that are there currently. how does that complicate the situation? guest: it's very complicated. we are going into a civil war. the vigilantes in the gangs. the gangs are armed, well armed. they have heavy weapons. the vigilantes with machetes are not going to be able to do much. we have a situation where there are civilians, children, people that are sick, elderly that are victimized in the situation. many hospitals have been closed in haiti. there are no flights out of haiti. the food shortage is getting worse and worse.

the dominican republic has closed its borders with haiti. this puts haiti in a situation of trying to shut out the population. why is the internatiking that way -- acting that way? why haven't they been more forceful in the transition and setting up another government? this is the questions the haitians are asking and why they're not trusting the international community. every time it is always for the wrong cause. host: francois pierre-louis from city university of new york to any guess from this -- for this conversation. john on the republican line. caller: thank you for taking my call. can you hear me? host: go ahead. caller: what i don't understand though, my questionwhy can't the united states send some troops over there at least took

well -- to quell the forces to give security to the country so at least the haitian people can take it from there? security and peace and then maybe the so people can put their heads together and move forward from there. as long as the gangs keep going nonstop the country will still be what it is right now. they need to quell the gangs first. that is what i like to say. host: john in massachusetts thank you. mr. pierre-louis? guest: i agr government and the international community, they have the means to control the gangs. there is no will on the part of the international community to do that. the reason i'm saying there is

no will is the u.s. knows through its intelligence who the gang leaders are, who controls the gangs, where their money is coming from, how they can manage to control the situation. so far they have not done that. we have been working with members of congress, meeting with the state department meeting with civil society groups and askingthe gangs were not as powerful as they are now. if they had done that instead of sending marines to protect the embassy and shut down the airports and shut down the country they could have done something different by forcing the haitian government resign come up with a prime minister, the head of the

supreme court as interim president, and then you will have a government that can deal with the national -- international community and seek support and not shut down the country. host: ed, good morning. you are on. caller: thank you for taking my call. i would like you to remind the viewers the role that haiti played in saving america from napoleon bonaparte. pretty much a love this country to gcoast because bonaparte had to sell the louisiana territory which crossed over the mississippi and go west to the money lost from getting his butt kicked by the leaders of haiti. i would like to address several bam bam.

they call them morally repugnant elites who are running the country. many are in miami. they are eating popcorn and looking through microscopes to see the cartilage -- carnage because they are financing the gangs. they are behind this divide and conquer because they are upset the people did not want this guy henry. bigiought i car from epstein and he has diplomatic immunity from israel. they co copper, even diamonds. offshore there is oil. they are there to take, like most of the people today are doing. they are taking the wealth of haiti and having the haitians who were standing up and he will never let go, they will never give up their land to people coming in with diplomatic immunity all around the world. host: ed we, will let our guest

respond to what you said. guest: thank you. you said a lot of things. one thing i would like to say is haiti has been contributing to the u.s. since the. the slaves who fought for the independence got their training in savannah, georgia during the american revolution. haitians have been supporting the u.s. the u.s. has not been able to support haiti that way. we know that jefferson explicitly said the u.s. should never established if a medical relations with haiti because will support black people in power. the u.s. has not recognized haiti as a sovereign nationit wasn't until the end of the civil war they sent an ambassador to haiti.

they have about history between the u.s. and haiti in that sense. when the earthquake took place in 2010, there was a lot of money to support haiti. they have been supporting haiti for a long time, thethe u.s. government, the playbook it has for haiti this has not changed since the time of jefferson. they need to give haitians the right to have their own agency for themselves. there is this fear about haiti that is not well-founded. the elite in haiti have been with their bodies to washington and other influential members of the international committee.

many would listen and hear better than they would hear the haitians and civil society. we the elite in haiti doesn't want to pay taxes. he does is extract resources from haiti. instead of investing for the betterment of the people. they are holding the haitian people hostage right now and that is why we have this crisis. host: customs and border protection tells us over 163,000 people migrated out of the country in 2023. 2024 so far is 85,000 people. what to the events in haiti mean for those leaving the country and migration issues into the united states? guest: every time haiti is in crisis people try to leave. they leave on boats, by land, or

any way they can find to get out. this crisis is accelerating. people do not want to leave their country but the fact they cannot go back home now. we are happy of the humanitarian program the biden administration started to rejoin their families here and to have an opportunity to better themselves. that is something the was government can continue to support. more or less, many haitians have protected status because of the crisis in haiti in 2010. the u.s. should continue to giving that status to haitians in the u.s. who cannot go back.

i think it is very goodthere was a reunification program where families in the u.s. could bring their loved ones from haiti primarily spouses and children. it was a humanitarian gesture. the vita administration should encourage that. this is not a permanenta permanent solution for the crisis in haiti is reestablishing the democratic order. letting haitians elect their own representatives. let haitians elect their own people. one someone else does it for you that -- when someone else does it for you you have no agency or choice. a solution would be having democratic and fair elections

having a package of economic investment in haiti. most of the people that belong to the gangs are teenagers people under 30 years old. if you have jobs, and economic package, you have security. he stopped the impurity that exists in haiti. you clean up the judicial system and no one would want to come to the u.s. as refugees and try to take all these risks. many times they end up losing their lives who come to the u.s.. peace and security instability should start at home. having an economic package and a social and clinical program that would support the haitians in haiti. there is no way you can have 11 million people living in haiti to go somewhere else. that will not happen. that is why a lot of members -- haitians want to choose their own if i understand it correctly, you served on the

private cabinet of the former haitian president was overthrown in 1991. what did you learn from his overthrow? what lessons can be applied to whoever is going to be the next president of haiti? guest: the first lesson is that the u.s. is there. without having a good partnership with the u.s. secondly, the u.s. shoultry to respect the will of the haitian people. that was a shocker when you had 70% of the population that were about to start an economic program and they did not like aristide because they did they were able to go to washington and the administration -- the second thing we learned is there are a

lot of people who may not agree with you but you have to find a common ground to allow them to share power. yourself and leave other people out. you have to pay more attention to them then your friends. third, you should have a package of economic programs. education. development. you can never rule the country out the economy. it's about the people. it's about having families having peace and quiet so they can go about their business. it's about giving opportunities to young people so they don't see haiti as a place to have to leave. we have learned is you need organization accountability, and friends willing to during the process. host: if a president is

installed in the right way to what degree do you think the gangs will step back? guest: i think the gangs will step back if there's an economic program, a judicial program. in 2006, the president was elected and he had a program to control the gangs. he rehabilitated the gang leaders by providing training program so they can get a job. some of them were put in jail. in 2006 through 2011, they were able to control the gang leaders. it could happen.

the judicial system, the economic package, the training for the young people, they will not want to join gangs anymore because they will see for themselves a future. host: david from tennessee, independent line for our guest francois pierre-louis. caller: hello. thank you for taking my call. i am wondering if the united states sending money to haiti and these other countries' ot finding the people the immigrants are running away from. -- funding the people the immigrants are running away from. feet are cold, starve a fever. host: finish your thought david. caller: thank you. host: ok. let's go to joe in new york republican line. hi. joe in staten island, good morning.

we will try one more time for joe. if you want to call in and ask questions, (202) 748-8000 free democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. independents, (202) 748-8002. you can post on our (202) 748-8003. mr. pierre-louis, back to migration. ron desantis talking about potentia florida. he was quoted on fox news saying, "i don't necessarily expect to get the help we are click coast guard do a good job. they are just way under resourced, saying president biden would not provide the number of v interdict all the ships that come." that was from florida's governor. what do you think about that response and how surprised i you bite? -- by it? guest: i'm not surprised. florida has a large haitian american population.

mr. desantis's of immigrant origin also. tino's full well -- he knows full well the plight of people that are destitute and what they can go t is really not becoming of him as a governor of florida. y situation of the haitians, haitians are not fleeing haiti because they want to come to florida. patients are fleeing haiti haiti has become a hellhole for them. there is no way they can survive their due to the lack of government, the support of u.s. government of bad leaders in haiti. the humanitarian aid the money that goes to development of the u.s. government comes back to the u.s. a lot of the development projects have a lot of corruption.

money siphoned off by political leaders who put it back in u.s. banks. many leaders the u.s. supported have homes in florida and the united states. the u.s. has not taken action to curb the corruption. when the governor does putting it back on the haitian people he does not care. we are all immigrants in the united states. we came in one way or another. it was not easy for us. what if we came in because of the famine in ireland or prosecution? somebody had a history. the u.s. welcome to them. we are a country of immigrants. we are a country of opportunities. they cannot find opportunities in other places.

for a governor of one of the populations in the united states and people from all over, south america, central america, the caribbean, he is not representing americans and other immigrants in the country. this is unfortunate. host: james in north carolina democrats line. caller: good morning. it's unfortunate to hear what you are saying and from the callers. i don't think the so-called gangs are gangs. i think they are freedom fighters, just like you have freedom fighters throughout the world. i think these people are sick west robbing this rich land of all of its resources. everyone knows they don't need foreign aid. they have more resources than america does. we always prop up some civilian government we want so these rich

billionaires in florida and france and other countries can rob these their natural resources. these people are not gangs. they are sick of being robbed. they are sick of being living in poverty in a rich land. we all know haiti has natural resources way beyond his means. they don't have the investment to get it. imf are other guys would lend them a couple of dollars and they would on the resources. and they sent troops from africa because haitians are strong fighters. they will reject a white army coming there. they want to send people from africa to help rob them of their resources. whatever his name -- host: first time i will stop you but thank you for calling. mr. pierre-louis if you want to respond to any of that.

guest: i would not disagree with the caller that the gang leaders are freedom fighters. freedom fighters do not burn down their homes. mfif they are freedom fighters, you have to be responsible to the people you want to free. when you go out there and burn their homes and loot businesses and kidnap people that have no money, you are ransacking their homes, burning down their houses, displacing them, this is not the way freedom fighters fight. i cannot agree with the caller on this. the other question about resources, yes there are resources. you may have the resource you don't have the right techniques and investments to extract those resources.

you have to have the right conditions where you have the political, social environment for the resources to be benefiting the population. if haitians have their own government, if haitians are allowed to choose their own leaders, if other nations are free to invest, haitians or people you give the money and they turned it into thousands of dollars. if you allow them to do that i'm sure within the next decade or so there will be a different haiti. first you have to allow them to leaders. host: mr. pierre-louis, what are you looking for in the days and weeks ahead that would suggest a result of what's going on? a hope that some kind of good will come out of it? guest: i would like to see a government in power. secondly the international

community should open the country. there is nowhere they can go for maladies without leaving thecountry. some people having condemned today because of the lack -- condemned to die because of the lack of medicalweapons and bullets from outside haiti, where they getting their supplies? a provisional government. let haitians decide the provisional government. go forward with a counsel in place so they can be freealso, because of the economic disaster that took place in haiti in the past 10 years they should have an economic package from the international community so that the haitians can get

themselves back on their feet again. that is what i hope happens with haiti. host: francois pierre-louis at queens college at the city university of new york political science professor. thank you for your time today. guest: thank you. host: before we end today on this 40th anniversary day of ours, a word of thanks from us to you. we shared with her co-ceo talking about c-span at 45 and our founders the effort. i received a number of generous donations and wonderful comments about ourknow what values such as being shared talk swap -- text wise from lords in st. pauth