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>> joining us as representative or former representative from indiana, david mcintosh sir from 1995-2001 and is not the president of clippard row couldw amind the viewers about mission of this. >> thank you, we are the leading advocacy group for limited government and free-market economic policy. we push for those in congress but also have two political action committees that support candidates for congress and for senate who are champions for those issues. we have been very active this year in the republican primary and supporting candidates that we think will be great future leaders and strong supporters of slow growth in a free-market economic policy. >> host: what spending have you done in previous cycles? what do you plan to do for this one? >> guest: in the last cycles we have average probably 15 to 20 million and the cycle i think our budget will be over 35 million and we've already

spent 15 million in the primaries behind it some great candidates, people like nick, nancy mays and we just had a good result a few weeks ago with rich mccormick in georgia and so i'm very happy that as these elections have started back up we are seeing some really wonderful, tremendous future leaders emerge and we are able to support them and they are able to win their primaries to get ready for the fall. >> host: what is the reasoning behind the higher bump the cycle? >> guest: i think people are looking at the problems we're facing today and the economic shutdown created enormous on appointment and job dislocation. i was delighted with the job numbers today that showed both in the maye and in june we are starting to recover and people are rehiring and they're looking for members of congress who will be attuned to that so that we can see a return to a really

strong robust economy. >> host: does it connect to any concerns you have about losing the senate? >> guest: we also are active ine senate races and supporting tommy sommerville in alabama who i think will be a great challenger for doug jones to be able to let republicans take back a seat there. we are also supporting steve daines in montana who do a really strong challenge from governor bullock. i think it is important that that majority be maintained. my sense is we are going to have some strong candidates there and it will be's hard-fought and abt six different races but i think republicans should be able to keep that majority. >> is not only from the races you mentioned or is that the rmood as far as keeping an revt again and after november? >> guest: i thank you been and will begin and people see what is at stake and on the economic issues and supreme court appointments if there is a vacancy there and they're looking at the differences and

the democrats have an enormous pressure to move far to the left and embraced the new green deal and to support government takeover of healthcare and i think that is hurting their candidates down to get where the republicans can lay out a vision that lets people see once again they will be building back the economy and letting take care of those areas the people i think are so important. >> host: if you want to talk to her guest and last-minute the program, 20 minutes or so, (202)748-8000 democrats, (202)748-8001 republicans and independents, you probably see the polls as well as i do as well as they are shaping up to the president and joe biden. what to think about or what do you think it does not only for the white house of president tom's reelection but what it might do down? >> guest: i thank you are right. we seen a dip in the polling in

the presidential race and i was talking to one of the really good national pollsters who said they have seen it but it's basically presidenttl trump's numbers have been shifting a little bit too undecided. joe biden has not really increased from his baseline which, for republicans, means that's good news because they can try to win back those undecided voters. i think what it really means is the president has been out there with covid and the country has been hit with a health crisis and heads with an economic crisis and with the shutdown and a crisis in terms of what we need to do to address policing to make sure that it is strong and robust but fair and just and i think ready racine is joe biden has been able to avoid most of those issues for the last three, four months and essentially what we see in polling ise when you ask a question, are you for a candidate, donald trump or a

generic democrat generally generic democrat does better than any named candidate. it's a phenomenon. everyone reads into generic democrats and their ideal version of a candidate o and joe biden has been able to take that and is not defined but has been out of the public eye and think what needs to happen next is the president and his team need to start to define the difference between the two and the president will lay out his agenda for the next four years but i think he is protesting that with some of the rallies and he will define the contest between biden and him and then it will the polls start to narrow and i think the president's message will be successful. >> host: let's go to calls. this starts with al in wisconsin, independent line, alan, you are on. >> caller: good morning.go speaking of big government the worst big government problem we

have in this country right now and this is politics is student loans been [inaudible] the government owns 90% of the debt and we need fiscal stimulus right nows and the president could cancel these loans by executive order without one dime of tax money needed, without one penny added to the national debt. that's 55 million voters. what is david think about that? is he too conservative or is he a fake conservative? is he for the people? >> guest: thank you for that question.. you know, i think it would be a terrible idea to cancel those loans because it sends a message for everybody in the future that i can borrow money and not have to pay it back. that frankly does not work in a free market economy. i think when people have taken

these loans in the government, you're right, they've taken them over which is been a disaster and it used to bein when they we in private hands the lenders would work people are with people so they can teach them how to repay those loans and the students as they left college and started their careers had that assistance of these private lenders helping them work it out and be able to take response billeting for that and frankly, build up the credit record that when they borrow money they repay it.mo if you start having on your credit record they don't repay your loans then you can't get insurance and you can't get a mortgage on a house and it would be a total disaster to the financial system and frankly, be a total disservice to those 55 million borrowers to suddenly say we will forgive them all and you can borrow money and you don't have to pay it back. plus, think about the furnace factor of this, what about the people that have paid back those student loans and now they are being asked to pay more taxes so

these loans can be forgiven? that's a terrible idea. >> host: cameron in nevada, missouri. independent line. >> host: cameron in missouri, hello? we will try it one time. cameron, hello? i believe, let's try this one great cameron, are you there? >> caller: yes, i'm here. >> host: go ahead, you are on. >> caller: mr. mcintosh, i would like to get your opinion on some things here. do you think that this whole coronavirus thing is -- do think were opening up too soon our economy especially as we have the biggest stock market crash since the great depression and because wesi -- i can't seem to understand why we are continuing to open everything up when obviously there is in certain cases but not only that but i'm a firm believer in [inaudible] and i believe this country can

come together and we need to really pray and unify ourselves so that we can ask god to help us get through this. when you think about that? >> guest: cameron, i'm all for a big believer personally in a god who will look out for our country and to pray and ask for that so thank you for that. yes, we need to do that. that is my personal opinion and club for growth does not take an opinion on issues like that but let me talk about and i will trade off with the coronavirus versus the economy so what we are seen in a lot of areas in the country is the virus continues to remain very low incident rates. we should encourage those areas to stay open and reopen in their economic activity so people can go back to work and get the jobs. in some very concentrated urban areas it was, i think, a miami-dade county florida in

florida, los angeles county in california they are seeking a second spike in the incident of coronavirus. they are with the medical experts have said for a long time is we have to keep the curve of flattened but what they are really telling us is this virus will spread and i think angela merkel was the one politician who was honest about it and said half of germany will get it. it will spread but what we need to do is make sure that our hospital system can treat the patients when they get it because if we can treat them and treat them early almost everybody can survive and then go back to a life as a healthy person. there are individuals that don't and that's always really sad. what we need to do is let the counties and the city make those trade-offs between opening the economy and protecting people from the virus and the key metrics, theer ones that like te governor in texas i heard him articulate this very well, when

the hospitalization it reached 83% he said that is getting close to capacity and i thinkre it's time we reversed a little bit, stepped back and see if we can again flatten the curb and then let people go back to full activities after we have been able to do that. it's a hard decision to make and the virus we did not know much about it when it started and they know a lot more now. they recommend people wear masks which is a way of cutting down the personal risk for everybody. but in the end you are right. our hands our fate is not in our hands but in a loving god and we should ask him for his help and peace and protection in this time. >> host: to think the trump administration is doing enough to provide certainty to give those businesses and to get those states is something to go on when it decides to pull back on certain things or open up certain things?ng >> guest: i think they've been tremendously to the state and local officials and support for them in terms ofms the expertise

although like florida has an excellent health officer that gives guidance to the governor there and some states need that in the cdct and the nih but also the resourceshe. we do not have enough ventilators when this all started and they have turned around on the dime and have been able to work with companies that did not make ventilators to switch their production line to that and out those are made available whenever a state says we are running low and we need more of them. pushing hard for that. in the end the vaccine will help tremendously when it has a good one that works because people can protect themselves ahead of time from the virus and feel comfortable going out in public again and even if they are exposed being safe. i think at the administration has done a phenomenal job when you look at it and we started in january and february and we did not know much about the virus and frankly the whole healthcare system was asleep at the switch on it and in a matter of two

months turned it around focused on it daily and there were ups and downs and it was messy but it worked. we were able to mobilize and take that death rate from an estimated couple million people down to c less than 200,000. it worked and had a good effect and protecting people. mistakes were made. governor cuomo sense people back into the nursing homes and that we recognized was a mistake. as sally caused more deaths in that state but now we are learning more and people are adjusting and figuring out how to respond to the coronavirus and yet still keep the economy going. >> host: dave and asheville, north carolina, independent line. >> caller: good morning. >> host: iran, go ahead sir. >> caller: thank you. linda bennett ran to replace mark meadows here in this area and she had a very strong ad and stretched that she was totally endorsed by president trump and

she got trounced by a young man 24, 25 years old and i think that was a referendum against the president. i just want your comment on that bit i think it's a sign of things to come one more point, if i can make it and get your opinion on it. in today's wall street journal and investment firm was awarded a forgivable paycheck protection loan from mr. munchkin $726,000 and other business is to investp money so other rich people can get richer. >> host: we have to keep you there because running short on time but mr. mcintosh, go ahead. >> guest: yes, let me address the question about president trump and the north carolina race but we followed that race carefully at the club for growth

and are packs do not endorse candidates but they were two good conservatives running and i think the decision on that race as i understand it following it was that linda bennett who had the president's endorsement did the mistake in one of her ads and appeared to be attacking her opponent who was in a wheelchair and making fun of him and the voters always react badly to that. and so all of these spaces inherently have these local issues that effect them and address the outcome but i will share this. we pull in dozens of congressional and senate races all around the country and when a candidate has on the republican side has the president's endorsement in a republican primary that usually gives them a 15-20-point lift in the support. the reason is for public and want to send members of congress

that will work with the president and not bee attacking him or criticizing him from within the republican party. we are still seeing thatn' today but i don't think there has been a shift. i think that you've seen some races where people actually think the challenger to a sitting congressman and we saw this in colorado on tuesday will be more supportive of the president than the sitting member, even though the president had endorsed the city member so the voters look at individuals and take a lot into account. some of it is the president's endorsement but some of it is what they see the two candidates presenting and who they want to represent them. >> host: club for growth, what is the litmus test?ha >> guest: for us the litmus test is are you for limited constitutional government and free market policies on economics? those are the things we talked to them about. we interview every candidate and have done about 300 interviews

so far this cycle. we have endorsed almost 30 candidates out of that candidates. litmus test is a good way to say because if someone is not going to be a supporter of free markets and if they are a revolt again but say yes, i want to or republican says sometimes we just have to spend money then were very skeptical of them and look to one of their opponents to see if we can support them. >> host: republican line, texas. >> caller: yes, sir. mr. mcintosh,ci i voted for mitt romney and 2016 but i wanted to ask you a question. the tax cut that the president, gop passed, two years ago, all of a sudden we have crisis in a couple of months and the

government collapse. how come this tax cut has not been effective to neutralize the effect of the coronavirus and my second point is you mentioned thatio [inaudible] angela merkel said that half of the germans will get the disease so why can we take that position because once you get the disease it doesn't leave your body. it does damage to body. it's not so important for everybody to get this disease. it's more important for everybody to do what is necessary. where facemasks and you can prevent from getting these diseases so it doesn't damage your lungs. >> host: collar, thank you. >> guest: thank you. i agree. i think it makes a lot of sense to keep social distancing. our family has been basically quarantined at home for the last several months and until the science has developed a vaccine where we can protect ourselves

from it i'm optimistic based on listening to what doctor fauci has said that they will hope that will be available by the end of the year beginning next year. let me address the tax-cut question because what we saw president trump's tax cuts was tremendous growth in the economy. we saw 3% or more growth for several quarters and we saw on appointment reach historic lows, particularly for groups that typically aren't benefited by a strong economy so blacks and women's and hispanics all thought historic low on appointment where the economy is working for them, good jobs, wages were growing up and that was working when we had to shut down the economy because of the covid virus. yet, it stopped but i would say keeping those tax cuts in place is one of the reasons and may and in june that we are saints

small businesses reopen and rehire people quickly. if we had higher tax rates and the other factor is the president suspended a lot of regulations and red tape that crossed small business an average of about 15000 per employee so by cutting back on the red tape, keeping those tax cuts in place that lent small business who was hammered and they lost all their sales and basically had to pay rent and continue to pay for some of the wages for their employees or else let them go and give them peak slips. but they said hey, i can look at the future and i can make it. i know how to do this business and now i don't have to have all this hassle with the red tape that really does not make a difference for anybody. the government will not take 50-60% of what i make. when they look at that future they say i will put in more of my money basically and i will hire people back and we will get back to work and figure out how to deliver products in coronavirus times when we

couldn't go to the shop and out we will take it to them. the ingenuity will be unleashed if you take off the heavy hand of the government and remove the regulations and keep the taxes low. >> host: our guests will appreciate the fact that we have a pro forma session for the senate. before we go to that in maryland, independent line because we are short on time jump in with your question or comment. >> caller: i will try to be quick. [inaudible] q donald trump has six, seven times. i know you want to say well, it's not illegal because it's an llc -- >> host: is that your question or comment only because they don't want to lose out on the time but go ahead. >> caller: well, everyone should be able to file for bankruptcy. donald trump can do it, people should not be homeless. this is a new ballgame. >> host: aaron, thank you. any response? >> guest: i was just a guess that somebody can't make it with their loan payment that we've

got a bankruptcy procedure to eyhelp them out or get family members who will help them out but yes, if somebody is in hurting we've got ways to help them but to do a mass forgiveness of loans where many of those people are making a lot of money or come from rich families, thatss sends the wrong message. if you can borrow money and expect they won't have to pay back. >> host: thirty seconds, mr. mcintosh but how do you know if the investment you're about tois make in this cycle is successful and what needs do you need to see? >> guest: we hope to wef win eh of our races but we know they are tough. my boy's me don't pick the easy ones because i don't want you to pad your win loss record but i'm always careful about making predictions but let me just say it will be hard to see any of the great candidates we have lose. i note thatli happens in politis and you've got to pick yourself up and start over again but i think we will see the margins narrow and i think it can be competitive and house and the

senate will stay in republican hands and the president presidential race will come down to the wire but i think president trump has the better vision for the t future and liky to win. >> host: otdavid mcintosh, president of club for growth ann serves as a representative for the state of indiana as the republican for 1995, 200100 mr. mcintosh, we thank you for your time today on washington journal. >> guest: great to be with you. >> tonight a special edition of book tv during weeknights this week. starting at 8:30 p.m. eastern astrophysicist mario livio looks at the scientific discoveries of galileo that challenge conventional thinking during his time. then, evolutionary biologist neil shubin looks at evolution using dna from prehistoric fossils. later, nasa astronaut and scientist katie green recalls her experiences living in a simulated martian environment. enjoy book tv on c-span2.

>> during the summer months reach out to your elected officials with c-span's congressional directory. it contains all the contact information you need to stay in touch with members of congress, federal agencies and state governors. order your copy online today at c-span store .org. >> senate foreign relations committee holds a hearing on u.s. and international responses to the coronavirus pandemic. we will hear from witnesses with the united states agency for international development, state department office of foreign assistance and the health and human services department.