c-span radio app. c-span is your unfiltered view of government and we are funded by these television companies and more including comcast. >> you think that this is a community center? no, it is way more than that. >> comcast is partnering with 1,000 community centers for wi-fi enabled lists for students to get the tools they need for anything. comcast supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> federal reserve chair jerome powell testifies thursday on monetary policy and the economy before the senate banking committee, and live coverage begins 9:30 a.m. and you can watch on c-span, cspan.org or

free on the c-span radio app. and thank you for watching. this morning the $3 trillion go it alone plan. but to fulfill biden's plan, here is the senate democrats announced a top line budget number late tuesday that will propel their plan to enact without the republican votes. the proposal is going to set a limit of $3.5 trillion for the spate of the democratic policy ambitions that won't make it to a bipartisan infrastructure deal if congress can't reach one. if the rez cushion can clear both chambers with the lock step party support, it will unleash the power to circumvent the party's $9 trillion aid package back in march. that is from politico this morning, and this is senate majority leader chuck schumer last night, and this is the

video from ryan nobles from cnn. >> we have come to budget committee, and the budget committee has come to an agreement, and the budget resolution with instructions will be $3.5 trillion and add that to the $600 billion in the bipartisan plan, and you will get to $4.1 which is very, very close to what president biden asked us for. every major program that president biden has asked us for is funded in a robust way. in addition, we are making some additions to that. most important, something that senator sanders has led and convinced america is so important which is a robust expansion of medicare including fully funding, not fully funding, but including money for

dental, vision and hearing. joe biden is coming to our lunch tomorrow to lead us on to getting this wonderful plan that affects american families in a so profound way more than anything that has happened in generations. we are very proud of this plan. we know that we have a long road to go, but we will get it done for the sake of making average americans' lives a whole lot better. >> the senate majority leader chuck schumer late last night on capitol hill after meeting with the senate budget committee democrats on the senate budget committee, and here is republican reaction to that announcement, and the top line number yesterday, and mike lee, the republican from utah with $3 trillion new spending and is that too much, and 3.5 trillion that we don't have. this is from rick scott, the

republican from florida, and earlier in the day yesterday before the official announcement came out, but as the negotiations were taking place among the democrats, joe biden is fueling america's debt and inflation crisis with trillions of dollars in reckless spending with the federal debt limit, and the extension is expiring this month, and i asked the secretary how the administration is going to address the nearly out of control $30 trillion debt, and this is from jason smith, the ranking member on the house budget committee who is involved in the reconciliation process, and the republican from missouri saying that this top line number, and this is nothing more than a bait and switch. joe biden proposed $4 trillion in new reconciliation spending and then claimed he would seek common ground with the republicans, and chuck schumer and bernie sanders is a repackaging to get the total of $4 trillion in spending and the same day, we find out that year

over year inflation growth is the highest in ten years, and the democrats are wanting to throw $4 trillion more in flames to the fire, and this is one of the most out of touch celebrations. this is going to add more costs to the americans who can least afford it. that is the news from the front page of the washington times and that story is saying that consumer prices spiked again in june extending the highest inflation rate in 13 years and extending to biggest rate for the biden spending proposals, and reporting that consumer prices rose 9% from may to june, and the highest jump, and core inflation from food to fuel rose 5% in the past year, and the

number is well above private economists expectations, and the republicans have taken the call to higher gas and groceries and other necessities that joe biden's hidden tax on americans. and that is the front page of today's "washington times" and getting your reaction today, and we don't have the details of the $3.5 trillion proposal and just the top line number released by democrats late last night, and they talked about some of the proposals that will be in it, and wed will go through that as we go through the first hour of the "washington journal" but we want to hear from you and get your reaction today. the democrats 202-748-8000 and republicans 202-748-8001 and independents 202-748-8002. and to you. >> caller: i hope that democrats

will listen to larry sommers who says that it is going to be inflation is going to be too much if we pass this. the $1,400 checks have already been spent due to gas and food inflation. at least for me. i'm on a fixed income. but i can see the families, and it is hitting the poor people more than what it really is doing. >> excuse me, you say $3.5 trillion is far too much, and what are the thoughts on the about $600 billion bipartisan infrastructure deal? that is the legislation that could be moved first or perhaps at the same time of this reconciliation package and do you know the exact order yet? that infrastructure spending

that was negotiated of the republican and the democratic senators, and are you okay with that level of spending? >> only if they deregulate and make sure they can build the roads and bridges that, that they plan on building. regulations mattered a whole part of spending. what good the $600 billion or the $700 billion if they have all of the regulations? >> steve in illinois, this is bruce out of cleveland, ohio. democrat. good morning. your reaction out of the senate last night. >> caller: good morning. what i would like to know is this is a new -- the democrats need to do a reconciliation on everything right now, because the republican nazis are not

doing anything but fighting joe biden for everything that he is doing. the health care plan, and everything, the roads and the structures and all of that. we have to have this stuff done. our roads and bridges are falling down, and what is going to happen? i can't understand these republican nazis talking about -- >> bruce, there are -- >> caller: they have no plans at all. >> bruce, before we call everybody nazis, there are republicans working with the democrats on the infrastructure deal, and why do you want to move to reconciliation on that? there is a bipartisan bill that is pretty far along in that process. >> caller: well, excuse me, but i am watching my internet feed. mitch mcconnell has already said that he is going to try to stop everything just because of joe

biden. >> that is bruce in ohio. this is steve out of ft. pierce, florida. good morning, independent. >> caller: hi. good morning. you know, we need to study history a little bit. nations, nations destroy themselves from inside-out, whether they are elected official or not. and there is some really important questions that we need to answer. the first one is what national debt do we have to have that the company implodes on itself. and the second, and the other question would be at what point are we going to monetize our debt? that is what we are doing right now, anyway. and once we do that, the nation is going to fall from inside-out. and if you are looking at the countries for the politicians' promise, and if you are taking a chance and look at the 1936 ussr constitution, and what they promised to the people at that

time and communism only lasted 60 years, we are running down the same path. we are not following, and our political leaders promised for themselves, and the political leaders become rich, and inflation actually starts to cure -- to -- what is the best word? to destroy the people that it says it is going to help. >> so, how much national debt is too much? because at this moment we are at 28 trillion and 519 billion and 738 million and counting. that is coming out to if you are dividing it out among every taxpayer in the country, $226,000 per taxpayer, and that is from u.s. debt clock.org. are we already past too much or what is too much? >> caller: maybe we are. because the interest on that loan that we have out right now

is a huge part of our national budget every year. and once we get to the point which means that we don't have any money to pay even what we can't -- really, we can't pay off the debt, and people, you know, they talk about all of these new thing, and the trouble being is that -- politicians can promise the world. but we have to pay for it. the politicians are getting rich. everyone who goes in are rich. all of the leaders of different groups, and black lives matter and all of the different ones, they are getting rich. >> that is steve in ft. pierce, florida, as you heard from chuck schumer in the announcement yesterday that this $3.5 trillion budget plan that is this package to include some expansion of medicare. he noted that it is a key provision that bernie sanders helped to negotiate into that budget top line number.

these are the largest budget items in the u.s. debt again from the u.s. debt clock, and medicare and medicaid account for about $1.3 trillion a year, and social security is $1.1 trillion a year, and defense and war spending in area of $729 billion a year, and you were concerned about the interest that we pay on the debt. interest at this point about $401 billion a year. all numbers that are usdebtclock.org if you want to look at that website. we are break it down, for an array of education, climate change, and child care proposals sought by president biden, and democratic leaders and the senate budget committee announcing that number last night, and we are getting your thoughts as it is still very far away from that being enacted and it would have to move through the budget reconciliation

process, but yesterday, a start to that process. sandra, columbus, ohio, a democrat, good morning. >> caller: yes. good morning. i'd like to say that we do need this budget. this has been going on for 40 years, and nothing is done. now i hear a lot of people now that are complaining about the cost of everything. that would go to pay the interest and then i look on tv sunday and the man is going to moon and just billionaires because 35 years ago we had maybe a few millionaires and now we have billionaires, and they are not having to pay the fair taxes to get some of this paid, and so therefore, i look at it like this, that if we can afford to go ahead and let them get richer and richer and nobody on

the other side in the last administration said one bit about, we don't get any rates off of the house or interest or anything, and we have to pay, but they go scot-free and get richer and they don't seem to mind that, but when it is time to the administration to do something for the american people, then, they are in an uproar, and it is uproar, it's too much spending, it's too much of this. so i'd say let's start by getting this just like everything else, they don't want the people over here from mexico, but they won't do the route, the people making the money on the cartels right here in the united states. you know, it's just totally greed and power -- >> that's sandra out of columbus, ohio, this morning. phone lines democrats 202-748-8000, republicans 202-748-0801, independence

748-8002. chuck schumer mentioning that the president will be on capitol hill today, this is the roll call reporting from their write-up about this announcement last night. president biden coming to the capitol to help schumer pitch the spending targets to the broader senate democratic caucus over a lunch. the story noting that the role call story noting that in a key selling point for his fellow centrists democrats -- virginia senator mark westerner told reporters that this plan would be fully paid for. a democratic aide familiar with the agreement said the budget resolution would include specific language that would bar the package from barring tax increases on individual americans earning less than $400,000 a year as well as tax increases on small businesses. sanders said tax increases on wealthy individuals and corporations will be among the revenue razors in this package

and this is senator bernie sanders from last night, again, via ryan nobody else on cnn. >> incredibly hard work they have done and are doing. this is in our view a pivotal moment in american history and for a very long time the american people have seen the very rich getting richer and government developing policies which allow them to pay in some cases not a nickel in federal income taxes. they have seen corporations make huge properties, in some cases they are not paying a nick until taxes. what this legislation says among many other things is that the wealthy corporations are going to start paying their fair share of taxes so that we can protect the working families of this country. all over america, vermont, michigan, wherever it may be,

mom and dad go to work they can't afford child care. they are scared to death about whether or not they can send their kids to college. they go to work over a bridge which is crumbling and what this legislation does is says we're going to create millions of good paying union jobs, rebuilding this country not only from a physical infrastructure, but dealing with the human needs of our people, which have long been neglected. and last point, anybody who watches what's going on in california the west coast today is going on around the world understands that if we do not get our act together in transforming our energy system away from fossil fuel, that the planet we're going to be leaving our children and our grandchildren will be increasingly unhealthy and uninhabitable. our grandchildren will look us in the eye 30 years from now and say what did you do? didn't you know? well, today we begin the process

of having this great country lead the world in transforming our energy. this is a big deal. >> senator bernie sanders last night calling this agreement, again, among top senators on the budget committee democratic senators calling it a big deal. we'll be watching to see whether senate democrats can keep all of their caucus together as they attempt to move this $3.5 trillion package through the budget reconciliation process and one of the key members to watch will be senator joe manchin. this from "the washington times" write-up about the movement of these budget packages, senator joe manchin will be key to any deal. last month mr. manchin said that his ceiling for reconciliation is between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion provided the tax hikes to pay for it are limited to repealing trump era tax cuts.

quote, i want to make sure we pay for t i do not want to add more debt mr. manchin said recently. if that's $1 trillion or 1.5 or $2 trillion whatever that comes out to be over a ten-year period that's what i would be voting for to solidify his support democratic leaders have proposed including in reconciliation an $8 billion tax credit to spur green energy manufacturing in areas such as west virginia with high unemployment and recently shuttered coal mines. that's from "the washington times" focusing on joe manchin as we've been focusing so much on joe manchin amid these various packages that move through the senate, especially as democrats try to move them with just democratic support to avoid a republican filibuster in the senate. getting your reaction to all of it. james is a republican out of georgia. good morning. >> caller: good morning. you know, i'm just a little bit concerned about the way -- we

talk about the taxes, i just heard you say joe manchin want a bill that would eliminate the trump tax cut, but the trump tax cut helped the working people and when they talk about taxes, they talk about taxes the core operations when they ought to be taxing the ceos. every time you tax the core operation that's why everything goes up. everything don't go up. you tax the core operations that tax is going to be added on and you're going to pay for it somewhere else. and the people that's going to pay for it is the hard working folk that's going to work every day. >> james, you would be okay with increased taxes on high earners, but not increasing the corporate --

>> caller: i am. exactly. the corporate is going to hurt us, the same people that joe manchin and bernie sanders claim that they are helping. if you want to help us, leave the core operations low so they stop going up on all other prices and get to the ceos that's making all the other money. >> got your point. this from the "wall street journal" write-up looking into proposals about what joe biden has talked about when it comes to increasing revenue both when it comes to increases in individual taxes and corporate taxes. this is what they write. joe biden has proposed raising the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21%, tightening the net on u.s. companies foreign earnings and raising the top capital gains rates to 43.4% from 23.8% to cover the cost of his original $4 trillion proposal

idea, again, as roll call noted in their story. democrats say that this proposal wouldn't be paid for by tax increases on anyone making under $400,000 a year. so democrats looking for those higher earners and tax increases on that as part of this package. tom is next out of winter haven, florida, an independent. good morning. >> caller: good morning. do you know what, i'm not here to condemn or be a proponent of, but there seems to be this obsession with income tax that donald, for example -- i don't like the man, okay, but the properties he buys he pays, you know, property tax on, the cars and boats and everything he pays sales tax on. i mean, he pays capital gains

tax. there is more than just income tax. i mean, i understand why some people get frustrated, but, i mean, the man pays more in taxes than all of us combined will ever even earn it just isn't income tax. do you understand what i'm saying with this? >> so, tom, what is your thoughts on $3.5 trillion on spending on a variety of social and health care programs and green energy programs? >> caller: i think that, you know, if it's something that betters, then, yeah. yeah, we are in debt, but we are a debtor nation. that's the way it is. we've had a balanced budget back when reagan or maybe it was clinton, i can't remember it's been so long, but, i mean, if we need -- yes, we need to make an

investment, but as far as the tax thing goes -- >> tom. got your point on taxes. here is a few more messages from folks weighing in on social media. russ in california on this meeting among senators, democratic senators last night. how about a meeting to reduce national debt instead of increasing t spend, spend, spend, when will it ever end. this from joe ellen out of new york, the more we destroy your financial stability the easier it is to totally take control of every aspect of your lives said the wicked wolf/federal government to the naive public. this is matt in maryland, a democrat. good morning, you're next. >> caller: hi, how are you doing? >> i'm dog all right. >> caller: hello? yeah. first i'd like to point out to people that when the little bush boy bankrupted the country karl rove insisted to the republicans

that the deficit didn't matter and they ate that one up. the other thing i think is that, you know, i think that it's about time we started spending money on the people. we spend all this money overseas. you know, i mean, tell the republicans that mexico will pay for the whole thing and they'll buy it. thank you. >> henrietta out of ft. pierce, florida, republican, good morning. >> caller: good morning. i find it hilarious that bernie sanders is talking about union jobs when the first five minutes of the biden administration what did they do? they -- >> did i not hang up on you. if you are going to use that language then you can't join us

on this program. victor, alabama, democrat, good morning. >> caller: good morning. >> go ahead, victor. >> caller: hey, i just want to say that i'm a 14-year vet. >> you are a 14-year vet, victor. >> caller: and the thing is -- is that these people have not taken care of the united states, they have sent money overseas and the thing is -- yes -- >> victor, you have to turn down your television and keep on talking, i'm hearing you. >> caller: okay. all right. it is off. >> all right. finish your comment. >> caller: all right. the democrats are the best people in the world and the thing is that the lady that called that was democrat is

saying that the budget is fine. we've got too many presidents that have done nothing for the people. that's my comment. >> stevie, reno, nevada, republican. good morning. >> caller: hi, how are you? >> i'm doing well. >> caller: i wanted to express concern not only about this spending boondoggle but how it relates to something else. i think there is an attempt to intimidate and frustrate people who think differently than democrats do. it's tied up in spending, it's tied up in rhetoric, it's frankly tied up in some bigotry i've seen from them that beats none. people who question elections aren't insurrectionists, people who want reform, frankly, aren't insurrectionists and -- but getting back to spending, i

would suspect it's all wrapped in. there are many, many things in there the american people don't even know about and some day we will get back the transparency, we will get back to a genuine sharing with each other of ideas, a more civil rhetoric that doesn't include calling 75 million stupid or -- >> that's stevie in reno, nevada. it is 7:30 on the east coast this morning and this is our topic for our first hour of the washington journal, $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation proposal released by democrats last night. we know it covers major biden proposals on human infrastructure is what they call it including families and climate, housing and education. it will also include what's being called a robust expansion of medicare, again, waiting for more details on what exactly

will be in it but that top line number released by democratic leaders last night and that's what we're getting your reaction to this morning. democrats can call to join the conversation 202-748-8000, republicans, 202-748-8001, independence 202-748-8002. pooid.expected to be on capitol hill today to meet with democrats to ensure democratic senators are on board to move this legislation through the budget reconciliation process. he is expected on capitol hill today. yesterday he was at the national constitution center in philadelphia, the topic of his speech there was voting rights in this country, one of the headlines from "the new york times" biden portrays the right to vote as under siege in america. this is a bit from president biden yesterday in philadelphia. >> we also have to be clear-eyed about the construction we face. lemgts lags is one tool but not

the only tool and it's not the only measure of our obligation to defend democracy today. for example, attorney general merrick garland announced that the united states department of justice is going to be using its authorities to challenge the onslaught of state laws undermining voting rights in old and new ways. the focus will be on dismantling racially discriminatory laws like the recent challenge to georgia's vicious anti-voting law. the department of justice will do so with the voting rights division at my request is doubling its size in enforcement status. civil rights groups -- civil rights groups and other organizations have announced their plans to stay vigilant and challenge these odious laws in the courts. in texas, for example, republican-led state legislature

wants to allow partisan poll watchers to intimidate voters and impartial poll workers. they want voters to dive further and be able to be in a position where they wonder who is watching them and intimidating them. to wait longer to vote. to drive a hell of a lot -- excuse me, a long way to get to vote. they want to make it so hard and inconvenient that they hope people don't vote at all. this is what this is about. this year alone 17 states have enacted not just proposed, but enacted 28 new laws to make it harder for americans to vote. not to mention, and catch this, nearly 400 additional bills, republican members of the state legislatures are trying to pass. 21st century jim crow assault is real. it's unrelenting.

we're going to challenge it vigorously. >> president biden yesterday in philadelphia during his remarks you heard him speak about the texas voting bill, a bill that caused texas state democratic legislators to flee the state to washington, d.c. to keep the state house from having a quorum to discuss and move that legislation. it was yesterday in an interview with kvue in austin that texas governor greg abbott spoke about that legislation, had a different take on what that bill would do with president biden. that is governor abbott. >> there were a couple of issues, not just democrats, but even republicans wanted to achieve and that was to make sure that the souls to the polls would still be allowed to have expanded voting on sundays as well as not have the provision in there that would overturn

elections. that said it's also important to point out that this law that we are seeking to pass adds more hours not fewer hours for vote. we have the same 12 days of early voting. we have far more hours of early voting than in the state where president biden boats voets in delaware where they have zero hours of early voting. anyone who suggests this deprives anybody the right to vote is simply flat out wrong. this provides more hours to the vote than ever before allowed under law in the state of texas. >> governor, why is there a need for these bills when you say that, was there fraud involving 24-hour voting locations or mail-in ballots in the state? has there been widespread issues that you all have found. >> you need to understand that actually there is a federal district judge appointed by barack obama who wrote what i'm about to tell you and a legal season involving texas where she

vote that voter fraud occurs in abundance with regard to ballot harvesting in the state of texas. that is an obama appointed federal judge saying that. that is why they wanted the issue they were focused on about making the voter election system more sound does involve mail-in ballots. i will add that members of the texas house of representatives on the capital floor have said that mail-in ballot situation is one that has the possibility of fraud and that is shoring that up is a way to ensure election integrity. so this is something that does have bipartisan support. >> texas governor greg abbott earlier this week. here is the news from yesterday out of texas regarding those texas state legislators, the democrats who left the state, the texas house approves arrest warrants for democrats who left the state to try to bring them back to have a quorum in the state house to discuss and vote

on this legislation. we are going to be talking more about voting rights a little bit later in our program in about an hour or so have that discussion on your thoughts on both what's happening in texas and the issue of voting rights in general. but for this first hour of the washington journal this is the story we've been discussing, this is the head line from the "wall street journal," democrats sent a $3.5 trillion proposed package for health care and poverty relief comes in near biden's original target amount. that $3.5 trillion if you add in the $600 billion that bipartisan infrastructure bill is looking to achieve it would come to over $4 trillion in spending on these various programs and that's what the senate is going to be talking about, that's what democrats in the house and senate will be trying to move over the course of the last couple weeks. we're getting your reaction to all of it, your thoughts on the

path ahead as usual. democrats 748-8000, republicans 748-8001, independence 748-8002. we look four for your comments on social media. audrey on social media saying there's always enough for the war, for the wealthy, for corporations, there's never a penny for the people. enact the universal basic income, eat the rich is what you a brie rights. this from michael in pennsylvania, congress needs to keep the spend to go just infrastructure only and eliminate everything else. tim in ohio, there's too much money you can't fix everything at at one. temper your budget requests to repair a few things at a time. $3.5 trillion is quite the sticker shock. bruce out of connecticut, a democrat, what do you think? >> caller: yes. >> what do you think, bruce? >> caller: what i -- what i think we ought to do is -- and i

do it, i'd call -- they should -- they should call up donald trump and get him back in. they are so pathetic it's unbelievable. this poor country. i remember calling texas because i wanted one of them gen x generators when trump was president, they said we are so busy, trump made us to busy we need more people down here to work. i couldn't even get -- >> bruce, you are calling in on our line for democrats. are you a democrat who voted for donald trump? >> caller: oh, i'd give the keys to the white house and i'm glad they did raid the white house -- the building there with all them -- with all them people. they're right. >> what makes you a democrat, bruce? >> caller: huh? >> what makes you a democrat? >> caller: well, i'm democrat,

i'm republican, i just want it done the right way. >> all right. ali out of massachusetts an independent out of worcester. good morning. >> caller: good morning, sir. thank you so much. i feel like this is the only interactive mode of communication and i want to talk -- i just want to touch about how i feel. there's extremes on both sides of the aisle and, you know, having c-span and having objective sources of news is the only way to moderate these -- the two extremes of republicans and democrats. both sides touch upon really important issues, it's just it can't be solved if we shift from one extreme to the other. >> make sure your tv is turned out. what are your thoughts on this $3.5 trillion budget plan?

>> caller: like i said, you know, it's important, it's just i wish there was more, you know, cost communication and compromise. it is an important issue, i've been -- i've been noticing that infrastructure is an issue, i just -- i'm not sure -- i'm not an economist to say, you know, whether or not the $3.5 trillion is too much or enough or any -- you know, any of that. i repeat i think we really have to have some kind of moderation to the extreme polarization of the parties the moderate way. i always choose the middle way. that's what i learned. >> ali, do you think there's many moderates left in congress? what do you think about the influence that moderates have in

congress? >> caller: i think that it's going to grow. a lot of signs that people are tired of, you know, hearing these extremes from both sides and i really believe in the opportunities that america provides to always change and always introduce the objectivity where there is -- >> how do you feel about joe manchin? >> caller: i don't know him too much. sorry. >> he is one of the key moderates that's going to be watched in this whole process as democrats attempt to move this budget through the reconciliation process. he's been a key member of all these spending debates that have been happening during the biden administration. ms. bray is next out of tennessee, a democrat. good morning. >> good morning. i think that these corporations can afford to pay more taxes,

the middle class. i think according to the colonial pipeline they paid off the hackers that hacked into their software and their computers and stopped the gas at the pump and so -- and they paid them off a few million so get that pipe -- that gas flowing back to people and now they've raised the prices of the gasoline. they should have had more security with their -- their pipeline there that comes to our -- to our towns and places where we have to pay for the gas and everything. you know, they should pay more

taxes and they should have their security better. why should we have to pay more for gasoline because of their stupidities? >> that's ms. bray out of tennessee. this is shar lee out of bloomington, indiana. good morning, you're next. >> caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. here is how i think about the budget adds a homeowner. when you live in a home for decades and decades you don't do anything ever for the maintenance and upkeep of the home until it's falling down around you, then your bill is going to be higher and if you have an aunt and uncle, a wealthy aunt and uncle living with you who have never contributed to the upkeep and maintenance of your house, well, maybe it's time they start help with that maintenance. so that's how i look at this whole budget thing. we haven't done anything for decades and decades and this is our house and the roof needs fixed and there's leaks in the basement. so, yeah, the bill is going to be higher. >> who is the wealthy aunt and

uncle in this situation? >> caller: the billionaires, the people who have been paying no taxes at all or helping to contribute. >> and where are the biggest fix that is we need? where are those leaks that you're seeing? what would you like to see these programs include? >> caller: i would like to see these programs include all of the human -- the human resources that the democrats are trying to get through. not to mention the roads, the airports, but i think infrastructure includes everything. when you are living in a house with people the infrastructure is the health of the people living there, the happiness of the people living there, making sure they have everything they need and it hasn't been done for decades and decades and so along with the roof the cost is going to be higher. now, maybe once we get these things taken care of in the future years these budgets aren't going to have to be this way forever, but this is something that we're kind of in

a catch up mode. >> do you think that one of the leaks right now is the climate change issue? do you think major spending on charging stations for electronic vehicles is an immediate leak that needs to be repaired? >> caller: i absolutely think that. that's like living in a house with no roof. i mean, if we don't take care of that, everything is going to be spoiled. >> that's sharly out of indiana. this is bruce in wisconsin. the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill includes action on climate change. he says it's our most pressing national security problem. heat waves kill people, wildfires destroy resources, sea level rise could destabilize our economy, heat waves and heavy rainfalls can impair agriculture and productivity, we need to stabilize and reduce carbon emissions. about 15 minutes left in this segment of the washington journal getting your reaction to

this $3.5 trillion budget plan that senate democrats released last night. we have already talked about the key influence that moderates in the senate democratic caucus will have in the weeks and months forward. a focus from the "politico" write-up in their playbook this morning about another aspect of the democratic caucus on capitol hill, progressives and particularly the squad and what role they may have in the weeks to come on this legislation. the "politico" write-up notes that just because bernie sanders is on board, does that mean that house progressives are going to follow? we should get a good read when the congressional progressive caucus holds an afternoon call with reporters today. we know for certain that this plan falls short of what they wanted not to mention what biden promised on the campaign trail, objection, while schumer boasted that the plan will include robust expansion of medicare including coverage of dental and vision, that's hardly the public

option that biden had promised. still progressives including some members of the squad have insisted that they are no freedom caucus, i.e., willing to kill legislation because it's not perfect even if they get much of what they want. they ask will the squad fight for a higher number or swallow hard like sanders did? they note that ro khanna seemed noncommittal on tuesday night. quote, i need to see the details and what climate provisions are in there is what ro khanna told reporters last night. debbie is next out of williamsport, pennsylvania, a republican. good morning. >> caller: good morning. >> go ahead. >> caller: my concern about the budget, i know that both parties like to spend and spend, but we have spent trillions of dollars

to give money to other countries. why are we supporting to build other countries when our infrastructure is falling apart? our tax money should be spent on our country first and then if there's any left over help out the rest of the world. there are many countries that have lots of money like saudi arabia. it's up to them to start picking up the slack for the rest of the world. i think we've been overly generous with our funds and since it is our tax money it should be spent on us first. >> gregory shelton on twitter writes how many pages is this budget? no one is going to read it. no one cares about balancing the budget. what happened to the line item veto. this is bill in syracuse, new york, democrat, you're next. >> caller: thank you. i'm bill. yes. the problem that i'm running into is how is this going to be paid for? it will probably have in there the fair amount to be taken from

the millionaires, but the millionaires know how to avoid taxes and if it comes where we're just putting money into projects without saying where we're going to get the money to our inflation rate which now is starting to get pretty high will get to the point where we won't have any way to pay -- we can ask -- we can put in the bill we're going to get money how how are we going to get it out of the people who are pretty good at hiding it and getting it away from us? >> bill, on the inflation rate the labor department reported yesterday consumer prices rose .9% from may to june and 5.4% over the past year that's the highest jump in 12-month inflation since august of 2008. >> caller: yeah, so that's what i'm saying. if we don't have some way to get the money out of people where the money is actually coming in,

we're going to just -- i don't know whether we will hit pre-war germany inflation rates but we will hit where it's going to hurt a lot. >> this is bob in illinois saying there's too much money out there now, inflation is approaches carter era levels, the democrats keep changing definitions of random words, dental, vision and hearing promises won't entice enough from us to throw our grand chirnts future under the bus. steve, good morning, you're next. >> caller: i have a comment from the last segment you had to the black guy, democrats are so great -- >> steve, i'm not sure callers today have identified themselves by race. >> caller: by rate? >> by race. you're saying it was a black caller. how would you know? >> caller: i could tell by the voice. >> all right. we will go to david in silver spring, maryland, republican.

good morning. >> caller: hi there. thanks for taking my call. i just -- i don't know, i'm just disappointed by the lack of push back from democrats. i mean, this is obviously a lot of money and inflation is obviously a problem for every day families who are struggling to just afford food. so i just -- i'm just disappointed, it's like people don't understand basic economics. you're flushing a lot of money into the economy to call it a tax break for americans is just backwards because it's not going to matter if your food costs go up 30%, 40%, 50%. it just doesn't make any sense. >> david, i wonder what your thoughts are about the child care tax credit. we're going to start seeing checks this week going out to americans with younger children, the federal government is going to be distributing more than

$100 billion in financial assistance to parents at the end of this year, part of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package that was passed in march. >> caller: so i'm going to be getting some of those checks and, look, it feels good to get money, but is this really going to fix the underlying problems with the economy and our politics, especially when you do it in a unilateral manner like the democrats are doing. i don't think so. >> david, how are you and your family going to use that money if you don't mind me asking? >> caller: it will probably go towards bills, save some of it. i'm not in dire need of it to be perfectly honest. my wife takes care of the child full-time so it works out and we'll use it on whatever. >> thanks for the call. this is amelia, riverdale, georgia. good morning, you're next.

>> caller: hi. good morning. good morning, c-span. you know, i'm for the budget and i think that a lot of people don't understand what this is. this has nothing to do with the infrastructure bill, it's two separate things, and it just pains me to hear how americans don't do critical thinking skills. all they say is, okay, my grandchildren and children is going to have this bill, republicans are using those talking points over 20, 40 [ inaudible ] but when it comes to them and the rich people they don't have a problem with how much money they spend. trump's last year budget proposal was to put $1.6 trillion out of programs that help the poor and the working class. when is it that americans will wake up and realize that the

republicans don't care nothing about us, the working class. stop [ inaudible ] -- use your critical thinking skills. that's the equivalence of wisdom. yes, sir. >> here is where we are now on the national debt, with he showed this earlier, the u.s. debt clock. $28 trillion, $519 billion, $853 million and counting. debt per citizen in the united states for every person in the united states if you broke that out about $85,000. i guess the question is what is too much? how much debt is too much? >> i understand what you're saying, but, okay, so with biden's proposal he's trying to do things so he can put the american people back to work. that way you will have more people paying taxes.

so it will contribute. but if we are not doing anything at this point we are not doing nothing. all the republicans do is come on this show and you know what they are going to say. they talk about the border, they talk about the mexican cartel, all they do is demonize the republicans. you don't ever hear them saying what's the proposal to help the american people. so if we don't work, if we don't do anything -- biden is trying to propose jobs. the more people, the more jobs, the more taxpayers. so we can get things leveled off. but if we are not doing anything and all we do -- the same people that are for trump -- he's passing things -- he cut $1.6 trillion. look at our people. >> got your point. this is john in industry, pennsylvania. a republican. good morning, you're next. >> how are you doing? what i'd like to say is this voting thing, we can make it very simple.

barack obama and bill clinton were voted in. they used the old system. just go back to that before the pandemic and everything will be fine. thank you. >> john, you may want to tune in in about an hour we are going to turn to the topic of voting in this country. the question we're going to ask callers in that segment just to preview what we're going to be talk being is which is more important, expanding access to voting or protecting voting integrity, how would you answer that question? >> well, it's integrity. that's the most important thing the american people do as an individual is your integrity. it's not just giving the vote out to everybody. in california illegals can vote if they have a driver's license. that's not integrity. >> john, stick around for that discussion about 8:45 eastern is when we are going to turn to that topic. a few more calls, though, in this segment on this budget plan

released by senate democrats yesterday, joe, buffalo, new york, go ahead. >> caller: hey, john. >> go ahead, joe. >> caller: you know, i think this should spend more money on the budget. they said we're hurting -- reaganomics hasn't spent anything on our roads or bridges for 40 years. i mean, what the heck, buddy. and, john, i don't understand how you get so many republicans and how do you -- how do you run the calls? independence? they listen to fox news, too. >> joe, how we run the calls is we have phone lines for democrats, republicans and

independents, we ask people to identify which one of those, they call in, we rotate through the lines and people where they want to have a civil conversation they can call in and do it every single day. it's one of the few places that -- that people can talk back to washington as opposed to hearing washington talk at them. >> caller: you know, you don't have any callers call in anyway that have anything to say. they listen to you going on and on. >> all right. we're at 21 calls so far this morning, we will probably get about 60 over the course of three hours, but that's going to do it for this first segment of the washington journal. today legal experts testify on the voting rights act and two supreme court rulings dealing with the equal right to vote. live coverage before a senate judiciary subcommittee begins at 2:30 p.m. eastern on c-span 3, online at c-span.org or listen on the free c-span radio app.

c-span is your unfiltered view of government we're funded by these television companies and more, including comcast. >> you think this is just a community center? no, it's way more than that. >> comcast is partnering with 1,000 community centers to create wifi enabled lift zones so students from low income families can get the tools they need to be ready for anything. >> giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> joined by charlie cook editor and publisher of the cook political report. mr. cook, good morning to you, sir. i want to start with that topic that we began our program with today, the news last night that senate democrats announced this $3.5 trillion budget plan the top line number the details still to come and road ahead to move it through budget reconciliation. what would this battl m