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wednesday before the senate intelligence committee and then thursday before the hse intelligence community. thursday the senators from ohio and pennsylvan, federal and local epa agency and the ceo of norfolk southern railroad testify before the senate and garment public works committee on how to protect the public and environment after the train derailment in ealestine, ohio. watch this week lives on the network for c-span free mobile video app. also.org permission video live or on demand anytime. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. >> argus from the public service, president and ceo in here to talk about a new survey of there's taking a look at trust in government. thank you for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> tell us about the

partnership, what is the first and foremost, what is m the meaning. >> the partnership is basically an organization focused on making the federal government work better. we are concerned in order for our country to solve problems and needs a government that will be able to implement solutions effectively so almost everybody deals with the government around the policy preferences and almost no focus on the execution and how you get it done and that's what we are about. we focused on the government's right talent and has the right resources and deliver results to the american people. >> what fostered theam decisiono look at trust issues as far as asking people trusting government. >> our view is about a public that trusts government you don't have a functioning democracy. pro-government is solving the problems for the american people and if the american people don't

take the government to the effectively, they will not be interested in seeing the investments necessary to make the government work well and they're not going to look to the government for solving theme problems so in our view you need a government that is trustworthy and trusted to be successful and it is a core part of our democracy. >> how long have you looked at these issues when it comes to trust? >> we are working on trust issues about two and a half years.e the partnership has been up andp running for 22 years. yesterday was a 22nd anniversary. >> the new survey that came out, toid that came t out, you can fill in the blank, he found 36% merica is a favorable view of the federal government compared to 58% with unfavorable positive expenses whenthe report interacting directly with government services. >> i think one of the fascinating insights here is when you sayin the federal government, most people thinking about washington d.c. and many of the organizations on trusting

government asked the question, do you trust your government in washington d.c.? the reality is federal government is made up of 2 million career civil servant spread across the country and across the world and the experiences the american public have with the civil servant is positive so part of what we discovered is we really need to reintroduce our government through its workforce to the american people when you hiret a positive news about our government and civil servants so we need to cover the stories and results and we have high expectations government was a betterh weekend line what i thik is the basic perspective of the american public they are currently doing services if we are able to separate the green and politician class in washington from the broader set of civil servants working day

today in unheralded ways across the board to keep people safe and make sure they have resources and capabilities to thrive in our country. >> the veteran reaches out to the va and has a good experience, maybe not like a person to do the same. >> it is fascinating the irs has a more positive public perception than the federal government at large. the master brand tarnished and it is tarnishedal because of the bickering in washington. >> if you want to ask our guests about trust in public government, federal government, local you can talk about that and ask a question (202)748-8000. democrats to us seven for republicans 202-74-8002.

perhaps you work in government and want to give your perspective as well. (202)748-8003. let's talk about how federal workers feel about how they are perceived these days. >> coursing to understand that federal workers are there because of the mission, it drives them into public service. most could be making money in larger sums and other occupations. no one likes to be unappreciated and the reality is federal employees are not appreciated the way they should be both by the public but also i will say even within their own culture and the agency so all kinds of infrastructure to find problems whether it is ig or congressional oversight or the media, not enough attention paid to recognizing the good things happening and we have experienced our own family lives much better off getting better results through positive reinforcement and negative. you need to identify promising practices to solve the problems that exist so federal employees by and large there because of the mission, they will go through difficultss times but we

ought to treat them betterve and if we do, will wind up with better service. >> recently the house for oversight and accountability, talking about federal workers talk about the practice of them working from home and criticisms about that. i want to play a little bit of what he had to say. >> excellent. >> the federal workforce needs to get back to work. federal agencies are falling short on their mission, not carrying out their duties, they are failing the american people. during the covidee pandemic most federal workforce state home and relied on telework because they could but as the rest of america went back to work in person, many federal workers did not the american people have suffered as a result. they've waited for months for tax refunds from the irs, they've waited for months for social security administration to answer their questions and provide benefits for veterans waited months to get medical records from the national archives. national archives is was

possible for maintaining medical records for veterans veterans could not get access to the o records because archives weret home, it is unacceptable and should be embarrassing to these agents. the american people struggledo n witheo high inflation, scarce goods, prolonged disruptive lockdowns and other hardships meanwhile the biden administration is showering workers with perks and pay increases while working from home. >> that's the characterization from the chair, what do you think about that and how does that go into the idea of trust of government particularly the workers ask. >> federal employees stated in an amazing job, they serve. >> in public and difficult ways putting themselves in jeopardy. it's worth noting federal employees never had the option of working from home if you think about the folks at tsa, anyone direct service didn't have that option and even folks

in the intel community could not work from home, they had to go secure sites and buildings to do their work. federal employees that were not limited in that way, many did so from home and saw more like the rest of the economy so there are clearly ways the federal government can respond better in terms of providing better management for those working, it be a mistake to believe you can roll back the clock. the reality is our workforce has different expectations right now in the federal government with the best talent it possibly can. if you limit the federal government's ability offer opportunities, you will wind up seeing even more work outsourcing contractors to get the right talent to do it does benefit so no doubt it is

appropriate to have accountability to ensure good work is happening, agencies should be able to communicate effectively they are producing services they should for the american public whether someone is in a building or at home but by march the federal government needs to shine drug pandemic in many ways and should be appreciated for that. >> president and ceo of public service, first call from georgia, eric is on with our guests. go ahead. >> what i would like to see --m i'm a democrat, billions of dollars sent to ukraine, people are going to steal the money, will be difficult in ukraine is the most corrupt place, i do not trust the democrats for social security, medicare and medicaid because i found out people cannot social security things

now and you are given social security to ukraine and peoplepl coming, people have been on it for 20 years and people off social security. democrat spending this money to relatives and ancestors from ukraine, why are you in ukraine? stop giving the money and take care of america -- >> thank you. >> i think it is important to recognize so many to services mentioned whether social security or medicare, they have incredible positive perspective so 70, 80% plus favorable ratings, interestingly you see the stories about people saying take your hand offha my social security or medicare. i don't believe done a good job and when i say we, of the

federal government itself, helping the american public understand where services and goingers dollars are there helpingng them so it's a situation where you should have high expectations of the american government and real appreciation and what americans are getting. >> republican line, bill is next. good morning. >> good morning. what i would like to know is, do you think we the people could get back in touch with government having a website that shows h everything on congress' plate we could file and on and that the end of the survey have the button and see what the rest of the country feels about it?

right now they don't represent their community anymore. they get on there committee and become slaves to the committee don't want to do anything for the consistency of electricity we the people involved with thep government and have a voice and what is happening with how congress is voting. i don't even know we need congress up with got people in computers, everybody has a computer, it would be easy to make a website to get into. >> thank you for the call. >> i think that's an important observation. we live in an age in which it ie easier to get feedback on the public. one of the things we are pressing for making it easier for federal agencies to receive feedback from customers so they can betterer design their produt that serves the public even better. there's a lot of the act that

requires federal agencies to go through six months to a year to collect voluntary information about their services from the public. we need to get rid of rules like that so agencies are more able to hear the voices available and interested so you can wind up having a government morent responsive to the public. as far as congress, interesting question, and able more voices to be heard and we also look at ways to get feedback for public institutions responsive to the american public. >> you mentioned can situate services, as far as congress goes,se how successful are theyf the constituent calls to get a call or response back? it varies. one of the interesting pieces i 135 offices on the hill and

decentralized, they will listen different ways. i don't know that there is as much best practice identification as it could be but i think there is room for improvement but there are offices experimenting doing more services as a core element of what congress does. this interesting discussion about the size of the house is an example where historically went back to a number of years improve so the district didn't get as large as they are today. i think there's interesting questions about our democracy worth exploring. >> your survey says 42% believe the government has a positive impact on the u.s. 22% listens to the public b 33% believe government helps people like them, what does that mean? >> to aspects there and it is distressing that the numbers are so low in terms of people saying

government is listening to them and it comes back to that question and the customer experience issued, we need to have a better set of numbers in a better relationship with the public feels like their voices are being heard and not just the delivery of services but also the design of services. this is a critical time the big commitment made whether bipartisan infrastructure legislation or tips act or ira, above and beyond normal substantial investments made to help the public in all sorts of ways. these big efforts and they need to work in a way that are sensitive to the voices in the communities impacted here so a moment where our government has the opportunity to step up and do better and require investment of everybody to make that work. >> let's hear from lauren in georgia.

>> good morning, thank you for taking my call. i am a former employee of the irs and would like to make several comments. as an employee, i worked as a taxpayer advocate before i retired and works to resolve issues with the irs. irs people work very hard, everybody in the organization from the bottom to the top, they are employees and care about their job we often are blamed for things we have no control over. the only thing they do is enforce the requirement congress decided in terms of whether taxes, so employees work hard

like anybody else, they pay taxes and required to meet their requirements to pay taxes on time and it affects their jobs if they do not.ou >> can i ask you a question? how do people react when they find out about the irs experience? >> negatively. until i claim that i am a taxpayer advocate. they have no knowledge this organization exists. if you have issues with the irs you cannot resolve, please contact taxpayer advocates, they will work to resolve your issues. they are seen both sides of the issues and their job is toth resolve taxpayer issues, most taxpayers are not aware of the organization. >> thank you for giving us

input, we appreciate you. >> thank you for your service, we were having this conversation at the washington post and has a piece online that the fact that iris is delivering better service right now after the investment from the inflation reduction act. it is so important, so much that lauren said that i think is important is true not just the irs but it is true everywhere. civil-service don't make the policy, is the democratic process to members in congress and the political leadership at duke, civil service are executing and doing it on behalf of the american public and often get blamed for choices not theirs to make, there real work is to make sure the government operates effectively but this is a great example where for many years has been disinvestment in the institution and therefore technology is degraded, workforce declined substantially

and the end result is the american public has gotten through it and what we see right menow is an important change whh is investing in the institution so it can deliver better customer service and ultimately thee outcomes for the public. really important is tenure appropriation, people talk about running the government like a business, you can't do that and it starts with the fact that you never have a budget because congress, 1996 was the last time they passed appropriation bills on time, no private sector business could operate in that way it is hard for civil servants as well so it's an interesting experience when substantial resources are dedicated over an expected period of time, or can be delivered in early returns are good. >> when it comes to various departments of federal government, who's in charge of making sure there's all this going on? >> each individual agency is ultimately responsible for his

own services. by and large you have the federal government centered at the office in management budget, it's quite small andal limited capacity in my view, there should v be more at the office f budget so it doesn't 'have resources to provide support and learning across the network of agencies so agency by agency operation and not as much collaboration as would be helpful for federal government. one way to achieve it would be to have federal workers move across into agencies but that is not happening much federal. it was the original design of cap executive to move around and 8% to get to the top level so -- >> you've insulated them from the rest of the working? >> i think the big problem we face requires multiagency, multilevel government, multisector response in the best

way to achieve it not to restructure the government and put different pieces together in different ways but get the people to have experience working in different places so they understand capabilities of the agencies and have the relationships and work more and collaborate more effectively so that one big push to make a big difference. >> north carolina, independent line meharry, good morning. you are next. >> good morning. i would like to know when we are going to doo something about donald trump and the republican body doing the big lie. how long will itde take for our government to do the job everybody knows what's going on? keep allowing it to go on.

they're going to lose everything. people in congress to the kingdom and we all know that they are on tv and get promotions. it's hard to come and. >> thanks, harry. >> one of the important economies here is one hand goes back to how many peoples see bickering politicians and at the same time you have partisan debate goingar on, the workforce of the federalal government is doing the job of government whether the department of agriculture or department of defense, you name it day in and day out and it's generally below the radar screen but fundamental to the f but is life so i would love to see stories about the people like lauren who worked as a taxpayer advocate or you name

it, we have a program called service american metal where we honor the most innovative federal employees and most no one knows anything about them yet in my view they are way more important than politicians, they are actually doing the incredible work solving big problems for the public so that's what i would love to see for the focus. >> you did have a category abou% for publicans answer that and 40% of democrats also, white, black and latino responded. what were you trying to figure out? was the democracy when you're doing that in the survey? >> it will depend, everybody individually. the part of this is our view need three things for a successful democracy, you need accountability which we get from elections, you need rule of law but there's no expectation you will have the laws apply to

everybody and you need an effective government, deliver services to solve problems which is the reason the government exists so to have a successful government democracy you need public trust that those things are taking place. right now we see nether trust in the institution of government at the levels we should and the belief that our democracy is affectionate active punctually. we need to see those with higher numbers and collect work has tor work across the diversity of the country whether demographic diversity or political diversity. we are one country to be able to separate the question of reasonable policy differences from the core things that connect us as a community we believe is vital to the future of our country. >> kurt and new jersey, democrat line. >> how are you doing? thank you c-span for taking myha

call. what i want to say is it corporate america and our congress is pretty much boughts and sold. every congressman, every senator, representative is writing the book. i'm wondering how does this look they write, can corporations fly thousand like amazon but 140,000 of the last republican that did one? you take bernie sanders, he wrote the book, he is a millionaire overnight. now who's buying the books? is it corporate america or is our congress bought and sold? 's ago lobbyist past something saying lobbyist could not money to a senator and is this the loopholes to get around it? >> thanks, color. >> i want to make the distinction between the political appointee, you're not seeing civil servants writing books getting bought by a

corporate actors. frankly, it's the same oath of office to uphold the constitution, one of our views fundamentally as we should haveu a common expectation of leadership in the public sector and begins with understanding that as a leader in government the first primary responsibly is as a public good so are you organizationally we need to see more investment in leadership making sure we have common understanding and we are investing in the people government that they have the tools they need to run these organizations so that's the best answer i can give. >> our public service.org serving as president and ceo of the partnership of public service and you can find it onid the website, thank you for your time. >> congress is back to sleep, senateetned later today 3:00

p.m. eastern. seto will continue on president biden's judicial nominationsor.s. distrt court. house gavels and torrow, virginia democratic congressman recently elected to replace the late donald will be sworn in and become the firstla woman to represent virni in congress and fulfill the last vacant house seat. later this wee as with pick up legislation to prohibit federal officials from pressuring socl media companies to center each. watch house live on c-span, senate on c-span2 and all congressional coverage on c-span now, free mobile app or online at c-span.org. ♪♪ >> united states of america originally for two important documents. first declaration of dependence signed by 56 men in the middle

of 1776. second, constitution signed by 39 men september of 1787. six of those men with their john hancock on both, authors denise and joseph covering short background stories about 95 of the signers into books signing their lives away for the declaration of independence and signing their rights away to the constitution. >> authors denise and joseph on this episode of footnotes plus. footnotes plus available on the c-span out cap or wherever you get your podcast. ♪♪ >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government funded by television companies and more including charter communications. ♪♪ >> proud to be recognized as one of the best internet providers and we are just getting darted.

100,000 miles of new infrastructure to reach those who need it most. >> charter communications support c-span as a public service along with these other television providers giving you a front row seat to democracy. tuesday federal reserve chair jerome powell will testify about the economy, interest rates and the semi- annual monetary report. watch live coverage from the senate banking housing and urban affairs committee 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span three. c-span now, free mobile video acts or online c-span. >> one year after russia began its full-scale invasion of ukraine, 20 defense minister discussed ongoing war at the hudson institute. this is about five minutes