♪ host: good morning. it is saturday, june 14. we are spending our first hour taking your calls, asking for your top news story of the week. some of your options to pick from our former president trump's visit to meet with lawmakers. hunter biden's conviction on gun charges. the supreme court's recent rulings. vote in the house to hold the attorney general in contempt. in the 10-your security agreement between the u.s. and ukraine. here are the phone lines. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000.

and independents, (202) 748-8002 . you can text us. it is (202) 748-8003. send us your first name and city, state. we are on social media. facebook.com/c-span. welcome to today's "washington journal." start with that supreme court ruling. he was the new york times. it says the supreme court rejects trump-era ban on gun bump stocks. they were banned after one of the deadliest mass shootings in modern u.s. history at a las vegas concert in 2017. the article says, the supreme court yesterday ducked down -- struck down a ban on bump stocks, which allows rifles to fire at a speed rivaling those of machine guns, racing firearm regulations. the decision in a vote of

six-three, split along ideological lines, justice thomas writing for the majority, that the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and explosives had exceeded its powers when it prohibited the device by issuing a rule that classified bump stocks as machine guns. "we hold that a semi automatic rifle equipped with a bump stock is not a machine gun, because it cannot fire more than one shot by a single function of the trigger. his opinion included several diagrams of the firing mechanisms and he described in technical detail the internal workings of a firearm to show how a bump stock works. the justices, sonia sotomayor, along with justices katie can -- justices kagan and jackson, summarized from the bench, she is a practice reserved for

profound disagreements. the majority puts machine guns back in civilian hands, she said. when i see a bird that walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and >> like a duck, i call that bird a doctor. she continues, a bump stock-equipped semi automatic rifle fires automatically more than one shot without manual reloading by a single function of the trigger. because i, like congress, call that a machine gun, i respectfully dissent. other news is the visit by the former president to capitol hill . the ap says, take and a fist bump from the gop as trump returns to capitol hill in a first since january 6 it says that donald trump made a triumphant return to capitol hill on thursday, his first with lawmakers since january 6, 2020 one. the january 6 the tax, embraced by energized house and senate

republicans, who find themselves reinvigorated by his bid to take the white house despite pending federal charges against some for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election and his recent guilty verdict in an unrelated hush money trial, republican former president arrived in bolden as the party's presumptive nominee. he has silence most skeptics and enticed once-critical lawmakers aboard his campaign. let's take a look at that meeting with former president trump and house and senate republicans. >> so, what is happening to our country is of great concern to the group of people standing alongside of me, and i just wanted to say that we have great unity, we have great common sense. a lot of very smart people in this room and a lot of people that love our country. they love our country beyond just about all else. the only thing that may be supersedes it is their family

and may be faith in certain instances, and that is very nice. they want this country to be great again, and we are going to make it great again. i want to thank the republican senate and i want to think also the house. we met, as you know, with the full house, republican house today, and we had a tremendous meeting with them also, and there is great unity. a very similar, different topics actually, but not that different, and there is one thing in common we want to make america great again, we want to make our country great again. we are a nation in decline. we are a nation being left out all over the world. we have a leader that is being left out all over the world. and we are going to turn it around fast. host: and we are taking your calls this morning about your top news story of the week. you can talk about that visit of the former president to washington on thursday.

also, a couple of other items. the supreme court rulings on the abortion drug and the bump oc band -- ban. nter biden was convicted this week. the house held the attorney general in contempt. in the u.s. and ukraine signed a security agreement together. about that, here is politico with this. biden strikes security deal with zelenskyy, but its future is in doubt. the u.s.'s extended guarantees are a clear effort to signal long-term support for tf's defense against russia ahead of the u.s. election they could throw future american eight ukraine into doubt. let's take a look at president biden he was overseas. with president zelenskyy, signing that agreement. pres. biden: her goal is to

increase ukraine's defense capabilities for the long-term. a lasting peace must be underwritten by ukraine's owned -- an ability to defend itself now and deter future aggression in the future. the united states is going to help ensure that ukraine can do both. not by sending american troops to fight in ukraine, but by providing weapons and ammunition. expanding intelligence sharing. continuing to train brave ukrainian troops at bases in europe and the united states. enhancing interoperability between our militaries and aligning with nato standards. investing in ukraine's defense industrial base so in time they can supply their own weapons and munitions. working with ukraine's partners to build a future forest that is strong, sustainable, and resilient. >> today is a truly historic day. we have signed the strongest agreement within ukraine, the

u.s., since our independence. and this is an agreement on security, and thus on the protection of human life. this is an agreement on cooperation, and thus on how our nations will become stronger. this is an agreement on steps to guarantee sustainable peace and therefore it benefits everyone in the world, because the russian war against ukraine is a real, real global threat. host: and we are taking your calls. if you would like to weigh in on your top news story of the week, the numbers are, republicans, (202) 748-8001. mike krantz, -- democrats, (202) 748-8000. and independents, (202) 748-8002 . we will start with ivan.

caller: my top story is donald trump said milwaukee is a horrible city. that is terrible of him to say that, especially since we agreed to hold his convention. all of the other cities that were going to host pulled out. we were the only ones left, so i think that is a terrible thing to say, especially since wisconsin is a state you need to have in order to win the white house. roads to the white house lead to wisconsin, michigan, and pennsylvania. somebody should remind him of that. the fact that you insulted us means that, as far as i'm concerned, you have lost this state. it is a good thing, because you were the worst president the country has ever had. host: ivan, here is an article on that from cnbc. it says, trump allies scramble to explain after he calls republican national convention host milwaukee a "horrible city." he said it was overrun by crime. the trump campaign denied that

he called the city horrible, writing in a press release that the reports are a total lie. democrats were quick to capitalize on trump's remarks about wisconsin, which biden narrowly won in 2020. here is elizabeth in maryland, independent. caller: yes, i just want to talk about gaza. biden has done a few things, like building a pier, so the ships can come to the coast of gaza and get humanitarian aid to the palestinian people, but hamas and israel are never going to come to an agreement. the people of palestine, they are suffering, they are dying. especially women and children. israel is still killing palestinians by the hundreds, trying to get the israeli hostages out. and there needs to be a cease-fire. the un security council voted almost unanimously for a

proposal last week proposed by the united states. there needs to be achieved -- a cease-fire. they are all going to be killed. that is all a want to say. thank you very much. host: let's talk to jimmy in airville, tennessee. democrat. caller: good morning, how are you? host: how are you, jimmy? caller: my top story of the weekends, when donald trump went to capitol hill and at a meeting with the ceos and they said that he was not paying attention and wasn't focusing and making ridiculous comments about the economy and everything. people complained about biden and everything else like that. people needs to realize that trump has turned 70 years old and is starting to go downhill, and a lot of people needs to think about voting for biden in november, because trump, he is

not fit to be president of the united states. thank you. host: and this is cnn about that if you would like to learn more about that. trump promised more tax cuts. it says that the former president told some of america's most powerful business leaders this week that he plans to once again slash corporate taxes. doing the meeting ceos in washington, trump told the executives he wants to cut the corporate tax rate to 20%, down from 21% currently, and he met privately with roughly 100 corporate leaders, including j.p. morgan ceo jamie diamond, apple ceo tim cook, and walmart ceo doug mcmillon. robert, cincinnati, ohio. republican. good morning. caller: good morning.

i wanted to make a few points. donald trump, he says that the crime was bad in wisconsin, so the lady's comment, i don't know where she is getting her information from, but he is trying to unite us as one nation , and, you know, he has definitely got my vote. i have seen him at the white house this past week, and he seemed to be really on his game. i really don't understand the democrat and republican sides. i wish we could all be, you know, we the people and together, and make decisions and love one another. that's all i've got. have a good day. host: and john in temple hills, maryland. independent. caller: hi.

i'm not going to vote in this upcoming election because if either biden or trump wins the election america seems to be, like, a dysfunctional family with the wrong people in charge. i just think that -- and the reason why i say that is because this oklahoma supreme court just denied benefits to those survivors, yet they are giving ukraine all of this money. they are giving israel all of this money, but yet these black people, the only time that the u.s. soil was bombed by, you know, u.s. military power, and they just denied these people benefits. so, it seems like america is just a dysfunctional family,

whether biden or trump wins, the wrong people are in charge. that is why i'm not voting. host: john, is there somebody you would like to see if you could choose somebody that you could vote for? caller: well, what i would like to see is someone who -- i am african -- well, not an african-american. i consider myself a foundational black american. we have a -- we have no representation in congress, because there is a congressional black caucus, but they do not advocate a black agenda. they come to us with what they want to give us, instead of advocating what our platform is. so, there is really no one there, and that is why i don't feel like i can participate in the american system, because you have no representation. host: right. on the republican line in worcester, massachusetts, susan, good morning.

caller: good morning. they talk about trump not being with it. did you see biden the other day? this guy is completely on a different planet. and don't ask me, but the democrats are really getting worried about old biden. this guy is led by the nose by everybody. he don't know where he is, where he is going, and he is going to debate trump, and i'm upset about one thing. they are making all the rules, dana bash. why can't we have a conservative ask the questions? as you know, trump wants to drug test biden. i agree with that. look at what he is doing in ukraine. we are going to be headed in world war iii. these people, these democrats,

they are victims, i think. i think they are all victims. they do so much good for them, and they do crap and you still cry in poverty, most of you. just like the white people. but we have moved on. you want to trump. host: here is the forbes article about that. it says, ceos tell it -- tell nbc biden was meandering and cannot keep a straight thought. let's take a look at president biden was asked about his son hunter biden while he was in italy yesterday. take a look. pres. biden: i'm extremely proud of my son, hunter. he has overcome an addiction. he is one of the brightest, most decent man i know. and i am satisfied that i'm not going to do anything. i said i would abide by the jury decision and i will do that. i will not pardon him. host: we will go to ronald in

jericho, new york. democrat. good morning. caller: i just want to mention to everyone that i took the opportunity to watch the television film the day after. i have not seen it for many years when it was originally broadcast in 1983. about the horrors that nuclear war would bring to the united states and to the world, and to everyone living here. and i was so moved by it, and i feel that to go and support ukraine is to lead in the direction of a possible nuclear war, either by intent or accident. which would be a planetary disaster. now, president george washington said that united states should

avoid foreign entanglements. unfortunately, we have done the opposite. and president eisenhower warned against the military-industrial complex. and unfortunately, we have not taken his advice. and we have been involved in endless wars. host: ronald, do you think we are closer to nuclear disaster now than we were in 1983, or do you think we are further from it? caller: well, i think we have made progress, because in 1983 president reagan was so upset and depressed about seeing "the day after" that shortly after seeing that he and mikhail gorbachev met and they reduced

the number of nuclear weapons. so, that is the nuclear freeze, and went in the right direction. but unfortunately now we are not doing that type of thing at all. when we ought to be. host: all right. got it, ronald. let's talk to charles in cleveland, ohio. independent. caller: yes, i would like to comment about what i see as the unbalanced rewarding out of the middle east. i think the news media in general in the united states are not giving accurate, correct information. i think that most of the news media in the western part of the world does not -- is engaging more in gas lighting, what is

really going on, and congress and the things coming out of our congress. i think that the news media and the individuals who make up the news media are not giving out correct and accurate information, and it is hurting this country. host: charles, what do you think is happening that is not being reported, and where are you getting your information? caller: that is an interesting question, and i hope your listeners hear what i say. most of the true and accurate music coming from independent news, like youtube and individuals who have different podcasts and programs on independent news and on youtube. so, the independent, even though there are issues with certain individuals, but i think that they are more free to speak.

the fact that we are not able to get into -- the news media is not able to get into the middle east, they are being blocked from getting into the middle east, that should tell western media that for the most part the americans are being gassed lighted about what is really going on over there and who is behind a lot of these issues. host: right. there is the "washington post" with this article that says, u.s. imposes sanctions on israeli group. the measures aimed to stop attacks on convoys of aid for starving gazan civilians. gary, arcadia, wisconsin. good morning. caller: good morning. i would just like to make a comment about the news thing yesterday and day before. i was quite astonished to see

that president joe biden was bumping heads with both, and the comment was made that -- the pope, and the comment was made that he is a practicing catholic. i think he had better be careful the next time he goes to church, because the bells out of the tower might just come down. how could he be a good, practicing catholic when he has our country where it is, -- is? and the money from all of the other countries and stuff, i don't know. it is just kind of really odd. i think that when it comes time for the election all the catholics and all the religious groups should be made aware of

how president biden is ruining this country, and i think we need to stop him and the democratic machine. we will have to see how it goes, i guess. host: all right. here's the picture of what gary was talking about. no, on the front page of the wall street journal, heads of state meet. it says that pope francis and president biden talked friday as leaders of the group of seven industrialized nations met in italy. francis became the first pontiff to address a g-7 summit, morning of the risks of artificial intelligence. john is up next in south dakota. independent. caller: hey. let's clarify things. trump is raised by a nazi. trump is plain crazy, just

because he doesn't want to go to prison, so he's going to look for a mental health hospital prison. host: where you getting the nazi connections? caller: his grandfather and father. they were members of the kkk and the nazis that were in the united states during world war ii. they are all affiliated with those people. they are crazy. i quit being a republican because they ran that pedophile. i'm sorry, donald trump is bad news for the country. if these people keep watching reality tv shows like the apprentice, they are warped. that is what i have to say. host: patrick is calling us from hawaii. democrats line. caller: hi. democrat, republican, i'm just a man with republic -- with integrity. in the holocaust there was 10

million jews in europe and about 66% of them were murdered. there is one million palestinians in gaza. the fact that over 30,000 have been killed already. it doesn't make any sense. that is, like, 66% of the 40%. i don't know what is going to come with that, and our 20 years in afghanistan, we dropped 600 bombs. we went door-to-door, hunting for the taliban. and israel dropped 600 bombs within the first three months of this war. it is incredible. you know, they need to look back in history and see what was so bad with this holocaust and what is happening now with the palestinians. host: let's go to the republican line in florida. bill, go right ahead. caller: yes, what is biden doing the money with all of the different countries?

is he putting it in his pocket? is he helping the american people or is he going to make it safe? we don't have a war with russia and china. now we have somebody going to cuba, nuclear submarine, what are they going to do about all of the stuff? we need safety in our country. host: let's take a look at the top republican on the judiciary committee, jim jordan. he was on the floor on wednesday. on why the audiotapes of special counsel's interviews with biden are needed. >> special counsel said president biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen. joe biden not only kept information he was not allowed to keep, he shared it with people who were not allowed to get it. and on page 231 the special counsel told us why president

biden did this. he said, ", president biden had strong motivations to ignore proper procedures for safeguarding the classified information in his note books. he had decided months before leaving office to write a book. a book for which he got paid $8 million. so, we have motive, an $8 million motive. have the elements of the client -- of the crime, keeping classified information, knowingly disclosing classified information. the special counsel declined to recommend prosecution for president biden because joe biden is a sympathetic elderly man with a poor memory. on page 207 of the report special counsel said president biden's memory also appeared to have significant limitations both at the time he spoke to the ghost writer, as evidenced by the recorded conversations, and

today as evidenced by his recorded interview with our office. the committees need the audio recordings to determine whether the justice department appropriately carried out justice by not prosecuting the president. host: cnn politics is reporting that johnson, the speaker, says the houseboat go to court for biden recordings after the doj says it will not prosecute attorney general garland. he was the top general -- top democrat on the committee pushing back. >> our colleagues invite us to become the first congress in the history of the united states to hold someone in contempt for complying with our demands. the attorney general -- their target is the attorney general. the attorney general gave us the special counsel's report in full. he made the special counsel available to us in committee for hours of testimony, where he answered all of our russians and

provided the full transcript of the president's voluntary interview with the special counsel. all 250 pages of it. the whole world can read president biden's interview, unedited. that is apparently not enough. how they want to hold the attorney general in contempt for not turning over the audiotape of the interview we have the verbatim transcript of. and why is that important? encase case you have lost the thread of this wild goose chase, america, remember this is an impeachment investigation. do they think the holy grail, the 118th congress, evidence of a presidential high crime and misdemeanor, is lurking in the background through clearings and sneezes on the audiotape? of course not. they know there is no high crime or misdemeanor to be found, because they have spent the last 17 months and millions of our taxpayer dollars looking forward and it simply does not exist. they literally don't even know

what they are looking for anymore. so why do they want it? they're hoping in the five hours of president biden's testimony they can find a mispronounced word or phrase, or a brief stammer which they can then turn into an embarrassing political tv attack ad. get it, america? that is what this is all about. host: elaine is in texas, on the line for democrats. morning. elaine, are you there? caller: yes. host: go ahead. caller: i have been a c-span watcher since 1979. this morning i became perturbed, because you come in number one, you make sure you show a soap opera of trump right off the bat. i tell you, it is not fair. he is not the king. he is just a devil. he is just a devil. and i hope he never gets back to that white house. as far as biden's son, they had

better check don jr.. they are both drug addicts. it is pitiful how you guys demagogue biden. he has more knowledge than trump has in his little finger. i'm very upset this morning because trump is just a jackass. host: warren, ohio. line for republicans. morning. caller: good morning. i just wanted to ask, today is a rally for reparations in washington, d.c. today. as a foundational black americans -- not know african-american. remember, i am a foundational black american. all of these politicians, whether they are republican or democrat, they never say what we want them to say. we want reparations. he wants an anti-hate crime bill, and we want to get rid of qualified immunity. and we want a cash payment.

why these politicians, whether they are democrat or republican's, not saying what black men want in this country, is we want a fair shot. we don't want no handouts. it is really upsetting that as a black democrat out here they never said one word about those three -- those two black women in tulsa, oklahoma, 102 years old, 107 years old, and 105 years old, and they denied them reparations. it is shameful when they bombed them with -- what our own government did to us. black america, we are not looking for handouts. we are looking for fairness. this country owes us. as far as byron donalds and i'm talking about everything else but reparations that is going to help black america, it is going to jumpstart this country like the weather, because black people like to spend in our own country.

no other group in this country loves this country more than black america. the reason why i say that is because all of the horrible things that has been done to us. we will say it to alligators. we were put on the plantation. we worked for 400 or 500 years. our families were separated. all we want is fairness, and we need you guys at c-span to bring on people that represent black people, black man like philip scott, ok? like black alpha networks. dr. claude anderson. yes ma'am? host: tavis smiley is going to be coming on the program monday. caller: no, tavis smiley is not the one. we don't want no tavis smiley. we want dr. claude anderson. tavis smiley, he was a democrat with obama and them, and he was sniffing behind him all day long. all we want is people why just

told you to bring on there. philip scott, go look up. host: independent line, good morning. caller: good morning. a handful of issues. americans need a little more clarity on, instead of the perversion of diversion. we noticed recently the mass exits of congressional aides after we gave them all top-secret clearance. lots of questions there. also we find out the military wants to invest in india, building a jet factory and personnel carriers. with taxpayer money. that is rich. also we find out space force wants all proprietary information on all satellites if they were to provide protection. thanks to donald trump. that is really rich. and also, let's go on the doj.

we have two months before the election and two months after, all candidates get a grace. of prosecution. that is very rich. with the waters we are in. i have much, much more. host: no, we have to move on to e lane in olympia, washington. good morning. caller: i'm calling because something happened when he was with zelenskyy that really embarrassed the united states. the united states is known for freedom of the press, and yet it came out in full view, in front of the world that we do not have a free press. whenever president biden addresses the press he asks for specific people, and the questions are scripted by the questioner, and then he reads from a card what the answer is.

during that, when he was over with zelenskyy, a press person went off the script and ask him a question about israel, and he got all upset, saying, i'm here to talk about, you know, ukraine. and yet he did talk about his son, which has nothing to do with ukraine, and he is breaking the first amendment. we are supposed to be -- have freedom of press. by not allowing certain free press to ask whatever questions it wants to, he should allow them to do that, and he is not doing it. and therefore he is breaking the first amendment. host: and on the line for democrats in georgia, good morning. caller: hello? host: go right ahead. caller: ok, well, first off, you are pretty fair.

i think you do a fairly good job. next, if you look at the kool-aid jim jones massacre, people don't leave cults. it is easy for people to dig in then to admit they are wrong, so we have lost, like, 30% of our country. they have lost their minds. you have heard these last couple people. they will back trump and the republicans no matter what, period. no matter what. so, we will have to deal with it later. next, democrats, you do not understand the trouble we are in. we have major, major problems with the young black males. they are 100% -- and it is not just like males. all of the minority males, they are with trump and they are going to vote for him.

i'm getting these 2016 vibes where everybody is thinking they are going to be to trump. we have to cobble together all of these different groups. they only have to cobble together the white people, ok? and they vote in droves. donald trump -- listen, say what you want about the guy. it is incredible the power he has over these people. i have never seen anything like it. i have had to punch my friend in the face. he showed up with gold shoes on. this is a black gentleman. i don't know what to say. but, democrats. host: we got your point, joseph. alan is next in rhinelander, wisconsin. caller: good morning. that gal was not a democrat. anyways, the biggest news story of this week, there is two things and they are not being reported. the one, student loans. people do not understand this issue at all.

older people now outnumber younger people with student loans. like, like, 2 million people. over 35 versus under 35. people over 50 outnumber people under the age of 25 with student loans. when you talk about kids getting loans, that is completely false. one other story that is not being reported, the new york times reported that 40% of federal student loan borrowers are not making payments today. that is wrong. it is actually 80% of all federal student loan borrowers are not making payments. what we have here is a big government disaster. host: where are you getting that number? caller: that comes from the department of education. if you go to the federal student aid website you can look at the data for yourself on both of those points. the new york times article was based on an interview with the

department of education staff. i have also talked to department of education staff. host: i'm just curious if you have student loan debts? caller: i do. i have been fighting for student loan justice. i live and breathe federal data, and i can tell you that previous comments about the press being un-free are completely true. the stuff that i would have very easily broken news-wise, say, 10, 15 years ago, the press today will not touch. very viable headlines. host: your payments, alan? what is your situation? caller: i don't want to go into my personal situation. host: that is fair. no problem. glenn in madison, illinois. morning. caller: good morning. hey, play that tape of trump at

that thing where he is talking about the boat. the electric boat. because that is kind of funny. would you take an electrician or would you take the shark? either one would probably make him go away, ok? that is it. bye-bye. host: well in tulsa, oklahoma. independent line. good morning. caller: good morning to you. thanks for taking my call. i am just interested in listening to all of the calls all across the nation and it just affirms the condition we are in. everyone is an expert. everybody has different opinions. this country is fractured. my first vote was for reagan when i was 18 years old. kennedy was the president when i

was born. reagan, twice. i voted for bush twice. i then voted for obama twice. there is not a way i would never vote for trump. he just can't tell the truth. and everybody is so dug in with their party affiliation. i'm a republican, and that democrat is an idiot, and you fit into this category. it is nonsense. i am a registered independent choice. i vote for the person, not the party. what we have today, the comment i agree with the most is the fellow that called in and said, i'm from georgia, i'm so disappointed. 30% of america is lost. and he is right. these people will vote for trump, who cannot tell the truth about -- the truth about the number of people that show up in central park for a campaign event. he quotes yesterday, 100 showed up. well, they had pictures and did

a headcount. it was about 3000 people. and he says 100 show up. just blatant, exaggerated garbage coming out of his mouth. it is offensive. what is wrong with just saying we have 5000 people show up? but the man can't tell the truth. host: let's take a look at house minority leader have hakeem jeffries. he talked about the president's visit to d.c. >> it was shameful and a complete embarrassment that a republican colleagues decided to welcome the insurrectionist in chief back to the capital as a conquering hero. not someone who lied about the 2020 presidential election and incited a violent mob to attack the capital in order to thwart

the peaceful transfer of power. the republican party no longer exists in its traditional form. this is the trump party. and it is not focused on solving problems for the american people. it is focused singularly on doing the bidding of donald trump. and there is no bottom. there is no low. there is no value that these extreme maga republicans are not willing to abandon in service of donald trump. and that is very unfortunate. but they are going to have to defend this approach they have taken over the next several months.

in advance of november. before the american people. host: and we will go to danny next in mckinsey, tennessee. republican. good morning. danny, are you there? caller: yes, ma'am. i'm here. biden stole the election and everything. that is about and everything. trump don't win, go to major war. country is going to be destroyed. so, we better get trump and get things straightened out. taking four years to get straightened out. biting four years we ain't going to have a country. host: brenda is a democrat in pennsylvania. caller: good morning. i have two points to make. the first point is in response to the woman who talked about president biden and first amendment rights.

donald trump started taking away people's first amendment rights in 2015. at donald trump's rallies he encouraged his rally-goers to beat up any protesters. he said, send them out on a stretcher, be them up. i will pay your legal fees, get them out of here. so, donald trump encouraged his supporters to take away my first amendment rights by beating me up. my second point is, the clip you showed about jim jordan, i don't think anybody realized, not even him, that he shot all of the republicans in the foot. he talked about president biden's $8 million book deal, wait a minute. weren't they trying to impeach him because he got his money from being so corrupt? and here they are admitting that president biden got his millions

of dollars from a book deal. not from corruption. so, jim jordan shot himself in the foot. thank you. host: sherry is next in vincennes, indiana. republican. caller: that is right. my top news story of the week is the merrick garland being held in contempt of court. that did -- that the department of justice declined to press charges against him, and how it is not fair because the department of justice is so corrupt. they don't hesitate to go after the other side and press charges against other people when they are held in contempt of court. i don't understand everybody's hatred. it is just when everybody seems to be a line drawn in the sand, you are on one side or the other. i don't understand that. i think trump did a great job when he was in office four years

ago. i don't know why the democrats are so afraid. i voted for trump twice. i will vote for him again. i have a brother who hates trump. whenever i try to ask him why, he is just, like, he is not a nice guy, he lies all the time. when i ask him, ok, give me an example, he cannot give me an example. it is like he has been brainwashed and just follows along the line, whatever the media is telling him to say, and i think that is wrong. i think people should think for themselves. like the one caller who called in and he was upset that he lied about numbers at a rally. i mean, come on, it is just, can't you think of anything more important than that? i always forget how democrats take words so seriously when it is more, i was brought up, sticks and stones, that it is just words. in most of it is taken out of

context and everybody needs to take a step back and take a deep breath. host: all right. and brian in eastpointe, michigan, independent line. caller: yeah, the human lifespan is about 80 years old. our two presidents are around that age. so, when are we going to get some younger presidents and winter -- when are they going to do a good job? they're not doing a good job now, because slavery is about to come back. they are doing people 100 hours a month to survive on and they are giving them a bridge card and taken over guardianship of them and letting them go to court. so, when is this going to stop? are we going to get some good presidents? thank you. host: a republican in philadelphia, pennsylvania. good morning. devon, are you there? barry in lancaster, california. good morning. caller: hi.

ok, i didn't hear my name, sorry. actually have several points, but the main one i want to make is about -- well, i called a little late. i got on a little late so i don't know if you are already interested, somebody was talking about joe biden and how he needed to be led by the people at the g7. i'm thinking that is probably because the new york post put out an article with -- i'm sorry, i forgot the former speaker of the house name. he is from california as well. host: kevin mccarthy. caller: thank you. he was the one that spoke in the new york post about joe biden's, you know, and i mean he was already kicked out. because he was neither trusted by the republicans or the democrats. and in the washington journal -- i'm sorry, that was the washington journal. but the new york post put out

this image saying how joe biden was meandering, and they showed a picture of him at the summit where he was looking in another direction, and i think the italian prime minister had to tap him on the shoulder or something. but they did not show the other side of the image and i was hoping you all had that. because the video, if they had not cut off the actual entire image, he was not just meandering around and looking somewhere, like, looking off into the sky. he was talking to one of the military people that had just parachuted in. but they wanted to make it look like that, and it is really sad to see that the media is not giving the full -- that they are trying to use it to their advantage. i'm hoping you will have a video that shows the full image that he was just, you know, out there just walking around blindly. and then a couple of people

called in about tulsa. that is disappointing, because you have people who are over 100 years old who were actually victims of crime. and any other victims of crime get paid for that. not reimbursed, but there is another word for it. when you have a victim of a crime they should actually be compensated for it. and that is any victims. we do it for other victims if someone is accosted today, we do it. i think another caller called in about joe biden not eating a good catholic, but then he followed that up with a bunch of untruths. if we are going to talk about the bible, the bible does talk about gossiping. host: all right, mary. i want to show what you are talking about, the oklahoma supreme court dismissing the lawsuit of the last tulsa race massacre survivors seeking

reparations. here is a picture of one of those survivors. you could read that at apnews.com. here is mike, independent in north hollywood, california. mike, are you there? nope. -- three in canton, ohio. democrats line. caller: my top story, news of the week is oklahoma. i don't know why nobody is surprised that oklahoma has done this. it has gone on all across the united states, as far as being top history. also, i would like to know, what are these trump supporters going to do when trump loses? he still has to go to court for a whole other lot of cases.

were they going to do then? host: and brian in lafayette, louisiana. good morning. caller: yes, ma'am. good morning. first of all i would like to say, with liberty comes responsibility. it falls on each one of us to do the right thing. certainly when we see our politicians and the things they say, it is hard on each one of us to be rational, and choose a side of the two-party system we have in this great country. i have worked with many people, all stripes in this country. i have seen the strong. i have seen the week. in myself and my fellow citizens. but we must stand together to do the right thing for this land of liberty. and many of us are very emotional about our position. but if we really step back and

look at the history of this nation and the history of the world, we will realize we are in the greatest nation to ever exist. we will not continue if we tear each other apart. just like every other civilization previously. we are a constitutional republic. we must stand together. again, to do the right thing. i know that is simplistic, but if we all reflect on this, i think we can reach a common ground, or a commonplace with two decisions. we have a two-party system. and we have an election coming up. there has been an overwhelming manipulation of we the people. by people within the two parties. and i must say, i see a lot more on the democrats side than the

republican, but certainly both parties are imperfect. but i have never in my life seen what has happened and the interference in this upcoming election. you may not like the people that are running, and i think we can all say there is some things we don't like, but we have a decision to make. who is the better person to lead our country? host: got it, brian. let's go to stephen. las vegas. caller: thanks for taking my call. i just think i don't know there is going to be any hope or not for it, so it is scary because i am 70 years old and when i grew up the country was [indiscernible] then it is now. it is really scary. i don't know what it is going to take to bring the country together. i think we all need to joke around and get along and do what we can, but i don't know.

i'm very pessimistic about this country, so thank you for taking my call. host: that is it for this segment. it will take more of your calls later in open form. up next we have tom schatz. he is the president of citizens against government waste. he will be here to talk about his group's 2024 congressional pig book. it lists the porkbarrel spending projects and the lawmakers behind it. later, journalist rachel janfaza discusses her sub stack newsletter about gen z and youth political culture. we will be right back. ♪ >> book tv, every sunday on c-span two, features leading authors discussing their latest nonfiction books.

at 8:00 p.m. eastern coy deangelis with the american federation for children argues that parents need to get more involved in their children's education and regain control from a teachers union over public school curriculum with his book "the parent revolution." at 10:00 p.m. eastern on afterwards ernesto lund don jo looks at the use of psychedelics in mental health treatment and describes his own experience with them. he is interviewed by politico health reporter aaron shoemaker. watch book tv every sunday on c-span2 and find a full schedule in your program guide, or watch >> next week on the c-span networks, the house is out on the district work period. the senate is in session working on judicial nominations. the u.s. district and d.c. courts. on tuesday, following ceo, dave

cal hewn testified after a whistleblowers allegations of safety and quality control problems at boeing. and c-span's 2024 campaign coverage continues as donald trump holds a campaign rally in wisconsin. also on tuesday, discussion on climate change and racial equity in black communities. talk show host who will moderate panel, former naacp president, level rights advocate, and tennessee state representative and independent candidate for president, cornell wes. watch next week live on the c-span networks or on the mobile app. head over for scheduling information. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. [gavel] >> the house will be in order.

>> this year c-span celebrates 45 years of governing congress like no other. since 1949, we've been your primary source for capital hill, taking you to where the policy is debated and decided, all within the support of america's cable company. c-span, 45 years and counting. powered by cable. >> washington journal journal continues. >> welcome back. we have tom schatz. talk about citizens against government waste and how you are funded. >> it was formed under president reagan. we've been around now 40 years. we have helped the taxpayers

more than $2.4 trillion since that time. we've been tracking the reagan administration ever since we started putting the organization together. not we, but it was co-founded by peter. it is 80% by individuals and associations and other contributions. it is mostly individuals now. >> do you have a political -- do you endorse candidates? do you contribute to candidates >> we have three separate organizations. 501(c)(3) that does research and education, we have the council for citizens against government waste, that's the lobbying arm, then we connect to the council for citizens against government waste. host: when you say you save taxpayers $2 million, how do you save them? >> through the implementation of

the recommendation. in 1984, the first three went to the house ways and means committee. it's been a long time. each year we tracked it. the first several years the recommendations that were adopted were tracked by the reagan administration in their management book under the budget. that's how we keep track. we issue a publication called prime cuts every year. those are the recommendations that we make for more efficient government, less wasteful government. then we see which one of those were adopted. then we just keep adding it up. >> let's stock up. every year you put out a publication which is called "congressional pig book." i want to know how and when did this get started? >> the "congressional big -- pig book" came out in 1991. we worked to come up with pork barrel spending, now they are more commonly called earmarks.

we worked with them to find out how the projects were being added outside of the normal budget process. it was initially inspired by a list put out with the office and management of budget of projects that were not authorized and requested by the president and added by the members of congress. those are three of the seven criteria. it came really from congress it. host: i have to say you are wearing your pig tie today. which i thought was very appropriate. let's look at one of your findings. one of them was you found in fial 2024, earmarks caused $22.7 billion. how does that compare with fiscal year 2023 and how does that compare historically? >> it is 13% less than fiscal year 2023. it is still the fifth highest since the first big book was released. the highest was 2006 at $29 billion. it is still high.

since the moratorium was lifted when members much congress decided to bring back the ear marrings. it is higher than the three years prior. they not only brought them back, but at a higher level than before they established the moratorium. they are coming back with vengeance. host: we will take your calls for tom schatz, citizens against government waste. that's on the lines by party. republicans 202- 748-200 1, democrats -- text us we are on fake -- facebook and twitter. give us a history. why does it stop.

>> we have the most corrupt in the history of congress. members were being bribed to add earmarks to various appropriation bills. they got caught. the effort to establish a moratorium was led really by the late john mccain and jeff wright and others. we are not ending them. we still found them. our definition is different than congress' definition. it is a much lower level. then it came back because everybody forgot what happened. you know, three quarters of the congress or more was not in office when these scandals occurred. members went to jail. there was an argument about the article to empower congress to

appropriate. 99% goes to the quote unquote regular process. the argument has been we shouldn't give the money to the executive branch and let them spend it. that's what we do. we have a lot around how certain projects went around the process. it makes it clear what's they are doing. members of congress put an end. it is unfair to all of the people that go through that process. host: let's talk about some of the projects in detail. we have a couple onhe screen, inuding $36 million for two earmarks to combat underwater pests. there'one here for $1.7 million for the metropolitan museumf art in new york city. they already have assets of $5 billion. this is not a poor museum. >> no. i'm sure they get federal money. they do it competitively. it is not the competitive grant that was rewarded. we looked into this.

there was 26 federal agencies that provide money for the museum. the taxpayer money. at institute of museum and library services in 2022, they only accepted 31% of the applications and awarded 41% of the money granted. this is exactly how the competitive process should work. senator gillibrand along with the lead leader schwalmer was quoted in the -- schumer was quoted i like the museum. it is okay to give them money. sure, if they stand for everybody else and apply for it. they would get federal money. everybody should get in the same vote. this is what we have. this is our project. if it is any better or worse. adding it like that is really why you end up with all of the money over the years. host: the lawmakers are able to go back to the constituents, the people that vote to them, and

say look what i wrought to you. >> 99% of the time it is the competitive process. tunnels and bridges are being built. they stand up with there with the checks. they hold up the giant checks and they put their name and signature like it is their money. at press conference for the "congressional big book" we had two examples. hi, here's a check from me for the project. people think, oh, well -- but it is the taxpayers money. host: obviously, they are not incentivized to get rid of earmarks. >> they use it as political currency. this really started under former speaker, newt gingrich, that sent a memo. chairman of the all of the appropriations subcommittees. they said you should have earmarks for republican members

in the vulnerable districts. it is already an issue. but it really exploded after that. it was used as political currency and legalized bribery as well. because you can do that. and you can get away with it. it becomes really illegal, you go to jail. host: let's talk to callers. rowina in south carolina. caller: good morning. i'm a first-time caller. i worked as a federal contract employee at a local medical treatment facility -- i'll say the name. buford naval hospital here in buford south carolina. there's a lot of fraud, waste, and abuse going on during my time. i'm retired now. i know this is especially towards the end of the fiscal year. a lot of pump and dump going on. first, they would have new

furniture for the entire facility. they throw the old furniture away. they wouldn't even give it to the employees or offer it at a discount, you know, if we wanted to purchase let's say the stuff that they were getting rid of. and also is there any way that they can do, like, maybe a line by line audit of our federal government? maybe to try to identify, you know, in conjunction with what you guys put out there and another thing, too, like when you try to apply for a federal employment, they used to do -- they would open the job, for instance, let's say for an hour on the weekend. and they would -- the person that they promised the job to would be able to apply. they would close the applications. this is just a whole lot of stuff going on there that i witnessed.

and, you know, maybe you can speak to that. thank you, ken. >> i remember filling out those forms. but on the issue of spending at the end of the year, the reason that they do that is the budget for the following year is based on how much is spent, not how efficiently it is spent. it is the only budgeting system that i know of. you are rewarded for spending the money. that goes back to capitol hill. the answer to every problem is create a new program. that's what creates the duplications. like 133 broadband programs. members of congress don't earmark money for those. yeah. the end of it is called baseline budgets. it is based on what you spend, not on what you have done efficiently with the money. that's why they throw all of the things away and spend all of the money at the end of the year. host: i want to talk to you about defense-related earmarks. those are a lot of money. there's the s35. which is the joint strike

fighter. this is defense one with the headline. it is costing more and doing less according to the gao. total sustainable which is maintenance costs are now expected to top $1.5 trillion. even as the mission readiness declines. >> yeah. i thought it was $2 trillion. thrill and a half, two trillion. we've written about the joint strike fighters separately from the earmarking issue. one of the programs that has had problems. when members of congress add ear mashes for joint strike fighters that are not requested by the pentagon, that just exacerbated the problem. host: why would they do that if the pentagon doesn't want it? >> there are 48 states of the part jsf is built. everyone has some kind of stake. host: because it is more jobs for their district? >> yes. it is a jobs program.

and in this case, when there are issues with any kind of weapon system, they shouldn't be building more until they fix the problems with the ones they have. host: there's also $518 million for two earmark for the m-1 abrams tank upgrate program. >> the pentagon is looking to the next generation of tanks. the chief said we have plenty of them in the desert. the late senator, john mccain, had a hearing. they have enough. they don't use them everywhere where they are having conflicts. they are moving on to the new generation. they are just -- they are not only not needed, they are becoming obsolete. members are congress are adding earmarks, because again it helps create jobs. host: ken on the republican line in white water, wisconsin.

caller: good morning. i have a comment and question. i come from the state of wisconsin, the home of william corckmier that started the golden fleet award. you mentioned out of wisconsin, i think that's something that i know has been an issue with the government. but the big question i wanted to ask, project 2025, president trump's transition team or the idea of the transition. what is your group's position on project 2025 and how does that impact the idea of pork barrel spending? i'm going to hang up and take your rely. thanks again. >> one is not related to the other. citizens against government waste has been against. if you are wasting money, we don't care which party you are

from. we talk about the democrats, republicans, and appropriators. the appropriator on a bipartisan basis add the earmarks. that's how we get to where we are. on project 2025, every incoming administration has plans of what they would do once they get into office. there could be an argument made when president trump was elected, they didn't have a big plan. he didn't have an ideal of who would be. democrats do this. liberals do this. conservative groups do it. it is a way of getting prepared for personnel. host: let's go to florida next. nelson, good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. mr. schatz, two thing that is you stated regarding the reason for government spending is absolutely correct. i'm retired from public service. in my numerous years in public

service, i worked for the federal, state, and local governments. they are all the same in regards to getting to the end of the fiscal year and trying to spend whatever is left to ensure that you get more in the coming fiscal year. by question to you, sir, is what do you think is going to happen to the united states of america and the exploding national debit? thank you, sir. >> well, the impact of the debit can only be seen because of the interest that we are paying on the debit -- debt. the first time this year interest on the debt exceeds the defense and medicare. second only to social security. so then we end up with -- you can see in the interest rates that everybody else is paying. it is just getting too high and making it more difficult. so when interest becomes that big of a part of anyone's

expenditures, it crowds out other spending. and it pushes the nation closer to -- i would say bankruptcy. but they are projecting $2 trillion deficits for the next ten years. that's unheard of. host: let's talk to lewis in alabama, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead, lewis. caller: yes. i was wondering, these committee heads seem to be working against. because in every way possible, these people are really leading us out of a country. like jordan, comar, loy. these people are actually and still not helping anything. that's all i have to say. >> all right. thanks. host: and this is -- we gothi

from -- a text from mtin amherst. i'll take counterposition on earmarks. don't they have compromise. they are publicly posted no secrets. past lastly it is not quoteew money add to the agency. rather than the funds come off of the topline budget; correct? >> that's correct. however what it does is it -- it pushes members of congress who would not ordinarily vote for some of those bills to vote for them. to kind of legalize bribery part of it. the best example is in the pig book. where the minority leader got that -- either $612,000 extra for every earmark in one of the bills. i don't recall exactly which one. essentially that's what they do. they say we will give you this $1 million earmark. you'll vote for the bill. there used to be a formula where if you are on the committee, you get x amount. if you are on the subcommittee,

you get another amount. other members line up and go and get the money. but we did spend less money under the moratorium. and pre-covid, obviously. but when it becomes political currency, a way of helping members get re-elected, it just -- like i said, it leads to the corruption and inequity. host: here's ricky in nashville, tennessee, independent. caller: good morning. a lot of people stole my thunder. years ago, 50 years ago, i had to bid on state contracts here in nashville. he's exactly right. they get to spend all of their money. they could have $100,000 a year budget. if they only spent 20 of it, they would find a way to spend the $80,000. that said, the gentleman, i appreciate him. why can't we send everything back to the state government?

the more money -- it seems odd to me that all of the states and only to have to beg for it back. we should go in the military and the irs and other than that, all of the money goes back to the state. every politician and every department and make sure every dime is accounted for. one thing when the jobs are done and the young people don't want to work, and all of the sudden the countries around the work have our technology and our jobs, we're going to go down fast. e have to get control of the money. the people are running out of money. when their money is gone, what do we do? thank you, sir. have a good day. >> i would leave it at defense and not the irs. that's a different story. yes, that's a good point. that's, of course, what people talk about. the tenth amendment turning back to the states. they tend to spend it more efficiently. they are required to have balanced budgets in most cases. there are efforts to do that.

they just don't get very far. members of the congress. continuing to do that. since you are back -- we will continue to try to get rid of them again. the legislation with representative. they would like every member to support that. before that, you are right, we are not moving in the right direction. host: i want to read to you what representative dutch rupert berger said. en ty restored the earmark progress l year, we did son extreme caution and rigorous oversight to avoid past abuses. as a member of the committee, i to prove accountability and transp. formpleall project requests must meet a verifiable need hav documented community support.

only state or local governments and certain non-profits can receive funding. no businesses. every request must be posted pu online. lawmakers are c. they have no financial interest in the project. we cap the number of projects each member could submit for consideration in addition to capping total spending on earmarks to 1% of the government's discretionary budget. >> listen to how complicated that is. i want to say f 26 federal program, 33 for broadband, overe process. only three of the top 40 recipients of earmarks came from the house. it has -- it doesn't matter what limits are set. look what happened with minority leader jeffries. we'll give you more money if you vote for this. this doesn't change. it isened the 1%.

i just don't buy that. host: on the republican line, here's dave in auburn, new york. hi, dave. caller: good morning. i appreciate what you are doing. kind of in the spare time. james coburn is dead. i regret his passing. there's not anything i can tell you you haven't thought about. i'm going to say to my own perspective, city council meetings. they are always there trying to get government grants. that's the big deal. and it doesn't end there. the state of new york they throw out a million loss grant. you compete for that. we have a whole staff that just does that. so a lot of this money is kind of a bribery thing. and then this is new york. democrat state. there are other states, democrat states, california, i'm sure that would even be worse. and there are red states. i wonder if you would maybe

compare some of the red states with the blue states and who is really doing well. i mean i could talk to you. we would have a good conversation, i think. i would let it go. if you would just mention that. i appreciate it. thank you. >> thank you. i appreciate it. out in california. that's a huge deficit. a lot of issues there. i think in terms of red or blue, there's some quote unquote blue states. it is all up to how they are governed and how they spend their tax dollars. delaware, i don't say that because it is the home of joe biden. it is business friendly. always has been. it is just a matter of what the governor and the legislation wants to do. host: geovany from st. louis,

missouri, republican. caller: good morning. how are you doing this morning? >> doing fine, thanks. caller: i was wondering on the v8 bill, why does the democrat keep pushing money for illegals. seems like every time the republicans try to pass a bill, the democrats want to put money for the illegals in the bills. i do not understand why. can you explain this? why they keep pushing this? >> i haven't read the veterans bill that you are discussing. i think members have different priorities for different reasons. look, the biden administration decided that climate change should be a priority for every federal agency, including the pentagon. that's what they've decided to do. it is one of the issues that's going to keep going back and forth until they resolve it. host: giovanni, do you have a specific example?

caller: i forgot the name of the bill. it is a bill for the va. the democrats put the money for the illegals in it. i can't remember the name of the bill, i'm sorry. host: that's all right. >> they try to add thing that is are irrelevant. they have to keep things out that are not related to the bill. in the senate, many times things can be that are not related at all to the original legislation. we think it is not a great idea. that's the way they do it. host: david is in new york for republicans. caller: good morning. i have three points. if you let me make them, i'll try to be quick. 1) i don't think most americans understand the magnitude of the national debt. in a short time, probably during the next presidential term,

things are going to get really, really serious. there's going to be major cutbacks that include potential programs. and i think the american people really can only remember one or two syllables. it is going to be trump, biden, bush, or clinton. that's all they can remember. it is going to affect all levels of the elections. we have to have financial responsibility. mainly the candidates need to warn the people about the payment coming. some of you have to come up with parole to take charge. if anybody is headed from either candidate is listening and worked on that, try to prevent the major problems with the reaction for the people. the second one we have to end on the bills in washington or even in the states. because too many money gets wasted, buried, earmarks, whatever you call it. we have to have single issue bills. so -- the other one is if you

want to earn a noble prize, come up with a way to get around the use it or lose it government model of spending. it is so wasteful. that would get you down in history somebody good. that's all i have. >> thanks. i'll go backwards. it would eliminate the baseline budgeting and change the process by which the president releases his budget. they never adopted it. the suggestion is congress decided how to spend the money. the president decides whether to sign it or not. doesn't mean i shouldn't have recommendations. it would be more efficient. on the debit it is one of those things that's been tried and discussed for many, many year. i don't think the candidate is going to get up and say if you don't vote for me, we're going to go bankruptcy. it is not a great campaign. they don't have plans to make the government more efficient and effective. looking at the number of programs. getting back to the 2026. you can have one.

one or two programs for broadband. make them work. but when members of congress see something that doesn't work, they create a new program. they don't fix what's wrong. host: let's talk to merle next in kansas city, missouri, independent. caller: yes. a while ago you made a reference to the irs. you said, no, -- to not give any more money to the irs. i want to point to the publication in the irs on the web site, irs.gov. and in there search argument, type in ir-2024-09. for they discuss the benefits of the 87,000 new irs agents which they don't have. it would take ten years to get it. they have the report discusses

the irs released results. they have more than $1 million in income and $250,000 in tax debt. from that just to date they have collected almost half a billion dollars in revenue from that. they are -- they've -- that's just from the wealthy individuals. also they've gone after corporations and partnerships, but they've recovered more. i just want to know why you think that the irs should be exempt from getting more money. thank you. >> that's part of the effort to set up the flat tax to have everybody pay a flat rate. it would eliminate the need for much of what the irs does. really what the government does. it would be more efficient and

effective. other people promote the national sales tax. i don't think that will happen. you have to repeal the 16th amendment. i think people would like to see much more efficiency. they would feel a lot better about paying their taxes, if they knew it would be spent wisely once it is out here. host: good morning. caller: good morning. i feel like your job is almost hopeless. it just seems like a hopeless job, man. when you did it with money, it is difficult to get people out of being wasteful, because it is just been -- it is just the feeling of authority and power, i guess. you know, but like the timing, you are doing all right. >> i've been doing this for 38 years. my objective is to put myself out of business. we're making progress. we're going to keep fighting. i don't say this in any way.

it is really about making sure that the money that we pay -- i pay taxes too, is being used efficiently and effectively. 133 programs isn't going to cut it. the federal communications commissioner said there's $800 billion across the federal government for the purpose. you know, plug it in and make it work. the department of justice has a different criteria than the ncra. this is how you wind up wasting the money. host: i want to show on the screen the top earmark recipients in 2024 for congress. they are all senators. senator collins, murkowski, king, shots, and schumer. three are on the committee. what's the connection there? >> that's the point.

that's the inequity that we talk about. members of the house and appropriate committee has 45% of the earmarks and money. used to be higher. now it is a little less. every year it is members of the appropriation committee that get more than their fair share. there's a huge disparity in what they get. again it points back to what they were saying. we all get earmarks. you don't get them equality. host: good morning, tom. caller: good morning. i have -- seems like a lot of questioned quo pro are going on in washington basically. you scratch my back. i'll scratch your kind of thing. really it is the people's treasure. that we're dealing with here. i think they forget that sometimes. but my concern is you had student loan forgiveness. and you had a president who is

forgiving loans that really the supreme court said was unconstitutional. they did a work around. my question is, thomas, what makes their loan more worthy than my loan. i make $40,000 a year. no one is helping me with my loan. could you say that's a quid pro quo? i'll pay your loan off and return. maybe you can give me your vote. just seems really -- just -- it seems dirty. that's all. thank you so much. >> thank you. that's one of the most unpopular decisions, i think, that president biden has made. because people who not only paid off their loans but didn't go to college are paying someone else's voluntary loan. you didn't force somebody to take out a loan to go to school. they decided to do it on their own. interestingly, fewer people will be going to college as a result of the higher expenses. but we've got the student loan

program, the school can raise prices. if they know that nobody is going to be charged for the money to go to school, they will keep raising prices even further. it doesn't help in terms of the cost of college to forgive the loans. it kind of has the opposite effect. host: let's talk to gary in otto, iowa. independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to have his input on the rv reevaluation of currency worldwide. they are going to a usage tax, not a flat tax, a usage tax. they say probably 17%. the irs is dead. the federal reserve is not existent. they pressed plenty of money. we're going to the treasury dollar which is asset back. well, that should be enough to start with. okay.

host: all right. >> i'm not familiar with the proposal. it might be an interesting thing to look at. host: melinda in florida, republican, good morning. caller: good morning. i used to be a member of citizens against government waste. i started back in the beginning. i just wondering if tom feels like a failure at all since i don't feel like much of anything has changed. i guess maybe he could list some of the victories that you've had and maybe answer why somebody else might not be better at this job. thank you. bye. >> citizens against government waste has been around since 1984. we have helped save more than $2.4 trillion. unlubing any other organization that's -- unlike any other organization that's been trying to make the government

effective. base closing, airport, civil service reform, it is a very, very long list. it is a tough life. we're a very small organization. we're ten people against every special interest in washington that's well funded and well connected. once there are little pieces of giant federal pie. we'll just keep fighting. you know, again if it is something we do every day, because we think it is the right thing to do. host: are there anonymous earmarks? how would they work? >> the anonymous earmarks come -- they are not imaginary. they are added by members of congress. they don't add their names to the earmarks. it is something we've always had. the congressional definition, as i mentioned, it a little different than ours. there's $8.3 billion of the $22.7 that's anonymous, mostly in defense.

like the joint strike. nobody put their name on it. they never have. $53 million for some education around military. host: when you say this is political currency, why wouldn't they put their name on it? >> they still now who is doing what. it is not like they don't no who is sitting in the room. they just don't put their name at the end. host: in the interest of transparency, wouldn't it be helpful to not have anonymous earmarks? >> yes. by the way, there are examples in the book that earmarks used to have members of congress. host: debbie in pasadena, republican, good morning. caller: good morning. i want to ask a question about the covid. how the money is spent and how

it is still being spent. i was just wondering how much longer is that going to be? because i know a lot of money is still out there. >> well, a lot of the money has been spent. a lot of it is -- various agencies are trying to get it back. they publish a list of the fraud that they've gone after and recovered, and small business administration as well. unfortunately it is so large. as i recall, the small business administration said it could take almost $100 years to get all of the money back. they have found it was taken out of the paycheck protection program over the department of labor and unemployment insurance. the money went out fast. it is an unprecedented problem. a lot of agencies ignored really simple prevention measures that were already in place before they sent it out. that needs to be fixed.

host: jim in florida, republican. caller: good morning. yes, sir. i used to send somebody to the organization. i thought he did good work. like the previous caller, it seems like it is all for naught. given the fact that the federal budget debt, rather, deficit or the bulk of the debt. they come out something enabling the $34 trillion. it is just an incredibly unbelievable number. my question is -- they are familiar with the work and the book was written by david stockman, omb director. they went ahead and got in trouble. they spoke about the fact that the two things have to be done is raise taxes and cut spend.

it is politically untenable. then we have the deficit. people are saying the deficit and debt don't matter. going to the spending and on debt. this is really an act of futility. at some point, we're going to spend ourselves into live -- into oblivion and ruin the economy. we'll be in the same position as argentina. i would like your response. >> if i thought that was going to happen, i would give up. i'm not giving up. if the organization didn't do it, i don't know if anybody would do it. we have a unique position in terms of the earmarks and the various other programs that we brought up. i'll repeat what i said before. we're only ten people.

you are right, it is a massive problem. you have to ticket it little by little until you make progress. saving $2.4 trillion since the inception of the organization is not a small number. we're going to keep going and pointing out where the waste is. there are members of congress who are helpful. maybe you change an administration. i need help. and so that's where we are and we're going to keep trying to fight the good fight. host: all right. tom schatz is president of citizens against government waste. they are at cagw.org if you would like to read their articles and reports. thank you so much for being on the program. >> thank you for having me. host: rachel janfaza will discuss "the up and up." first it is open forum. you can start calling in now. anything on your mind. public policy-wise, republicans

202-748-8001, democrats 202-748-8000, and independents, 202-748-0 8002. stay with us. [music] >> tune into c-span's live coverage of the 2024 national political convention, starting with the republican on palm in july 15th. next up text the democrats. stay connected. watch the republican and democratic national convention live this summer on c-span, c-span now on the app, and online now at c-span.org. c-span, your unfiltered view of

politics. >> book tv discussing latest of the non-fiction books. they argue that parents need to get more involved in the parents education and re-gain control from the curriculum. it is the parent revolution. then at 10:00 p.m. eastern afterwards, "the new york times" auth of "trippy" look at the use of psychedelics and mental health treatment and described his experience with them. he is interviewed by aaron schumaker. watch book tv or watch online any time at booktv.org.

c-span, powered by cable. >> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back to "washington journal." we're in open forum. we'll take your calls. just real quick up on ivf from nbc news. the senate republicans block the democratic bill to protect the ivf nationwide. this is part of the push to highlight the contrast over reproductive rights. they favor legal ivf but prefer a narrower bill. we'll start with jerome,

anderson, california, good morning. caller: good morning to you. i was listening to the gentleman earlier. the people have to remember that we the people are the government. we're the ones that put the people in the building. if you knead to blame anybody, look in a mirror. i do every day. we are the government. so when our employees mess up and we continually hire the same employees, then, of course, you are going to get the same results. so until people start hiring different employees, that's it. i don't know how else to explain this. but we the people are the government. we don't hire and elect officials, we hire employee. we have to hire better employees. we are going to get the same stuff today. i live in a red district in california.

totally red. my representative hasn't done anything since i've lived in the district for 30 years. because they keep hiring the same people that do nothing. then we wonder why we're not getting anything. because we've hired them. and thankfully in california we can fire them. but we get to hire new employees every two, four, and six years. so people start blaming yourselves. you are the ones that put them there. host: all right. let's go to the republican line. howie, good morning. caller: i had a question or concern about military spending. seems like that's one of the biggest spending areas of the government. one area they spend a lot of money on is the military service from one location to another and it seems like a waste of money

to do that. they stay in the same place they currently located and do the same job. they keep them from one camp to another. could you make a comment on that? host: okay. mark in tulsa, oklahoma, independent line. caller: how is it going? it is mark in tulsa, oklahoma. great to talk to the american people today. i want to make three quick point, if you don't mind. joe biden, the americans out there defending joe biden, come on, man, this is a hoax. it is fake. they come together to choose the president. they put up the lymph nodes and we vote for them. joe biden when people are calling him to say he's not drifting off, he's 81. he's old. he needs to move on. and we -- our federal government clearly wants donald trump. if it is joe biden versus donald trump, it is -- i think -- you

know, come on now. you know? donald trump is horrible. he alone can fix it. the freaking -- the mexicans are going to pay for the wall. it is covid. oh, my god. covid, it is fake. it is democrat host. it become i got this way under control in early march 2020. then they continue to go on. i say, well, looks like the hoax. i'm going to do the works. but the interesting thing is most of the republicans know that it is non-sense. and the democrats actually call it. that's how goofy the government is. the biden congress. let me go to my third. the united states of america. yeah. he was talking about the same people that we've got to get new people in. we need a new experiment maybe. this experiment of modern day

futilism is weak. it is nowhere. look at countries compared to other countries around the world. we are sucking. we have one wisdom to follow. host: what kind of system of government would you like to see in the united states? caller: i think diversity. if they want to follow the imperillistic, futilism. host: diversity is your system of government? caller: no. listen to me please. host: be quick. caller: when we have one wisdom controlling everything, it is such a joke. the thing that controls our government is the money and the -- the money and the monster, the militias, the federal reserve, and the pentagon. the masters --

host: look like we're not getting to a system of government. judy, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning, mimi. you are the best, by the way. the call-ins from the first part of the show about the most important news of the week. every hour of every day i'm waiting for the government to restore to all females in the government your liberty, freedom, autonomy, and allow them to just restore the freedom that females had in the country. restore it back in place before i die. host: roe v. wade? caller: everything. when it comes to females for

their health care, their bodies, what they do and in their personal lives. restore that all back to the females in this country. thank you. host: all right. john in illinois. independent, good morning. caller: yeah. i remember when i was a kid, ronald reagan, he, he had -- he gave a speec he said i pass one piece of paper through congress. by the time it gets back on my desk, it was 300 pages. if i want my one thin, i've got to agree to 29 other things. he can cross off the line and th line and that pork barrel and thatroct. that's why we're 35 or $36 trillion in debt. the people are spendg ney we don't have and they don't ha. it is easy to have -- ifhe president had the power of the

line item vo, he could cross ofa bunch of the spending and si t bills. your project is more important. justneill at a time. if it is important, the congress wi ps it. you know. if i is not, itl get veto. to add all of the projects on to the bil, to me that shouldn't be. i mean -- host: i do remember the line item veto from the reagan administration. he was asking for it. you think that's a good idea. caller: yes. oh, yeah. 35 or 36 trillion in debit. i mean that's being careless, you know? host: all right. let's go to massachusetts. republican line. wudu. that's how you pronounce it? caller: good morning. thank you, c-span and "washington journal" for taking my call. i would like to talk about the

national debt. i don't understand why nobody is not coming up on the floor to talk about how they are going to solve the problem. every time i look at national debt clock, it keeps going up every 24 seconds. as far as joe biden on tv wandering off like he's off and out of space somewhere is a true embarrassment to his country. i'm sorry. the trumped up charges to have against trump with the election coming and him going to jail possibly on the election. i think they need to look at that. as far as where is the country going, it is truly a disrespect to where it is going. i think we should govern a lot more better. they give us the freedom and everything the tech nothing and give us the -- technology and give us the education. give us everything that we ask for. and change the system of

government that we have right now. get the house in order. we have a serious problem around the world. if they don't have a solution, we have a serious problem. russia is off of the coast right now with nuclear submarines circling our country. now if something happens where they will start reigning down on the country. the news media telling this and that. we don't know what to do whenever the alarm starts to sound. as far as a woman up there on capital hill, it is more and more common. they have the victim a call. host: great. here's -- this is "newsweek" they attach submarine surfaces

in cuba. they arrive on thursday, on the heels of the russian arrival in havana 24 hours earlier. one of around two dozen nuclear class armed was making a quote routine port visit while conducting the global maritime security. the u.s. southern command said in a statement on social media. on wednesday, cuban armed forces welcomed the russian northern fleet with a 21-cannon salute as the fleet flag lead the cruise missile into havana bay for a stop over from june 12th through the 17th. mary in south carolina, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead, mary.

caller: thank you. my biggest concerns of the past week and forever -- i mean for a while now is the fact that the supreme court how could they? they bump stop that will allow guns to be turned into a machine gun. i don't understand. are these people crazy? we need -- somebody needs to do something about the supreme court. with all of the corruption they've got. my god. talk about that, please. thank you. host: augi from florida republican line. caller: when ronald reagan took the presidency, he inherentedless $1 million of

debt. it was 35 years of existence in 1935 and forward. it started at 75 crepts -- cent on every dollar. i.c.e. eisenhower had the tax for eight years building the highway system. the republicans started that tax. it starts on the second million. every person with wealth should be paying that tax today. we can have ronald reagan for ending that. it is a simple matter. it is history. we can do it again. we should restore that wealth tax. thank you very much. host: and responding to previous

callers art the g7. biden was giving thumbs up to sky divers not wandering in the viral g7 video. they say the president was seen motioning to sky divers at the g7 event in video posted to social media after criticso seized on another clip which did not clearly show the additional detail. saying he appeared to wander off from a group of world leaders. footage broadcast and shared on x by the white house senior deputy press secretary shows biden giving a thumbs up as he motioned over to a group of skydivers. the italian prime minister got his attention and the group of world leaders then reconvened around him. you can see that on the screen. that is a different angle of the same clip. that is john in florence, massachusetts. democrat, good morning. caller: i am an independent.

whatever, both sides stank. i'm wondering why the democrats complain about the supreme court. whenever anybody says anything about the donald trump stuff, they say, oh my god, you are threatening the court and making it difficult for them. republicans or conservatives came in charge. it seems like pretty hypocritical. i'm also wondering why every day i can hear from the washington post and all these horrible newspapers that were wrong about the hunter biden lap top, but you never want to use the new york post. as for democrats -- republicans not getting anything done in congress, or four years they wanted to resist everything donald trump wanted to do. they wanted to bring up bills that nancy didn't like or democrats didn't support whether they were cast or not with bipartisan support. i'm curious why that's always like that. schumer won't bring up bills

with the hr to or ones that will keep the border safe. they are doing nothing for americans. they are doing everything for illegals. i want to talk about the people complaining about genocide in gaza. are these the same people that support 70 million babies being murdered since 1973? that's pretty funny. is that a genocide or just different? thank you for the call. host: stephanie, montclair, new jersey. democrat. caller: good morning. people keep calling and talking about biden is too old, biden is this, biden is that. the man is doing his job. just because you don't like him doesn't mean that he's not doing his job. i don't understand how trump -- every day it is trump, trump,

trump according to people because he puts himself out there. while he is talking about dumb stuff, he is also talking about -- you are not hearing, listening, hearing what he's saying. he wants to prosecute people who are against him. he wants to throw them in jail. he wants to rewrite the constitution. he wants to be a dictator. he wants to be like putin. is that what you want? as far as african-american people, in the bronx, he brings two alleged murderers on the stage. doesn't anybody, aren't you embarrassed by that? host: the republican line,

akron, ohio, mary, good morning. caller: i'm calling about what they always are labeling it as american racism when it is actually southern democratic racism that they have tried to twist those words to make it like all america was racist. this started with the democratic party. in the election after abraham lincoln was assassinated in 68, they seen the republicans were winning. they won five or six states in the south so they had to change that. they put 600 black men as state legislators. the next election they went out and terrorized all the poor white people and poor black people.

the 600 state legislators who were black helped that and probably a whole lot of other black people. if you didn't vote democrat you were killed, beat up, who knows what happened to you. then, after they got enough people to vote the way they didn't want to vote, because a lot of people wanted to vote republican, they got enough people in the government to make the jim crow laws. this is a history that a certain group of people don't want known. they on their own time went out and voted in the people who put the jim crow laws in. so, they are just as responsible. it is not american racism. it is southern democrat racism. host: anne in virginia, independent line. caller: yes. i would like to talk about the two-party thing we have in our country. i believe we need the two-party

in our election, and each person choose. once they are in office, it should become one purple party. they should come together and let their politics aside. that's all i have to say. host: on the line for democrats in stairwell, kansas, robert, good morning. caller: good morning. this is open forum, so i wanted to talk about the supreme court. is that all right? host: go right ahead. caller: they have set us up i think to help trump. with a have done is get away with the bump stock yesterday. that set them up so they can say we went against donald trump on

this thing so we can go for him now further actions. i appreciate what they're doing. they think they are following down a rat hole because of all the corruption on the supreme court. it is horrible. we need to let our voices of the american people be heard. we want them out of there. we want to elect people who are not put in there by a party. which is very hard to find anybody like that, but that is what we all really want. thanks for your time, mimi. host: gary in sterling, virginia, republican. caller: my call, two, it has been way too long. first, i want to nominate chase

for the nobel peace prize and i would like to hear a second before this program is over. i pay a hundred dollars a month for fios. if it was not for c-span i would deep six that really quick. can you ask if he recalls what ike said when the evangelists asked him to change the flank of the gop in april of 1959? please, ask your research department, late february of 1978 or 1979 what noaa said in a press release in the post about global warming. read that anytime you have a question about global warming. one other thing, one of our founding fathers said waste not, want not. that is how i feel about the plastic cap on the milk and

juice cartons. it is a hindrance to get to the product. the dairy farmers and orchard growers ought to be upset. it is a health hazard because no matter how you dance with the container you can't get out the last drizzle and it takes up the pantry. so call the 800 number and tell them to go back to the old way where you fold back the corners you pop out the beak and you don't have a small hole. every time you try to pour some out it pukes and messes up the counter. host: got it, gary. phoenix, arizona, democrat. caller: good morning, mimi. last night i watched a movie adding movie theater. it was a documentary movie called "the grab." it is about investigative

reporter who has been looking into the international phenomenon of private companies going after land to provide food for their populations. for example, in the united arab emirates there is a field in arizona which was using endless amounts of state water for alfalfa. exclusively to feed the cattle and -- in the uae. there is also a large ranch or farm in arizona, rooney -- in arizona, rural arizona using state groundwater for their crops. the documentary shows that there is an international movement to grab land in all of the

agricultural lands around the world, including africa. they showed a segment in zambia the people who had been farming there for generations, the tribes, they have been cleared from the land by eric prince who used his military expertise to provide security for the landgrab in zambia. there are a lot of instances of international land acquisition in other countries to provide food security for their own state. china included. russia. one more thing, one more thing i want to say. our attorney general was at the audience last night and had a discussion afterwards. she led a campaign to be elected to state attorney general based on this issue of water in arizona. she won by 262 votes statewide.

she has been going to rural communities and talking to them. they are all losing, democrat or republican, losing their wells and land to this landgrab. it is called "the grab" and it is a new documentary movie. host: this article is on pbs.org from april with the headline, in drought stricken arizona fresh scrutiny of saudi arabia-owned farms' water use. that is part of the issue you were discussing. you can find that on pbs.org. rick, crawfordsville, indiana, republican. caller: mi on now? -- am i on now? we are talking about a lot of hate. i notice in every democrat town,

especially folks where i live, indianapolis, there a lot of killing every day. it seems like every town that you go to that is run by democrats, ma'am, there is always a riot and hateful. you don't see that much in other towns that have republicans. here's another thing too, ma'am. every time i hear a democrat come on there, i often wonder, i will be telling the truth, why don't you tell the truth before that gets cold. every time a democrat gets on there, why don't they say -- why don't they tell another lie before that one goes cold? that is all they do, lie, lie, lie.

they better quit before it gets cold. that's all i got to say. host: good morning. caller: good morning. i have so much to say on so many things. the one thing, a lot of ads in wisconsin. democrat and republican. they are all taken out of context. they never tell the full story. especially the thing with milwaukee a couple of days ago. the crime in milwaukee is crazy. a couple of 9-year-old young children under the age of 10 have been killed by people shooting guns off, going through walls and killing innocent children. car theft, street racing, it's crazy what is going on in the city of milwaukee. what donald trump said about milwaukee being a horrible city, that is what he's talking about. arizona, it has been a desert

and is dry. i don't understand why people try to farm in a desert. one of the other things in wisconsin is solar farms. you talk about the food. every time you take away thousands of acres and put up solar farms, you lost thousands of acres of future food production that will help feed us and the world. many things. one last thing, the abortion thing. i wish i democrat you can get on there anytime in the future could give me a date, a number. none of them will. i am an independent and support a woman's right to choose, but i think when you get to the point of viability at 20 weeks, maybe a little more or a little less, there has to be a line in the sand where it is murder. if i'm driving drunk and i kill some pregnant girl on the way to an abortion center, will i be held for double homicide even though she was going to abort

that child? host: next, rachel janfaza to discuss “the up and up" about gen z and youth lyrical culture. -- political culture. >> book tv every sunday on c-span2 features leading authors discussing their latest nonfiction book. at 8:00 p.m. eastern, the american federation for children argues that parents need to be more involved in their children's education in e book "the parent revolution. at 10:00 p.m. eastern on afterwards, the new york times' author of "trippy" looks at the use of psychedelics and mental health treatment and describes

his own experience with them interviewed by the politico health care reporter eric shoemaker. book tv on c-span2. find a full schedule on your program guide or anytime at booktv.org. announcer: since its founding in 1992, the innocence project has been responsible for getting hundreds of wrongfully convicted people in the united states out of prison. sunday on q and a, a innocence project director joins us to talk about the history of the organization and some of the clients that they have successfully represented over the years, including the two men convicted of killing malcolm x in 1965. >> at the original trial in the late 1960's, another gentleman took the witness stand and said he was the shooter and he committed the crime with two other people he refused to name.

the jury rejected that information. what we know is a law enforcement actually had evidence that corroborated his statement. corroborated his assertion that he was the shooter and these other two people, not our clients, had committed this crime. that information was withheld. announcer: the innocence project executive director sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span's q. you can listen to all of our podcasts on our free c-span now app. >> the house will be in order. announcer: this year, 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 to where policy is debated and decided with the support of

america's cable company. c-span, 45 years and counting, powered by cable. announcer: washington journal continues. host: we are joined by rachel janfaza, the founder and a journalist at “the up and up" for our spotlight on sub stack segment. welcome to the program. in your newsletter called “the up and up," you report on political culture and the political feelings of a very specific bloc of voters, gen zers. those up to age 27. why those people? why do you focus on them? guest: this is the generation i am part of. i am 26. growing up, especially in college, i noticed that there were a wide range of social and political issues i noticed my peers really paying attention to and leaning into.

i started to develop a thesis that we have grown up in a period of one crisis after another. that, coupled with social media and that we all have a device that we live our lives simultaneously on i believe makes for a really interesting political environment and implications down the line. i started leaning into that and researching that. now, i am realizing that not only is there political engagement but also for trust and trust in traditional institutions. that is what i am the most curious about and why i decided to focus on this generation for my coverage. host: let's talk about that political environment and what you found. are there certain narratives about this group of voters that you think are either incorrect in most media outlets or not fully explored? guest: it is a great question. part of why i started the “the up and up" in many ways is to

push back about preconceived notions about this generation. there is a trope that young people are politically apathetic. when both presidential candidates could be there grandparents, they don't necessarily see them reflected in either presidential candidate. at least when it comes to the age question. i do think that young people are tuning in. even if they are, as i mentioned, previously skeptical of institutions, it doesn't mean they are shying away from being part of those institutions. we see that with young people running for state house and seats across the country and congress. i do think that that trope is a little outdated. at the same time, we are seeing narratives about what issues young people care the most about. when you think about social movements and movements that young people are demonstrating for in the streets or on college campuses, whether it be israel's

war in gaza, gun violence, or the climate, those issues are certainly important to young voters. but i travel across the country and talk with young americans in all corners and the number one issue i'm hearing is the cost of living and life affordability. i don't think that that is talked about enough when it comes to the issues young people care the most about. host: here's an article by axios showing the latest new york times siena poll of voters aged 18-29 showing that while still ahead for president biden, former president trump is making inroads into the youth voters. the headline is, trump's bid to steal the youth vote. sorry, to steal the youth. that is an important distinction. do you think it is the economy

and cost-of-living issues that that is happening? guest: i think there are many reasons you might be seeing this in these polls and i'm hearing it a little anecdotally as well. before i get into the polling numbers and the reasons that may become the axios reporting mentioned this, but i will add the fact that a lot of polls don't necessarily capture the sentiment of young people in the way that they possibly could given that a lot of these polls are conducted via landline. if there are any gen z years in your life, they don't have landline phones and are not necessarily picking up their cell phone if they are reached out to. the people in my life are not necessarily doing that. i think we have to be careful of that. there are polls that specifically look at young americans, whether that be the harvard youth poll from the kennedy school or the center for information research on civic

learning does great polling of young people. they show that the economy is the number one issue. back to how trump is fairing with younger voters and younger americans, i think that part of this, and there was some polling from a democratic firm called blue print that pointed to this, there is an idea of trump amnesia as folks are calling it. i think that this is a real thing to be aware of when it comes to all voters, but young voters. for first time voters, they were in middle school, perhaps, during the trump administration. they may not necessarily have been aware of all of the policies he implemented during his time in office. at the same time, if you are a young person the cost of life is very high and you're struggling to pay your rent or put gas in your car or looking for a job and you have all of these problems happening right now, and you look at who the person in the white house is and it is

president biden, it is easier to blame him than trump who is currently not in office even though what young people may be feeling today is an artifact of the trump administration. host: call in if you have a comment or question for rachel janfaza, the founder and journalist at the sub stack called “the up and up." you can do that by party. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. we have a line for those under 30. we especially want to hear from you so please call us at (202) 748-8003. you can use that same number two text us. we are watching our social media feeds on facebook.com/c-span and x @cspanwj. you wrote on teen vogue with the

headline youth voter turnout improved by young progressive candidates. explain that. guest: this poll was commissioned by the group run for something, which recruits and mentors progressives running for state offices. the poll found that there is a 61% bump for young democrats who said that they would be more likely to vote -- 61% of young democrats who said that they would be more likely to vote in 2024 if there was a young, progressive, down ballot candidate they were motivated by. what i'm hearing from the young people i speak with, especially in swing states where this poll was conducted, is they are paying attention to local issues and candidates. especially in swing states where there are the strictest abortion laws on the books.

for example, arizona where they currently still have that law on the books, they are paying attention to their local candidates. i was there a couple of weeks ago and they are really excited by some of the prospects of young, progressive, down ballot candidates. the idea is a reverse coattails theory, something that run for something talks about often. it is basically the theory that if young people are not feeling motivated by the top of the ticket for reasons we may have talked about before about age or not feeling represented about the candidates, down ballot there are young, diverse candidates who they may feel more aligned with and can see pardon themselves in. host: you mentioned before that you are going around and talking to people around the country, young people around the country. how do you decide where to go? what are you hearing specifically? guest: sometimes it is the news of the day, if there is a

conference somewhere or an event like that. but i also hold this thing sessions -- listening sessions. i go to a room full of anywhere between five to 30 young americans mostly under the age of 30 although i have gone to 40. i try to listen to their various concerns, top of mind issues, their biggest fear in their biggest hope for the country, what they see locally and at the national level. the way that i decide who i am willing to speak to -- i wish that i could say there was a more organized process, but i'm just trying to speak to as many young people as possible. when i am deciding a state that i'm deciding to go to. the ones i have predominantly focused on are the top 10 states based on a list put out by circle that lays out their prediction for the 10 states where young voters could have the biggest impact on the results of the presidential election. those are the swing states that

you would expect. and then minnesota, new hampshire, and florida. i also went to iowa this year. for the iowa caucuses. when i'm going to an area, like iowa, i will reach out to different universities and campus groups. i ended up at the republican caucuses, so i got in touch with the college republicans at drake university and i held a listening session with them, which was great. in michigan, at the university of michigan in ann arbor, that was with the young democrats. i went 90 miles north where i spoke with a range of students, most of whom did not identify with one party over another. the way that though students were recruited was an organization tabling on campus that day trying to get folks registered to vote. while people were registering, they said we have a reporter later this afternoon holding a listening session with young people. any chance you might be interested in participating? that is how we convened that

group. it's a mix. if anyone listening wants to have me do a listening session with folks in your community, reach out. i'm looking to get to as many pockets of the country as possible before november. host: they can reach you through your website, theupandup.us. jack first in new york city. caller: hi, there. [indiscernible] host: your line is not very good. can you say that again? gen z politicians being different than other politicians? guest: one thing that i've noticed about gen z politicians being different in the way that they operate is really the way that they strive for authenticity. i think this is something we are more conditioned to because of social media. i know in the past we used a lot

of filters, but now the way that stories give a window into people's lives, i think that folks are trying to be as real with the caveat that it is social media. i think that that has trickled into the way that younger politicians are going about their role as elected officials. this could be as simple as going to do town halls on college campuses or community centers that are heavily populated with young people into being a voice for the constituents closest to them in age. i also think with the issues that young elected officials are prioritizing, a major issue is housing and housing affordability. this is something that i hear young elected officials across all government are leaning into. host: billy in texas, good morning. caller: good morning. first of all i want to commend

c-span. we need to work with our young people. i do that. i am a longtime journalist and i have my own newspaper. the importance of america is keeping our young people involved in the voting world. if we don't other people will take them in another direction. i see america is the world leader because we are a nation of god and we stay a nation of god by keeping our youngsters to stay in the same lane we in. we have a lot of crazy people who do different crazy things, but they would never determine the validity of america, because america is the nation of god. i tell people i am a son of god and that is why i can validate what we are doing. i want other people to know to be strong for their kids when they vote and get involved in the political aspects.you

can't tell a lie and get away with it. when people know you are lying they can see the validity and where it is wrong. we have youngsters out there at a young age, you can train them and they can see the validity and importance of us. the important things that you all do for america. host: all right, billy. any comment? guest: i agree, young people should be involved. host: tell us about your sub stack. how often do you publish? is it subscription-based? how do you raise funds? guest: i am fortunate to have been given a grant that allows me to do the listening tours. it is nonprofit for now in terms of subscription. you can subscribe on my website, theupandup.us. i try to publish once a week though sometimes it is more often. once a week is original reporting or updates on

involvements in the youth vote space, be at an interview with a young elected official or young candidate or youth group. then i also try to do a weekly rendition of what i call youth vote in the news. i keep track of headlines about young voters and try to share it some of those out so we can see how young people are being talked about as voters in the media. each week is a little different. this week i featured another young journalist who just started his own sub stack, a newsletter he has done for 13 years. that is amazing for him. he just graduated college, so that's very impressive. i did a u.n. -- a q&a with him. in arizona i talked with young people and shared insights from that conversation. it changes week by week and i'm

trying to pay attention to what's going on in the news and communities i'm hearing from. host: let's talk to dave in michigan, independent. caller: i want to ask you a question. these people want to stay to their one-sided politicians, one side or the other politically. when you ask people questions on a poll or whatever you are doing, what do they think about a 50-50 vote? you are allowed one full vote. as an independent, everyone should be allowed one full vote. if i want to vote 50% for donald trump and 50% for biden i am entitled to that one full vote. obviously, our politicians can add when it comes to election. when you add up the half votes it is no different than voting one way or the other. host: what would the benefit be

of that, dave? what are you trying to achieve? caller: i'm going to say that if i want -- just 50% of my vote to go to biden because i don't like either one of them. maybe i like one policy of one or the other. 50%, i'm just going to add up 50% on one side or the other. same as the other side. host: any reaction, rachel? guest: when i hear from the young people that i speak with, and polls have showed this, is that young people are identifying less and less with traditional parties. there is a movement to buck those labels. young people may not agree 100% with either candidate or either party and see themselves outside of the traditional alignment. host: i want to ask about tiktok. former president trump has

joined tiktok earlier this month despite past criticism.president biden's campaign has been using the app, despite having signed a potential ban of tiktok. what do you think the role is of that particular social media platform and what role it could play for the youth vote? guest: totally. no question about it, there is a wide swath of young americans who get their news only from tiktok. take that as you will, but it's true. i think both candidates should be on the platform. i hear that from young people as well. when trump joined tiktok, his follower count skyrocketed. now, the follower count on tiktok is not necessarily the metric of how a video is performing because of the way that the algorithm works. before you page, you are fed content and it doesn't matter who you follow. he has performed well on the platform.

he did an interview with a wrestler and influencer, logan paul. they touched on some political topics but it was entertainment. they talked about usc and rap battles. as i mentioned before, young americans are creating authenticity and this seemed to be authentic. trump was smiling and laughing and they posted clips on tiktok. that is one way to reach younger audiences. when it comes to president biden and his campaign's use of tiktok, i wrote a piece for politico about tiktok or's and influencers giving advice for the president as he uses tiktok. they said the same thing. he needs to be himself. if the goal of joining tiktok is to reach younger audiences, he doesn't need to pretend to be 18. he should be himself. some of the tips they gave were maybe he should do a get ready with me.

which is where when he films getting ready to go to work at the white house. or bringing his grandchildren onto his account if they are willing to do that. to be himself. to be uniquely him in a way that resonates with young people more than if you were to pretend to be someone you're not. tiktok is a force this election cycle and has been for the last few years. we continue to see that. it really is about finding creative ways to lean into the platform while being true to one's self and talking about issues. another idea that and influencer said when i spoke to them for that specific political piece was, there was a lot of talk about israel's war in gaza and the situation between israel and hamas' attack on october 7. they suggested a tiktok explainer where he goes through the issues, what's going on, how

he handled the situation and with that in comparison to help former president trump talked about the issue. they thought that that would be a good use of his platform. host: the new york times reports that an internal analysis in tiktok found nearly twice as many pro-trump posts as provided in on the app. -- pro biden on the app. i wonder if that could be manipulated by bots, by tiktok owned by a chinese company, or other social media platforms could also be trying to manipulate their users on the platform. what do you think of that? guest: i think it's a great question and something that i'm looking into and thinking that as well in terms of these numbers. how real are they? i posted yesterday on x that the logan paul interview between former president trump and logan paul said that it had 4 million views and it was posted at 5:30 the evening prior.

i was looking at it yesterday morning and wondering how many of these views are authentic views? i don't have a clear answer. as i said, it's something that i'm looking into, and i think many folks are. there has been a boost in trump content on the platform. i think that there used to be one tiktok especially this idea that tiktok was super left-leaning and that most of the content was in favor of left-leaning policies. there has been a lot of talk about the pro-palestinian movement on tiktok and antisemitism on tiktok. i think there are a lot of actors who could be on this platform. it is not entirely clear who those folks are here that is a great question to be asking. host: kathy in downingtown, pennsylvania, republican. caller: rachel, i'm so glad to see that young people are

getting involved in politics, because personally i've had enough of 75 plus people in government. one question i have for you. you mentioned there were trump policies that have been a detriment to gen zers. i'm not sure what those policies are. could you please go into detail and explain to me what policies offended the gen z crowd or kept them oppressed? i will take my answer off their. thank you -- off air. thank you. host: go ahead. guest: thank you for the question. it's not necessarily a policy, but one of the biggest things that i hear from young folks that they are upset by is the folks on the supreme court and the fact that roe v. wade was gutted and abortion has been pushed off to states. that is a top concern for young

people after thei'm often hearing that health care and abortion access is something they care deeply about. the supreme court also blocked president biden's student debt program, and that is something that affects many young people that they have expressed concern with. the supreme court also gutted affirmative action, something that students have been concerned by and frustrated by. host: arthur in california, democrat. caller: hello. host: go ahead. caller: yes. i would like to point out that the young people who are demonstrating against the democratic party and their treatment of gaza are demonstrating against the wrong thing. they should be demonstrating against netanyahu.

he is totally responsible for all of the terrible things that have happened in gaza. they are out there demonstrating against our president. i have another thing to point out. then i will get off and take any answers off the air. your guest today is a brilliant person. brilliant people have a habit of speaking too fast for us 92-year-olds. i would like to very gently suggest that -- half of the time that she is speaking and i can understand her all the time. but when she gets on an idea that she is explaining that is a little complicated, she is really going fast. i just lose her. i don't -- i am not criticizing her. i am trying to help her. host: i hear that. rachel, you talk too fast.

guest: i am so sorry, i will slow down, i apologize. thank you for letting me know. host: george, ohio, good morning. caller: thank youcaller:. i recently kids world, the kids take over the world via the internet, they form a coalition. the adults became so hedonistic that they put them in camps. so that they could carry on their hedonism separate from the children. the children actually run the world in an organic fashion. the industrial world is pretty much overgrown by nature. there is the end of war.

there is no more prejudice. these kids are not oversexed. they are just normal, you know. host: do you have a question for rachel? about the youth vote or politics or gen zers? caller: i think the youth should have more power. the adults have shown all they want is the war machine. lockheed, the government. pay up and pay back, you know. you can't even find out where the money is going. host: how are gen zers engaging in politics these days? guest: i think we see it in many ways, whether it be demonstration against the war, whether it be demonstrations for gun safety, whether it be

standing up for abortion access. we also see young people getting involved in state government at the local level. there are candidates from both sides of the aisle running for state house seats and local seats and winning those elections and serving in those bodies where they are prioritizing issues like housing, as i mentioned, or climate policies. then young people are voted. the past three election cycles we have seen pretty high youth voter turnout in comparison to years past. in 2020, the center for civic research and engagement at tufts estimated 50% of the youth vote voted much higher than 2016. we are seeing young people get involved in politics and take action. host: we have a text from dave

in washington, pennsylvania. to what extent are young voters concerned about their futures being affected by the $35 trillion in national debt? guest: i hear that mostly from young republicans. i don't hear debt come up too much in conversation with young people across the country. i did hear it when i was in iowa ahead of the iowa caucuses. that was something that the folks at drake university were very concerned about. in general, the idea of a livable future is something that comes up in many different conversations. that takes a variety of forms. most recently when i was in arizona, there was so much talk about the cost of living and fear of themselves going into debt. or that they would go into debt because of health care bills. health care is another top issue for young people. there is a little worry about federal debt, but more so the

concerns are about personal finances and life affordability. host: we have about 10 minutes left with our guest, rachel janfaza, talking about gen zers and politics. if you would like to call, you can do so on our lines. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. we have a line set aside for anybody under 30. any caller under 30 can call on (202) 748-8003. speaking of republicans and democrats, rachel, you have a newsletter called -- with this headline. gen z teens identify as more conservative than their parents at higher rates than the lineal state -- then millennials dead. why do you think that is?

guest: i will share that. this data shows that gen z teenagers in particular are identifying more as conservative -- as more conservative than their parents at higher rates than millennials did at their age. part of this, and what i heard from the voices that i spoke to for this piece who are experiencing this in real time, have said that social media is a big part of this. it amplifies extreme voices on both sides, which may be part of this movement towards more conservativeism. also, we talked about tiktok and there has been a trend on social media and pockets of the internet towards more libertarian beliefs. which i think are trending more in the conservative vein,

especially among young men. we are seeing a shift in political alignments when it comes to gender of young people. young men are leaning further to the right where young women are identifying left-leaning. there is a gap growing pushing some of these young men even further to the right. that might be part of this. ultimately, it comes down to a mix of our social media algorithm, some of the ideas of conservatism or libertarian beliefs, and then i think there is also the idea of being a contrarian. as i mentioned before, it is easier right now when you have a democrat in the white house to be -- if you want to be contrarian, you will automatically be more to the right of that. i think that those are some of the factors that are part of this. host: jonathan is under 30 in franklin, ohio, good morning. caller: my name is jonathan and i am 16.

i have a question. a lot of my generation struggles with knowing what we can do. do you have any advice? guest: it is so nice to hear from you. like i said, i've seen young people getting involved in three main ways. if you are 16 you cannot yet vote, but there are ways to get involved. whether it be through demonstrating, calling local elected officials, state or federal elected officials. writing letters. there is so much activism that happens on social media. when i was in college i wrote my senior thesis on the role of social media in youth-led social movements in 2020 documenting how young people are getting involved in social issues through using social media to organize. there are a variety of ways to do that. whatever issue you may be passionate about, there are myriad amount of ways to be

involved. another thing that is interesting that we've seen happened recently is more and more mayors or city council members are creating youth councils that help advise them with their decision-making. these are often nonpartisan groups that come together to help advise a particular elected official on the ins and outs of what is going on in their city. one thing that i heard in miami that has stuck with me is, there was a young girl who was a little disgruntled by the fact that her county did not have a social media channel. they were not on instagram in particular. she wanted to know about local happenings in the community at the time there was an arts festival. she only learned about it after the fact and she wished that she knew about it.if it was on instagram i would have seen it. she went to the city council meeting and made a plea for them to get on instagram. that is one way.

it is not about partisan politics it is about local community involvement. host: edward in keyport, new jersey asking over text. does climate change rank high with the youthful? -- youth vote? guest: this election cycle we are seeing it rank as high as it previously has or we would expect. one thing that i'm hearing a lot from young people, especially in swing states and ballot down states, is that they see climate as intersectional with a lot of the other issues they care about . especially when it comes to the economy. they believe that these are probably more left-leaning voters who share these sentiments, but i've heard from some young folks who believe that pro-climate jobs could boost the economy. it is coming up in ways that may be it didn't come up before. it is still a top concern. i think that a lot of people i mentioned before are concerned about a livable future and about the role that climate change

will play in the viability of that livable future. but it is not ranking as high in the polls that we are seeing. when i am asking folks in listening sessions, it hasn't been one of the first issues that they bring up. host: karel in north little rock, republican. caller: hello. i will talk like i am on the tv. host: you are on the tv. caller: ok, ok, ok. i wanted to say to the people out there that don't get any information. the republican party and the democrat party, ok. a lot of people who just vote

straight democrat or straight republican because their mom or dad or grandpa did. the republican party is a party of these people. it means the government is run by the people, ok. their ideas, their wants and needs are fulfilled by the people elected, a person that actually works for them. ok, that is the republican. democrat is a party that believes that, ok, by hook or by crook they got elected. they are in power. they are the boss. whatever they think is right. be damned what is good for the people.

host: we got your point. sacramento, california, go ahead. caller: rachel, i had a question in regards to -- i am a college professor so i agree with some points. i did not catch the beginning of the segment, but from what i've heard with regard to the gen z way that they are thinking politically and so forth. i'm year that with what i see with my students -- i mirror that with what i see with my students. i wanted to ask about states in demographics. obviously, being in california it is more liberal. i see a lot of the groupthink away when it comes to politics for students. they kind of want to stay in acceptance in their groups as far as not rocking the boat. when i generate political discussions in my classroom, they don't want to rock the

boat. it seems the students don't really want to be expressive openly about what -- especially if they have conservative viewpoints. those students feel they are going to be shouted down. can you elaborate a little bit about some of the different demographics? host: go ahead, rachel. guest: this is such an important question and is something that i'm hearing so much from students in particular about the way that they are expressing themselves on college campuses. to your point, this is mostly students on campuses that perhaps lean to the left in big cities. there is a fear of speaking up in a classroom setting because they don't want to create an argument in the classroom or offend anyone. even if these are beliefs that they hold and maybe they feel passionate about they don't want to create an uproar in a classroom setting.

as a professor, it is incredible that you are holding political discussions in classrooms. i hear from too many students that they feel their professors shy away from political discussions in the classroom for the same fear that someone will get offended or perhaps their beliefs will be called into question. there is this sensitive area around that. i think we are seeing this play out in real time with the way that students are navigating the conflict between israel and hamas and the war in gaza. questions over self-determination and legitimacy. it is forcing students to have to argue with their friends over the way they feel about this issue. it has ended some friendships. it has ended romantic relationships. we are seeing that happen as we speak. i will go back to some polling

data, the harvard iop poll from the spring at the kennedy school showed that nearly one third of college students are uncomfortable sharing their political positions on campus or in a classroom setting. that number has plateaued since the trump administration. it has been the same since 2017, i believe. that is a real reality that both students and professors like yourself have to grapple with. host: rachel janfaza, founder and journalist at “the up and up sub stack. you can find that at theupandup.us. thank you for joining us, rachel. guest: it was a pleasure to be here. host: that is it for today's "washington journal." have a great day. we will be back tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. ♪