enpowerment and charter has invested billions in building infrastructure, upgrading technology, empowering opportunity in communities big and small. charter, connect with us. >> charter communications supports c-span as a public service. along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. jerome powell testifies today on the federal reserve's response to the coronavirus pandemic before the house oversight coronavirus crisis subcommittee. watch the fed chair live starting at 2:00 p.m. eastern on c-span 3, online at c-span.org, or listen with the free c-span radio app. former minneapolis police officer derek chauvin was convicted in the murder of george floyd and scheduled to be sentenced this friday. his defense has asked for probation. prosecutors are seeking 30 years

in prison. watch the court proceeding live friday at 2:30 p.m. eastern on c-span, online at c-span.org or you can listen on the free c-span radio app. in terms of the reforms as well if you are in one of those states that has -- has passed or is considering voting reform legislation in your state we'd like to hear what that -- what those reforms could be like. again, the question for you is what voting reforms you would support, but in particular let's focus on the two on the procedure today in the u.s. senate, our capitol hill producer craig kaplan tweeting this morning about what we will see on c-span 2. the senate this afternoon debates whether to take up the democrats' election and voting rights bill. senators vote at 5:30 p.m. eastern to end a filibuster against the legislation are 60 votes needed on c-span 2. from chad pergram from fox tweets that democrats may not be

able to approve the voting rights bill the touchstone of their legislative agenda but can deploy republican opposition to the plan as a weapon next year. of course, that's an election year in 2022, congressional election year. this is from roll call this morning and their headline voting and ethics overhaul fuels drive to end senate filibuster, the name of the bill is the for the people act and they write that the only surprising outcome of tuesday's procedural senate vote on a motion to decide democrats sweeping overhaul of campaign finance and ethics laws would be if it were adopted. republicans are supposed to block the motion, stymieing the bill and fresh urgency into democrats' debate over the senate filibuster which requires 60 votes to pass most legislation. liberal groups have lined up tv ads, grassroots demonstrations across the country to push for

passage for the bill dubbed the for the people act s-1 in the senate and hr 1 in the house. what voting reforms would you support? we will tell you some of what's in that bill, some of the details of that bill momentarily, but first the majority leader chuck schumer yesterday setting up today's vote. >> tomorrow the senate will take a vote on whether to start debate on legislation to protect americans' voting rights. it's not a vote on any particular policy, it's not a vote on this bill or that bill, it's a vote on whether the senate should simply debate the issue of voting rights, the crucial issue of voting rights in this country. now, by all rights we shouldn't have to debate the voting rights -- we shouldn't have to debate voting rights on the floor of the united states senate. these rights should be sacra saingt but the events of the last few months compel us to

have this debate now. why is there such urgency? because of what's been happening in republican legislature after legislature in the last several months. voting rights, the most fundamental right of a democracy, the right that men and women have died for in wartime and in peacetime, the right by which all other rights are secured are under assault. under assault from one end of the country to the other. in the wake of the 2020 elections donald trump told a lie, a big lie, that the election was stolen from him by voter fraud. there was no evidence for this. his own administration concluded that the 2020 election was one of the safest in history. his lawyers were laughed out of courts, many by republican judges, some by judges he appointed, trump appointed. but he kept saying it anyway.

he lied over and over and over again. donald trump lied over and over and over again. poisoning our democracy, lighting a fire beneath republican state legislatures who immediately launched the most sweeping voter suppression effort in at least 80 years. >> the u.s. senate in today at 10:00 a.m. eastern we will certainly hear plenty of discussion ahead that have vote later today on advancing the democrats' for the people act and some of the details, some of the highlights of that bill include the bill would provide for automatic voter registration, it would strengthen early and absentee mail-in voting, it would protect against flawed purges of voter rolls, create small dollar nontaxpayer public finance assistance and call for a constitutional amendment to overturn the citizens united decision and prohibit coordination between super pacs and candidates, require states

to use independent redistricting committees and enhance resources to prevent foreign threats and cyber attacks on elections. we will of read you what the alternative developed by joe manchin is and an op-ed by senator kyrsten sinema in the "washington post." our question this morning, what election reforms would you or do you support 20-748-8001 for republicans, 202-748-8000 for democrats and independence and others 202-748-8002. on social media, on facebook in particular, joel olsen says this, i support the notion of write-in ballots for every position. if someone is running for office you should be at least able to spell their name. this way every vote is an informed vote. tom says making voting no more difficult than buying a gun, both are guaranteed rights. am i reading this right, says my land, the voter rights law being voted on in the senate has an id requirement so now the

republicans are against voter id? that is in the manchin alternative and we will read more about that in just a bit. left get, though, to phone calls and in indiana we hear from nick. independent line. go ahead. >> i wanted to comment about what i would like to see is a federal office such as the president even senate and the house elections be conducted from a federal hub and i like all -- everyone in the united states with a social security number to receive a pallet through the federal government and all you would have to do is fill it out and mail that back that would be for the federal elections and the state elections could still take care of the state, youknow, the governor's races and local

elections. >> and the state in your scenario, nick, would handle the congressional and the senatorial elections? >> for the states, yes. >> okay. let's hear from robert westchester, worcester, massachusetts. robert on the democrats line. >> you've got that right. okay. now, i believe definitely of h-1 and the other thing that i believe in is let's put it this way, mitch mcconnell was there four years before obama, he was eight years during obama, he was four years with trump, so he spent 16 years saying no to the democrats and that is a terrible thing for this country, set us black americans back 50 years. mitch mcconnell is like strom thurman on steroids. jeff sessions is like george

wallace on steroids. what trump is going to do, he's going to run desantis for president, or governor abbott, so one of them can pardon him, then he's going to run somebody for governor for new york so somebody can pardon him. he is a very, very serious crimes and what really upsets me is the new broadcasters, i watched them this morning they was all laughing, giggling, laughing, selling each other's books and not really telling the people what they need to know and it's very serious, you know. when you get a man that can wear a suit and a tie, he looked dapper when he lied, but when you look at the women that come on these shows, like fox tv, the lady wearing v-necks, look like they have a cheap $10 dress. they are not giving us the facts. they're just selling books like joe scarborough, he wants

everybody to come see his musicians. >> all right. robert mentioned the majority -- the minority leader mitch mcconnell and senator mcconnell rejecting the manchin alternative yesterday when it was introduced. he said -- had a caller earlier, tweet earlier that asked about voter id so i did want to share that. let's play the comments of mitch mcconnell yesterday on the senate floor. >> introduce this version back in 2019 with the same partisan motives. ever since democrats got the election outcome they wanted last fall, we've watched our colleagues actually update the rationale for their latest partisan power grab. states must be stopped from exercising control over their own election laws. madam president, the arguments here have one big thing in common with the ones our colleagues have deployed against

the filibuster, debunked claims of racism. remember the last presidential election saw the highest voter turnout in decades, even amidst a once in a century pandemic. african-american turnout was twice as high in mississippi as it was in massachusetts. but when georgia passed targeted updates to its election laws based on lessons learned during the pandemic-era elections, democrats trashed the bill as, quote, a redux of jim crow. they misrepresented its contents so wildly that even left wing fact checks repeatedly debunked these claims. >> the republican leader has also rejected the compromise offered by democratic senator from west virginia joe manchin. here is some of what the manchin bill would include. joe manchin's bill calls for automatic voter registration, making election day a holiday, mandating at least 15 days of

early voting for federal elections, banning partisan gerrymandering and his bill would support voter id provisions with a wider list of alternatives to prove a voter's identity like a utility bill. comments on social media, mike says this about the majority -- the republican leader, mitch mcconnell leader of the place where good bills go to die says democrats are trying to pass the voter rights bill to ensure they win permanently but the only reason many more voters choose democrats is because republicans only -- offer only bills that hamper the wealthy. laura says here is a novel idea, prove your identity the same way one to prove it to get a vaccine not to mention one has to prove one's identity to get all these pandemic benefits. what are they afraid of? and russ in berry, california, all votes counted day of election, do away with mail-in, too much fraud when this is allowed. military overseas votes allowed one week ahead of election but must be counted day of election not a week or several days

thereafter. people voting in person must prove identity and address. let's go to steve in san jose, california. republican line. >> i just have two points, although there's several that could be made. the first is in this bill regarding those that vote the word "individual" which means everybody legal and illegal should be removed and replaced with citizen. and the second point is that the question of constitutionality, this needs to be done by an amendment to the constitution, so please will somebody call in and tell me -- and tell me -- and everybody else -- why this does not need to be done with a constitutional amendment. these rights are reserved for the states. this is an end run around our

constitution, plain and simple. >> to sam, vancouver, washington, independent line. hello, sam, go ahead. >> good morning. i'd like to start off by saying, first of all, i'm a 74-year-old black man who grew up under jim crow and i'm very sick and tired of everything now being categorized as jim crow or racist. most of the people calling in and talking about jim crow have no idea. i worked in a place where i could not even go to the same place to eat in a restaurant. i could work there, but if i went back to eat, i would be arrested. and for years, for the last 50 some odd years i watched democrats lie about -- to the blacks, try to make fools out of it. we are so stupid we can't get an id to vote, you know, because we

need the government to make sure that they do this for us. it's just infuriating. it makes me very angry. especially growing up in that era. i grew up in that era and i know jim crow when i see it. >> so when you vote there in washington in vancouver, jim, do you provide an id when you go to the polls? >> no, it's one of the phoneiest voting systems there is. they have this automatic what you call -- >> registration. >> -- registration, yes. all you've got to do is go apply for a license, an id and they automatically register you and anybody could -- right now anybody can fill out my voter registration for me and vote for me if i choose to do so. >> let's hear from -- thanks for that is correct sam. we will go to anthony in sierra vista, arizona. >> good morning.

>> good morning. >> i shared a quote for the capitol police officers. you don't see me until you need me and i was referencing how elected officials treated the law enforcement. the other part of that quote is you don't see me until you need me, otherwise i don't exist. and that's where we are today when it comes to voting because it's very applicable. i am definitely for automatic registration just like the law was changed that you had to have a social security number when a child was born here as a citizen. now, also for maryland voting i think that if we had 58,000 some service members killed in the

vietnam war and the government notified them by western union and before the vietnam war the government notified them by mail. if it's good enough to notify you by mail you done lost a loved one, then why isn't it good enough to notify you that, hey, i can mail in a vote? and finally, voting should start 30 days before the presidential election. 30 days. it will change by date, but it will still be 30 days before and then you don't have to worry about counting votes after they come into the mailbox, but for those veterans like myself who served overseas, there should be no time limit. if you put that mail in the post office while you're overseas out of the u.s. it should count.

>> there in arizona, anthony, do you have vote by mail? >> yes, we do. and i'm on a permanent mail voting list and the legislaor here they wanted to change it where if you didn't vote in so many elections then they can start pulling you off, but i'm on the permanent voter list. i'm a disabled veteran, i don't sit on jury duty, but i gave this country 38 years of my life, 28 years of my life and ten years of my life wearing a civilian army uniform. >> we appreciate you calling in with your view this morning. this is the front page this morning of the washington times and their head line voters not sold on new election laws. they say as the senate prepares to vote on legislation tuesday americans are deeply conflicted. tell them the legislation is about voting access waving the way easier registration and more opportunities to cast ballots

then americans are enthused but tell them the legislation overrides states voter id laws or spawns a taxpayer system and that fades. the bottom line is most democrats and republicans want to take the potential for election results to be questioned off the table. the problem is they aren't likely to agree on how to get there. patrick murray the director of the monmouth university polling institute which released data this week finding that 50% of those surveyed rated barriers to voting as their top election worry versus 37% who said that fraud was their biggest concern and that poll from monmouth university. here is the release of that poll, the headline on that release, public supports both early voting and requiring photo -- photo id to vote. the poll available at monmouth.edu. there is an election in new york city today, we will go to brooklyn next and hear from jared.

good morning. >> good morning. i do not support any of these bills that are being proposed in the house and the senate. it's just the federal government trying to increase its power, the constitution is clear, elections are a state's right. additionally the idea that african-americans can't get id is just racist to them. they are smart enough to do -- to get ids. the democrats are just trying to take more power and by requiring id it won't cause voter suppression. >> have you voted, jared, in your city's mayoral election? >> i plan on voting later today. >> okay. thanks for your call this morning. the front page of the "new york times" this morning with some of the candidates in that multi-candidate race for mayor. eric adams, catherine garcia, maya wylie, andrew yang, ray mcguire and scott stringer included on the front page of

the "new york times." we will show you the views of the new york post in a bit and their choice for new york city mayor candidate. let's hear from patty next in north bran ford, connecticut. go ahead. >> hi. i'm calling in, you for goat to say on the monmouth poll that 80% believe we should have voter id. stacey abrams, i don't know where she gets the power, she is all over television and she sideways left and -- back and forth. she ruined a lot of things in georgia, believe me. she changed a lot of laws there. she did harvesting votes which i think are illegal. and i want to say one more thing. obama, butt out. your time is out. you already had your day and you divided this country. thank you. >> cliff is next in flint, michigan. cliff on the democrats line. go ahead. >> yes. for the last lady there who commented really quickly,

president obama is an american citizen and former president and has every right to speak about this, just like any other american. so many callers are calling in, i'm 60 -- almost 64 years old -- talking about voter id. this is not about voter id. i was born in a little town in arkansas and we moved to michigan in 1968 and my mother had not voted until the 1968 election not because she was too stupid or not intelligent, but because of jim crow. and then finally, what these voter laws actually do, they are not about voter id, my wife is an election official in a small town here in michigan, they are about removing nonpartisan voting boards but replacing them with republican partisan people who can overturn the results if they don't like it. if, for example, our area is heavily democratic, they can bring someone in from another town and if we vote for a

democrat they can say, oh, we don't like that, we're going to give the vote to a republican. so voters, all these callers need to be better informed about what they're calling in. nobody is saying, oh, we don't -- shouldn't have to produce ids. what we're saying is the election should not be rigged by one side or the other and only one party in this country right now are enacting laws that can overturn the will of voters and are partisan. name one state where democrats are telling people or the country where they're telling people if you vote for republicans you lose because we're going to overturn the will of the voter. and that's the way it should be. the 15th amendment says that no state or government entity should abridge the right of american citizens to vote. and the republican party all across the country are doing exactly that, overturning my right as had a black veteran of

ten years in the united states military to vote when someone from bangladesh or china or any other country can come over here, get a green card and vote where i can't. that's ridiculous. >> cliff -- >> i was born in this country just like they were. >> cliff -- >> why -- >> some of the things you're talking about, are these recent changes to the laws in michigan? >> no, what they're trying to do in michigan the republican party there was -- if you remember during the election there was a state election board where there were five members, two republicans and three -- my bad, three republicans and two democrats and they voted whether to certify the election. president trump contacted two of the republican members and said come to the white house, which they did. you recall this. >> yes. >> he asked them to overturn it although in the state of michigan our vote totals said

that joe biden won by several hundred -- or several -- something like 60,000, 70,000 votes. if any party can then override the will of the voters that's not a democracy because these voter laws -- please, people, read what you are talking about before you talk about it. they are about suppressing the vote. not what's in congress. in florida, in texas, in iowa, in michigan, anywhere there is a republican legislatures except for virginia and maryland are the only two states that are with republican governors that are not enacting these laws based on a lie that donald trump won the election when 80 courts including the supreme court said that he lost. >> all right. cliff in michigan, the question for you this morning is what election voting reforms would you support as the senate prepares to take up and head to a key vote this afternoon around

5:30 on whether to actually begin debate on what they're calling the for the people act, the voting reform bill. jen psaki the white house press secretary was asked yesterday the potential of using the filibuster to pass voting rights legislation. here is what she said. >> it's a step forward. we don't expect there to be a magical ten votes, i'm not suggesting that, but just two weeks ago there were questions about whether democrats would be aligned. we certainly hope that will be the case tomorrow. it's important to remember that this has been a 60-year battle to make voting more accessible, more available to americans across the country and our effort, the president's effort to continue that fight doesn't stop tomorrow at all. this will be a tight of his presidency. in terms of the steps he has taken he has had conversations with members about supporting this legislation, including senator manchin as you all know over the last couple of weeks and he will continue to

advocate. he has also asked his vice president -- or agreed with his vice president that she will be in charge of this effort moving forward. it doesn't stop. this is an important piece of it, the federal legislation, more work to be done. there's work to do in the states, work to do with voting groups, work to do to empower and engage legislatures and that's something that will also be part of her effort. as it relates to the filibuster, you know, i don't think you have to take it from us that would be congress moving forward or making a decision if the vote is unsuccessful tomorrow we suspect it will prompt a new conversation about the path forward and we will see where that goes. go ahead. >> and there are 50 democrats, 50 in the democratic caucus in the senate. it will take 60 votes to advance that legislation which they're not likely to get. one of those key democrats is kyrsten sinema from arizona who has been an opinion piece which is we have more to lose or gain by ending the filibuster. she said my support for retaining the 60 vote threshold

is not based on the importance of any particular policy, it's based on what is best for our democracy. the filibuster compels moderation and protects the country from wild swings between opposing policy polls. in her article, in her op-ed she points out some of those. she says that to those who want to eliminate the legislative filibuster to pass the for the people act i support and would co-sponsor i would ask would it be good for our country if we did only to see that legislation rescinded a few years from now and replaced by nationwide voter id law or restrictions on voting by mail in federal elections over the objections of the minority. to those who want to eliminate the legislative filibuster to expand health care access or retirement benefits would it be good for our country if we did only to later see that legislation replaced by legislation dividing medicaid into block grants, splashing social security and medicare benefits or defunding women's reproductive health services. she writes to those who want to eliminate the legislative

filibuster to empower federal agencies to better protect the environment or strengthen education, would it be good for our country if we did only to see federal agencies starved of resources or abolished a few years from now. you can read that op-ed at "washington post".com. some comments on social media, a tweet here saying that i want the dark money out of politics. going along with that i like that hr-1 stops rich people from buying elections. jen in new jersey says voter reform no dark money tied to candidates, id always, one person, one vote, maybe close the states down on election day, make it a holiday, early voting 11 days prior. no internet at polling places better get back to paper. no extending acceptance for mail ballots. larry in new jersey the jerry manneder is one of the most insidious forms of voter suppression but most of all

everyone that possibly can needs to vote. john is on our republican line in arlington, virginia. go ahead. >> you know -- good morning. >> good morning. >> after 9/11 when they built the pentagon up again what they did was they suspended a lot of construction rules so they can rebuild it in a hurry. when we voted last november they suspended a lot of rules and they suspended a lot of rules because of the special nature of covid-19. all of a sudden that's supposed to be the new norm. unfortunately a lot of those expansion rules to a lot of people gives the feeling that if it continues it was really open to possible fraud and manipulation. we had reached a point especially after 2000 where they were moving towards getting voting machines that were --

that were done by computer and things like that but you had to have a paper trail to it. that was a great move. there were other moves that could be taken, but to broaden things out to the point where it can lead to fraud is no good. i don't think helps any. and i certainly think they need voter id. but the last thing i'd like to say to the republicans, unless -- unless a republican candidate can answer a question was the election of donald trump stolen and did he win by millions of votes, like he says, if they can't answer that question in a negative way i'm not voting for him. >> let's go to frank in clarksburg, west virginia, on the independent line. good morning. >> i'm having a little trouble breathing so bear with me for one second. you know, i feel everyone should

vote. they should send ballots out. they know who is there through taxes. i mean, you've got personal property, you've got real estate taxes. there's all kinds of different ways you could find out and it should last for a month just to tell you the truth. i believe in some countries if you don't vote you're fine, i think australia is one of them. that should happen here and as far as an audit goes it really doesn't make any sense unless everyone in that state agrees to the -- why is it the honest are only conducted in states where president trump lost. if you are going to have an audit in one state, have it in all of them. voting shouldn't be more difficult, it should be easier. it should last for a month. >> to your idea, frank, of

finding people who don't vote, i think you said that, what's your reasoning behind that? >> well, to find them. australia finds you. i could be wrong on that, okay? but, you know there,'s some countries that hold their democracy to way higher standards than we're tending to hold ours now. and for what reason? for what reason we holding our democracy -- democracy captive to a person's whims to decide that, well, you know, this state went against me, so we need an audit. give me a break here. >> how do you feel about your state senator joe manchin, his participation in all of this debate? >> joe manchin is a little bit like my dog, some things he does i like and some things he does i don't. you know?

and i voice my concerns to senator manchin and to senator capity toe. that's a tough job, this is a tough job and not making -- they are not making the whole thing any easier. this is about voting rights. rights. this is whether we keep a democracy or not. so, therefore, everyone should have -- if i vote -- i think you vote -- your general was the first tuesday in november. okay. something like -- let's say that. okay? anyway, if i vote a month ahead of time and i died before that date am i taking -- that vote doesn't count? that's crazy. i mean, we have a fraudulent vote here because this man he's not alive anymore? why don't we want -- why don't we want this country to be -- as great as this country can be, why do we not want it like that. >> here is some reporting this morning from "politico" on

today's vote the headline manchin holds up until last minute on elections vote. burgess everett writing that senator joe manchin declined on monday to commit to advancing democrats' sweeping elections bill saying he would need more assurances that his proposed changes would be adopted. may seem like a piny union matter, but democrats want to send a political mess ang and they need manchin's vote to paint a more vivid contrast with republicans' blockade. the west virginia democrat opposes the democrats sweeping elections bill but it undecided on whether to vote to start debate on it. all other senate democrats have co-sponsored that legislation. that's the thing to keep in mind about the vote this afternoon 5:30 in the senate, it's a vote to start debate on the democrats' bill it's not a vote on the bill itself. john is in new jersey. democrats line. go ahead. >> i agree with a lot of what

the previous gentleman said. i will be quick. yesterday i was reminded that yesterday was the anniversary of the murder of warner, goodman and cheney and that reminder in the midst of what we're going through now, attacks on democracy is heartbreaking and thought provoking. i hope democracy survives and i hope that everybody will read jane mayer's book "dark money." thank you. >> wyattville, virginia, this is ray on the republican line. good morning. hey, ray, you are on the air. go ahead. just make sure you mute your volume, ray, and go ahead with

your comment, your question. ray in wyattville, virginia, turn down your volume and go ahead with your comment. i'm sorry, ray, you're listening to the tv or something off the phone there. we will go to bellefonte, pennsylvania. this is dave. >> good morning. how are you doing today. >> doing fine. thank you. >> i've been thinking about this a lot since the last election and all the claims of fraud and the worries about hacking and the uncertainties and honestly if it were my decision solely on how to proceed with this i would go ahead and get away with the secret part of balloting. i would go to an open ballot system which cannot be hacked, you cannot commit fraud, i mean, just think about it. how do you commit fraud or hack a roomful of people and the question is show of hands who wants tacos, pizza or burgers for lunch. you can't hack t you can't cheat, everybody is out there, everything is tracked.

we can totally have a system that is 100% secure, there is no chance of fraud and no chance of hacking. the only thing we have left to do is send that pesky part of the process that keeps things secret. that's what i would do. >> dave in pennsylvania, thank you for that. brunswick, georgia, next up jane on the democrats line, republican line, brunswick, georgia, go ahead. >> thank you for letting me speak. i think if the democrats keep getting their way as far as the voting and anything else we're going to be stuck with them forever. i don't trust them anymore and i see what's happening to our country and i think if things keep going the way they are we're going to end up being just like china, russia and some of the other communist countries. i mean, look what they're doing

to our speech and especially our children in school. i don't know. all i know is if these bills pass i'm taking my son and i'm leaving the country because i won't let my son be raised in a communist country. >> jane, where would you go to? how old is your son, where would you go to? >> my son is 44 but he is also totally disabled. >> and where do you think you would move to? >> there's ecuador. there's columbia. >> and you would do that because you think of things like the legislation that's being considered today of that sort of legislation passes? >> right. yes, sir. because what it's going to lead to is communism. you can say, oh, it's marxist -- you may as well say communist when you say marxist and

socialist is right next to marxist. i just refuse. my father fought in the army during world war ii, he was at pearl harbor when it was bombed and i had four brothers who also fought. my oldest brother was in the [ inaudible ] war. >> okay. appreciate your call. we're asking you this morning about voting reform. what sort of voting reforms do you support as the senate repairs to take a key vote this afternoon on advancing the democrats s-1 they call it the for the people act passed in the house and you hr-1 will come up today for a test vote, it's a procedural vote on advancing to actual debate on the bill. it is not expected to meet that 60-vote threshold. there obviously is a lot of lobbying, money being spent on this as there is with every

congressional measure and policy potential policy change. one of those groups spending money is a group called fix the senate which wants to abolish the filibuster and here is their recent ad. >> our democracy has been tested before, but we've always come back stronger. nothing is more sacred than our right to vote and the freedom to choose our own leaders at the ballot box. so with an unprecedented assault on the legitimacy of our elections we need the senate to secure our democracy in this century not defend the abused filibuster of the past. brave americans have always done their job to stand up for democracy, now it's time for senators to do theirs. >> the senate itself gavels into session this morning at 10:00 a.m. eastern over on our companion network c-span 2. you will hear plenty of debate ahead of that vote this afternoon. plenty on social media as well obviously on twitter. comments from senators, senator mike crepo republicans saying that the patently

unconstitutional voting legislation would circumvent -- the legislation is simply a massive federal overreach. gary peters of michigan says we need to take action to protect and strengthen voting rights of michiganders and americans can have their voices heard at the ballot box. i'm proud to co-sponsor s-1. rick scott from florida tweets the democrats s-1 the corrupt politicians act is a radical power grab that makes elections less secure, allows politicians to spend millions in your taxpayer money to fund their campaigns and run attack ads. it's insane and we can't let it pass. from georgia senator rafael warnock saying our democracy is stronger whenever eligible voter voice can be heard. it's the best way for us to come together and solve the complex challenges we must face today.

we have to pass federal voting rights legislation. back to calls. in meadville, pennsylvania, on our democrats line. larry, hello there. >> yes, thank you for taking my call. i was calling on behalf of -- i don't understand, i got -- i spent time in the service and i got four grandkids in the service and my older brother died in the service and what i can't understand is why they keep spending all this money, letting trump pay all this money continuing to address the voting. and the next thing is that the american people we are paying for this and it just keeps going

on and on and on and i'd like to know, you know, when they're going to stop that. i mean, they always are talking about the money we spend here and the money we spend there. well, he's costing the united states a lot of money. that's unnecessary. and i thank you for taking my call. the lady was talking about the democrats taking over. the problem is the republicans went down there and they took over the capitol. if that's not overthrowing the government i don't know what you would call it. >> all right. to robert in lynchburg, virginia. independent line. >> yes, sir. thank you for taking my call. my thoughts is i will accept what joe manchin is proposing, but also i'd like to address that guy that called from chicago saying he's 74 years old. i'm 77, i did 20 years in the

military and fighting for our rights to vote and for democracy and not for a communist state. if you follow donald trump, everybody that follows him, you look at the red tie he wear all the time, it's just like the devil saying you follow him and the devil is a master -- is a father of a lie. so i appreciate you taking my call and thank you very much. >> this is toms river, new jersey, we hear from bernard on the republican line. bernard, mute your volume. can you turn down your volume and go ahead with your comment, please. >> okay. first name is john, right? >> bernard, go ahead with your comment, if you will. >> yes. i talked to a few people yesterday after watching your fantastic show yesterday about

the on absconding of the employment benefits by russia, you said china and romania, i think, right? and i just want to know if some of these people can be -- can also be informed like we were yesterday because they don't believe me. i've talked to a lot of people. >> all right. bernard, that was yesterday's topic, you can see that segment at c-span.org. i appreciate you calling about that. we go to iowa. kim is on the democrats line. your thought on the democrats voting reform legislation. what sort of reforms do you support? >> i support that everyone has the right to vote. that shouldn't be up even for debate of people voting. now, with joe manchin purging the rolls of votes, dead people

votes, okay, i support that. i also support voter id. it's a shame that we have republicans, human beings, telling everyone they shouldn't vote because they are disadvantaged toward democracy. it's just so sad that our country has turned into a communist country to sit there and tell people you don't have the right to vote pause our guy didn't win. i didn't vote for trump, i voted for hillary clinton, but i didn't really want to vote for her, but i chose her but i didn't get mad when she lost. we dealt with trump for four years, he lost, it's a done deal. it's a shame how we see people storming capitols, it's a shame how they throw a tantrum like little children.

if my guy didn't win i'm going to storm the capitol, i'm going to come up there with guns and whatever, confederate flags, that have never been in congress before. we need to learn our history that once you take everyone's votes we are in a communist country. trump is a cult leader and these people that are following him like he is jesus and it seems like our country are going away from jesus and going for trump. >> it is election day we mentioned in new york city today. this is the new york post view on their choice for candidate. and the headline bring back new york city -- to bring back new york city vote for eric adams. they say that today is the most important vote for new yorkers in a generation. whom you pick for mayor will determine whether three decades of prosperity and safety will return or if the dark turn under failed mayor bill de blasio will continue. they say eric adams is unequivocally the best candidate to save this city.

pick him as your first choice on the ballot. the view of the new york post. you can read the entire editorial at nypost.com. we heard from senator oncornyn yesterday, the minority whip in the senate speaking out against s-1. >> there is no widespread effort to stop voters from casting a ballot and there is no desire to hand states constitutional authorities over to the federal government. our democratic colleagues are struggling to accept this reality, they spent the last several days working behind the scenes to negotiate a compromise among themselves. well, there was never a question of whether or not this would be a bipartisan bill because of the overreach that i have just talked b the question was whether or not the bipartisan opposition seen in the house would continue in the senate. but even if democrats were to accept all of the changes

proposed by senator manchin, the senator from west virginia and endorsed by stacey abrams, the rotten core of this bill remains the same. this is a politically motivated federal takeover of our elections and it will not stand. the constitution doesn't give the democratic party or the republican party to govern how states run their elections. that's reserved to the states by the constitution of the united states of america. i would firmly oppose any effort to hand texas's constitutional rights to regulate and conduct its elections to the federal government. a one size fits all federal mandate won't i'm proven public confidence in our elections it will be seen for what it is in a transparent way, a partisan political takeover, a coup d'etat really of the way that our elections are run. >> and our opening question for you this morning is what voting

reforms do you support? some reaction on social media and via text, that line is 202-748-8003. bob in hometown, illinois, says this. he sends this message, support voter id, photo id, not mailing everyone on an outdated list a ballot or harvesting makes it harder to cheat, that means noncitizens, no flowery names on bills make them fair. naddi in michigan i like the idea of not having any dark money in an election. i know for a fact that where i vote they will not allow poll watchers at all or any kind of intimidation that was happening up in lansing, michigan. intimidating because they were armed and in the capitol, they're looking mean with his big guns mad at a restriction so we will threaten the legislature with what? death? and this one from bj annapolis, voting reform, mandatory voter id. let's hear from emma in stockton, california, democrats line.

>> hello. >> hi. go ahead, emma. >> okay. i'm just saying, you know, it's so stupid right now for people to be voting on should other people be able to vote, you know? because as long as you are here, as long as you're under the so-called governing power, you know, everybody has the right to have a say in what happens to them. it's just amazing how stupid we have gotten in the last five years, you know? trump, whatever. and i don't understand him because he came in lying and he has, you know, split the country and i don't want to be racist,

but it's the point that it seems like they want to go back to the plantation days, you know? i want to rule you. and i want you to work for me. and you know what i'm saying. but it's just amazing. people have to come to a conscious mind. everybody has a mind. everybody. and for some reason a lot of people have gotten stupid and, you know, come back. >> the legislation the senate will consider today is s-1 the for the people act, democrats call it, and it would include automatic voter registration, it would strengthen early and absentee mail-in voting, absentee mail voting, it would protect against flawed purges of voter rolls, it would create small dollar nontaxpayer public financing system for federal offices and calls for a

constitutional amendment to overturn the supreme court's citizens united decision. it would prohibit the coordination between super pacs and candidates, prior that states use independent redistricting commissions and would enhance resources to stave off foreign threats and cyber attacks in elections. in new york, pat on the independent line. go ahead. >> yes. thank you for taking my call. i don't think the problem is so much figuring out how to validate the voting system and to include everybody, which it should, the problem is the ignorance level of our society, you know, we have -- we have candidates who are propped up by the powers to be in this nation for us to vote on at the last minute. we have a group of people that we choose, but they are already propped for us. we don't really have a democracy in this country. we can't, you know, vote each

other in or joe down the street who owns the pizzeria who we know is a moral -- i'm going a little sarcastic, but we can't get people outside the ones that are chosen for us to be elected. so the ignorance level is the problem here. we've got people on this show talking about communism, they don't know what communism is obviously if they think it's just a controlling manipulating cruel system, then we must be very communist in this country because we're very controlled and manipulated. the problem is ignorance. senator byrd said it during iraq war to the senate when he addressed them. we are not educated to become thinking individuals, we are only educated to be -- to fulfill factory jobs and make sure that, you know, we make money for the people who hire us. this is the problem. educating the people of this country so that they have the

ability to vote properly or to get a system -- working system that actually works in a democratic fashion to steer us in the direction that makes us better. >> with the record turnout of the presidential election, though, pat, do you think that reflects a system that's failed? >> yes, it reflects a system that's failed because it's a manipulated system. you're given a choice of joe biden or donald trump or whoever and, i mean, it's even harder to get a third party, to get a person like sanders and because it's a controlled system. it's smoke and mirrors, but it's not that much better than other systems. if we have one of two people to vote for that's just one more than those nasty dictatorships. how democratic are we? i mean, where are we going? what direction are we going in? >> all right. pat in new york, the former president commented on the 2020

election yesterday. this is a piece in the washington times, the headline trump stands firm on stolen election charge. quote, i never used the word concede. the former president on monday said that he has, quote, never admitted defeat in the 2020 presidential race. quote, i never used the word concede. i have not conceded. mr. trump said in an interview with david brody on real america's voice. mr. trump reiterated his unproven allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 election and said he anticipates the controversial audit in arizona to show just that, he also predicted more states will follow suit and more evidence will appear. mr. trump said democratic presidential nominee hillary clinton in 2016 and georgia gubernatorial candidate stacey abrams in 2018 raised concerns about shady behavior in their elections suggesting his stolen election claims are not out of the ordinary. quote, theres a tremendous percentage of people that thinks the election was rigged and stolen. mr. trump has been teasing another presidential bid in 2024 and touting those who have said

he remains the leader of the gop. in covington, indiana, mike, good morning. mike on the republican line. go ahead. >> yes. i notice your topic there was voter reform. i think voter id is the best way to go. it has to be. i always wondered all these years democrats did not want voter id, all of a sudden monmouth pulls a poll, 80% of americans want voter id. certainly they are in an uproar. this he can't believe that they ain't being listened to. if they can change on a hat like that that's pretty scary party to believe in all these years no id and now they want it. when they passed this hr-1, you know, you've heard amendments to a bill. well, that would be the first thing they would amend is that voter id. don't let nobody fool you over there on the democratic side.

if they pass that bill that would be the first thing they amend. >> let's get one more thought on this in this hour anyway. old fort, tennessee. hello to bob. >> okay. you were talk being georgia and why republicans feel donald trump had got the election stolen. can i tell you, please, you don't mind, do you, but, listen -- >> bob? >> yes, sir. the reason -- the reason we believe donald trump got cheated in georgia, because they ran every -- the poll watchers out and they started jerking suitcases out and underneath tables. we seen it on our local news. if you are a real reporter you should know this. and then they changed the law not the legislators in pennsylvania when they changed that law by allowing a judge to do it, that right there makes it

illegal. >> there's more ahead on this topic here on washington journal. coming up next in the next hour we will continue our conversation on voting reforms with john fortier an election integrity expert at the american enterprise institute. later former ambassador mark ginsburg president of the group coalition for a safer web will be joining us to talk about his group's role in tracking extremist activity online and the biden administration's plan to counter domestic terrorism. ♪♪ >> today on the c-span networks, a senate committee hears from washington, d.c. mayor muriel bowser as it considers legislation that would make the district the 51st state. that's 10:00 a.m. on c-span. at noon the house returns for general speeches. at 2:00 p.m. they take up 18 bills including legislation aimed at protecting veterans from fraud and a consumer

product safety commission study on covid-19-related deaths and injuries. on c-span 2 at 10:00 a.m. the senate returns to work on the nomination of christopher fonzone to be general counsel for the director of national for crack cocaine and at 2:00 p.m. jerome powell tefs over the crisis subpoena is committee on the federal reserve's response to the pandemic and on our c-span.org, we look at ways there can be more reliable broadband infrastructure. washington jushl continues.

welcome to washington journal. >> good morning. we spent the first hour talking about the vote many doing up today. the for the people act, the democrats voting reform bill, but you are in a recent opinion piece that you had, you said that there were reforms that get too broad in your opinion, why do you think that? our country is different than everywhere in the world. we have states and we sometimes pass federal laws that superscede those and it's a smaller number of laws, it's usually when we have a

consensus. it's a large bill, all of those are pretty controversial and hard to get through. some through certain states, the size of it, we have not debated the parts. kwun -- this is a one size fits all. and now, under different

circumstances in the post election months, many legislatures across the country are considering or have taken up or have passed election reform bills in the states. does that provide a sense of urgency to getting national election porm done. certainly the democrats do it, and tie it to what is being done in states across the country. i think that the action in the states are a combination of things that have been going on for years. the different voting systems in different states and all of the change we saw in 2000. and a lot of states moving to big increases to violate by about mail and change this is in the system is. republicans saying we want differences in the way you

handle absentee ballot ones and democrats think it's a step backwards and they would like to see national regulation of this, it's the case that we need some buy in. because we have had a filabuster and there's an urgency on the democratic side, feeling red states and republican states are moving in the direction they don't like. and i will note blue states have made big changes too. if remember cans were in charge. we would like to have national legislation that went in the other direction. it's a way we have it in the decentralized system. it's the changes in election boards. how could that be and how could that be a, an important issue going forward. well, again, we are a decentralized country, often the

states and county boards, you know, we have a variety of systems across the country. there's a tension between should all of the countys be uniform or should the state have more authority over keeping you know, keeping one set of voting procedure. texas in tuck, a democratic led county put reforms in, we are cutting back on that, and saying we need a more uniform system. it's what power should locals have verse state. which states are you paying

closest information to? >> well, certainly there's the georgia law, and it's past and texas was stopped for a while. i actually would note that almost every state is making changes in the lead up to the election. we are paying attention to it now. a state like new jersey, and it went from being a state that voted mostly in person overwhelmingly the number of people in person. they switched their system on voting in nearly 100% by mail. in both directions and again, it's following the pattern of set of issues.

>> john is with us with the american enterprise institute we are talking about election reforms. welcome to your calls and comments, republicans, it's a -- the start of the conversation, saying that it was you saying that the s-1 is a too broad. but i want to read more about the federal rule verse the state role in your pc, you write some republicans claim the voting laws are the province of states and stats alone. congress can enact laws and states have had the role the in elections and only in specific instances has congress stepped in with federal laws with the

result that the, american elections on unlike those of other countries are extremely decentalized. what was the last time, john, that there was a major federal legislation or intervention in terms of, in state election wills in national elections, i should say. >> well, i can point to a few through history. we have voting rights legislations, and it's been renewed and several times since. we have had a major look at registration, motor voter rejds. registration of the dmvs, after the 2000 election. not everyone was happy with it. really major change to the voting machines and voting registration systems. i think we get sometimes aagreement between the parties on overseas voting and we have had several packages like that. and just recently in the last few years we have had more

federal money. rarely has federal money gone to the states. in the last three times we had money for election security coming out of the 2016, worries about that. and then, a bit more money to states for being able to deal with the issues of the pandemic. we have done things at the national level. there's national institutions that are related to institutions, related to he elections. and the key institutions that run elections are secretaries of state, or state election boards and locals doing the actually administration, see, most of it still is, a decentalized but we have certainly had times where we have made a uniform national law. they say that insupport for

requiring a photo i.d. stands at 62% among democrats and 87 among independents and 91% among represent are cans. i think the poll is consistent with other polls, squh some that our organization has put out in the field. and in general, if you ask what are you most concerned about. are you concerned about access to elections making it easier to vote and or integrity of election wills making sure that the results are correct and you are doing it accurately. republicans line up on the integrity side and democrats line up on the access side. there's special reforms that i say, the activists are more divided than the people.

and voter i.d., you get a pretty good amount of support from the democratic side. african-americans are being supportive often of voter i.d. and on the early voting side again, republicans not being as against it as some ledge slay s -- legislators are. some of it does not cut the way the activists portray them. have any state legislators given the -- >> that's a good question. if you go back to the execution in the early days, the slate

legislatures. they did not have election wills for president. they had elections for the state legislatures and they would directly appoint electors. we have moved away from that and states have the elections where the people weigh in. the question remains, in some extreme circumstances, because i think nobody would want to see this on a regular basis, could the stately legislatures reassert their power to point the electors directly. and the times we talk about it happening are perhaps the state ladies and gentlemen slay which you are sees some are great failure in the election. and other actors really changing the laws or doing something that really disrupts the election or perhaps -- >> we will leave this washington journal discussion at this point, you can watch the rest of it on our website c-span.org, live coverage as we go to a

hearing with jell reserve chair jerome powell. live coverage on c-span 3.