host: good morning. the senate returns a 10:00 a.m. eastern today. i spike in decisions in the

supreme court to be handed down. we begin on the loss of baseballs willie mays who's been described since his death on tuesday as an american legend and hero. this morning we want to hear from you on what makes an american who are today's american heroes. to call in this morning. in the eastern or central time zones, 202-748-8000. in the mountain or pacific time zones, 202-748-8001. you can send us aext is 202-748-8003please include yourd where you are from. catch up with us on social media . a very good thursday morning to you. go ahead and start calling in on this question wh merican hero. some of the headlines on the death of willie mays.

from usa today calling him a timeless legend the front page obituary of the new york times, they mays did more than personify the complete ballplayer and an effervescent personality made him one of america's most charismatic figures. a name people far afield from the baseball world recognize instantly as a national a columnist usa today tweeted yesterday playing baseball as kids we thought we were either mickey mantle or willie mays, they were our heroes is an american hero, who are today's american heroewe will take you , then president barack obama awarding willie mays the prhbesidtial medal of freedom. [video clip] >> we do not have time to st ma. runs, 302 lifetime

batting erage.the list goes on . i won't describe that miracle grab because he says that it we have never seen an all-around five tool player que like willie before and we haven't seen one since. he could throw and he could field, for contact and power he was soely keep a hat on his head. willie also served our country and his example whileerica's bit stages helped carry forward the banner of civil rights. fe willie rode with me on air force one. i told him then but i will tell all of you now ibecae of giants like willie that someone like me could even think about running for president. ■2 born in segregated■] alabama, he grew up to become one of the greatest baseball players of all time with his unmatched power

and agility he stepped into the history books as a two-time m.v.p. with60 career home runs and 24 all-star appearances, along the way he captured hearts across america. his life story reminds us of the power of hard work and determination andenerations of americans. [captions copyright national e -- [applause] ■■m■[ willie maysngfreedom in 2n tuesday this week. what makes an american hero, who are today's american heroes in your mind. 202-748-8000 is the number to call in in the eastern or central time zones.

202-748-8001 if you're in the mountain or pacific time zones re having this conversation this first hour of the washington journal today. ■ye sharon in baltimore,ylcaller: good mornin. i want to say good morning to everybody in america. i was calling.there's a lot of . willie mays was a hero. people who are goodness of god's love in their heart and they do the right . barack obama was a hero. how to carry himself while he was president. that's how a president is supposed to carry themselves. you ha p members who are heroes like your mother or father or grandmother. my grandmother and grandfather

were my hero. ight things to do in life. they say we you like, you steal and when you steal you lie and youhould care yourself in a proper manner ahuthat's what's what the people of america need to do. >> do you think there's one today be it in sports or entertainment or some other field that universally considered a by both sides of the political aisle, by ever there one americu would point to today? caller: let me see.

i said it before, but i have to goith barack obama. he was a decent man and that's whmeriwe need respect and kindnd love for onewe don't have those, heroes cannot come from that. i have five adult sons and they are my heroes, they are good decent men and i thank god for hank god for the men that we have here in the united states that are good heroes and i respect them all. we get together and do that, thwe need to get back to having respect for one another. host: to upper marble rural maryland, this is michelle, good morning. caller:d morning john. my american hero is colin capra. he took a s career and he took a

stand when heng men like my son, getting killed and he did it in a respectful way. thought that kneeling was away to protest and flag and its care and he has not backed off of that. we had all of this outrage by his actions, the military, but ■we have a presidential candidae who has calledin the military s, who has january 6 ■dinsurrection against where police officers were injured and killed and he's able to be a presidential candidatendhe leading presidential candidate and capra nikki took a stand helping trying to bring attention to a situationmented s

career. he has stood up and he is an american hero. trying to make this country live up to its ideal. so collin is my hero. -- colin capra is my hero.host:n i would nominate c-span as being a hero if they would sendtexas to prove the republics are lying. host: is t american hero? what are the qualities of an he? caller: i think i would nominate my parents. e youngest of four brothers that military. three of us in korea and i was in vietnam and we all came god

call from orange park, florida. the death of willie mays spurring this question about what makes an americand who are today's american heroes. the foremost attorney general eric holder -- former attorney general eric holder saying he was my first sports hero he wrote and is a connection my humility indecency and real accomplishment with the ultimate positive defining chareric holder writing on twitr our previous caller talking about military heroes just from the 80th anniversary of the d-day landgs in normandy, france on june 7, it was president bide traveled

there to give a speech about america in the world today but taking the time to honor mitary heroes. here are some of what he had to say on june 7. [veo c>> it's not just honor tho showed such remarkable bravery on that day it's to listen to the echoes of their voices, to he■u them because they are summoningthey ask us what would, they are not asking us to scale theseff, they are asking us to stay true to what america stands for. they're not asking us to give or risk our lives but they arare fn our country more than ourselves. us to do to aggression abroad and at home

, it requires something bigger than ourselves. >>e■0 president biden back on je 7 the day after the official 80th anniversary of thd-this is, california. caller: thanks for taking my call. this is an easy question to answer. while raising me and my sister and was a great man and put food on the table and is married to my$ç mother to this day still at 81 yearsld and thank you for taking my call. ho what's your dad's name? guest: his name is louis. host: is there a public figure you think we could all y agree is an american hero right now, wasill --

was willie mays that person? caller: i was a big fan of larry bird who played for the boston celtics. i thought he was a good public figure. he tried his best to stay out of trouble. if i had to pick public sports figure rudy larry bird bread is it easier for us to american heroes in a time when we are divided on politics? is that the easier place to find an american hero. caller: no because someone like charles barkley would tell heroe not stand up figures they are juelves and be in a career that's out there public but they'll be the first one to tell you look up to your parents , look uhost:■ this is just in h carolina. caller: good morning.

i think donald trump, a lot of people on and say what they through and what he is still going out, the media doesn't cover it. what he's went through. for a man to go through what he's went through and still standing and trying w forgood d that's why he runs to start with. i think he's a hero. host: that's jeff in north carolina. ■■0it was donald trump back in 0 of the state of the un the begie year in 2020 that donald trump honored rush limbaugh with a presid his contributions to this country prayed this is what he had to say. [video clip] here tonight is a special man. beloved by millions of americans

who just received a four advanced cancer diagnosis. this is not goodbut what is goos the greatest fighter and winner that you will ever meet. rush limbaugh, thank you for your decades of devotion to our country. [applause] >> in recognition of all that you've the millions of people a inspird

all the incredibleou have done for charity i am proud to announce tonight that you will be receiving our country's highest civilian h■í. the presidential medal of freedom. [applause]host: donald trump awh limbaugh the presidential medal of freedom in 2020. rush limbaugh would go on to pass oil most exactly a year later. this first hour the washington journal what makes an american hero alan in new jersey. what you think? caller:g. all serviceman and all military veterans.

host: an easy one for everyone to agreen?an easy one fore on t. >> you think the military veterans are in easy place to find agreement on this question. caller: yes. it should be. they serve our country■ç and tht should be an easy one in my opinion. host: grand forks, north dakota caller: good morning. how are you today? host: doing well, what do you think? caller: i would start off first of all willie mays, a great player. i would start off with john bass alone the italian-american hero of guadalcanal.

and was -- they tried to say go to gooys and he wentsaid i havto back to iwo jima and did some i. next one, of most decorated man. willie mays there's another thing interesting about who came before that. this a series of shows called the brand that built america, the machines that built america, of the m w channel and they had the history of all these inventors and one of them was a guy named mr. little shop and created the first real useful■;■9aseball in the early leagues and develop the firs glove. men were getting their hands thout gloves so spalding gave us that,

there wouldn't be a willie mays without a spalding. of course abner doubleday who invented baseball.

people invented football and a white gym teacher from canada invented basketball with peach basket. i was getting kicked out of when black people say we were never allowed to play, that's because host: this is sheila and pennsylvania, good morning. >> i first came to this country some 75 yearsgo, i thought it was the most marvelous place and i -- today when i look for a hero i find it hard to find one. i look to the supreme court and i don't find any heroes there.

ess or any heroes there. what of schoolboys bickering over issues and it is so heartbreaking, that's all. look that you find a hero? >> no. >> who was the last american hero you remember sheila? : goodness, maybe eisenhower because he rescued us in england and he rescued us. roosevt us, two heroes there but find it so hard. i know people find heroes all g;i just don't find them. ■l sheila in pennsylvania. tweets as we been having this conversation. writ aoc, alanthis from singh rl

or anyone who advocates for individual liberty and a smaller government singh rosa parks, i met her as a child in a church in detroit mhigan. eldon sang veters like me or my family■÷ members who fought r our freedom. talking about what makes an american hero, who are today's amgive us a call on the phone lines. 202-748-8000 if you are in the eastern and central time zones. 202-748-8001 if you are in the mountain or pacific time zones and 202-748-8003 if you want to send us a text message we will look for those as well. is michael and foxboro massachusetts, good morning. >>ood morning.

i had to scratch m would think is a hero. all the military who delivered us from world war, all those heroes. modern day i would have to look at elon musk, a true, i think he's a national treasure. able to cling to his visions and actually put together businesses andl innovations that i can thik of any other american in recent spacex, digging tunnels to ai. everything he says!x in the process. in the adversity that he has endured, political and personal

is pretty amazi think more amerd look man for the vision of what he's doing for this countn michael . on musk his american hero. jim in north carolina. caller: good morning. how are you? host: doing well, who's your american hero? caller: i nominate filmmaker adam mckay for two films he did recently. one is the big short about how the$'f/ banks allowed for the housing bubble to be created and crash over too much badebt and then the government bailed them out rather than the people o everything and just being able to tell that truth it's a complicated story and he did it with class and with humor and he made it so that people like me

have an economics background could understand what cuhappened. the second film he did more recently is don't look up. when i saw that i was blown away because it answered the question at the end of another film, a netflix original■x called breakg boundaries, the science of our planet where they go through the nine planetary boundaries to keep this world, our lives healthy and stable. endable growing seasons to strive as a species for the last 10,000 years. however, that ship has sailed film explains how we've cro over, those healthy planet boundaries of the time they made the film,

that was 2021. but now we are up to six of the nine planetary boundaries that we'veke and it's only getting worse because we have governments, every politian and every corporation wants economic growtand om to material consumption and we are taking too chif everybody lived like te united states we wou need four more planets. adam mckay writes this film and it explains how it uses the comet as a metaphor for the climate emergency and yet just like in the film and just like rporations today, america cannot face up to the truth that we have too much planet killing greenhouse gases

in t atmosphere. no one wants to talk about it but that's the brilliance of the metaphor and yet all my friends and everybody i talked to mistake it for a politicaland that's this shame and th with us, the publican narrative today that's captured by special interest who cannot afford to stop and take a look at the reality we' created. the world we live in has changed fix it. thank you very much. host: keith in east tennessee, good morning. what today? caller: for my money i'm get a say willie nelson has always been a standup person, a family loving mann he sees an injustice he tries to help aid l

farmers get pot, i don't know wt you think about that or anyone else thinks but i think that's a freedom he's help the liver for people. ■ri think he's a really gooperss es what his fellow man and that's what makes him a hero. willie nelson is an american hero. davis in maple shade n>> presidn american hero. if you look at his life, his legacy all over the world in came from is the most popular president in■[ afra

, more than all other presidents in the u.s., he glorifies god and has impacted so many lives and his christian values make him an american hero. thank you. host: ed in ocean city, new jersey. caller: people who help the homeless, people who help those st addiction, people who help low income prisoners. who is a public figure that you think everyone can agree on that's known for that most important thing in your mind. caller: i can name many now because they are too cozy with people establishment. names on the streets who are

helping the poor e■very day. host: you think it's harder■■q o find heroes today than it used to be to find american heroes? caller: yi am a third-rt think e political establishment, ■4the'e sincere. host: what's your platform? caller: no guns, no wars, guaranteed jobs for everybody, guaranteed place to live for everybody. z?>> how old are you ed? caller: 75. host: are you on any ballots in caller: it's just write in votes but i do it to stress issues being ignored like reducing workplace. host: comedy times if you run for president? caller: 38 years, all-time record in american history. host: why do you keep doing it?

st i love helping pete -- caller: i love helping people and putting out the issues that are being ignored. >> i speak to city councils, bible studies, sunday s■#chools quaker churches, your show. radio talk shows. host: that's ed in ocean city, new jersey. this is steve in springfield, ning.nia. who is your american hero? caller: john cahost: go ahead a. caller: first of all he was a■1 hero because of the war he was in and the way he behaved in the way he acted in that war and how he stood behind what he thought was the american way of behaving

with hellacious circumstances. because of the he challge by bea democrat or republican, by a lady he said obama was a good man, good american man. and a good american candidate and he did not use presidential things■ñ destroy somebody's belief in what they stand for. ■cplast of all it's because whee was he would -- medical care would support it, he did supported. against a lot of people that were against it that did not want to see it including donald trump. host: this is carla in missouri.

oy■>what makes an american hero? ca i thought of someone who is just an ordinary up to help d that's the tunnel the towers ment. killed rushing into the towers to save people and they started a wonderful program and it sort of a family enterprise i from what i understand i supported. i think they've done a wonderful thing in a practical way to help people who are survivors. that's my choice. >> carla in missouri. it was back■■c 2002 in his state of the union address highlighted the first responders

in the ordinary citizens of the united states who responded in the wake of the 9/11 is that mom january. >> months, i've been humbled and privileged to see the true character of this country in a time of testing. our enemies believed america was ■ueb materialistic, that we would splinter inthey were as w] >>magnificently with courage and compassion, strength and

resolve. as i!'e met the heroes and hugged tams and looked into the tired faces of rescuers i have s i all of the american people. and i hope you will join me in expressing thanks to one for the strength and calm and comfort she brings to our nation in crisis. our first lady, laura bush. =g■j>>nh none of us would ever h the people that was done on september the 11th yet after

america wasac it was as if our entire country looked into a mirror and saw our bes. we were reminded we are citizens with obligations to each other, to our country and history, we began to think less of the goods we can accumulate and more about the good we can do. >> president george w. bush back in january of 2002. what makes an american hero, taking your phone calls on the phone split regionally in the eastern or central time zones. 202-748-8000. in the mountain or pacific time zones, 202-748-8001. having this conversation in the wake of how usa today headline describes a timeless legend willie mays born in 1931, died this weekpñ on tuesday in 2024, the front-paget of the new york times starts this way.

j" centerfielder who is brilliant at the plate, in the f giants lm the greatest all-around player died on tuesday in palo alto california. waiting in virginia, good morning out of norfolk, go ahead. >> good morning. host: who were today's american heroes. ? caller: i'd like to say the question is a question that mind-boggling because it seems like someone wouldp up in your mind but it was hard for me to find a hero who cared for mankind whether it was white or black, just somebody who■3 cares for what american people stand a lot of times we say we stand for things but hower our words don't seem to line up.

we take care of our own, that's all of our people. i was thinking about walden, he someone who seemed to bearing and willie mays certainly was one of my heroes. what i look at, i like helping people. people are my heroes and just own, all god's people showing love. on the cofounder of the interracial glue -- norfolk, virginia in 1971 where there was a discourse in the racism on both sides not just whites against blacks or blacks against whites. but they were equal in their hatred in■■gthat's why use the

name peewee because my father gave me that name. i have a friend named sam allens was very humble as a man being so phenomenal is his gift. but i think that question really seems like you would think of somee automatically is an american hero but i could not think of one and that disturbed me. plumbers and firefighters andoro -- postal workers who walk in the rain every day regardless of the snow, there is no off day for a post office wfirefighter o

people who care with a passion. one thing i want t say, we are all createdal because we all die. regardless of power or wealth we leave here. i think that those listening, let us come together in spirit and heart. e says pray for thosee more tour skin whe us and when people dise with us we seem to get offended but i learned when peopleg on 'e when it's the truth yhank you. this question toi work at a recl go back to the kids and ask them

who is your american hero not just because he's a football player or basketball player. bless everyone listening to my voice and as always remember that we take care of our own. host:arl is in charleston, south carolina paired what makes an american her to me i'll starh original heroes of this country which other people definitely disagree with.i'd han slavwhether they volunteered fot or not, they gave up hundre of s country great. they didn't make any money at all so there originally the peol

teachers, firefighters, police. a lot of people that work and to work to help people. but don't make a whole bunch of money all the time doing it. but the original ones with the slaves. +thank you. >>■ mentioned being a military guy. the person who inspired this question this morning, a will gs drafted during the korean war and his obituary news but -- across the newspapers today. this is of the new york times obituary ends about willie mays. he largely stayed away from the controversy and did not --

although we went on the radio 1966 to help quell a riot in san francisco after a black teenager was shot by a white police officer. during the civil rights struggle , jackie robi&%nson criticized m for not drawing on his stature to confront the issues of the day. spring of 1968 he called in to respond saying people do things in different ways, quoted in the book. on the soapbox and preach, i believe understanding is an important in my talks to kids try to get that message across. difference whether you are black or white because we are all gods children fighting for the same cause. rudy in douglas, georgia, good morning. caller: what makes an american hero is someone who inspires others. i'm 72 years old and is al@ fiftgrader my teacher would ask us to report on the news

about watching the news one day and this guy called cash's cla had confidence, he was theheard in my life a black man speak with that kind of confidence and it inspired me. then he went to changefoto muhat against the vietnam war and wasn't allowed to fight for over three years. everything for what he believed in. what makes an american ho is■■ts a stand against odds, risking financial status and muhammad ali, cash'sla was my hero. host:erry in arkansas, good

morning. you are next. caller: thank you. my real hero are the grandmothers of today who have raised children across america who have done itá■ working and i just cannot say -- in the grandfathers that have done so much for the children. and the people. 4ri like people in office who sw good up and how to behave ourselves every day. we need to teach this to our children. your attitude and the crises make so much difference to me than when i think about you. that's of my heroes arethe grandparents and the people who step in that of raisedhost: on s who show good manners, that important characteristic, who is someone who embodies that right now is to mark caller: i think

biden has the best manners. i don't always agree with what he does but he has to do what congress says to do basically and a lot of people don't know the res the president can just step i as and that. he has to think of the entire try. obama did that. he thought of, every race, every religion a very big burden on the people to think of everyone, corner, my le thoughts. to think of everybody. host: about 15 minutes left here asking what makes an american hero, having this conversation in the wanother famous americane died this week, the obituary on bob sure you'll.

he battled asthma and allergies he raced against his three brothers and ran a mile in high school at miami university of ohio. in october 1964 he won the olympic 5000 meter race besting what was considered the strongest field ever assembled for thathe died at agn american to win olympic gold■or it in remarkable sprint in the final yard. bob schul 86, died on sunday. the summerlin beaks france takit month. president honored one of america'jackie, at a ceremony -e ledecky at a white house

ceremony. [video clip] >> what an athlete. winning her first olympic gold humility she has won21 world che continues to compete this■@ sumr at the paris olympics at age 27 which somer swimming. [laughter] 27, don't let age get in your way. [laughter] >> age is just a number to. [laughter] i can't wait to welcome you back to the white with -- winning more metals -- with more metals from team usa. [applause] ■>> the finest woman swimmer in american history. host: gettingesidential medal om

that day from president biden. hero. good morning. caller:y american heroes today are the collegecampus fightg cor the palestine people. it takes a l o courage after you've spent so many years to stand up anor a belief and some of them are winning dis is divesng. the 400 students that took and walked off the commencement, these are what people need. >> josh in mount wolf pennsylvania. i think what makes an american ways it's the people

american heroes. people wre scenes, who are standing up for those who can uo cannot speak. the previous caller spoke about the student protesting i think that is huge. younger generations being willing to stand up for what the face of adversity potentially being seir schools e to graduate i thinkhat's all very important. i've been lucky to serve on the council for the wn iive on. help the impoverished, help thes needy. we volunteer fire company here of men and women

for asking nothing in return are willing to put themselves in danger to save life. i thk s a lot of heroes today we just don't hear about them. host: are there less public heroes today than there used to be? caller: i think so. i think the divisiveness of politics and just the way the money is in politics to be honest, everybody is just so boug for. i think if you're loong fho are doing things notwant to seek ret because their character requires them to. and those of the heroes. host: glenn in texas, good morning, you are next. caller: good morning c-span it's

been a while since i've gotten on your program. my american hero is who has been good for the usa and our illustrious senile president joe biden will never be in that category. he is called the goat of america. person that may donald trump. he is wont to doe he opens his mouth. n't think that the goat will be president again in november. thank you. host: what makes an american hero? caller thank you for the topic this morning. i think everybody needed a break from the political back-and-forth.

as far as american heroes go but i would like to mention one, on the journalist side andment . the journalist side would be john mclaughlin the mclaughlin y head. was nothing better than watching that show on fridayor john to say issne and then the show would start. host: fred barnes with him often. caller: it was pat buchanan, ie. eugene robinson i believe. but that was in the 90's. i know we had a group on there before t■t■phat.

we watch that show up until the re he was barely able to sit in the chair and people were helping them out, that was a great show. on the entertainment side the name is the person i really looked up to is jed bartlett. that's in the fictional preside. caller: would've made a great president, yes. in some ways i guess aaron sorkin who created the show the west wing. ifly to learn about politics but did not want to sit through the newsg. it's a fairly accurate description of the white opera's according to people who worked entertainment side, martin out there.s always put h i heard he got arrested not too long ago with a protest.

and john mclaughlin. so many.e john so many that i look to as heroes. host:today than maybe some of te other callers? caller: there's all kinds of heroes out there. one guy that i've loo■sd up to. he's on your show a lot is don bacon, congressman don bacon. every time he's on i havelook a. seems like■ he very much in tune to working with people instead of working around people and some waysi still do but i'm sto get curious about what she is standing up for. host: less than 10 minutes left taking your phone calls. we have an open forum later in our program

in the segment you can call back then bread harold in tennessee, gohead. caller: good morning, thank you c-span. all the nurses and medical work4er those girls got up and went to work every day. host: you're talking with the nurses and medical workers. caller: yes. they got up and went to work every day knowing they were risking their lives for their family into me they are truly a hero. i think dr. fauci is somewhat a hero. when you stop and think that's one of the american tragedies of all time in this coury shout out to taylor's swifter being aero for standing up to women's freedoms and stuff. those are the ones that come to mind. the this picture one time of the nurses up in michigan ibunch of those t

standing up there like they were going to attack those little girls and women, of those people i really wish more people would pay attention to what those girls -- those health-care workers went through during the covid pandemic. truly a tragedyy stood up and saluted and went there every day. thank you guys veryhe show very. host: you mentioned dr. fauci. he's out with a new book getting a lot of years at the national institutes of health in the trump administration, the biden administration. the book called■' aoctors journey in public service. this is joel in south dakota.ca. heroes of the farmers and ranchers to get out there every morning toend th fields and tend to their livestock and feed

harry in kansas city, missouri. caller: this is terry. h people who turned their lives around. whether it be from addictions or moralxample michael cohen and hunter biden. host:caller: i do. they were on the wrong path and now they are on a better path and it's hard for on the wrong path and then to have this miracle of turning their life in ;othe oppositedir. i hope they keep it up. host: a few more of your comments facebook. james writes the world war robin

d my great grandmother who raised me and e m crow south. jamie sang speaking uth to powernggast the odds for charitable nature are what makes an american herharriet tuy carmichael, fred hampton and cornell west. this from aztech saying those who sell fruit -- selflessly sacrifice, many heroes are only being's spoiled bratsthemselves. we will keep taking your calls good morning.m caller: good morning. my hero is a native american by the name■n of dilley mills. in 1964 he wpon a gold medal in

thymwinning in the 10,000 meter. the first time in american never one that. i got to meet him in idaho and he signed a race number of mine and a gold medal of mine. ■#he's -- i think he is 80 something years old now. he still lives in california prayed he is a true america amey an outstanding man. host: did you tell them when you met him and is a good thing to meet uri told him it wo stand by him. he ran in a race that day and actually got to run with him. it was amazing. this isn. you are next. caller:d mays. jackie robinson, all these great players.

willie mays was probably you could've most call him a brother of martin luther king because he had deep every man is equal. you stop about our real heroes. our real heroes of the ones that have given their lives to keep us free. those of america. we have our daily heroes as they pass away but we can never forget thenes that have kept us free. thank you. ■qcaller: good morning. the hero i want to recognizere they do a lot of work to remind us all this is a country for

everyone, not just the majorityr everyone and hold the politicians feet to the fire, especiallyaf who want to pass laws that favor christianstians. i think that's a very uniquely american ideal. host: what do you thi of requir0 commandments be displayed in every public school classroom? caller: it was decided to be unconstitutional in the 80's and i don't think it's right muslim children for example have to sit in a classroom and be held under these rules that are from a christian bible. this is not 's exclusively for christians. that's the whole point. host: that 10, emmons law being

challenged by the aclu andther dutch others predestinate do that for the first second of the washington journal. plenty more to talk about. we will be joined by mcginnis and the committee for the responsible federal budget discussing the state of the countries physical health. later former members of congress , the cochairs of issue ones national council on election integrity getting funding for election security and threats to the election process. that's coming up washington journal today prayed we will be right back. ♪ >> american history tv watch little remarks by presidential nominees and politicalnator bare

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>> "washington journal" continues. host: viewers are familiar with maya macguineas, the committee for a responsible budget. she joins us on a spun headlines like this from the washington post, the national debt wi by 2034 accorda budgetdog. is there a limit to how much debt we can take on as a nation, and is $50 trillion over that mi 100% there is arowing beyond your means. yoha exactly where that limit is. i have said that there is a line but you don't know where it is into you cross it and the is to not find out where the number is.

the issue is lend us money start to be concerned about the fiscal path we are on and say if we are going to continue to lend your money we will demand higher intere slows the economy and creates large rd pushes up interest rates more. very difficult cycle. 1e■ó■&it is a moment that we d't want to so■éic pain unnecessarily. before we had that moment, things are weaker in the enomy and national security because our debt is too■g high. there is great cause for concern out of■u this congressional budt office report. host: who holds the $34 trillion

of our u.s. national debt? guest: you are looking at debt ■h t is a great website. it is held in many place is from domestic, people who are saving money in 401(k)s in different and they own treasuries. they are safe and a way that the borrowing the bills and tax revenues that we take in dlon'cover that, they put out the notes and people show up in the ended up of nor, central bas ofpart of it is bar. it's a of that $34 trillion back we borrowed from ourselves and are paying back. part of it comes from countries

around the world. one recent has been some of the countries are not aligned with u.s.. chinow billions of dollars of treasuries which makes when they think about the rivalry between theun couries andother tool in f power dy can play out in ways that aren't just economic. host: herara few of the numbers. deubc will rise 99% of grossestic product this year to 122% in 2034. the budget defic is projected to be $1.9 trilln is year and growo 8 billion dollars. interest costs will reach 3.1 grow to 4.1% in 2034. which of those numbers most concerns you? guest:u2 there is not a good number in the bunch. that isist of really bad

numbers. let me go through them with context. it is hard to understand trillions. the debt has a shared gdp is going just below it is on track to break a record that we had never had in this country in three years. the gdp and that wasm right after world war ii. the de gdp came down quickly in the next couple break that record without the world the debt to continue growing faster than the economy every single y. those numbers that you put out that are daunting are rather optimistic because they assume twll of the policies set to expire will come up most of that means the trump tax cuts from 2017.

we have both candidatessaid th'x president biden has talked about offsetting the cost but not about how it would happen. ■snit assumes no recession. the economy could turn down it assumes there is no more■ borrowing over the next 10 year window. congress has the capacity to borrow and not fully pay for the legislation it passes. so the policy further is in cry -- is high. there is great cau for concern. the interest payments is the eating that she's his number

to be concerned about. the payments on the national debt have eclipsed defense and how much we spent on def this year. that is a warning sign that if you are spending more to finance the borrowing for the interest payments then you are on the national, that is a very real national secustest growing part of the budget, the second largesit runs over $6,000 a year household. this is money that is going from the borrowing of the past. that is the number i think will cause markets to start to become more concerned. and pressure. a huge squeeze on the budget and onlyroedthere is nobody encouras to read the congressional budget

report. it is not everybody's top reading but the reports are wonderful and written clearly. the interest numbers are all signs that we are on an unsustnumbers will cause people to wake up and think about how we can't stay on the path we are on. host:e projection the topict with maya macguineas. phone lines republicans (202) 748-8001, democrats (202) 748-8000, independents (202). needs very little introiowhat is the commia responsible budget? guest: it has been around for decades. i for two of those decades.

it is a remarbl group because we have a board of directors who have been in government and worked on these issues, the head of the budget committee, treasury departmentcongressiona. ■r importantly, we are a bipartisan organization. i am a political independent. we have republicans, democrats all on the board. concern thating dangerous amous of money. it is not that you have to balance the budget every year. in fact,ole is so bad we won't be able to balance the budget anytime soon. a very important goal which is the debt not continuing economy. you want to stabilize debt and put it on a downward path. the way we need tout borrowing is there are some times that for economic reasons it is important toit is very gdd

during covert and the recession. when the economy isg below where you should it is important to borrow and be able to borrow. also borrow when the economy is strong. ingle economic justification for doing so and the reason we do its that it is politically easy. no one wants to talk about the fact that youeed to cut spending or raise taxes and we need to do both atwe think abouu should borrow not for reasons, an economic reasons and that is not the case right■s no. we put up the policy report and works with the government in a bipartisan way. we are working with the states for public agitate -- education talks across the country, during the election we are trying to get people to talk more about this issue address it. one thing that is important to

political organization and don't have a political agenda. government but the real choice is are you g■oingo pa■y for that government or push the costs off into the future and have the effects of that hit future very working -- worried about economic damage that those choices have and are continuing to impose on the country. host: you can go to the wsite for the committee for a responsible budget. the call is from denver out of west chester, ohio, line for republicans. caller: i was thinkingtion need, a budget process. like regular order, but how we budget, not a balanced

budget but how we address the process. but one of the things we need to do is divide out issues similar eting and take the issues one at a time. i willexample and it is the cosf diabetes. we spend $330 billion a year just on diabetes alone which means that every single person s obligated to put aside thous dollars per person to pay for the disease. it is 80% preventable. get downt cost. look at our medical costs are something like 18% oft our gdp or some very high number. if you were look back and say, ok, we

changed snap and added suites and we have to educate people harmful to our health.igh what politician is going to to g healthier as a nation and by encouraging our citizens to eat healthier and this is how we are going to do it. and the snack industry, when you say them, -- when you make them compliant they can go back. guest: was fabulous. very impressive. come and work with us. very good information in there. absolutely the budget process needs to be reformed. the system we work under now is outdated and has been5nr aroundr decades and is clearly not working any longer. if you look at all of the basic budget deadlines, we are missing all of them.

we don't even pass a budget in this country. i am sure most people don't reale that. we are operating not under a so often these days. we havethe budget committees are supposed to each come out with budgets, reconcile the difference and then go to the appropriations process were discretionary. we do not have an actual budget that gets passed and if we do and it is hard to remember when we last didt even have a fiscal requirement. limit on harlem much borrowing you can put in your budget. the only limit is something that we have called the debt ceiling. having huge dramas around it whth massive fights over whether and how to lift it.

you haveo would default and that would cause crisis around the world. it serves as the only reminder th about ways and every time you lift the debt ceiling you the fiscal situation. the last time we lifted the debt ceiling that did happen. we had that it one truly knows to $2 trillion in savings. the problem but it was a start. for manyy time congress lifted e debt ceiling actually had more borrowing so they made it worse. i think borrow. much too much of a repercussion.

we need to alter thats to make improvements and not allow us to make the situation worse. ■@many reforms need. we need to figure out how toeed. avoid government shutdowns and how congress can do it to reflect broad perspectives. we are very diverse and budgetary purposes. we7÷eea process that will reconcile those differences through the act of ron we don't recognize the longer-term efcte are times whey will cost money but lead to higher growth over time than other policies. i am not saying that the policy will pay for itself. it■■o here this the for itself.ax cuts will■d payor

th i and certainly not true with i encourage people to n fall for the line that you won't have to pay for it. 6jvery different growth effects and will be very to understand which things would help the economy more orthe onl. sometimes you do it because it is theent a problem in the futu. but having that information is useful i love the caller's question. host: are in carmel, indiana, democrat. caller: i have a view than your guest and that i think we operate on a currency abilite

expenditures to the full capacity. ild prioritize the health care system, fully a space for's policy that ensures the u.s. dominates the next frontier of space so we have the resource of the whole solar system to draw from. that will give us the growth we to fund our economic capacity and fund reparations for african americans of upwards of $16 ■q and fund the armed forces the way we do today. meae extent of how those expendituren

and price stability. we have sovereign we can issue currency in any amount it wants■o and avoiding adverse effects on employment and climate change. we have a lot of competing suppliers in the marketplace. those are the measures that are important, not budge guest: thank that is helpful because it is a very different perspective than my own is certainly out there and i hope i can do it justice. part of the thinking is we don't need to worry about borrowing because we borrow default pay that is true. we can alway defaulting.

o!-8another part of the argumens we can just continue to expand the money supply or print money and the only real constraints when you hit inflation you make the choices to improve the inflation.there are a lot gravei that entire approach. one is, it the case right now e we are in the midst of inflation. our inflation is still too high. we should actually be pulling back on the spending and borrowing which is something we are very clear one of the best ways of a fiscal approachbrrrow. so there is real concern aut the fact that much of that legislation we have passed since covid#÷, we have continued borrowing since then for a made the inflationary pressure one of the concerns is by the

time inflation has entered your economy,t is very hard to get control of it. we have very difficult inflatio mone of them was a too. another was supply chain problems and another shock as russia invadedkr down to where t the fed and others have fethis is a very risky approach. we haven't gone tou what we jush in this country and for a lot of içpeople they made the case you don't have to worry about it and wish years of

there athere.g we all wish you could just boowspend and we all wish tax cs actually paid forings are not te there are real limits within an economy. you can do all the things that the caller said. the spacet of important things we need to talk about and i have to agree with the number of them. bu the question is, do you want to pay for them, which unless your economy is forming and that what the budget is. if it is worth doing it is worth paying for or do you not want to pay em huge risk of debt and growing interest ■payments and large deficits weakening the economy international security and us■nh on inflation and interest rates, do you want to push all of your economy and into your future and to your and

i can't possibly say that is the right choice folling to pay for the priorities we want to pursue . priorities out there. host: you mentioned tax cut. we talking -- been talking about that looking to win the trump era tax cuts are set to expire. how did the cbo 10 year projection account for the expiration of those tax cuts? that is one of those risks i cbo rightly assumes thae will abide by current law. so any policy that6w is set to expire is not assumed in the numbers of projections that the cbo puts out. right now we have the tax cuts and a big chunk expiring in 2025. from aighly unlikely to happen t

if we do extend tes that will be another tax cut and will drain revenue from the federal budget and enlarge the deficit and push up payments and grow our national debt unless we find a way to offset the cost. you can do that by cutting ending to meet the amount of tax cuts or you could do itg o't as good for the economy. options but they are not easy. the politicali env we have two parties that are so incredibly polarized right now and every single issue about exs and everything is so important parties will justify to themselves we need to compete and win and the way is we give things away, give tax cuts, new spending. both parties want to do both and we d pay for it. we engage in terrible b the poll

next election or the hearts and minds of people by trying to pander through borrowing. it is a terribly dangerous political approach and we see it all the time. back to the■ it is likely that some or all of the tax cuts will be extended and there will be further tax cuts. that is what happened when president obama extended muchth. that would make those numbers which are very bad alreadyn worse. by the tune of $4 trillion or $5 trillion. the tax cuts will be incredibly costly, multi trillion dollar price tag. host: to rocky mount, north carolina, wayne, independent. caller: good morning.

what ever happened to the flat tax that was spoken about i remember twice in my lifetime and they let it. i believe that would probably sound a fair share. corporations are people, when you are major corporations getting tax breaks and making record profits, it doesn't sound well to me. i will let you into th ple guest: thank you. the flatax, two parts. income tax we have progressive rates and so they are higher as yo i during the flat tax would bring it down so we would have one flat rate for everyone or two and four

corporations may beg, the tax r. the other part of the flat■ tax is it thinks about how to get rid of so many ofidual tax breaks in the tax code an hs and deductions and exclusions and create a swiss cheese tax code. as a result we collect about $1.7 trillion year less in revenue than we otherwise would have without the tax cuts. the revenue would c almost $5 trillion a year, we lose closea year in taxes because of the tax breaks. a flat tax might also get rid of a lot of those tax breaks. ference about the tax code. my preference is i believe we should have a progressive tax code have -- like a couple different rates.

the exemptions and many -- of as economist and we recommended just limiting the amount of tax breaks as a sharincome or certain dollar amount so couldn't be collecting so much that it brought your tax rate down. that for individuals and corporations but there are limits tthe alternative minimums something designed and if designed correctly makes a lot where there should be a minimum tax paid across the board. when i got iivviduals and around

maybe doing it lately but their abilit that swiss cheese allows them to save huge was intended treat them fairly. host: this is sarah in moncks independent.h carolina caller: i am an history teacher. the hardest thing thatng to my t economics. question because i have been through 10 on presid■#y+ene national debt. i have noticha contribute to the to democrats. can you speak to, i sure if your office does this but can speak to the last four

presidentsbution to the national debt has contributed■ño our tha. i will direct you d interested r ls on our website. one that i really like and it as you are asking as soon as we are able to build it a debt thermometer. what it does is it looks at every sing how much in policies and executive actions ntted to the national debt . for instance, we are above 400 billion so far this year. last yr there was net savings because of the fiscal responsibility act. over thewere additions to that driven by both there has been a storyline recently that if we hadn't cut

taxes since we las would not haa physical problem that we have today. that story is tanother storyline which is both the growth in spending and the spending policies we put in place have our debt could have basically been paid off if our spen has -- had just stayed the same share of than it has rather than the growthsq■ we have seen. that story is true. the fiscal situation has come equally and close to equally cuts one third, spending increases, roughly one third, and the response of the emergencies we in 2008 and 2009 and covid. split equally between that, the

run-upn the national debt from the last surplus is three quarters from bipartisan policies. most of these policies have been passed with bipartisan support. if youook it differently, not what justegis because there is built in growth in the budget. if you look at the next 10 year i revenue as a share of gdp will be at roughly the average we have had over the past 50 years. the spendingnd share of gdp is going to be significantly higher, a few percentage points. revenue is basically anddown bas but back tonding is where the growth is. the reason for that is our growth, three big drivers are retireme policies, health care policies and interest on the

ebt. if you look at theioration of the fiscal situation since we last had budget surpluses, one as a share of gdp, two from spea share of gdp. some is automatic and happens passed. so those are the numbers and we will put out a chart soon that shows all of the president and i hope it will help with your history classes, including when there were recessions and times that you should be borrowing and you■ are firm when things were bipartisan and one party alone. this is not a simple and one is good, most of the policies that have added to the deficit over the past year since we last had surpluses have actually been bipartisan and a good chunk of them were responses to emergencies that we have been hit with.

e want to have a stable fiscal situation is so we are able to borrow during■■ those emergencies. it is important that whenever the n■p international emergency is, recession, we are able to borrow to help keep the economy afloat when other forces are pushing it down. that is one of the reasons you want to have the fiscal flexibility and keep your debt low so you can borrow at the moment when yoedthank you for th this issue. ityou are welcome to reach out o us directly. urriculum and trying to do it in a nonpartisan way. we have interactive tools and we caller is public education trying to teach this. ■vplease feel free to reach out and we will give you the answers and will go back farther. host: go to the in the search bar has interactive so you on and if you want

that debt thermometer, it ise t. this is what it looks like. it is all available at their website. this is charlie maryland, republican. caller: i have a simple comment. she mentioned early onha time gg what a trillion you might consia trilli s is 31,000 years and 50 trillion seconds is 1.5 6 million years. i think ma with those concepts and help the public appreciate the of current mastery and the work she is doing on the subject. thank you.

one of the big problemscannot ua trillion is. it was not that long ago that in the budget world we talked in the billions and suddenly it has switched to trillions. the deficit this year will now be much larger than it was just four months ago. it is going to be $400 billion larger this year trillion and the way they wrote in the ■reporto talk to trillions. we couldn't understand billions and so i areci will get those ul illustrations to use them to have the impact. the numbers we are talking about are astronomical.

it takes the pressure off when people think, ifebt is 28 trillion dollars right now, what is wrong trillion. that is the opposite from the right approach. about saving money and bring the borrowing down from what it is. it is going to cost a lot and it will require a lot of savings. we should probably save $7 trillion over the next 10 years just to stabilize the debt close i think the caller is right and we need to find different ways to talk about it. we have a tool looks not just at that but every linef thend re of per householdperson. hopefully those numbers help illustrate the costs as well. the fact that we spent more than $6,500 per household on interest payments.

that is a jaw-dropping use of the money in the f you have beee committee years. in that time, when did we the most responsible federal budget? guest: well,■2 that is a great question. the most responsible came when i was becoming engaged in this, not during my tenure but when president clinton worked with both democrats and republicans in george bush started it and president clinton started it. ■dokwe put in place budget deals that brought down the dthat is s s bipartisan. the country understood that there were real risks from growing and interest payments exist something we have again and that

put pressures fromindividuals ay who wanted to see fiscal is theis no norm. you have things and say that we can just print money and keepç4@ borrowing during inflation. the norms have changed. the closestreally responsible up situation was a commission report over a decade ago. gs and it was spending and revenue. everything has to n and anybods promising not to touch taxes and changes in mfix those two progra decade. that will mean aurity

of 21% for every single recipient, people who depend on it. that is unconscionable. we need to be talking about how we will address these problems. anybody who promises what they won't do as a politician, don't let themy with it. ask them what they would do to fix it. there are many different answers but not doing anything or wishing away the problem is not one of the great new and it was from some of the most conservative and most progressive members of congress but was never brought for a vote i think it would have passed and we would be in a much better situation than we are today if we had done that. had some policies and fiscal responsibility thatwas last year. that was a great start. it only really focused on the discretionary portion of the

budget and not where the biggest growth is. the biggest is spending on health care, retirement, interest on the debt and the fact that revenues don't keep up with that. spendvery senior on every one we spend on children ithe feral budget. that is where the big growth is. fiscal responsibility act was one of the most impressive things we have done and it was that members of congress were able to come together in a bipartisan way. we now need to focus on the real parts of the budget, the politicians say they won't. we have to look at social doesn't go to possible cuts. ■ñ savings in health care is hard to dot savio be had. we have to look at revenues and there are ways to do that that will be must latch -- less

damaging. we have to look at outdated■8 rams. everything has to be on the table. that is what it will take to ben responsible and i do think the to getting it right and i hopego you can put commission in the near future and take anothe a chance to edue members of congress to build trust and relationships to educate the country and create a political ?environment that maks it easier to do and they are not but if we don't attend to will be weake budget will be weaker and we willemergencies and update our social contract we need to save social security and medicare and think about new policies to ensure against today's modern economy with lots of disruptions . we will be in a dangerous situation geopolitically and

national security compromised if the debt continues to grow and we continuer countries. so many reasons that we have to make and i desperately hope our politicians in the country can come the■=r to work on doing the hard work that will strengthen our budget and our economy and around the world if we do it right. host: maya macguineas thank you so much. coming up, we will be joined by a former representative -- former representatives to then, is open forum. time to call in. you can even go back to the question we asked as what makes an american hero.

phone numbers are on your screen. and we will get to the calls after the break. ♪ ■!>> on thursday june 27, tune into the presidential deba livee two presumptive nominees, president joe biden in former president donald trump face off turn your vote ahead of the read coverage begins at 8:00 p.m. eastern with a preview of what is to come and 9:00, the simulcast of the presidential debate. following theate, stay with c-span as we take your calls and get reaction to the first debate of the campaign season. the c-span presidential debate

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voters. friday, a sneak peek at the republican national convention ■9including interviews with memd walkie mayor, -- the milwaukee and preview the field of the convention. tune in july 5 to watch the campaign trail preview of the democratic national night at c-, online or download as a podcast from c-span now or wherever you get your podcasts. , your unfiltered view of politics. the house will be in order. >> c-span celebrates 45 years of 3ucoveri congress and the like no other. since 1979, we have been your

primary source for capitol hill, providing balanced, unfiltered view of government, taking you to where the policies are debated and decided, all with the support of america's cable company. ears and counting, powered by cable. >> "washington journal" continues. host: it is open fom time. here is what is happening on capitol hill today. the senate returns at 10:00 a.m. and another opinion day at the supreme crt.aw down shortly. there is a live shot at the supreme court. is going to get a lot busier in the next hour or so as we wait those opinions. also today, mayors from across the country set u.s. conferences meeting. thatlive coverage starting at 10 a.m. eastern with a look at

economic challenges facing cities, panels thughout the day on social justice, homelessness and others. you can watch live coverage on c-span, c-span.org and the free c-span video app. now, on m. policy issue or you can even return to the russian -- question that what makes an erican hero and having that discussi in the ke of the death of willie mays. this is sydney in bradenton, florida. caller: commenting on the last guest with the budget situation. it was painful the fact0í that i hear less about generating revenue in terms of having dividuals pay their fair share of the

loopholes used to hide income and the type of things investment people can do which l household isn't able to do. at the same time, you have to spend some money at certain pointsnot every time all the tit a lot of the calculations are repetitive. the reality is if sometng goes wrong in your house that requires a major fix, you have to fix it. it is not like you have to continue to fix it b i needs to be done at that time, like with the pandemic. there was stuff that took place that needed to be addressed. it this will be the way it will be spent all the time. one part of individuals paying their fair should be a consistent thing. it is just like a home buyer.

i have to pay a mortgage that last over a certain amount of time, 30 years. it is not incumbent for me to do this all in one year or two s or three years but i have to do it consistent thing and let the rest do what iti am looking foro stop talking about trying to take people's spending and deal with more of those who need to contribute more in terms of revenue. host: this is ricky in montana. caller: morning. i think session on the federal debt was probably one of ■qth this program for a long time. it is obvious that in order to manage thisebt the country needs to -- the economy needs to

grow, the taxable income needs to■é grow. i am in favor of supporting policies to implement and do ít.rthat. in order to do that, in m an trs electricity. if the economy is going to grow we have to grow the electricity available. and alsorewest and areas is a big problem considering the impact of all of that leads me to the onlo produce more electricity, mofrer energy.

r electricity but■ seawater to freshwater and supporting and pipe lighting it i appreciate your comment on that. host: from big sky country to the sunflower ste, in kansas. caller: reuters ran an article on replenishing t strategic petroleum reserve. i remember back when joetaking t to lower at the gas prices. come to find out he was selling that for $95 to 100 dollars a barrel and now he is replenishing itt $65 to $85 a barrel and has bought back 36 million barrels that means a

profit of at least $540 million just by8z if we use the $80 he is buying it b for $95 and he is making america money. also the keystone pipeline is open. i don't my republican friends are thinking aboq1ut. the united states is the number one producer of oil in the worll per day, more than at any time thate ever produced in our lifetime. in fact, it is the most that any nation on the face of the earth has ever produced. host:úl are you in the oil and s industry? caller: biden is shutting them down, he didn't do a good job, did h

i am not in the gas industry. i just look at the facts andme , three representatives i have talkedo en■ on your show will not acknowledge that the keystone pipeline is open. several phases areed and have been open since 2010. ■7oil flows through that every day. inowledge and v pipeline is open. if you want to talk about keystone xl, that dit runs frol city nebraska, and texas. i don't with the problem is. every time somebody says if joe biden shut the pipeline down, you need to push back. host: this is lewis in colorado, republican line. caller: i have a list of heroes

for you. a couple you may recognize. mark live-in and alan dershowitz mark levine and alan att tiaibi. a fighter. the folks in new york who recognized and caught the that guy down, maybe■8 you shoud get some names on those folks and put them on. ho when we had the callers in about heroes, some were saying it is hard to find public figures who are american■4 that everyone can agree on.

what do you think about that anybody and walks the street and put their life at risk to defend us, people they don't knowd, those are american heroes walking around every uniform whe military uniform, those guys are obviously heroes. somebody mentioned murphy, i think he is still the most decorated soldier and those are the type of heroes that we should all aspire to recni mayb, caller: two points. ■úas far as americansingle persn

this country is an americantalka will put the 10 commandments but they support and vote -- vote for a man who broke every one of them. on the 10 commandments issue, this is the ap story as it appears in theqouisiana nolle first state to require the 10 commandments beised in every public classroom. the mandate is by 2025 a commandments in large and easily readable font required in all public classroom from kindergarten to state-funded university. constitutionality warning that

lawsuits like usproponents say f the measure is not■u solely religious but has historical significance. in the law of language the 1 commandments are described as a foundational document of our state and national gornme. civil rights groups and organizations who want to keep religion out of government have promised to file lawsuit challenging it. this is in indiana, republican. -- caller: i would like to talk about the debt that we have. it seems like to me there are twoeople mainly with the calls, pelosi and schumer.they e the infrastructure, and

where has all the money gone? as been held accountable for any of it. ■opelosi, she disgraced the unid states. sheor speech up right behind the president. shrupt person there is in whhost: nancy pelosr speaker of the house in the house of representateshow do yo7 terms of trying to keep congress to school he responsible? caller: well, our debt would non if it was not for her. these last bills they did over covid was ridiculous been held

accountable for. almost $10 trillion that they spent on and this covid relief money, none of that money has ever been held accountable for anybody. ho: our caller ia picture of hee dalai china, a high-level inclur house speaker meeting with dalai lama in india on wednesday. the delegation led bthpublican e committee on foreign affairs,arn tuesday this week. thathere in today's "new york times." this is michael, new york, hells situation that we are seeing, not allowing robert fq4 kennedyr the third party candidates into

presidential debate. this is disingenuous of them because for the past three yes, been foaming at the mouth on how donald trump is a threat to democracy, we must be stopped, all this stuff. colluding with trump to keep robert kennedy out of the . i think that is ridiculous. let's face and common sense tells us that the vast majority of p would like robert f kennedy and other candidates in the debate because it will make it much more interesting. can you imagine, who would want to watch a debate between donald trump and joe biden? nobody. talk about boring. $/ is eternally worried about their ■ratings and getting more eyeballs, and they will deliberately air a debate that dy wants to watch when they could have debate that everybody

would want ■!to watch? it doesn't make sense, but there is a simple explanation, and that is because both of these parties arereds of millions and billions every election cycle on these disgusting tv commercials, so cnn and other networks, so they are beholden to these two major parties who do not want rfk in the debate, and these contrived rules are ridiculbts, row all over again, you want to be the debate? you have to meet all these crazy requirements. the head of cnn, mark constant, he was■qhungry for nes that is trustworthy and and he g preside over this debate that is not trustworthy or accurate. thank you. host: tha in new

york. "the washington post" story notingles put in place indicate a candidate must appear on enough balance requisite 200 torathat would be needed to win the presidency, along with running 15% and four national polls. the rules were set b cnn for appearing in the debate. this is edna in chicago, democrat. good morning. caller: america. i had to laugh at your previous caller. can you imagine robert kennedy and donald trumpwhat a shame. robert f kennedy is not fit to be president no more than trump and the man was saying that they will be boring? how can you have a boring deb hn in the country in the debate?

host: in illinois. this is john, virginia, independent. caller: good morning. it bothers m, on trump's recent trial, why they charged him with 34 counts en basically, it was all the same thing. like over and over again, and they broke it down into 34 that is like somebody stole a carton of cigarettes, und charg0 counts of shoplifting, one for each pack of cigarettes, instead of stealing a carton of cigarettes, and you did a show talking about the trial against trump. basically, from watchhat the everybody keeps saying pain hush

illegal. people just do not seem to grasp that. show remorse for a■! trial when you don't even kw what you are guilty of. charges. ■ state -- republican, pub■vca cowboy state. good morning. calleroocaller: my concern is tn a trend of giving all the power back to states to do everything. whdo make the federal employees and representativ of the federal government, congress and senate, give them back to employees. they can get theirch state, thet their retirement from pay privh

2;care with the state if they choose. i would like to see on that and see the money we could save by doing tput contron te. what is your commentary or remarkn you would like to put campaign-finance well? caller:n they are state employees, they have to collect your paychecks from the state, te employeeo that means the state legislature controls what their campaign finances. host:ch appropriations act of 2024, that is what funds not just the senate and house but all the legislative branch agencies, so the library of congress, the

ment, so it is not just a member salary but the entire legislative branch appropriation filled was full of a $7 billion, and we are talking a federal■t debt of 34 trillion llarmvan how much money we spend on benefits and salaries house of representatives of the usa? wouldn states pay for that? and if they do a campaign, let the federal government subsidized that? wouldn't it be cheaper? this is, independent. good morning. i would like to, the debates, ik should be in it, we would just be watching these two to see who

fails miserably the most. i will deduct that i got to watch the key man told, those guys are heroes. and i would like to ask, with our immigration it is, and that's my biggest concern, we willple of years. can you imagine that? we will have well over 5 million, at least, from all over the world coming into the country on t o already have. i don't think we are ready for it. t, and it will just be -- i'm not looking forward to it. host: that was built in ohio. nevadas vegas, mark, good morning. caller: good morning. wow. sane white guy on the planet after listening to ohio there, but, anyway, i wanted to mentiont

they have it right with modern monetary calling in and worrying about the debt that the debt is our black ink, all thaty. and every time we reduce government spending way down, we end up in a recession or depression because there is no money in the economy. now, if all of these fine republicans just understand how the federal reserve monetary system -- system works, we could move on and do more useful things regarding ate change and other things. as far as heroes go, everybody st everybody getting in the streets, peacefully protesting, 6.those people deliver -- desere to be inn for years because they are traitors to the country, and thisbody in the min

point. so, everybody, yes, that is not a debt pocket. it is our ink, and this kind of fear mongering, even on c-span, needs to stop. get stephanie kelton back on and sten to what she has to say. host: about five minutes left in the open forum. a reminder, in 15 minutes, not minutes, not only is the senate in to watch on it is dece supreme court heard we havereme. more decisions are expected to be handed down. we don't know which ones will come down, but we likely will be talking about the decisions tomorrow morning on this program and getting your reaction to the justices' decision in whatever case kay, ardent state, democrat -- garden state if peow what the garden state is, it is

ne jersey, so, thank you. host: yes ma'am. caller: i person man from nevada and his comments. my original comment is c-span. i do not understand why-span continuously highlights leo on from heritage society the other day and then the ceo of the person who was doing -- is it called project 25? c-span does not have a fact checker, and most of the words that came out of those men's mouths our lives. i'm just afraid has to be more careful in terms of who they have and what kind of message c-spanhost: mary kay,

have concerns with that guests come on the program from? caller: oh, no, no. yos that i have not been happy with. also, on book tv, there are a number of authors that you all have had on that are extreme in people. host: get different perspectives and viewpoindationm guests there. that is a group from washington, d.c., who a lot of members from getting information from just like we do with other organizations, thats are going o get information and we would like to allow the viewers to ask them questions and hear the kind of information that they are out. we try to do that from various points of view.

sohat is why we get guests from that group. it is certainly one of the big here in washington, d.c. caller: well, tt isthat heritags are adding to their coming out of c-span, and it scares me that there are so many people in congress buying into the heritage kind of viewpoints. host:hos what viewpoint would you prefer? caller: supporting aist. well, i don't think you edohavef money and are changing the e court and changing the members of congress because of the money they are putting int'o highlight these people. there are a lot of other organizations you could, you knaclu.

education. so, i just think -- i think the excuse c-span uses i now a felon, is happeni to be running for president. but you don't have f checkers to fact check any of these people you have on, and that is concern. host: watching, and we certainly have guests from the aclu and educational organizations. we will keep tryingviewpoints bt we have been doing for 45 years. but i do appreciate the feedback. thank you from xfnew jersey.marn this segment of "washington journal." stick around. .more to talk about 45 minutes■9 left. we will be joined by two former

members of congress, zach wamp and tim roemer, cochairs of issue one national council on election integrity. stick around for that discussion after the break. ♪■ it is ouram [indiscernible] >> up, and anyone who sayshey won't is not telling the truth. >> we are in the midst of a springtime of hope for americans. >> because we're the party that believes in the american dream. read my■[ lips. [indiscernible] >> i still believe in a place caed>> here is the question fore american, who do you trust in the selection?

will build a bridge to the future or past. confidence in the wisdom of our people in the future of our country. i would me for who i truly am. >> had their chance. they have not led. we will. >> i'm john kerry, and i'm reporting for duty. >>qé i could not first see and will not forget. >>■! it is time for us to change america. >> i was not my own man anymore, i was my country's. >> i don't believe in rolling back regulatio on wallsmall buss woman expand or the laid-off construction worker keep his home. have been there. we have tried that, and we are not going back. under my■ore royalties and mr. putin will see a little less looks ability.

great again. well, he can start by actually making things in america again. >> we will make america safe again. and we will make america great again. >> here and now, i give you my ■9word, if you trust me with the presidency, i will us, not the . ■this towering american spirit has lifted us to the of human endeavor. >> c-span, bringing you an unfiltered view of the 1980, powered by cable. >> "washington journal" continues. host: election 2024 and election integrity is our topic, our

guests are two f representatives of congress, zach wamp and tim roemer, cochairs of issue one n what is issue one? guest: issne is the largest bipartisan group in with over 200 former members of congressadvocating for good gov, article one, accountability, transparency, thingse allould b. latelyections because in the lat five years, election integrity and trusting the outcome of elections is a big challenge,fto interested in other things like social media integrity,■h and protecting children on social media, so we have several angles media, so we have several angles group, in former members of

congress who put their country first. host: what is electionty and what is your biggest concern when it comes to election integrity this year? guest: first of all, nice to be with you. always a pleasure to be on c-span. brian lance started this great, great opportunity for americans. talking about the government, there would like to happen, alwe with his zach wamp. we do not agree on everything, but we really agree on this topic you just m put, it means putting -- integrity. simply put, it means putting integrity above party. it means a peaceful transfer of power. means us working together to support our neighbors and friends who are in our local in, running our electionsaking

sure they have the resources today to run these elections safely and securely when we know china and russia are trying with cybersecity ur entire states and our local offices andry to disrupt these elections and to put americans against each other. what is the biggest threat, external threats threat? guest:■&■p it is hard to say whh is the bigger threat. they are both threats in a sense because if there are people in the country trying to undermine our confidencen ou own elections, it is really un-acan, and we know these foreign actors are about the business of trying to confuse ■thy algorithms to pray on division.

they wt us to be divided and polarized, and if you do not know that, you need to be aware of that. people tune into c-span to learn, and i'm telling you as a former official who was still ■dnd both of my children are in elected office, the foreign adveie are intentionally using social media platforms to divide so it is important we have our defenses up and we come together at the end of the day. elections are not perfect, but ey are still better than anywhere in the world, and thehe states should adhere to. we would like elections to be carried out under, but there isa federal role that these foreign rs elections and even pick sides and divide through the election process. the worst thing that could happen tos is t4xwe fail to peacefully transfer power.

this is where america really has been exceptional for 250 years, that we are willing to hold free and fair elections, carried out