♪ host: good morning. it is wednesday, march 20. last july, gallup poll showed

the opinions on the military. this benefit in the middle east -- with the expanding footprint in the mide , we thought we would ask what you think of the military. in the eastern or central time zones, call us at (202) 748-8000 . r pacific, it is (202) 748-8001. we have a line set aside for active and former military. thatyou can also text us your comments at (202) 748-8003. include your first name and your city and state. you can post to social media at facebook.com/c-span or on x @c. welcome to today's "washington journal." we will start with the gallup poll i■n mentioned, and i will show you the results that are in graphic form.

so this goes from 1975 to tod i. and the question is, the percentageeat deal or quite a lot of confidence in the u.s. military, it is at 60% here. you can see that. this graph shows you that same number but broken up by political party. hereou republicans on the top at 68% followed by democrats at 62%. 55th lowest, for independents. let's take a look at a portion of yesterday's hearings. th is retired general mckenzie, who is the former head of central command. [video clip] >> i am personally here y famils of the fallen, the 13 fallen,

and the thousands of fallen and tens of thousands of wounded and countless others who suffer the invisible wounds to get answers. i am humbled to be here today with three gold families, and i know the other families could not make it, by intended ■í- but i intend to contact them in the coming weeks. they know my feelings for them. they know there are no words by me or any general or any politician or anyone that can ever bring back their fallen. all of us can and all of us must honor their sacrifice to protect our country and to be forever grateful that they entered the call. easacrifice on the altar of freedom like so many before them to keep our nation safe, and we owe themand i am committed to an the effort to get them answers. but we should also not be under

any illusion. we will not get all of the answers here today. this process will take a considerable length of time. we must also recognize much of the record in fact is classified and beyond the scope of this open hearing. so over two decades between 2001 and 2021, about 800,000 of us in uniform, the united states military, served in afghanistan and many thousands of of those, over 4000 gave their lives. almost 30,000 were -- most 30,000 suffered injuries and countless others suffered invisible wounds. we must honor their sacrifice, each of them, over two decades of fighting th■te taliban, bringing osama bin laden to justice, and protecting the homeland. we lost over 200 u.s. troops in

units under my direct command in several tours and multiple years of combat in iraq and afghanistan. who served in combat knows that we personally issued the orders that gave the task, purpose, pl soldier's dear wounds. we also know it was the enemy that killed or wounded them. combat is an unforgivithose of n the brutality of ground combat live with that dark reality every day and every night. host: that was retired general mark milley. we are taking your calls for the first hour on your level of confidence in the u.s. military. here is an article from the associated press. top former u.s. generals say ■dfailures of the biden administration and planning led to the chaotic fall in kabul.

mckenzie buckley exposed for the first time the strain and differencese biden administration in the final days of the war. two of those key differences included that the military had advised that the u.s. keep at afghanistan to maintain stability and a concern that the state department was not moving fa enough to get an evacuation started. let's take a look at another portion from that hearing yesterday with the two generals. [video clip] >> you urged the white house and state department to put pen to paper to develop a plan to get americans and our afghan allies out of of guinness tandem right -- of afghanistan, right? >> that's right. part of the department of defense planning instead of the department of state

planning, and i made to the secretary about my concern over that, the fact that we were moving pretty fast on this. they were not moving fast, and i was concerned we would have i went to the secretary. we spent some time talking about that. i acal up with a written idea of some things we could do. 10 recommendations to the secretary of defense on that. >> is that your recollection? general milley? >> absolutely. without breaching things like executive privilege, etc., my assessments at the time and his assessments, the general consensus of theil through and including the secretary of defense was that they should be coming up the same time we were coming up. after the decisions were made to keep their presence there, the situation to be rated in the

summer -- situation%] deteriorad in the summer and we were pressing for calls. >> they did eventually develop a plan? ■e>> so they had a plan. like i said, it is a requirement to have a plan. it is one thing to have a plan. i thing, the specifics of execution. having a plan, coordinating the plan with e people tactually cae department of defense, that is another set of tasks completely. >> it was too little, too late. >> it was my judgment that it le, far too late. >> was that your assessment, general milley? >> it was. it was a pretty consistent assessment by me and other members of the military up to and including the secretary that the withdrawal of the military forces and the contractors in the nato forces that went with it would ultimately lead to a general collapse of the government.

as i mentioned, the tension was one of the conditions that was made. host: we are taking your calls this morning. regional this time. if you are in the eastern or central time zone, (202) 748-8000. in the mountain or pacific time zones, call us on (202) 748-8001 . active or former military, call us on (202) 748-8002. you can also text us or use social media. we will take a look at this from the gallup poll. this is again from the end of july lasyear, so bef october 7. it says public perceptions of the u.s. military have fled dramatically over the past five decades. the aftermath of the gulf war and 9/11 were followed by resounding upticks in confidence in the military. the latter of theseurges ushered in an era of elevated confidence lasting nearl decades. now that the u.s. has completely

withdrawn from both iraq and afghanistan, the two most significant military legacies of the 2001 terrorist attacks on theta continu decline among the public. the ds this year were all party identification groupsnd remaining the most likely to express confidence in independents becoming the least -- and independents becoming the least likely. we will go to the phones now and start with winston in virginia. hi, winston. caller: hi. i apologize. i called on the wrong line. i wanted to cally for six years. as well as dutch as the confidence goes -- as the confidence goes, it can go to the culture in the military. to the pre to,

what are the missions? what are the operations the military engages in? that is where i have zero confidence. i have a lot of confidence in young people to try to do the right thing. but when it comes to the united states military and its history, i think we can look around the world and a lot of the issues that are really in the spotlight can be looked to actions that the u.s. military engaged in. across the caribbean, haiti, cuba, across all africa, some of the destabilization efforts, especially with the middle east. we have to understand the iraq war was a war based off of a light. ov one million people died -- of a lie, and over one million people died as a result. host: you said destabilizio

efforts in africa. what do you mean by that? caller: i appreciate the question. going into details, a country like niger has cut off the u.s. and there was an overwhelming support from the united states for leadership they did not trg that is overlapped in haiti as we speak. this has happened throughout the global south. and so that is what i mean. there is a destabilizationrt asa populace to have actual sovereignty. that is what i mean. there is not a lot of confidence the united states goverent is going to be acting in the best interest to actually you know deploy the military -- actually,

you know, deploy the military and a result that will benefit. host: got it. dean in missouri, good morning. caller: yes. united states miliry veteran. we don't need to be inwith. this has been going on since world war ii. some of them i can understand. some of them not. a lot of them, the iraq war and being in afghanistan, in the first place, if we are going to take out osama, they should have taken him out from the air. they had an owe are spending wah money on this. the big ships and stuff a anymo.

we've got the drones. we can do a lot more stuff a lot cheaper. look atthe have this big militat they don't even put a quarter of their money in the military like we do. we need to cut back on all that and just use our military when we have to and be ready to go when we have to, but don't get involved with these wars if we don't need to be. and i appreciate what you all are doing. thank you host: steve mentioned the chinese military so let's take a look at defense spending globally. the united states up on top at $906 billion. this is from 2023. this is what was spent in 2023. of nato, nearly $400 billion. china is at $220 billion, russia at $75 billion.

that comes from the defense department and brookings. they also say they are not quite sure about the numbers for china and russia given that they are not able to verify those numbers. ed in jacksonville, florida, you are next. caller: yes, good morning. i am going to say it from where i sit. retired military, retired army deployed to vietnam 1969 through 1971, iraq -- excuse me, afghanistan, kandahar, iraq, 2060 2007. -- 2006 to 2007. my concern today, watching the military work, with all of the additional training on political correctness, so i anc

you are putting our people in jeopardy with the cr's. i encourage congress to pass the bill. host: how? can you tell us how a cr affects readiness? ■i-caller: you cannot perform te maintenance that needs to be done on some of the equipment. plus, not only that, the soldiers that i represent -- not represent, but i was part of the national guard. when we start talking about the people that drill one week of the month and they depend on the paycheck. they worry the paycheck will not be there. the paycheck is there income. they have real concern about that they may not get that. you are planning your budget on that. host: take a look at what the as this topic.

they said after the wind down of the forever wars in iraq afghanistan, the■j administratin wanted to pivot and direct reign policy power to countering russian aggression and chinese expansionism. but the morning of october 7, ht people in israel changed now the pentagon finds itself crsingly involved in the reg's most intractable conflict, a widening role that reflects biden's stop support for israel and his mounting frustrations with how it has prosecuted the subsequent war. interested to get your take on that. morning. caller: good morning. how are you doing? two things. number one, when trump talks about other countries don't pay their share of gdp, people need to understand the u.s. military and our government have more military than any other country.

we have more strategic locations across the world. that is why we pay mor■5ua gdp,t because the countries don't pay their fair share. it is the fact that we have to pay more because of what we have. you have any foreign countries that have a military installation in the united states, for example. number two, when you consider what happened in afghanistan, you need to tell everybody that that negotiated with the terrorist taliban and agreed to give them the country a year before we had to do the evacuation. president biden gave the people that were working as military civilians in afghanistan six mont nleave at some point becaue there was a deadline. that is why they had to leave the way they did, because they had a deadline. they letwe are going to leave. every civilian, every afghan not the u.s. did not make the military problem, not the air

force problem, and that is the part not being told. i was watching yesterday thinking, why are we trying to blame the retired general, the people in charge of the military that did their jobs getting people out because if you do six month in advance you had believe, why weren't you ready? these guys have to apologize to the people. that is not their fault. it is their job. ilitary person has said let's go to war. politicians domilitary people ee orders given to them. that is what they do. we need to stop blaming them and blame the people that make the decisions at the political lev that causes us to execute to do the things we do. it is not the military's fall. they do the job. host: got it. glenn mentioned the u.s. military installations around the world. this is titled, where our u.s. military members stationed and -- are u.s. military members

stationed ny? over 20 7 million acres -- over 27 million acres globally, equivalent of the size of virginia. there aresv79 military sites worldwide. it has also maps that you can u.s. troops are based in the u.s. with the highest concentrations in the states, california, -- in these states, california, texas. it also has reserve troops. e that at your leisure. marian in mansfield, ohio, good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. caller: yeah. i have been in this book club for years. last year, we decided we are going to do pulitzer

prize winning books. one of the books i chose was called "ghost wars" and it won -- are you familiar with tthost. caller: very good. that book opened my eyes. we have been women to 12. and it talks about how the cia, alth actions it was taking to get osama bin laden. it talks about how the cia would take $500,000 in unmarke bills and give them two different afghan -- to different afghan warlords. it is a complicated thing. and he was able to write this book because the information got declassified. he even had to update the book because more information got declassified.

it is 750 pages. it is a long book, but it was so fast. bill clinton was president during thisx osama bin laden, but the people of america were hearing about monica lewinsky even though in the background what was going on was we were trying to get him. host: so how did that buck impact your confidence in the u.s. military -- book impact your confidence in the u.s. military? caller:■rt is really hard for me to answer because i realize now so much it is the cia pulling there is 195 countries in the world, and we give money to 150 of them. so when people get upset about giving money t ukraine or israel, they need to talk to their congresspeople because we are giving money to a who lot of people. every once in a while -- there

was a bombing in columbia a couple months ago but nothing was said about it. and then it came out that the cia was taking out cartels in columbia, drug cartels. another fascinating thing in this book was nobody in congress thought osama bin laden was a threat to america except for one democratic congressman in oklahoma.it is just a fascinati. i highly recommend it because it is hard to talk about the military when you have the cia doing its thing around the world, too, toppling governments and installing. the cia agents will go into these countries that we never heard of, and they will start conflict with people and get them to rise have. sometimes the military has to clean up the cia's mess.

obviously, the cia failed in not getting osama bin laden. host: we will move on to joe in joe. caller: good morning. i was not in the military, but i work for the navy for 42 years as a logistics analyst. and some of those years also was involved with marine programs. i have confidence in the military minus political influence. anybody in the military listening knows that when you get the enlisted ranks, the higher your rank, the more political your position becomes. commanders know what needs to be done. top, from the commander-in-chief right on down , that filters down through the ranks. you don't want that guy in front of you. it is political. that is a terrible thing. you can trace this all the way

back to vietnam, when kids were getting killed because they were told to take a no strategic purpose at all. in a word about -- a former ca did not need to be there. when we liberated kuwait, you might remember who was in office. as going to go in iraq and take it. he said, do not go in there. bad man, but he maintains balance in that region. if you go in there and take over, you will upset the balance and the losses will be incalculable in personnel and money. the thing that is confusing to me to go in there, no real need. everybody knows that. every time on tv i see some veterans missing a limb or maybe burned, that may have been a result of the iraq mess.

it just was not needed. there was no rush. it was not needed at that time. i tell you, i have a nephew in the f35 program, and i can tell you another problem is money. they are always told to do more with less because we don't have the funds. that is having a negative effect. when people are allowed to do whatat they are trained to do minus the politics, we would be just fine. host: would you advocate for a bigger military budget then? you save money is a problem and they have to do more with less -- you say money is a problem and they have to do moless. caller: yeah. there is a lot more that goes there. it is just the nature of the beast. it is sad, it is not a mandatory part of the budget. and i think it should be. anybody that wants money in the

military has always had to beg and scrape for every dime theyge budget year. that is just the way it is. but if you leave politics out of it3'nd field commanders do what they are trained to do, i am very confident in the military. host: let's take a look at a breakdown of the military budget since joe broughth up. it is the request, this is for the fy 2025 budget. this is the proposal. the total request is $850 billion, a 4.1% increase. $182 billion of that is for military personnel. $338 billi a year for operations and maintenance. 160 $8 billion for procurement of weaponry and other equipment procurement of weaponry and other equipment.

that comes from the defense department and bokwe are takings morning. our lives are by region so if you are in the eastern or central time zone, (202) 748-8000. if you are in mountain or pacific, it is (202) 748-8001. and our line for active or former military is (202) 748-. and we will go to audrey next. decatur, alabama. hi. caller: hi. good morning. how are you? host: good. caller: i am an army veteran, 68 whiskey combat medic. i was. my husband was 11th infantry $ let me give you what is going around. i live in the fifth district of alabama command out of my son's graduating class, number one, my son is active right now.

active in the air force. to active in the national guard and currently deployed to europe. braden is in slovenia in europe. andrew is in the air force in japan. they have gone off everywhere. they are good guys. i hope i am nofoany that we have serving. and let me tell you, they are proud to serve. oh, and miguel is in the marines and on a ship right now over there by israel. they all graduated together. i am just so proud of these boys. i wish i were was more eciative and proud of them like they were of us.

i don't feel like -- i feel like the sense of community and patriotism has gone down. my husband and i served. but that is ok. we will continue to serve. continue to protect this nation. now, as a mother do i worry, you know, about my son? yes. yes, i do. they all graduated in 2020. even durinn9g the( pandemic. you know, they were ready to go. so i appreciate joe. i appreciate him as a civilian employee supporting us. because without the civilian part of the, they do a lot of our logistics and make our weapons and keep us supplied on that i don't think people are aware of. the training in germany has been

canceled for the comdecision tol money to ukraine. like that is taking away from our soldiers. i never heard of a time of the united states taking away from ours to give to somebody else. appointment after slovenia -- deployment after slovenia, he was supposed to go to poland. triston is in poland now. ■ihe did not get to go because e is stationed in germany. i would like to bring that to the attention of our legislators, just to let them know that if money is there, and we do need our training, they need their annual training. my son just got finished with

one big training exercise lving multinational forces, you know, u.n. forces, korean forces. host:■m audrey, we appreciate yr call and your service, for you and your family. vdshe just mentioned the civilis supporting the defense department. there are 750 -- approximately 750,000 civilian employees of the defense department and an additional 2 million to 3 million contractors for the defense department in the united states. we know that in florida -- in florida, you are next. caller: thankyf you. i am talking to someone? host:go ahead. we are listening. caller: i am talking about the

guys in israel. i am 78 years old. i feel like i am 50 years old. it is hurting my science seeing whats sides seeing what is happening in gaza. if i had the power, not to kill anybody. of dollars. billions of dollars. put these people on the wanted list. the president, hamas, and its channels and everything, put a big reward onget them. somebody will turn them in for billions of dollars. don't spend billions of dollars killing people. spend billions of dollars just getting them. we are going through the same thing -- we are doing the sam

thing russia is doing in ukraine. i think it is terrible. we have a lot of intelligent people. what we should do is, like i said, put a big reward on the they will turn them in. they will turn them in. the war is like --hatank. israel has tanks. and they have motorbikes. i mean, it is not fair. host: we will take a look at the joint chiefs chair general brown. he was entering reporters'sa= questions yesterday, tuesday, in germany about what could be an imminent ground offensive in rafah by the idf. [video clip] >> engaged with my counterpart and we engaged with the israelis even after october 7, we had experienced in in urban environments in the middle east. we continue to talk about the lessons learned we have without

dictating to the israelis on how to execute. at the same time, we also talked to them about how we protect civilians. i can say from personal experience having led part of the air campaign in the isis effort, our focus on how you protect civilians and minimizing collateral damage is a continued conversation, and that will be an aspect of the conversation we will have as we continue to have with the israelis as we ponder future operations. host: that was general brown yesterday in germany. ryan is next in phoenix, arizona. ryan. caller: hey, good morning. thanks for taking my call. a few things. number one, i think the country definitely needs to treat the veterans better, support them, especially combat vets.it is rie treating them, especially versus illegal immigrants.

very tragic. it is no surprise, the enrollment issues. host: and you served? caller: yes, i did army time. host: tell me about how you are treated and how you want to be treated better. caller: personally, iav complai. a lot of my brothers, a lot of my former people definitely do ge especially the ones who are injured or have ptsd, that kind of thing. i think a lot of people need to realize, too, a lot people say we kind of created our own mess with the funding of the. we spend so much money on the military. but if we didn't, a question of ouhe superpower of the planet would still be there. doubtful. we protect the shipping lines.

we protect the commerce. so at this point, we have kind of grown into a necessary evil. we definitely have a lot of missteps, like how we did the iraq war. dick cheney should have been investigated for that mess. like one million dead. lots of former soldiersreally t. same with afghanistan. people talk about the afghanistan departure. den administration messed that up as well. we were supposed to keep the airbase open and provide air support. it was a total fubar. our country has a lot of issues. when people say we need to cut the=y budget, there are definity consequences. it is a crazy situation, the world stage right now. host: next in the louisiana. good morning -- russell is next

in louisiana, good morning. caller: good morning, dear. the call with the military lady and her husband, she spokrom ams and providing for others. that has been going on for a long time. we deprive american citizens of many things to send money overseas. the nature of my call is about confidence. i have all the confidence in the world in the military to make the right decisions when it comes to defending and going to fight. there is nothing stronger than the heartbeat of an american soldier. god bless you men and women in thanks, russell. this is a text we got from tony in florida. my confidence in the military is at an all-time low. this is due to the deterioration of the officer at work.

they have failed the troops and the nation. david in maryland, good morning. caller: morning, c-span. good morning, america. i have the full confidence. first of all, i am a veteran of iraq and afghanistan. i have full confidence in the ■@ people. however, the leadership i don't have confidence in. i don't think they have a very good track record since vietnam. we have more general officers now with a smaller military compared to world war we have more general officers, meaning stars, than we had at the end of world war ii.u3■ so it has turned into a political leapfrog game. i was a proponent of iraq. still m i -- am. i think that war was mismanaged. i am happy saddam hussein's sons

are not in charge right now. god knows what the political spectrum would be like right now and who we would be negotiating with. again, i thought the wars were mismanaged. but right now, recruiting numbers are way down. i don't believe the political -- like for instance, you saw general milley and the other general yesterday at the hearing. not the state department folks. uent. i think general milley at one time said a lot of ictrum of ths hearing is still classified. why is it classified? is it national security? is it for the sake of national security you cannot tell us some of the fact we are trying to uncover here? host: when you say you don't have confincleadership, are youg specifically about the general officers within the military or the political leadership? caller: the political leadership

on't have visibility over the joint chiefs. week three or whatever it was in 2023. they allowed all of these individuals to pour over the der. we have over 20 years of afghanistan. afghanistan was a series 21 year wars because as soon as a new commander comes in, there is a new set of requirements based on their intt. and the turnover allowed for no continuity of the mission. and therefore, you can't have a clear mission if ther and afghanistan. the measures of effectiveness will not be strong because of a

lack of continuity in leadership. host: before i let you go, i want your opinion on the defense budget. doou it is too big or too small? caller: i saw the defense budget a few years ago. i have not looked at tywhe pie wild, but i believe 60% of it was just veterans and overhead and payroll and health care. if that is true, 60% you have 40% left for r&d and for operations. host: maintenance, yeah, procurement. caller: it is out of my purview. host: got it. caller: if we will be world police, it has to be that big. ho: got it. in buffalo, new york, good morning. caller: thanks for having me. i have confidence in the men and women who are volunteering in our military, but i think that the exporting of the industrial

capacity overseas leaves us much more vulnerable to china than i think people understand. we are in a situation like the europeans were in the 1910s where america has thi larger than others can understand. china can produce 200 times the ships america can and i have not begun artillery yet. in terms of missiles, they can their manufacturing right now in terms of gross value and the nited states and europe combined. in five years, china biltmore high-speed rail than exists in the rest -- built more high-speed rail than exists in the rest of the world. they became the largest exporter of autos in three years. of the factories and

labor and capital and resource that they have access to really can't be underestimated. and i think it i what do you the solution is? what do you want to see done? caller: obviously, we should stop stroking war with them and just be competitors, friendly competitors. i don't know if that is possible but also, we have to bring manufacturing back. everyone says that as it is, if we go to war with them, we can't make cell phones. we can't make really anything to do with technology because the make all of our stuff. host: i don't want to get too far off the topic, but what if what do you think the reaction should be? caller: we are screwed. that is where -- the island is

where cell phones come from. host: semi yes. caller: not good. host: not good indeed, brian. let's take a look at senator mitch mcconnell. was on the senate floor yesterday talking about the defense budget. [video clip] >> under this military has faced the same historic inflation as everyone else in our country. /expensive. so do the capabilities of our servicemen -- the capabilities our servicemen need. and yet this is another time they have turned amounts to a net cut after inflation. apparently, the president has not yet learned the lessons of in three years, the global

superpower has responded to growing coordination among its advri -- they restoree havens in afghanistan for terrorists. more abuse since the holocaust in october 7 in israel. but cutting our own military st request full of gross excess in all the wrong places is the take away that history as the most alarming. host: senator mcconnell on the this is kevin in california. good morning, kevin. caller: hey, how are you guys doing? cayou hear me?

host: yes. go right ahead, kevin. caller: i am former military. i graduated in 2013. all i have to sa military. i saw a lot of things changing. the missions were always getting people who joined, i am glad we volunteer instead of be■uinga dictatorship. host: looks like we losin. and dan in ohio, go right ahead, dan. caller: yes, thank you for taking my call. i would like to say the state department is very vital, as much as our military. our state department is not

getting the support or the proper guidance that they should be getting from our government, t politicians. mitch mcconnell is a typical example of a senior political out. he has not done anything significant for this country in a couple years. ■7regarding our military, i am a veteran, and i think everybody should think, especially 18 to great-grandfather, world war i, their grandfather, world war ii, and our parents throughout the years have went and fought for this country and died. hundreds of thousands have died. we have a potential president saying they were suckers and losers.

thateighs heavy with me and it should with every american. we cannot put somebody in there like that. he has to support the militaryo. and he needs to help the people of the world. he needs to help the get rid of tyranny. that is all i have to say. thank you. host: this is the washington times. dan mentioned the state department. the delayed decision on withdrawing u.s. citizens in afghanistan was a key factor in the chaotic and bloody final days of the u.s. combat mission fgformer joint chiefs of staff general mark milley said yesterday contributing to the service personnel and some 170

afghans dead after a terrorist bombing at the airport in august of 2021. general milley, now retired and testifying for the first time as a civilian on the biden administration'sxd■ handling one work, the house -- told the house foreign affairs committee that the decisions lead to the tragic end of the 20 year mission in afghanistan. max is calling from san antonio, texas. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to let america know that the military is a projection of american society. were strong or weak on that account. this country is strong when the congress is strong. when they pass the budget in a timely manner, the military will be at its peak, the strongest. if the congress delays

into continuing resolutions, what happens with the budget is it gets frozen. there are no development, no shifting of funds from one organization to another to address emerging needs. an fix the problems in congress. we have to make sure we work a strong military. and a budget -- you mentioned the funds. those are five-year funds. there are one-year funds. that is how far out the budget is projecting. and it is projecting right now in the way that things are going our military will have to change substantially. it can't fight on its old, you know, structure. it has to make sure it can meet the missions of the battlefield with electronic warfare

capabilities, drone capabilities, and those kinds of things. that means that it is even more poant that coness passe the budges on time so congress can plan for the needs. host: the fiscal 2025 budget request by the president, it is a 4.1% increase over last year. that is coming in under inflation. what are your thoughts on that?. when you have that amount of money, the only way to spend it is poorly. because you have all of this money, and the only way out for an organizational budget is to dump it into contracts. 1 get to modify the contracts in a way that is advantageous to the dod. advantageous to the contractor because when you are in a compressed budgeting cycle, when you can only spend so much because you are on a continuing and a quarter and can

have no new starts, those things all add up -- in a quarter and can have no new starts, those things all add up. i would like to say i watched the hearings yesterday, general milley and general mcken testify. the headlines on reuters and some of the news services were wrong. i don't think that they so much blamed the biden administration. general milley in particular said two presidents said we will get out of afghanistan. i know personally because i retired in 2020 that president trump definitely wanted to get out of afghanistan, wanted to get out of a lot of places. so that is my perspective. thank you. host: let's talk to mimi next in pennsylvania. good morning. caller: hello. host: hi. mimi?

yeah, go right ahead. caller: the topic this morning is confidence in the u.s. military. i watched a great many hours of the hearing yesterday on the withdrawal from afghanistan. it is my view from what i gathered focus is on what transpired regarding that withdrawal that both general milley and the commander mckenzie indicated that they did not suggest the withdrawal dates. that was biden's choice.

and he did exactly what he wanted to do. why don't you play some of those from where that from the hearing ■yesterday? host: ok. and gary in north carolina, a veteran. good morning. caller: yeah, good morning. i just want to make two or three points right here. i think our political parties have gotten a little aggressive and hungry for their own power. they are confusing young people. and they are not being good mentors for young people. they disrespected the uniform -- the disrespect of the uniform from the police transpired to the military, and they are not joining the military. people trying to give tax r buso realize we are competing with

xi. he will give tax breaks to his buddies. you hearh7 trump wanted to give tax breaks. he is actually in competition, keeping people from running to china. all of the occupant was get the feeling that entrepreneur -- all of the entrepreneurs get the feeling going to china, but there has to be a feeling of control over that. and realize to say that trump is giving tax breaks to his buddies. he is basically fighting to keep them in the united states and give us jobs. so this goes deeper. of young people and poor people, and he appealed to those people on their own personal level. they don't ve savings. they don't control their credit cards right. and that equates over into politics. i wanted to hear about your military service.

caller: i was in diego. we did tours. that area now is controlled by china. when we were going through their the 1970's and 1980's, it was pretty peaceful. vietnam had died down. that was about it. now, we can't go through the south ch sea and we are being bullied. i can't imagine. passed russian ships a few times and saw their aircraft in the air. but what i am seeing on the news there right now with the leadership being lackadaisical. ■áif our enemy is aggressive, we have to be aggressive.

our politicians are tailor pressedo ting our enemies. they are too worried about votes and not our enemies. if our enemies rise up and are being bullies, we have to act that way, too. i think there is a man that can do that. is in office right now. you have to understand the nature of war and the nature of threats. we just peaceful with handshakes and try to be making friends with people that don't like as. it sets us up for abuse. i want to encourage the veterans in the military right now to just keep your head high. things are going to change. d' worry. you have a good career. i encourage young people. it is a great career, a great place to learn things. help for you when you get out. really look into it and do not

feel despair because of what i just said. host:vania. john, good morning. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. as far as the subject y are talking about, i have the utmost confidence in the u.s. military and always have my entire life. these men take an oath to go and i pray every day that god bless them and watch over them and keep them safe. but what really gets me is the subjects we are picking on on the morning show here. there was a really important hearing yesterday. it basically pointed out that donald trump had a whole plant to get out of -- plan to get out of afghanistan. joe biden and his state department said, orange man, bad. at trump did. it is going to be wrong. it is going to be bad. the generals were really honest yesterday in saying they had no control over any of this. they kept telling them to leave

2500 troops in the airport and keep the airport open. why in the world did 13 people die? for biden rushing andhing he th. and then when he did to the goldstar father that was at the speech that he gave, and they were going to arrest that guy? i just heard the charges were dropped yesterday. thank god they dropped the charges. went through his son dying for no reason at all over in afghanistan. i wish the american people would wake up. you want this again? why? why would you want a senile guy host: let's talk to a vet in midland, texas, good morning. caller: to all my maga your

president, mr. donald trump told vladimir putin to do whatever he wants with nato. i sathat no, have american soldiers over there. i was over there defending nato and also defending our country. when vladimir putin attacks a nato country, he's going to be killing american soldiers. are you ok with that? that previous caller, that's a problem. when you denigrate a commander-in-chief who is currently in office, you send a message tour enemies and whatnot. it's not good to talk about donald trump's character. we all know what he's been charged with. we know he's been on tv saying

he can rape women. i'm to judge his character. i won't impugn any commander-in-chief's character. at but it's very important we support our country and support our troops. i always thought prudent and the soviet union, i was thought russia was the enemy. host: bill is the last call for this segment and thanks to everyone who called in. up next, weave the senior congressional correspondent at the christian science monitor and she will discuss the state of■( negotiations to fund the government aad of a weekend deadline and the latest efforts on foreign aid for israel and ukraine. later, democratic senator pete welch of vermont joins us to weigh in on those topics and other congressional news of the day. we will be right back. ♪

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>> c-spanshop.org is our online store. browse through our latest collection of c-span products. there is something for every c-span fan and every purchase helps support our nonprofit operations. shop now or anytime at c-spanshop.org. "washington journal" continues. host:elwe are joined by krista e brian, the correspondent for the christian science monitor. welcome to the program. guest: pleasure to be here. host: there is a government funding deadline. once again on friday. but there was a deal struck so that and what's in it. guest: this is the remaining six areas of appropriations which covers major agencies like treasury, dhs, labor, education and it represents about three quarters of federal discretionary spending's over $1 trillion. this is a very large deal and it's wednesday morning and we still don't have legislative text and they are supposed to

vote on this by the end of the day friday. we are getting right up to the deadline particularly since republicans have instituted a new rule that everyone should have 72 hours to review legislation. it's looking like we either missed the deadline or you have to waive the 72 hours provision. host: that's not really working out for the 72 hours. the deadline is midnight friday. guest: exactly. host: do you think there would be a short-term cr to get us past midnight? guest: i think the hope is still that they will be able to pass this minibus they call it with six appropriation bills combined into one by the friday midnight deadline. as we've seen with this congress, you can never really count on anything. it's been very unpredictable so there is a house republican conference meeting this morning and it will be interesting to see what comes out of that because speaker mike johnson wi be presen hd probably making a case that we need to waive the 72 hour rule for this particular bill.

we will see how that goes down with them. you can reporting on how members are reacting to speaker johnson's leadership when it comes to funding battles. what have we learned? guest: it's been interesting talking to republicans and democrats about that. i was talking last night with representative thomas massie who in former congresses was considered a real rebel and in this congress, he's an interesting position between some of the more vocal rabble-rousers in the more mainstream folks and he was saying it's sort of like when you have a substitute teacher come into scol in the class start to realize they can get away with a bunch of things. mike johnson was not the one that won the house majority and wasn't the one that gay people seon that they really wanted so he doesn't have carrots or sticks really. some people have been very complementary■5 leadership so far, recognizing it was delta difficult and and he is trying to pick up where mccarthy left off.

on the democratic side of the aisle, others say, some of them acknowledged he is genteel and civil an person but really feel things have turned even more chaotic under his leadership. host: if you would like to join our so. airlines or by parties. democrats are (202) 748-8000, , (202) 748-8002 for independence you can join us via text at (202) 748-8003. we are watching her feeds on facebook and on x. senator schumer, t mleader gaven the senate last week calling for new elections in israel. what has been the reaction on capitol hill? guest:waves not only because hed

for new elections and essentially said that, the prime minister of israel is one of the obstacles to peace in the israeli-palestinian realm along with president mahmoud abbas and hamas and right-wing israeli extremists. called essentially to replace netanyahu. another thing i thought was interesting was to what extt in this extremely polarized environment particular around israel and gaza as we've seen across college campuses in different forms in the united states, schumer really did an interesting job of acknowledging facts that some people might see in conflict. israel has a right to defend itself but it cannot go too far. it matters how it defends itself. yes, there ihuman catastrophe in the gaza strip but it's also important to recognize how hamas

is playing into that and how they embed themselves in the civilian population and using that population as human shields and that's part of the reason why there has been so much human suffering. it was extent to which he was willing to state things that maybe someone from his political standpoint wouldn't normally acknowledge. i th■wink there is two ways of looking at his speech. was he trying to get israel to do something? and what he ishis own party ands in the senate? i don't think his speech is going to move a lot of people in particularly in the israeli settlements in the west bank tha wyou are living side-bh palestinians and it's just a different perspective that comes from that than speakg from washington. i think you also have to recognize benjamin netanyahu and how differences occurrence has

been. 1$bmany americans don't realizee comes my family that has some faced -- has come face-to-face with palestinian terrorist. his brother diedg people with palestinian terrorist. he rescued passengers from another high-tech plane. a lot has happened since then but netanyahu has very different experience than schumer and it will be interesting to see what netanyahu has to say to senate republicans when he addresses them on a video this afternoon. host: what's the purpose ofenate republicans? guest: i think it's to counter what schumer said last week. it's to make his case and netanyahu spent time in the united states when he was young. is very comfortable here. he feels at home in the united states and i he has long leverage that to his advantage in israel. and in u.s. political circles. i'm sure we will see him make a very strong case for why a two state solution is no longer

possible and that ship has sailed and here's what we need to do instead. here is why you need to continue supporting me because i'm the best person you have to lead this government. i imagine it will be along those lines. the other part of what schumer was trying to address was the as we've seen, there is a significant risks within the democratic party. vocal on the progressive left about the need to have a cease-fire, toshe is helped by s is flooded social media and how many images people are seeing of the. we've heard arab-americans in michigan be very vocal about their disappointment in biden and we've seen biden shift his rhetoric considerably since october 7 and now schumer coming out with his speech. it seems like this is causing a

re-think in the democratic party of that longtime support for israel. host: speaker johnson has floated the idea of it israel standalone aid package. where are democrats on that? guest: i think democrats have just been wanting to get the supplemental aid through one way orzh another host: even if it's standalone. guest: i'm not sure what's happening with the border security money at this point. it's a disadvantage of democrats to do israel as a standalone package because that would get republicans to go along with ukraine eight. maybe they do ukraine first. if they can get that pass, democrats would be more willing to go with a standalone package for israel. host: let's talk to callers and david is up first in massachusetts, republican. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. this is my first time calling. i wanted to say that i think the

sp definitely waive that 72 hour rule and allow the congress to passhis as soon as they possibly can because of the importance of this budget to get through. host: any comment? guest: thank you for your call. that's a city i know well, lawrence. that's a ■qeval viewpoint that this is really important and it has bipartisan support. it's an extraordinary deadline were almost halfway througthe fiscal year and let's get this passed already. the people who have supported the 72 hour rule, it's a really important rule because these bills can be really big, hundreds of not thousands of pages that's hard to know exactly what you are okaying and whatthey feel is their duty to r constituents and the american people, the taxpayers who are providing this money to make sure the money is being responsibly spent.

this is what they've been trying to avoid, last-minute gigantic bill that they don't really have time to review that's going to add more to the debt. that would be the other perspective and why they're pushing back on that. host: there is an article here in -- ukraine loan gains traction with the gop. what are you hearing about that, the idea of making all loans going forward -- all aid to be o interest loan? guest: it's essentially changing the packaging, is not changing a lot about the reality. i think it's $60 billion that president biden asked for on ukraine what essentially go back to the american economy because it wld umake weapons and other supplies that would be sent to ukraine. we are just talking about a small portion of that, i believe it's $12 billion that would be a

direct grant or loan to ukraine. the idea is to make that loan, to make that a mount alone and it would be alone that could be forgiven. i think chris coons was talking aboutforgive things for nationas agree reasons. i think even on the republican side, there is awareness that ukraine has been fighting a difficult war for two years and it's unlikely they can pay this back anytime soon anyway. it's essentially just labeling it in a way that is more palatable to the republican base which is focused on more domestic issues, pocketbook issues and things like that. host: do you know the timeline as to how fast ukraine could get aid if it were to pass? guest: it looks like it's going to take every thing speaker johnson has to get this then congress is going on two week recess and nothing will happen during those two weeks.

we are looking into april at this point and ukraine has been waiting for this for six months almost. 's highly unlikely they will manage that on top of the funding, the u.s. government being funded. host: let's talk to bronny next in covington, virginia, republican. caller: good morning. host: go right ahead. caller:■a on the aid, i think ukraine needs it. i think israel needs it. ñ]. i think if they take care of the border, they are shoving this around, if they take care of the border and shut the border downi in the united states and fund israel, they are our ally and ukraine is not, it seems like, i don't know why they want to keep the border open.

then republic is on the democrats can come together on this thing. they all know why they are not coming together. 's because of the democrats border of the united states all the way around us. that's all i have to say, thank you. host: what do you think? guest: thanks for your call. the bigger picture here is there is a real debate over what is america's role in the world at this time? this has long been the most powerful democracy in the world and that we are at a point where we can't decide how to -- how to fund our own government and adding to the national debt, there are concerns over the border that it's compromising the strength of the united states and its ability to be of help to those within its borders and those beyond the borders. there is also a debate to what extent is it actually in the u.s. interest to support these allies who are fighting u.s. adversaries like russia and china and iran which is backing the hamas group in gaza.

i think that's part of the debate that's playing out in congress. that's why this is taken months side, people say every penny we spend on ukraine against russia or defending israel against iraa will save us tons of money in the future by avoiding conflict with those of -- aggressive adversaries. others say it doesn't■'n work tt way. we need to take care of ourselves at home and we need to strengthen our own country and not be going off on these far-flung adventures that may not pay off at all. that's really part of what we are seeing here behind the scenes. host: do you have any details as to what's in the dhs bill for the border specifically? guest: that legislation has not been published yet but what i've heard is that they were able to add several billions of dollars for more border enforcement and i think that was something the republican saw as a win.

we will just have to see when the text comes out. host: what's the holdup? why et? i thought everything was agreed to? guest: most of it was agreed to and there were some pickups at the last minute. the biden administration had some last-mite■. concerns that they brought forth sunday and monday that took time to work through. these are huge things. r one election issue going into this fall. there is very strong feelings on both sides and it just takes time to hash these things out. ev meeting, then you have to work out the exact language. has journalist, we appreciate every word matters. hopefully, we will see that later today. host: i want to ask you about an article you wrote for the christian science monitor,where? it passed the house and a bipartisan way so what is it stand in the senate? guest: the senate gave it a

cooler reception. the committee that would take it up in the senate would be the commerce committee which is signaled by senator cantwell that she had some concerns and wanted to think about it. i think this effort to fund the federal government will take all of the attention to this week and then we have a recess we will have to see what happens in april. the more time that goes by, the more time there is for lobbyists and tiktok's allies to weigh in to get the ear osenators to say this is setting a bad precedent, you shouldn't be naming one company or there are different ways of doing this. we will have to see when we get back from recess. host: you onx - gues great question. there is not really an equivalent. the pay does have security forces but

traditionally, they have worked in concert with the idf to basically keep the peace in the west bank. they no longer have been operating gaza for many years because of a split between the palestinian factions. there is no palestinian security force. the military force in cause and has been for many years. palestinians would absently say they have a right to defend they been living on that land for many years and they feel it was taken from them unfairly. of resentment toward the united states since october 7 for supporting israel so strongly. my colleagues at the christian science monitor last week wrote a really interesting piece about palestinians in gaza starting to speak out against hamas. they are still saying we have a right to defend ourselves, we still believe there should be a palestinian resistance but hamas

gave is no plan. they invaded israel and they had no plan for how they would protect a civilians. they knew israel would respond with proportionate force and we are left to deal with this while they are in their tunnels were living in their mansions in doha or whatever. to me, that was an extra in our peas that they were willing to speak out. some people gave their full names and said hamas camels with our lives. we are the ones paying for that. host: cheryl is■w■3ling from south carolina, line for democrats, good morning. caller: hi, my biggest concern is the fact that the lady is very nice and she comes on there and she's, but the fact is, our congress is not been working for several years. they've been in there trying to do a budget and have lacked -- have lacked the whole time. we are always under these cr's .

that there job to do the budget. if they don't want to do it, they should get out and let somebody in there who will do public. they are not doing it. we are stuck with these people who are just bickering over nothing. host: you could vote them out the next election. guest: some of them are not in my state. caller: believe me, i will vote out who i can. host: understood. go ahead. guest:here are a lot of people share your frustration including in congress. the budget process has been broken for years. i know speaker johnson is trying to get a head start on the fy 2025 budget. they've already marked that up in the budgetn the house side. there are people who are really trying to get this working right again.

the huge underlying debate is the national debt and to what extent is the responsible to be deficispr after year? that's where you've seen a lot of things grinding to a halt because the freedom caucus has taken a strong stand that we cannot continue this deficit spending. representative matthew has a debt clock on his lapel that he designedit's like $97,000 per s. it's blurry at the end of the numbers because it goes up so fastthere is one part of congres that says we just have to stop all of this because we can't continue adding to the debt that will be paying for.ach on the democratic side, and some republicans, there are government services they say we can't do without. we need a strong military at this point in world history. i know it can be really discouraging and can be discouraging when you areut i tk

they are important issues that congress is trying to work through and to the extent you and other send people to washington and send a message to washington that they need to work through this in a better way and remember all of the people all around then them to o this, the more we can hopefully see some progress and some breakthroughs here. host: tom is next in spokane, washington, independent. good morning. caller: i'm not jewish. i am protestant born and raised. for philosophical and spiritual reon give up my life for israel. i feel for the palestinians. does not actually represent the palestinians. they are a bunch of thugs. that nee be put out there more often.

we need to somehow turn the tide in people's minds against hamas. the palestinians, they do not represent you, they do not support you and perhaps we can get rid of some thugs over there. host: what do you think? guest: i think there is deftas n science monitor recently wrote about how citizens in guys are blaming hamas for the upper the conveyor and now. they are also saying we also fault israel for what they are s doing in gaza, basically displacing almost the entire population in an effort to wipe out hamas. challenge of wiping out terrorist organizations is the way in which you do that can then sew resentment that it needs new terrorist organization. it might have a different name

was similar goals. individuals or a group or a name but to really get at the root of that resentment and hatred and feeling of being stuck in an intractable conflict that is not fair or just and a sense of hopelessness that there is no solution. f what senator schumer was trying to address, that there is a solution. you are a man of faith so maybe you heard schumer say in of the bible that out of great darkness and out of that void came great light and outtht lig. i think that's is hope in it that's why he took such a strong stand because you really sees this as a conflict that needs to and for the sake of those people. host: this is x -

guest: kids unquestionable that the israeli military occupation -- the is really military operation in gaza has destroyed a tremendous amount of infrastructure there. i remember going in after the 2014 war which was only 50 days long and the destruction even considerable. there were literally donkeys pulling around rods of steel and that's how slow the rebuilding this just going to take a marshall plan to rebuild gaza after this. your absolute right that there is a tremendous amount of destruction going on but i think there are hard questions about how you root out an organization like hamas when they embed themselves in the civilian population and literally underground.

there are difficult questions here. i'm sure international lawyers and others will be debating this for many years to come. i think the important thing at this point is to figure out how to move forward and how to stop the cycle of violence and rista case brian from the christian science monitor, you thanks for being here.smonitor guest: thanks for having me. host: democratic senape welch of vermont joins us next to discuss his take on this week's government spending deadline, foreign aid to israel and ukraine and other news of the day. later, jason sneed of the honest elections project discusses their recent report on election security and improving state election laws. stay with us.

>> at 2 p.m. eastern, coverage of the 2020 savanna book festival with conversations on the cia, georgia founder james oglethorpe, black wall street and james glenn. at 10 p.m. eastern on afterwords thoughts on how to make retirement in the u.s. attainable for more americans with her book. is interviewed by washington post economic correspondent. watch book tv every sunday on c-span2 and find a full schedule on your pme at book tv.org.

>> c-span now is a mobile app showing you what is happening in washington live and on-demand. keep up with floor proceedings and hegs the courts, campaigns, and more from the world of politics, all at your fingertips. you can also stay current with the latest episodes of washington journal and find scheduling inforonradio, plus af compelling podcasts. c-span now is available at the apple store and google play. download it for free today. c-span now, your front row seat to washington anytime, anywhere. ♪ u >> the house will be in order. >> this year, c7 celebrates 45

years of covering congress like no other. in 1979, we been your primary source for capitol hill providing balanced unfiltered coverage of government, taking yod and decided all what the support of america's cable companies. c-span, 45 years and counting. powered by cable. "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back. we are joined know by senator peter welch a democrat from vermont. welcome to the program. let's start with funding. there is a deadline friday. what is the latest on that and what have you seen so far? guest: it's the same old story. in the senate, we've had a bipartisan agreement. senator murray and senator collins the chair and viceth the committee and we got an agreement. the house is facing as usual

challenges. they are close to a but there a pushback from the freedom caucus which is a small part of the republican conference. there is nothing that will satisfy them other than less. they have chosen this shut down a something they want to do as a tactic thinking they can achieve something from that. that we will get texts that has to be out for 72 hours before we can vote. if to that schedule, we could have a partial shutdown. host: i want to turn to israel because you join seven other democratic senators in a letter to presidentenin the letter, yoe administration to enforce the federal law that prohibits foreign countries that receive from restricting or otherwise prohibiting access to she minutes or in aid. how do you think u.s. aid should

beditioned for israel? guest: i don't think we should be sending offensive military weapons like the 2000 pound bombs to israel.we are seeing ts of how they are being used. probably 31,000 palestinians have been killed,homes that usea been destroyed in gazathis is as situation that's getting worse. now what we are talking about is the likelihood of result in they more lives and those who have been killed by explosions. this is a difficult situatioisry hamas. israel has the right to defend itself. according to international law, they have to do it in a way that's consistent with that and that's asking a lot but it's what's required.

the point here that we are making with this letter is the only way we can get aid into israel -- into gaza and they needed, there is starvation there, is with the cooperation of the israelis.+ that means they have to work with other international rt and to facilitate -- the u.n. to facilitate the situation. host: if you want to ask a question, you can do so on our lines, democrats (202) 748-8000, republicans, (202) 748-8001, an independents (202) 748-8002. i want to ask you about the floating pair - /

how useful will that be? are we going to have boots on the grounds? then you will have a target and you're going to have to have ways to get that aid off the ships and distribute it into the civilian population. host: first of all, it's absolutely not optimal. there is a lot of hazard that's associated with building a pier. if there are american troops bure right, they could become a target. the president has made it clear there are new boots on the ground. the pier is being built largely cooperating with the far easier way to get aid in and that's through trucks. the number of trucks going went in before the conflict began to help the food situation. it was 500 per day. it's now around 150 per day for less than that and the need is greater.

the alternative way to get aid rops that the president authorized, like this pier that's being championed from the world central kitchen, those are absolutely essential if we are going to get aid in and help some people but they are absolutely the less good alternative to opening up some crossings and letting the trucks flow in to all of gaz80. host: senator schumer made a speech on the senate floor calling for new elections in israel and for netanyahu to step down. here is the reaction of the likud party in a state ■t■

given that reaction, what is the solution? es only -- their only solution will be a two state solution where the there is a demilitarized west bank and it -- and a demilitarized gaza. that's the point that senator schumer was making.if yost second, there is in congress, nobody who has been more of a supporter of israel and continues to be more f israel than senator schumer. he is jewish. he represents more juice that live in his district and live in tel aviv. it's in hishe cares. what he did i think we state explicitly what we all know is

true that our policy of a two state solution, our policy against continuing settlements in the west bank that is violence and eroding the possibility of a two state solution is absolutely repudiated by the netanyahu government. he is for more settlements and his policy in gaza comes with unacceptable loss of iocestinia. senator schumer i think was making clear in stating publicly what we have all known. candor is really essential for us to now have a discussion about how we get to the two state solution. i give senator schumer real credit for■c this. he stated that there is no one who is more dem -- dedicated to israel than senator schumer. host: what is your opinion of it

host: guest: it's a catastrophe. you have well over one million people there. they them to move from the north to the south and be safe. now you have people in tents and encampments without infrastructure but they have a place where they are "safe." r israel because hamas is in tunnels down there. in order to have a military operation with all of that population who is their living in close quarters and there because israel told them to go t life. the dilemma here is can you destroy hamas in the way israel g it can? many people dispute that that there ultimately has to be a political solution.

s been advocated by many. that's for targeted attacks on known locations wheit's a real e you've got a knot her israel positione is that they cannot. destroy hamas with a cease-fire . the humanitarian reality is you out let's not forget what's happening to hostages every day that goes by. it's a threat to their safety. you get hostages out or aid in unless we have a cease-fire. that's why i think it's important that this negotiation for a cease-fire is temporary but my hope is that will be successful and soon. host: let's talk to callers, mark in springfield, illinois, democrat. caller: good morning and thank you for taking michael. i don't know much about the

situation admittedly. i just heard targeted attacks on known locations and i'm just wondering -- it seems like israel is winning whatever conflict there is over there. i don't understand why so much aid is required and so is had o. it seems to be doing whatever they want. i u there is this group that is hiding and attacking from the shadows but there is a reason why they wer . i believe that's israel's responsibility as well. thank you for taking my call. host: you make a point. first of all, israel is always going to be making its own decisions about what's required to defend its people. that attack on their people was absently horrendous including the terrible violence.

on the other hand, they are reaching out to us and asking for billions of dollars in aid. some of that eight i support ke missiles that had been fired by hamas attackers. i oppose military aid likeound s dropping at the beginning of the war on multistory apartment buildings because they thought there was a hamas person or a hamas person or couple of hamas persons. in my view, you cannot kill going after one person.e you're this question of aid i think is now getting entwined with the fact that there has been very israel to allow international aid groups to get food and medicine and it to the palestinians or literally starving. host: mark is in new york city, republican, good morning. caller: good morning.

i would say that i disagree strongly with the senator and i'll tell you why. first of all, in terms of the aide, who is interfering with the aid? it's hamas. secondly, as far as senator what we are seeing with president biden and senator schumer is they are using american politics to dictate their policy including this senator. we have an election coming in november. the democrats are worried the e. i don't think it's permissible or appropriate for an american senator like schumer to ask another country to remove an effective leader by election. we've always said america doesn't dot.t do that. last point -- as far as the points you are making, i think senator, with

all due respect to you, i think you profoundly misunderstand what is going on there. israel makes tremendous efforts by phone calls, leaflets and you name it but the problem is hamas does not want to stop this. they won't give back to hostages. if they gave back the hostages and surrendered, there would be no war. please, sir, please reconsider youroining on this letter. what you are doing is you are making it impossible for israel to survive in its right to exist. guest: first of all, i have to say i agree with you about hamas. they are so cynical. it with the vicious attack on the israelis that included sexual violence. i went to a presentation from some survivors from some military people.

i am joining your point about hamas using the palestinians as human shields, that's true as well. that is true. that is why i condemn hamas without reservation. the dilemma we have and this is where i disagree with you, i think what senator schumer was saying is that he's making ions about the lack of trust of many in washington of primus term netanyahu. it seleka trust that -- it's a lack of trust that netanyahu that has explicitly rejected which has been an ongoing effort to work towas two state solution. he's been explicitly supporting settler activity in the west bank. that explicitly solution. also, the history of netanyahu in gaza is well documented.

he was supportive of keeping hamas going as a counterweight to the palestinian authority. schumer was saying out loud is something that has been widely known. the policy that many of us in the region and in the u.s. have had to get to a secure jewish democratic state had to be a two state solution that's absolutely repudiated by prime minister.■l■ i'm an admirer of israel. it's an extra neri country. i'm of the holocaust generation, born after the war but it's seared in my memory, the horror that occurred with the jewish ber 7 was the worst since the holocaust. israel is much str saying 1967 l of the nation state actors around israel surrounding it wanted to destroy it.

th now and we are on the verge of having an agreement and normalization with saudi arabia and israel. israel is in a very strong position and admired by many of the arab states around. the threat to israel is with the conflict that is ongoing in the west bank and obviously in gaza. we have to get to that two state solution in my view where we have a demilitarized palestinian state that won't thrten israel but that requires leadership in israel that will cooperate as opposed to rejecting that approach. thank you for your comment and t that is my point of view. host: bob is calling from sterling, virginia, independent. caller: hi, thanks. the last caller sounded like he was working for aipac. the idea that israel is taking

all necessary means to prevent loss to civilian life and gaza -- in gaza is absurd. it's ridiculous. my main comment that i called to make before that guy called was that i listen carefully to chuck schumer's speech the othertherey interesting he said. the most interesting thing he said was this war should go ahead and continue just let israel do exactly what it's been doing until 13,000 children, let them keep doing that. war is over, then we will use, this is the key word, our leverage, our leverage on israel to make the change in their policies. chuck, now is the time to use our leverage. use our leverage■ now to get pad in through the roadways that exist that israel is blocking, to build a pier■o that will take

to men's to build and bring in a trickle of food is absolutely absurd. when you have children starving, it's ridiculous. the whole concept is ridiculous and we have people starving right now and you will take two months to build a pier that lear and as mr. schumer said, the united states of america has leverage over israel to make those roads■] open and joe biden is refusing to use that leverage. i respect what the guest said on point. the time is now, get the roads open, use our leverage that we havebut mr. schumer admitted wee it in his speech. let's do it now, thank you. guest: by and large, i agr you but let me talk about senator schumer. he did not call for a cease-fire because he totally srts israel's right to defend itself.

i've called for a cease-fire because i think it's the only way we are going to get aid in and get the hostages out. so, nato schumer, i disagree with you and your characterization here. he is absolute committed a hen g humanitarian assistance in. that's because he really cares about innocent loss of life especially those women and children or not combatants. but he also knows it's in the interest of getting us to a peaceful outcomener. every time there is an additional civilian death, that inflames the arabs and undercuts ort that israel had enjoyed before october 7. the immediate aftermath of our trip -- of october 7. senator schumer is doing all he cato encourage both israel and

president biden to use the leverage he has to allow those trucksge in. your point is when i fully agree with. when not drive as opposed to build a pier aid? it's much more expensive and much less efficient. i'm with you on that and wanted everything i can. i know schumer wants to get that aid in. host: how much leverage does the biden administration have on israel? guest: is in this is understandable -- israel was attacked, they lost 1200 people. the sense ofév secy israel enjoyed before october 7 is gone. israel is going to make the decisions that it believes is important for its citizens. in that respect, i don't think we have a massive amount of leverage because israel has the ultimately decide for itself what it must do. some leverage that

comes from hopefully persuasion and some resources that we have historically provided to israe'e should be sending offense of military aid to israel. we've been sending aid to rael for years. i've always supported it. i don't in the situation. we have some leverage in the sense that we have to play a e to facilitate the outcome that results in sustainable peace for israel. partner who is committed to the u.s. to maintaining the jewish democratic state of israel, we have to leverage ou ally but i don't like to put it in terms of leverage. this is a discussion about how we proceed together to get an out, that's beneficial for enduring peace in the area. host: ross, line for democrats in new york, good morning. caller: good morning.

this is ross from new york. senator, i just wanted tyated yn and having this discussion. one of the key things i struggle with is a simple basic concept. why is supporting israel, why are people presenting supporting israel as being mutually exclusive to being against apartheid and genocide? we keep tripping over've never . there is one thing about historu pay attention. people know what's going on. decades, generations before the country collectively acknowledges it or something. i don'un treated like supporting israel

is mutually exclusive -- i'm saying that wrong. israel and be totally against the apartheid palestinians. i don't think it's tricky. guest: as you can hear, i'm critical of the method by which israel is conducting the war. thelife, i do not believe is justified. i do believe israel has a right to defend itself but i also believe israel has a right to exist as a democratic state. saying that doesn't stop me from saying that has to be a mandate to move toward a two state solution. an independent palestinian state threat to

israel has an opportunity for its own self-government alongside a jewish and democratic israel is what the goali'm committed to both of th. this war we are looking at with no end in sight and thens is going to be a constant setback to the prospects of the two state solution. host:et's talk to vince in northville, michigan, republican. caller: good morning. thank you senator for taking this interview and call. i would like to say that i'm an armyeteran of desert storm. what i would like to tell you is leave israel alone. we are sticking her nose in somebody else's business.we sup. we've got to let this government take care of their own people. ahead and advise them.

the message to the palestinian people over there, you are going up and take your country back against hamas. we americans cannot do anything for you. we will support israel and back then but you people are going to have to revolt against the terrorist organization that is doing this because they are using you as a tool in allowing the slaughter of your people for their end result. you people need to wake up in palestine, revolt against hamas and say no more. you are to have to do this internally. america loves israel, i stand with god's people. but america has to sit back. it's war, folks. people will die. kids are going to die. world war ii, look at war history.

guest: war is brutal and evil and i want to thank you for your stern but i want to address the two things you mentioned. palestinians were rising up against hamas. there were huge demonstration by n gaza against hamas. it is willing to use violence against the palestinians and they really don't care about the palestinians because of the vicious attack in the response that would result in so many lives. yes they should rise up and on a

practical level when hamas has the guns it didn't work. the question of us not being affected that is wrong. escalation that could have us get involved in another war in the middle east. you see what is happening with regional act airs including syria and where we did lose a few brave u.s. military personnel. there is an enormous risk of escalation to the point where the u.s. gets involved again and significant over-the-top response by israel.

in suggesting there is no alrish this. host: eric intoat. caller: i am convinced netanyahu has a deeper involvement that wer■j■9e g abo. there are certain people in the world scape which includes putin , netanyahu in the world should be watching connecting. bottom line when hamas is attacked israel new andwaited 1t normal behavior and it makes me believe that he w i planning ane needs to be a world response, at

minimum a worldor talking about war crimes and the individuals who plan this word. --planned this war. guest: i would disagree that netanyahu was involved but it is very clear there are■$ an enorms amount of negatives with preparation that the soldiers positioned around gossett have :w redeployed because of the subtler violence and netanyahu wasomplicit with the superbright wing government --