correspondent kevin williamson and the politics and every day lives of white working-class americans in appalachia interviewed by washington examiner columnist and cnn contributor, watch booktv on c-span2 this weekend. you e watching c-span2, your unfiltered view of government created by america's cable television company as a public service and brought to you today by your television provider. >> we will hear from a couple members of congress later in the program, ask about the status of the potential pandemic relief bill and show you in the first hour highlights from last night's cnn interview. a piece that is front page of the wall street journal using the data from john hopkins, how a third even worse surging golf usa. you will see the interactive

map showing e spread of the pandemic, that april 17th brin peak, the july 20ifth summer peak, the low point between summer and fall of september 19th and so far in the fall, e fall peak two weeks in november over 2 million cases, the total at that time 12,772,000 total cases but the headline is how the surge, inside usa today they write about that and a quote from matthew fox, professor of epidemiology at boston university school of public health, he says it was inevitable it was going to get to the mountain states and when it got there there were so many susceptible people it was ready to take off. matthew fox said we learned this time and time again in a reaction that pays off, wait until the spread is already

substantial at that point your measures to contain the virus are really shutting things down completely. he also said it would be foolish to try to pin widespread outbreaks on single events such as the sturgis motorcycle rally, rather he said small get togethers make the spread inevitable, quote, if you are not limiting the number of people you have contacts within doors that are unmasked we can say this is unlikely to change, this from usa today. wants to get back to the measure proposed earlier this week by bipartisan group on capitol hill, the covid-19 relief measure, the latest measure, here's the headline, lawmakers pressure leaders to ach covid-19 relief deal and he writes that lawmakers are putting pressuren mitch mcconnell, nancy pelosi and senate minority leader chuck schumer to reach a deal on a coronavirus relief package by christmas. sete republicans are putting the squeeze on mccnell

arguing he could agree to a deal even if it means accepting a price tag higher than the $500 billion target. four republican senators, mitt romney, susacollins, lisa murkowski and bill cassidy who was on this program yesterday presented the $908 million compromise proposal to mcconnell in his capital office thursday. president-elect joe biden was asked about efforts on capitol hill to pass the new package of economic relief. here is what he said. >> do you support that bill? do you think that you go to the floor of the senate? >> if they get what they are talking about, i think it was $900 billion, that would be a good start. it is not enough, we need to focus on things that are immediately needed. what is immediately needed is relief for people, unemployment checks, relief for people who will get thrown out of their apartment after christmas because they can't afford to pay their rent anymore, relief on mortgage payments, relief on

all the things that are in the original bill the house passed, may have changed again today, i don't know, maybe you know but the fact the president said he wouldn't sign any such legislation. i am told, i may be mistaken, i'm not there every day in the senate anymore but somewhere between 20-22 republican senators who say they won't vote for anything but here is the deal. if mitch mcconnell just brought the bill up, put it on the floor, i believe the senat believes that it would pass. is a start. people are really hurting, they are scared to death and teache are prepared to go back if they know there is something, there's masking, teing, they are available to them, able -- they need more help. >> when you say it is a start,

for negotiations. >> i think it should be passed and we will need more, i have to ask for more help when we get there to get things done. have faith in chuck and nancy. am not doing the tail negotiation. one of the people deeply involveds the guy who took my spot in the united states senate, chris coons is a brilliant guy. i am relying on their judgment, the most basic things that are needed now. >> your priorities in the biden administers in 202-8001 for republicans, 740-80,000 for democrats and for all others

202-740-8002. from the hell, the headline, biden to urge wearing masks for the first 100 days in office, this entire we, the incoming biden administration, and telling positions, and biden taps murphy as nation's top doctor, joe biden coronavirus crisis tapping a veteran of the obama administration to serve as america's top doctor the country suffers a surging pandemic. former us surgeon general has been asked about an expanded version of the new administration according to individual familiar with the decision. let's hear from bob in duluth, minnesota. >> they should make it a priority to repeal the tax

scam, and if they don't, social security is not going to survive and neither is medicare. the taxes of the average citizen is going to go up. that is my comment. >> to alabaster, alabama, republican line, priorities for the biden administration. >> priority >> caller: the economy needs to be opened up again by all the democrats that have it shutdown, so people can get a job. number 2 there is no biden administration, the election is not over, you need to cover the election, fraud election hearings going on in georgia, pennsylvania, michigan, arizona and nevada.

there was a hearing yesterday in nevada in front of a judge to decide whether illegal votes were going to be counted or not. that is the priority. >> host: karen in alabama 202-740-8001 for republicans, 200-740-8000 for democrats, independents and others, 748-8002. on the election, wisconsin high court turned away the trump lawsuit, this is from wall street journal, wisconsin, another setback to donald trump's efforts to overturn defeat president-elect joe biden, challenging the validity of hundreds of thousands of mail in ballots cast in a battleground state two days after the trump campaign brought the lawsuit the wisconsisupreme court in a divided ruling said the state law required the case to start in a lower court, trump's lawsuit sought to avoid certification in wisconsin which mister biden won by

21,000 votes. it claimed the collection an counting of absentee ballots in heavily democratic counties, were marred by systemic violations of state election laws and 220,000 of the 3 million votes cast statewide should have been excluded from the recount totals. let's go to joe in georgia, good morning. >> caller: i love your show because c-span for 30 years, i miss steve scully but i want to comment on biden. i live in georgia and all these voting irregularities being added i think the election is going to be overturned, there is so much fraud in the 6 borderline states, hundreds of thousands of fraud and i think the election is going to be overturned and given to donald trump. >> host: you had two recounts, you think the results are going to be overturned yet again? >> caller: i do.

filing a lawsuit today and i think they found a lot of illegal votes in georgia, not only georgia but arizona and michigan and other states, i think there is more than enough to overturn the election and i think donald trump will be declared the winner and i like that because i think trump is the best leader in world history but you will see that happen in the next i would say before december 14th because that is when they have the electoral college but i call a lot of talk shows and never seen people so fired up, they feel the election was stolen from trump and i certainly concur with that. >> host: the atlanta journal-constitution. >> host: trump's physicals promise and peril, and republican incumbent have been dreaming about saturday, and

deal lasting damage, with georgia republicans who refuse his demands to overturn election results casting more doubt on the integrity of the state's voting system. more of your calls coming up on washington journal, top priority for the biden administration. we are joined by natalie who covers cannabis and other relad issues for polical, federal cannabis policy reporter, on with us as the house is taking up aill that would legalize to some degree rijuana. tell us about that bill. >> caller: the house is voted on historic bill, first time ever that the last 50 years congress has taken up a bill on the floor of any chamber, would astically change the way marijua laws are done in this country. >> host: what are the things the bill would do?

>> guest: one thing to be clear about, there are a lot of misconceptions, it would not legalize marijuana. it removes federal penalties on marijuana and state still need to create their own system as states regulate alcohol. it focuses on criminal justice reform. it removes those penalties which would mean no one gets arrested for federal marijuana position anymore and would expunge federal records and creates money for states to do expungement. going through the expungement program is pretty expensive. >> host: is the money created through a tax in the bill? >> guest: there putting a 5% tax on cannabis that becomes 8% over a couple years. >> host: how do they reckon with, one of the issues for states dealing with legalizing marijuana is the whole financiatransaction itself being able to work with banks. is that addressed this bill

at all? >> if marijuana was removed from the federal drug law it would no longer be hard for banks to service marijuana. a lot of other bills deal with parts of marijuana policy, this bill would deal with all those problems. >> host: is this a bipartisan supported bill? >> guest: it is supported mostly by democrats but there are a few republicans, some from legal marijuana states that support it and also a couple others ke representative matt gates. >> host: it is late in the session, any indication the senate will take it up? if it passes the house, i assume the house is voting on it today. >> guest: everything i heard it is expected to pass the house. it will not come up, there's a week and a half left and

majority leader mitch mcconnell is not in favor of any comprehensive marijuana reform. it would be a miracle to come up in the senate this session. >> pushing this in the 100 seventeenth congress would result in the same result. >> guest: yes. a lot can happen in two years, two years ago i probably would not have that money on this bill coming up but a lot has happened with the focus on, justice reform with states deciding cannabis was an essential business during the pandemic that has also changed the minds of moderate democrats in the house. i will not say nothing will happen in the next congress but it is uphill battle with republicans reaching the senate after the georgia runoff. >> host: how many states allow legal sale of marijua either for recreational, medicinal or medicinal purposes only? >> guest: 15 states allow recreational marijuana, 36, fact checking on that, electio day changed it a little bit. mecal and recreational

marijuana. it is a pretty big year for marijuana this year. one state, mississippi legalized medical. south dakota is the most intesting, from having no marijuana laws at all, without allowi marijuana for counting seizures, vast majoritof states, 47 states in the cotry allow, for medical purposes. south dakota was one of the three that had nhing, medical and recreational marijuana. >> host: you mentioned you have been covering federal marijuana policy for two years. what has changed on capitol hill? what is changing legislators mind and has the trump administration made any executive orders or regulatory changes to federal rulations on marijuana? >> guest: the trump

administration does significant things, actual changes on the ground. jeff sessions, the paul memo ich was an obama era justice department memo that said states created, regulated cannis systems the justice department is not going to go after them. defitions repealed that, we've not seen the justice department go after any states thatave legalized marijuana. on capitol hill specifically, one of the biggest differences this year with how democrats especially talking about marijuana reform as, justice issue and i was in a hearing yesterday and the tone was quite different from hearings on this issue where criminal justice reform was part of the equation and the economic benefi of marijna

legalization, creating jobs and the medical benefitfor kids and it is very focused on criminal justice reform and that has created more moments of passion among democrats for the issue. >> host: our guests covers policy for politico. you can read reporting including toy's debate and the measure. than so much. back to the first hour of question, top priorities for the biden and ministration 202-748-8001. 202-748-8000 for democrats, 202-748-8002. wh joe biden hope to accomplish in his first 100 days, focusing on immigration, the environment and economic fallout of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

let's go to todd in michigan, thanks for waiting, go ahead with your comments. >> caller: i think top priority should be economic relief. send the checks out. people need money in their pockets. look at canada. canada has given their citizens $2,000 a month. the richest country in the world and the government doesn't give a damn about us. 644 people, the top one%, 40% of the nation's wealth, really? time for revolution. >> host: fairfax, south dakota on the democrat line. >> caller: what biden needs to do is raise taxes on the rich.

also take the social security. in south dakota, don't know if you've been around cattle or not but it reminds me a lot spring of the year when you turn able into new spring pastor, all the tall grass, that is how happy i am about this election. up here, talking marijuana, they did pass it on both deals. pennington is fighting it, the highway patrol fighting it. i don't know. they need to start paying the debt down. people live on credit so much anymore. food lines and all that, they need to help them but a lot of those people getting old like me, i am 66 years old and don't need a handout. 26,$000 per trillion dollars in the hole, we need to start paying that debt.

i heard the other day a third of the people haven't paid for christmas last year, put it on a credit card. got to get that straightened out. >> host: darren on the independent line in alabama. >> caller: good morning. i want to make a comment on economic fallout. i think with the recent cnn story about china we should hold china accountable for the economic devastation from covid-19, the researchers that recently left and so forth. it is destroying our country economically. from east to west. i researched it, they are behind it.

whichever administration, whatever they can do to do it. one of the richest countries in the world, in the middle east, let's make them pay for it. >> host: john ratcliff, national security director writing about china, the lead opinion piece in the wall street journal, china is national security threat number one, the intelligence is clear, the rest of the planet economically, and technologically, many of china's major public initiatives and from an companies issue a layer of camouflage about activities of the chinese communist party, it is an approach of economic

espionage, china robs them of their intellectual property the record pace of technology and replaces us firms in the global marketplace. that is from inside the wall street journal. the front page showed the wall street journal with this dramatic photograph of a wildfire in orange county in southern california wildfire erupted in california forcing acuations, california senator, vice president-elelec kamala harris in a cnn interview saying climate change would be one of th administration's top prioriti. >> pretty progressive. some might call it ambitious but the american people in the world can't afford anything less. the clock is ticking rapidly on this issue. the president-ect has made very clear we will approach this in a way that we know the vast majority have in common

with what separates us. through the policy, convened everyone from labor groups to fortune 500 folks. there is a consensus on what needs to happen. the president-elect was talking to t head of gm and days later, they are going to drop the resistance to california's rules on electric vehicl. we have reason to be optimistic about at is possible. it will not be easy. it will require convening but as the president-elect always says this as much as anything is about jobs, investing in research and delopment, vesting in the american worker, well-paying jobs, good union well-paying jobs. i think that there is more consensus than one might think. >> host: back to your calls on top priorities for the biden administration. in virginia, stefan on the independent line. >> caller: thank you for trying

to be unbiased. i wish you would this basic fact checking when you can, hauling people racists, just eliminating that but the hearings are eye-opening, the witnesses and videos of fraud are just criminal, scary criminal. black suitcases on the desk, running ballots multiple times, that is just uncalled for and scary. if you want an honest election, the media not even covering it, so many need to go to jail. appreciate you guys on c-span and please cover the hearings. thank you, guys. >> host: here's what townhall reports on what our caller was talking about, georgia governor changes tune after trump lawyers present troubling video of alleged fraud. you can read that, townhall.com.

elizabethtown kentucky, good morning. elizabethtown kentucky. jerry in houston, texas, republican line. >> don't know how people can say they know what is going on when they haven't watched what is going on, but watching c-span earlier they talk about democrats are going we need to count everybody but they are representing what they see as a disenfranchised district but they don't see what the trump administration is doing and congress was discussing was when you talk about people who can vote and who should be represented to vote, illegal migrants and foreign nationals aren't allowed to vote in our election so why is it when they talk about the census and apportionment they are including those in the vote? why are they including illegal

migrants, congress hasn't passed any legislation, we concern ourselves with people who can vote, those being legal citizens of the united states. you have a sense is that a total count, okay. do with apportionment, nothing. >> host: ray in aurora, colorado. >> caller: i'm a registered libertarian, this is the closest line i could think of calling. i'm listening to you through the c-span radio apps. anyway. i know that covid-19 is going to be at the top of the list not just for the biden administration but practically any government in the world but an issue that should also be a long priority that is long overdue is immigration reform in particular.

i would like to -- i am a libertarian so i would like to see more legal opportunities for people to work in the country, become a permanent resident or even citizen, that is my general view. illegal opportunities to come in. >> host: here is what the washington post is writing about that. the biden agenda about protect dreamers the challges loom, biden was vice president when president barack obama created the deeper action for childhood arrivals program in 2012 allowing those who pass background check to pursue their studies and pay fees to obtain work permits to stay in the united states. and as a republican he senate

will be challenging. biden's opponents using the federal courts to try to stop him from restoring theaca, attorney general urging a federal judge in border city of brownsville to declare daca, and clear the way for an orderly wind down, infusing the job market with workers who compete with americans, for health and education costs. democratic caller, anthony, go ahead. it says california but i will take your word for it. >> i wasn't speaking loud enough. i'm tickled to death. you don't know what it is like up here. the liquor levy, they want to sell drinks that is why marijuana couldn't go through here so long and they still fight it.

you could put evidence in front of people's faces and they will nullify it. they do not care. they are such racist, so afraid of black and brown people that - >> host: how long have you lived in south dakota? >> caller: on my life. i am italian? i was there before there were any blacks. it was a pretty hard time. >> host: you felt some of that discrimination yourself. >> guest: not like black people, not like that, but yes. they don't want anybody -- lily

white. >> host: has it gotten worse during your life? >> caller: yes when you talk about illegal voting, they are talking about that is jim crow, they are talking about black votes. that is what they are talking about. you know, they are scared to death, the country is changing, they don't want to dilute their gene pool. >> host: we go to alyssa in canyon, texas, republican line. you are on the air. >> caller: my question this morning for all of you is why aren't you showing the hearings and why aren't you showing us that video? >> host: which video are you referring to?

>> caller: the ones you just referenced the trouble but georgia governor of the surveillance video of them county illegal ballots taken from under a table? everyone knows about it. it is the elephant in the room. why aren't you showing it on air and why are you ignoring the hearings? this is monumental. this is a constitutional crisis. none of you seem to want to discuss it. this show is supposed to have credibility. >> host: we have shown some of these states. here is a look at some of the georgia video. we have no context for this video. >> host: the hearings yourself - >> host: i'm not watching the hearing. i'm showing you the video that was part of that hearing. that is the only context i can give you. that is alyssa in canyon, texas. larry in franklin, north carolina go ahead, independent

line. >> caller: back to the marijuana deal. 1932, dealing against hemp cannabis, there was no such thing as marijuana. marijuana was a slaying word, 1937 that came up -- there is no such thing as a marijuana plant. it is a hemp cannabis plant. if you look it up in the dictionary under draft, it says marijuana, look under weed it says marijuana. look under part it says marijuana. i challenge anybody to show me a marijuana plant. it is a hemp cannabis plant and the last 80 years these lawyers have been putting people in prison and extorting money from

them for something that does not exist. >> host: the house taking of that measure dealing with marijuana coming up today, the house in at 9:00 eastern for legislative work othis friday morning, this is inside the health section, usa today. gop lawmakers pay for flouting guidelines taking their cues from donald trump. republicans at every level of government flouted public health guidelines to reduce the risk of catching and spreading the coronavirus. attending large gatherings, failed to socially distance. as the pandemic infiltrates the white house, congress and statehouses across the nation republicans bear the brunt of those infections, usa today analysis shows 81 elected officials in state and federal government roles tested positive for coronavirus since september 1st as the nation's case counts were about to rebound, three of four, and and for development and use. >> the fact is it is one thing

to get the vaccine delivered, some frozen, some not. another thing to get the vaccine to move from the case to a vaccination isomeone's arm. that is the complicated piece. i met with republican and democratic governorsnd mayors and they said we need help h to do that. .. vaccine, i cado it, but it is an incredibly expensive proposition. that is why we are continuing to hope that the senate does something and responds to the immediate need to provide dollars. areoing to cause aliens of dolls to get this done.e. we can keep schools open, keep businesses open a chat to be able to get the vaccine distributed. th last thing i think they started off based on my team was met with the with focusing on first responders, meaning doctors, nurses.

focusing on nursing home and nursing personnel. we also wanto make sure when the vaccine is distributed its accessible to people of the hurt the most, the brown and black communities which is not likely to be able to access walmarts or access, i mean with a geto to the neighborhoods. it's a. really difficult but doable project that has to be well planned and that's what when a process the beginning to do now. >> host: i know it was reported you are appointing somebody in the white house to be in charge of inequities in the health care system which this will be one of the first -- >> one of the primaryma responsibilities. folks were african-americans and latinos are the first ones hurt when something happens, the last ones to recover. you saw the statistics somewhere depend on what report you get and what you're talking about from four to five times -- three to four times more likely to die if they get covid.

they need help and the need to get it immediately. >> host: news about what some of the former presidents are saying about vaccine. the headlight a in "usa today" obama bush clint pushed safety vexing performer president barack obama, george w. bush, bill clinton said they're willingng to get a coronavirus sexing to prove treatment is safe and effective. they may film themselves getting injected. our first hour of question is for top priorities for the biden administration on social media and by text -- top priority has to be the pandemic. the trump administration has been missing in action on this ever since election and trump's refusal to use sides and expertise to address the problem has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths that wouldn't have occurred if it you site and expertise to guide response. allen in west virginia. skippers virginia priorities should be virus vaccine distribution and mask mandate,

economy stimulus and all the worthless global issues making future elections conducted in the middle of the both have faith in its also a priority or civil war follows. bideneeds to make it our status as a net energy exporter sayshris in massachusetts. dan f michigan, bidenid should forgive student loans, bypass consumma the republicans even more irrelevant than the target on our democrat's line in louisville, kentucky, good morning. >> caller: good morning, bill. >> host: go ahead. >> he has a lot of repair work to do. repair our status around the world, the covid virus but one thing yesterday you had a caller calling who said he had a lawsuit about, the harris -- kamala harris not being a naturalized citizen. the way you shut them down was perfect. that's the way it should be done. what should be spouting

conspiracies allies on this show. >> host: dan in georgetown, massachusetts, on the independent line. >> caller: thank you for having me on. a lot of callers hear about highest priority. i think our highest priority is going to be right now is to figure out what happened in the election. i know it hasn't been giving any coverage, the stuff that's been going on for four days now. of peoplehousands with sworn affidavits. that means that if they get caught line, they are facing prison time. so that's called skin in the game. these eyewitness testimonies, all these people have skin in the game,e okay?

our media does not have skin in the game. the skin in the game is whoever pays them. okay, they don't have, they are not telling the truth under perjury or if they lie, there is no repercussions for them. american citizens are standing forward under risk of going to prison to tell the truth of what's happened over the last four days. what's so kelly is our media has completely ignored it. the the president of the united states had a 45 minute speech about how the elections were a fraud. the major networks did not even recordrt it. we need to listen to people with skin and again. misled.eing