liberty. we'll be talking about yesterday supreme court ruling at the state of maine main may not exclude religious schools from a tuition program. still ahead, david kimberlin, doctor david kimberlin, a pediatric infectious disease chair at the university of alabama birmingham will talk about the cdc and the decision to allow covid-19 vaccines for children. which just got underway yesterday. there is more ahead. >> sign up for our newsletter using the qr code on your screen. book tv, every sunday on c-span2 or anytime online on book tv.org. television for serious readers. american history tv saturday on c-span two exploring the people and events that tell the

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hearings investigating the attack on the capital. go to c-span.org/january 6 to watch the latest videos of the hearings, briefings and all of our coverage on the attack. we will also have reaction from members of congress and the white house as well as journalists and authors talking about the investigation. go to c-span.org for a fast and easy way to watch the events live. >> washington journal continues. next with us washington journal continues. >> and next, with us is eric rassbach who is the vice president and senior counsel with the beckett fund for religious liberty. here with us to talk about yesterday supreme court ruling on the case in maine and aid to religious schools.

eric rassbach, welcome to washington journal. >> thanks for having me. >> tell us about the biscuit fund. what is its mission and how are you funded? >> sure, we are a nonprofit law firm 501(c) (3). we are representing people of all different faith traditions. we like to say anglican -- we represent buddhists, christians, muslims, jews. and in terms of funding, we take donations from members and were taxes octopus. >> has backet fund-raise in a clinton case before federal courts including the supreme court on the issue of religious liberty? >> yes, many times. i think my latest count is something like 13 or 14 cases at the united states supreme court and didn't we frequently appear before the lower federal

courts as well as state supreme court and other courts including sometimes overseas. >> here is the headline from the new york times on yesterday's ruling in a supreme court case. supreme court rejects mains ban on aid to religious schools. the ruling 6 to 3 in the case of carson the macon. eric, tell us what this case involved? >> sure. so maine is a pretty rural state. and has a lot of small towns that are scattered throughout the hinterland's of the state. where there is just not enough school aged children to set of school. and so rather than busing them a long way, the school allows them to attend, the state rather allows them schoolchildren to attend a private school and they can get some tuition assistance for doing that.

and up until around 1980, it didn't really matter what sort of school you went to. what's sort of private school you went to. you could still get this tuition assistance. which as the core point out doesn't actually pay all the tuition, it just pays part of it. and the result of that was that anyone could go to whatever school they wanted. in 1980, the attorney general of maine said that recent supreme court decisions, the estates supreme court decisions, meant that this could no longer be extended to religious schools. and so they passed regulations saying it could only go to non-secretary and schools. this has been challenged a few different times over the years. this is the first time this particular restriction on non sectarian school since 1980 has

reached the united states supreme court. and yesterday, they rejected that restriction. >> fox news headlines as a supreme court rules may intuition program violates first amendment for excluding religious schools. the u.s. constitution, the first amendment to the constitution says congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. apply that first amendment to this ruling, eric ross bach. how does it fit into your view of religious liberty? >> sure. a couple of different ways, as the corners when yesterday. the problem with this kind of restriction is that this is a generally available benefit. so anyone who lives in maine can get this tuition benefit to support there are going to, sending their child to private

school. and the, once you've opened it up, they said, and then it creates a problem because you are essentially penalizing people for sending their kid to a school that has religious exercise. in the view of the court, that's discriminatory. i think it makes a lot of sense. there's no real reason to exclude these, religious schools from participating in the program on equal terms. with other private schools. which, you know, you can send many kids get sent to very fancy private schools outside of the state. on using main taxes. it seems very strange not to allow local religious schools or participate in that program. but there's also an in -- that's the other part of what you're talking about under the first amendment. which is the separation of church and state, if you will.

and that's important to because you don't want to entangle war have government deciding okay, this particular school's religious enough, this one is two religious. this one's not a little bit religious so it's okay. and that actually is what they had in maine, a government bureaucracy that was figuring out whether religious schools, how religious are you? and if we decide your a little bit over the line, we're going to keep you out of this program. so that's what's called an entanglement problem between church and state. in the supreme court yesterday said that that was also one of the big issues in this case. >> eric rassbach is our guest, we welcome your calls and comments on this case and the broader issue of aid to religious schools. the lines are 202-748-8001 for republicans, 202-748-8000 for democrats and for independents

and others, 202-748-8002. i wanted to read to you some of the pushback from justice stephen breyer, one of the three descending dissenting justices in the ruling yesterday. the headline from washington times this morning, main must also pay for religious schooling. they write that the justice stephen breyer in dissent said the majority was paying too much attention to the first amendment free exercise clause which protects freedom of worship and not enough to the establishment clause which limits the government's involvement with religious institutions. the result, he said, is a system that permits relation to operate without government sponsorship or interference. your thoughts on that, eric rassbach? >> justice breyer's been saying this kind of concern for a while. he read his dissent from yesterday, his real focuses on avoiding inter religious strife, inter-religious conflict.

and frankly, it's something he's been saying since elise 2002. in a case called's element where he also made a prediction at that time there would be, this would cause, there will be a problem there because that was a similar kind of question about whether such a program of sport, tuition support -- school choice support would pass muster under the establishment clause. and the courted that time said yes it would. and he predicted that there could be a problem with religious strife. but since then, his predictions not really borne out and i don't think it's gonna bear out this time either. >> justice sonia -- said this, today the court he said leads to a place for a separation of church and state becomes a viable constitutional violation. if a state cannot offer

subsidies to its citizens without being required to fund religious exercise, any state that values its historic anti establishment interests more than this court does will have to curtail the support it offers its citizens. do you agree or disagree? . >> i respectfully disagree with justice sotomayor on this case. she's voted in my favor many times in the past. so i certainly appreciate that. but she, in this case i think she's wrong. and actually, she sort of exactly wrong in the sense that this is actually a decision that promotes the separation of church and state. this is a decision that gets rid of bureaucracy, as i mentioned. that actually would look at the curriculum, religious curriculum of school and decide -- to religious or just religious enough. and we don't really need the sort of goldilocks bureaucracy

within main deciding is this religious, is this to religious? but we also don't need religious schools being excluded from society. so i think the courses issue yesterday recognize that we have both values. we had both the interest and having religious and needs of all stripes, christian, muslim, jewish, participate in society. then we also have an interest in not entangling church and state. >> is it the structure of the main schools, particularly the rural schools in maine and their lack of ability in those rural communities to have a public schools make this case more of a one-off if you will. and does this have broader implications perhaps in other states with more rural communities and fewer public school choices? i'm, there aren't too many of this particular kind of program that maine has, arguably, new hampshire and vermont also have a similar program.

i do think there's a broader implication with respect to something that is fairly widespread in the state constitutions. that is something called the blaine amendments, which often say something like, no funding shall go to a sectarian organization. these were all passed as a result of a wave of anti catholic violence back in the late 1800s. especially after irish catholic immigration to the united states. there was a failed federal amendment, and then a number of states in their state constitution and they sat there for a long time. many people thought they were unconstitutional, particularly because of their anti catholic origins. in a case, a couple of years ago, called a spinosum, the united states supreme court said those were problematic. this case builds -- kirsten built on that decision.

>> we welcome calls for our guest, eric rassbach, we go to any first up. she's in washington, on our democrats line. good morning. >> hi, good morning. yeah, i'm kind of concerned about the separation -- opening up the funding to religious schools. i mean, there is no limit to what kind of religious school. it's not just going to be catholic, it's going to be everything. even some that they even make up. it just kind of concerns me can the government determine what can be taught in the schools? is there gonna be funding? i have a lot of questions about that. thank you. >> go ahead, eric rassbach. >> sure. i mean, those are legitimate things to think about.

i don't think there is a problem with letting different religions participate in society, i personally represent jewish schools, muslim schools in lawsuits and i think they deserve just as much support as the christian schools that -- or i should say the children -- the parents of children who want to go to christian schools. in the case of yesterday, absolutely. this has to extend to jewish schools, muslim schools. it's not going to allow someone to make up a religion and then, that is going to allow them access to it. this is something that is already available to any private school. except for the religious schools. it is something that's a legitimate school, it's allowed to get it. it's not sort of a extra thing being done for religious --

it's just the same rule apply to everyone. >> does a school, a religious school that takes government aid, state government aid, they open themselves up to criticism if they don't -- if they decide on admissions to the school based on that religion and don't admit people based on non religion -- or not of that fifth? >> i don't think so. i mean, some programs that are generally not available benefit, then maybe that would work but -- everyone agrees that, for example, if a religious school catches on fire, you can send the publicly funded fire department over there. just as you go to a private school or any private entity, public school, whatever. i think there is no reason to

say -- you only allow jewish people to attend your school. you only allow muslim people, whatever. that ends up being a reason to exclude you from the generally available benefit. it might be different if the program said something like, okay, we are going to promote you if you have a -- if you teach ukrainian. we want to foster people learning ukrainian. maybe then you would have a difference to ration. this is about a generally available benefit. >> let's hear from adam in brooklyn, on the independent line. good morning. >> good morning, guys. i do have a comment. this country was partially built on the idea of people can come here and practice their own religion.

and you can be exposed to other ideas. today we live in a country where the supreme court overwhelmed the religious -- [inaudible] we should've expectations that consultation should be found and -- what you are doing, sir, is basically taking over. that's my comment. >> okay, eric, any thoughts on that? >> well, i disagree obviously. i do think that this country was founded on allowing people of all different religions to practice their faith. i've been privileged enough to represent people about different faith backgrounds. including many people from immigrant communities around

the world. immigrant communities are the least understood, they might get their building permit denied, or be excluded -- to make sure that they tried to get equal standing and equal treatment within our society. i think that, i guess i respectfully feel like the -- with what is going on with religion in society. we have the most diverse religious society in human history. possibly india, -- the fact that we can all live at peace with one another is really quite remarkable. achievement. that's not what happens over the course of human history. >> new york times article we showed earlier we showed a picture of plaintiffs, olivia

carson, amy carson, in their piece, on the ruling yesterday in his majority opinion on tuesday, chief justice john roberts rejected the argument that main should be free to try to replicate a public school experience, which was does not include religious instruction. the private schools, the program support, were themselves different from maine's public schools. but to start with the most obvious, private schools are different by definition because they do not have to accept all the students, the chief justice wrote. adding that the curriculum taught at participating private schools need not even resemble that taught in maine public schools. your thoughts on the chief justice comments? >> i think he is exactly right if maine -- it's important for listeners to understand. may does not have to provide

intuition support to the kids in these rural areas. it can just say, look, we can set up a school or you can pay at your own way to go to private school. or you need to move to more populist part of maine. -- they could do, that they could set up their own boarding school. but what they've chosen to do is have this generally available benefit, and under that generally available benefit is -- they've administered it for decades and decades. they don't look at the curriculum, in the sense of trying to force it to be like the public school curriculum. the only part i would disagree with is the characterization that main is trying to replicate what happens in, say, a public high school by giving someone money to attend miss porter school in connecticut, or other fancy new england

boarding schools. if you can spend the money to go there, you can get a benefit to go there, why can't you send them to the school down the street? >> let's hear from robin on the independent line in santa fe, new mexico. good morning. >> good morning. i seem to be behind what is going on on the tv. it is interesting. >> just listen to the phone there, robin, and turned on her volume. go ahead with your comment or question. >> okay, i wanted to know, is this funding going to the schools or to the students? >> it follows the students. the students get the money, and then they can use it for tuition -- they can only use it to pay for the tuition, but it's a benefit that tracks the children. that's why the plaintiffs in

these cases are not actually schools, it is the parents of children that want to send these children to schools. >> do you have an idea, roughly, of how much that is pursuant? >> i don't, i'm afraid. >> let's hear from joan, on the republican line in rochester, minnesota. good morning. >> good morning, my concern is that it's going to take the ability to [inaudible] the private schools will [inaudible] under a church name, and it's a private school [inaudible] i think that's the goal of freeing up the money for the

schools if you're going to a private school, you should stay at private school. if you're going to a religious school, you should stay at a religious school. if you're going to a public school, stay at public school. the rules are the same as they are now. i think -- that i don't agree with. that's with the goal is. thank you >> okay eric rassbach, ? >> it's a great question. but it's based on a false factual premise. let's say there's 80% of schools that are private schools in maine, or could be eligible to participate in this program. let's say they're not religious, and 20% are religious. this is about the 20%. the 80% already get the money, and they have for decades and decades. so, there is no trojan horse aspect to this, where private schools with dubbed some selves

to be religious and therefore participate. this is a program where the non religious schools, non religious private schools, whatever school have been able to participate the whole time. this is just about whether the religious schools are able to participate as well. >> i want to get your thoughts on the wall street journal opinion piece pushback on stephen breyer's concerns over the establishment clause. they conclude their op-ed this morning, their editorial. as for the establishment clause, why not let may flowers bloom? if evangelical parents take mains to ocean dollars to evangelical schools, jewish parents to jewish schools, buddhist parents to buddhist schools and so forth, it would be hard to see that outcome as a government establishment of religion. pluralism is the answer, and it might be the future, as many parents are now discovering objections to what their local public schools are teaching.

>> so, i agree with the idea that this is a pluralistic decision. this is the decision that supports pluralism in this country. it allows different societal institutions to exist. so, like we were talking about before, a jewish schools, muslim schools, catholic schools, proud skin schools -- these are all allowed to participate in society on an equal basis. that is all that's being asked for here, is that when the government starts to give out benefits to one group of schools that does get to exclude other schools, just because they are religious or religious parents from participating in the government. i think that's why it's really important to think of this as -- i agree with the point saying that it should be a pluralistic thing. >> one more coal from janet in lawns, michigan. >> hello.

i don't understand the premise, or i disagree with the premise that there's not enough schools than we should pay tuition so that these kids can go to religious schools the school near me is a jewish school, and my children are catholic. they can't get in. i don't see how that benefits them. they are still without a school. i don't agree that, because they can't have a public school -- back in the day, where i am in this rural upper michigan, they had lots of one room school houses. there is no reason that they can have a small school with multiple grades. i just think that this is a bad bad thing to be funding these religious schools, because we don't know --

there's lots of different religions. and right now the religious right is trying to take over the country, and press their religion on everyone. i think it's very dangerous. thank you. >> eric rassbach, final thoughts? >> i would just point out to the color, i don't think michigan does have a program like mains. and as the court pointed out it's opinion, you don't have to have this program. i can't -- on how easy it is the set of a one room school house sort of like a little house on the prairie in any particular place in the country. but i think it's not, no one's forcing main to have this program. they can get rid of it tomorrow if they want to. but what they can't do is have the program keep out one specific class of people from it. that's with the court citizens from a nation, that's with the court said is a violation of the first amendment. >> he is vice president senior

counsel would be becket fun for religious liberty, eric rassbach. thank you for joining us this morning. >> thank you for having me. i enjoyed it. >> more ahead here on the program. up next, dr. david cumberland is our guest. he is a pediatric infectious disease chair at the university of alabama and birmingham he will talk about the cdc's decision to allow covid-19 vaccines for children. book tv every sunday on c-span2, leading authors discussing their latest books. featuring former texas congress sman will heard. he offers his thoughts on how to boost the country forward. on afterwards, raphael warnock talks about his new book.

he is interviewed by journey. watch book tv every sunday on c-span2 and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime. at least six presidents recorded conversation while in office. hear many on c-span new podcast, presidential recordings. >> you will hear about the civil rights act, the gulf of tonkin incident, the march on selma, and the war in vietnam. not everyone knew they were being recorded. >> johnson's secretaries in new, because they were tasked with transcribing many of those conversations. they were the ones who make sure

the conversations were taped, as johnson would signal to an open door between his office and there's -- theirs. >> you will also hear some blunt talk. >> i signaled to kennedy the day he died. i promise you i will not go anywhere. i will just stay right behind you. >> presidential recordings on c-span now mobile app or wherever you get your podcasts. >> washington journal continues. host: washington journal continues. >> here in the program, or going to be talking next about covid-19 vaccinations for kids, we're hope to be joined in a moment by david kimberlin who is the pediatric infectious

disease share at the university of alabama at birmingham. we are having a few technical issues with that and hoping to have that on for you momentarily. here on washington journal. and part of the reason why is the administering of vaccines now for kids under the age of five. this is news with the report. cdc recommends pfizer, moderna covid vaccines for children under five. the centers for disease control and prevention recommended saturday that children as young as six months old receive covid-19 vaccines developed by pfizer biontech and moderna. the move follows a unanimous vote earlier in the day by advisory panel of outside experts known as the advisory committee on immunization practices or acip. quote, together was sensing the charge. we've take an important step forward a nations fight against covid-19. those vaccinations are getting

underway with kids across the country. and that began on monday, shots started to be administered on monday. this is from associated press, a report that they actually publish back in april in terms of the proliferation of covid among kids. cdc estimates that three and four kids have coronavirus infections. they wrote than that three out of every four u.s. children have been infected with the coronavirus in more than half of all americans had a science of previous infections. the cdc said. researchers examined blood samples from more than 200,000 americans and look for virus fighting antibodies from infections, not vaccines. they found that science of passing fiction writer medically between december and february win more contagious omicron variant, search through the u.s.. and on the administrate --

administration of vaccines, this is from the new york times this morning. the rollout of vaccine for kids under the age of five is mostly met with a shrug. they write this morning that health workers across the united states began to give covid-19 vaccinations to children six months to five years on tuesday. another milestone in the coronavirus pandemic that came 18 long months after adults first began to receive injections against the virus. but the response the right from parents was notably needed. with little indication of the excitement and long lines that greeted earlier vaccine rollouts. and april poll showed that less than a fifth of parents of children under five were eager to get access to the shot right away. early adopters in this age group appeared to be outliers. and we have some comments from president biden who spoke on the vaccines, we'll try to show you those comments of the

president momentarily. spoke about the administering of vaccines to kids. here is what president biden had to say. >> these vaccines are safe and effective. and are approved after extensive scientific review by the food and drug administration. the fda and the centers for disease control prevention. the cdc. i know some parents might have questions and i encourage you to talk to the doctor. after you make a plan to get your child vaccinated. for your children older than five years of age for everyone else get your shots, get your boosters. and let's be clear. elected officials shouldn't get in the way and make it more difficult for parents who want their children to be vaccinated, who want to protect them and those around them. this is no time for politics. it's about parents being able to do everything they can to keep their children safe. together, we've come to a long way in our fight against covid

with vaccines, treatments and other tools that are widely available. more than 220 million americans are vaccinated. more than 100 million americans are boosted. daily deaths due to covid-19 are down 90%. and now, vaccinations available for nearly every american. and it remain vigilant, we will make sure that this is not only a good day but it is good from this point on. proof that there is nothing beyond our capacity when we work together as the united states of america. >> president biden is really talking about the start of vaccines for kids under the age of five, six months to five years. we're hoping to have dr. david kimberlin, we're having some technical difficulty with that. we'll bring our conversation with him to you if and when we are able to do so. in the meantime, we're going to open a phone lines for you. for an open forum. you weigh in on some of the issues we've talked about

today. your chance to weigh in on policy issues or political issues of the day. at 202-748-8001, that's the line for republicans. 202-748-8000 for democrats and for independents, 202-748-8002. again, open forum. anything you want to talk about, we talked about the ruling of the supreme court with our guest previously, eric rassbach. we also spoken for some about the fourth public hearing of the select committee on the january 6th attack where they focused on a number of state election officials who were being pressured by the former president and supporters that change the count in a number of states. this is the house of representatives speakers of the house in arizona. russell bowers saw his testimony yesterday. >> lawyer, chinese man called you some days later. on june 4th, 2000 and 2021. he did have a very specific ask that would require you to do

just what you had already tell the president you wouldn't do. something that would violate your oath, is that correct? >> that's correct. it wasn't just me, my counsel and others on the call. >> what did doctor eastman want you to do? >> that we would, in fact, vote to take a vote to overthrow or isis and she overthrow. that we would decertify the electors and that because we had planned every authority to do so. he cited article two section one, i think it's clause two. and i said that in his opinion that gave us the authority, if there was i don't recall him saying sufficient evidence but there was some call or some strong reason to do so that we were justification to do so that we could do that. and that he was asking that we,

he's suggesting was that we would do. it and i said again i took an oath for me to take that to do what you do would be counter to my oath. i don't recall if it wasn't that conversation, clearly, that we talked more about the oath. but i said what would you have me do? and he said just do it and let the court sorted out. and i said you are asking me to do something that's never been done in history, the history of the united states. and i'm going to put my state through that? without sufficient proof? and that's going to be good enough with me? that i would put us through that, my state, that i swore to

uphold both in constitution and in law. no sir. he said, well, that's my suggestion would be just do it and let the courts figure it all out. didn't use that exact phrase but that was what he, his meeting was and i said, i declined and i believe that was close to the end of her phone call. >> and again, this took place after you had recently spoken with president trump and told him that he wouldn't do anything illegal for him, is that right? >> it wasn't days after, obviously it was days after but a few days had gone by. >> but you had told president trump he would not do anything illegal for him. >> i did. both times. >> part of the testimony yesterday before the select committee on january 6th and all of that available at c-span dot org. this is from washington post this morning. young children's coronavirus vaccinations start in the u.s.. they write that 18 months after

a new york nurse received the first u.s. coronavirus vaccination, immunizations became available tuesday for millions of children between the ages of six months and five years. the last group of americans to be afforded the protection. pediatricians, drugstores, hospitals and community vaccination centers began to administer first doses of two vaccines to children. the pfizer biontech product to children ages six months through four years and the moderna vaccine to children, moderna vaccine to children six months through five years. post writes that some parents rushed to get the vaccine early tuesday. and northwest washington, china may hedges 40 month year old daughter, at a, was the first shot receive a shot tuesday morning at children's national research and innovation campus. she winced as anyone in but it wasn't as bad as a routine vaccinations. quote, the last time we came here, she ended up getting five shots in the same day. she said, i think the fact that

was only one, she was like, oh great, good deal. at a city recovered center on you street, a line of parents and stroller snaked around the corner as asia persian waited with her three-year-old son michael and one year old daughter zia. quote, i wish it had happened sooner, as my could dueled her watercolor book, she said i'll be nice to take them to a restaurant and not worry. in houston they write gym -- a pathologists and chief at texas children's hospital said quote we began vaccinating the first children at 6 am. we have shots in arms now. we have hundreds of children lining up and our goal is to get this vaccine to thousands of children in the greater houston area and texas. and that from the washington post this morning. doctor david kimberlin of the university of alabama at four mayhem. doctor kimberlin, are you online with, us.

i don't think he is available, and on the line. oh -- organ open up the phone lines for you, (202) 748-8001. we have some technical difficulties. we will try to get that restored, it may not happen today. we will see how it goes. anyway, we go to open forum, let's hear from you (202) 748-8001 is the line for republicans, (202) 748-8000 for democrats, and for independence and others, (202) 748-8002. let's hear from gary, who's on the republican line in sterling, virginia. gary, would you want to talk about >>? what you're dealing with is the complexity of an end of it objects. this is what this old guy talk to me about. but i want you to talk about as the abortion issue. 94 teenage girls who got pregnant in 92, 14 years later

they had had 18 chilled. two of them passed, in childbirth. of the six team that were left, over half, nine couldn't look at you with both eyes because of drug abuse or some other odious form of abuse. the other seven, four of them were juvenile delinquents. not just regular juvenile delinquents, but actual crime syndicates. they were involving other children in their crimes. one was stealing bicycles and selling them. kids were ordering them from him. he had a chop shop for bicycles, kids of like 12 years old. and the oldest kid, 13, was shoplifting on order for other kids. >> gary, tie the same. what's the point to make here? >> the cost of abortion to

society, or stopping abortion, preventing people from getting portions is causing a problem in our society. >> okay, to bobby and warren cliff, west virginia. democrats line. >> yes, i was calling in about the state supreme court ruling. the state funding with religious -- my wife was a former schoolteacher. i wear the southern west virginia, which is pretty well known as a bible state. i just -- it's kind of like a hallmark public school. it's already there, we've got

president, congressman, doctors, all kinds of -- people can get their education. even our education, the public schools. and i just cannot see -- it can make confusion in a way, we pay tax dollars, you know. i think the supreme court has overstepped their bounds on this issue, because the constitution, it's a separation of state and religion. it's a place that we don't need to go. a lot of times, the prayer in

schools, i did it when we were growing up, i'm 70 years old. >> bobby, did you go to public or religious school? catholic school? >> no i went to a public school. we had no issues or problems. i think a lot of it is politics. i know of some mega churches, and they embed politics into their teachings. i don't feel comfortable, as a taxpayer, i think everybody should pay their fair share. they need to cut out a lot of loopholes and such, but you've got public schools, which should be number one and four

front. we've got a lot of schools that need improvements. for the kids, and everything. and you've got private schools, now they're in the state of west virginia, and we've got about seven within the last three years. charter schools. you've got charter schools, private schools, and religious schools, and then you've got public schools. and you know, so much money to go around. they should go back to what they should be doing, put oil on public schools. we could just make so much improvements. i think this country would be constitutionally and for the people -- not any particular party or anything, but i just think it's an infringement on the constitution. and they're trying to take it apart and changed around. >> okay bobby, it is open for.

and we did talk about the supreme court ruling just a while ago. any public policy or political issue want to talk about in open forum, (202) 748-8001 for republicans, (202) 748-8000 for democrats and for independents and others, (202) 748-8002. this is the headline in the video from usa today. their headline, to open the door for anyone, former election worker describes being targeted for trump. the pictured here is shea moss, who was a election worker. she testified before the january six committee yesterday. >> miss moss, how is this experience of being targeted by the former president and his allies affected your life? >> it has turned my life upside down. i no longer give out my business card. i don't transfer calls.

i don't want anyone knowing my name. i don't want to go anywhere with my mom, because she might yell my name over the grocery aisle or something. i don't go to the grocery stall at all. i haven't been anywhere at all. i've gained about 60 pounds. i just don't tune anything anymore. i don't go anywhere. i second guess everything that i do. it's affect my life in a major way. in every way. all because of lies, from me doing my job, the same thing i've been doing forever. >> mother also told us, the committee, about how she had to

leave her own home for her safety and go into hiding's after the fbi told her that it would not be safe for her there before january 6th, and until the inauguration. let's listen to a clip of her story in her own words. >> around the week of january 6th, the fbi informed me that i did to leave my home for safety. and i left my home for safety around that time. >> understood. how long did you stay? did you remain outside of your home for your own safety? >> instead of a for my home for approximately two months. it was horrible. i felt homeless, i felt like, i can't believe this person has caused this much damage to me and my family. we had to leave our home, we have lived there for 21 years.

and i having to have my neighbors watch out for me. i have to go and stay with somebody. it was hard. it was horrible. >> the committee testimony, some of the testimony and dustup position testimony yesterday reporting this morning from politico, the headline, doj endorses delay and proud boys trial, citing january six committee's ongoing work. it is open for him here on washington journal, richard is in massachusetts on the independent line. >> hello. i am calling about the schools. i have no problem with the decision of the supreme court. i send my children to catholic school. i still had to pay for public schools out of my taxes, they still took taxes out. so why shouldn't they be allowed to go to a public school? they go to public schools, i'm

thinking for it. when people say, oh they shouldn't get, that they should. i pay for the schools. i want to go out to the -- [inaudible] if my kids are in catholic schools, why do i have to pay catholic school taxes? that's the law. i have no problem with that. they should have the catholic schools and the private schools and public schools. what makes them so get though is there not unionized, these union public schools, my public schools -- i'm 78 years old, i went to school in the state of massachusetts. now they do everything but teach school. they serve you lunch, all this stuff. the teachers are way overpaid. 180 days here, 6000 days -- come on. >> next to compton, california, eric on the democrats line.

>> thank, you c-span. i would like to thank you for the documenting of the history that we are doing, and showing the january six committee hearings. these individuals are calling in and using the bible to find history. everybody knows that when you go into public service, if you make it about yourself, you will leave in a scandal. that's what the bible teaches. i would also like to get on the media that allows these politicians to teach the bible and the gun goes together. there's no where we can stand here and claim to be god bless america, and then have -- and teach the bible and guns and babies go together. they're doing, it and it's wrong. they allow religion to overtake and teach the word of god. there is no way you can claim to be -- i want to talk to my brothers, my christians that all weapons, you cannot claim to be saved in

the name of jesus christ and own weapons. it doesn't work that way. you need to -- but i want to talk about law changing, i'm talking about changing the hearts and minds of my fellow believers in christ. go talk to your pastors, look at your politicians, we have -- everybody knows the word, if you live by the gun, the sword, your children will die by the sword. >> all right, to gary and fort myers, florida. republican line. >> it is open for american -- does anyone remember the quid pro quo provided by [inaudible] and ukraine about the billion dollars he was to give the ukrainians? only if the prosecutor -- corruption scandal was fired that day. stopping any possibility of his son, connor, discovering complicity in the money laundering with -- one about the mueller investigation, schiff said countless times on the sunday

shows that he had the evidence of wrongdoing, and it was forthcoming. but there was none. what about the very words 45 used on the podium before the crowd went to the footsteps of the capital? what were his words that -- for some reason, what were his words that for some reason this one-sided tv show will not play? did he say peacefully, and patriotically? he did. what about the sort falls into thousand mules? what's where they, exactly? isn't that forensic technology used in that movie to identify and locate the very people stopping the ballot boxes, the steam technology used by law enforcement today to identify people that -- at the scenes of crimes. it is. once the red wave hits the ballots in november the truth will trickle out on the blue democrats and the corruption table. there is so much to be reported, and it is not. how could any real american support the things that this party recently overtaken by something called progressives.

this is the washington post this morning on the gun legislation. senators resolve snags, break 30 year a logjam on guns. they write the senate advance a bill on tuesday night which would toughen federal gun laws and provide billions of dollars in new money to prevent future mass shootings after negotiators settled key disagreements, putting the legislation on course he passed into law later this month. the breakthrough came more than a week after 20 senators, ten from each party, signed on to a framework agreement that coupled modest new gun restrictions with some 15 billion dollars in new federal funding for mental health programs in school security upgrades. the released tuesday evening of the 80-page bipartisan safer communities act concluded a crash effort to translate those elements into final legislative detail, one that appeared to be in jeopardy late last week. the post race tuesday 64 to 34 test vote, which took place less than two hours of the

final tax was circulated, put the legislation on a path to pass the chamber by the end of the week. key players in the political right took sides immediately after the text was released. with senate minority leader mitch mcconnell backing the bill and the national rifle opposing it. ivan is on our independent line in san francisco. good morning. go ahead. >> good morning. i think they're doing a great job. i think it's kind of said that people call in and kind of battle for trump with his lies. i think the committee is doing a fine job and i sure hope they prosecute the fellas. they deserve to be. so i'm hoping for. >> to david in baltimore on the republican line. good morning. >> yeah, thanks for taking my call. talking about this january six commission. and i do believe there was some

people that stormed their that actually were kind of violent. but for the most part, they were nonviolent. and plus, how come the democrats never talk about the 247 riots in december of 2020? they never want to get a hearing for that, was foot that? much worse. all the cities, minnesota was burned down and portland and seattle where democrats want their neck took over the cities. and the democrats don't want to talk about that. all they want to talk about a january 6th. just a witch hunt against mr. donald trump, the greatest president we've ever had. trump was so much better for this idiot and we got in there now that's not doing nothing for average american people. >> this is -- new york. frank is on the independent line. good morning. >> thank you very much. isn't it sad when our teenagers who are really having for meant

to really various concepts related to what's going on in the world are growing and learning. could be paid to go to the justices homes and haunt them and force them into a decision. against a, for abortion. and it's time, i think, for the bishops of the united states to stop worrying about the 8% of their priests who unfortunately did the pedophilia in years ago. it's making them power allies and not willing to stand up. it is in church law, it's got a law. and it's not about the catholic church. it's about natural law and we know through science and technology that there are, that is a baby formed in the womb of

a woman. and nothing can rationalize that away. and it's just said that they don't go after the hochul, the bidens and the pelosi who are quote unquote devote catholics. when they are clearly going against god's law and advocating access more and more of abortion. so i hope that people will understand that this isn't against love and compassion. when you oppose abortion, you're protecting a life and it's not about hurting anyone. and to burn down and threaten these pregnancy centers who are helping these women save these babies and get well, it's backwards. so come on, dolan, new york. come on, bishop gregory from washington d.c.. get on board and speak for god.

thank you so much for allowing me to speak today. >> usa today headline. uvalde responds called an abject failure. police had enough officers on the scene of the uvalde school massacre to have stopped the gunman three minutes after he entered the building. the director of the texas department of public safety testified tuesday. calling the police response a quote abject failure. that ignored lessons from previous shootings and put the lives of officers ahead of the lives of children. there were enough officers quote to isolate, distract and neutralize the subject, dps director steve mccraw told a state senate committee. less than a half an hour up till the house comes in a 10 am eastern, it is open forum here on washington journal. your chance to weigh in on any political or a public policy issue you'd like to talk about four republicans, that's 202-748-8001. but democrats, 202-748-8000, and independents and others,

202-748-8002. susan is in germantown, maryland on the democrats line. >> i just want to say that you had a call on your first hour, talked about the generation that's coming in about 20 years. and that will be the minority. and i'm just saying that there are people out there today, particularly in a rural america and the far right. they're terrified of this change and they're going to listen to anybody and any person that tells them that hey, i can take you back to the way it was. you can't because history has taught us that cannot stop change. this world is coming and there will be no gun legislation in my opinion during this generation. it'll have to be the next generation with the baby boom generation dies out. and that generation is in charge. >> and -- >> go ahead. >> okay, i just think that

people like the congress should work together -- to get things done. i've heard things on the right wing channels particularly one which i'm -- work with democrats at all. all democrats are socialists, the communists. that's not true. but what's going to happen is that minorities will takeover in about 20 years. and a lot of those who don't want that to happen will even be middle aged, very old are gone. >> we're going to hear from john in charlotte, north carolina, on the republican line. >> yes, good morning. i would like, i would like to have a thought about this commission. how many of those witnesses that they talk to, i watch them

all, how many of those witnesses that they spoke with had voted for mr. trump. i have my doubts about any of them. because we went through this for five years. against mr. trump. and now, all these democrats are still going at it. it's time to let it go. >> one of those witnesses-ish a moss. robin, -- opinion writer for the washington post or so that our column today. the harrowing aftermath of counting votes. in her column, she writes, on tuesday afternoon, a trio of republican men from georgia and arizona told their stories of defiance in servitude in the committees for public hearing. brad raffensperger, gabriel sterling and russell rusty powers. they were men of some cloud and privilege and politics, men whose party affiliation was made plain as further proof of their courage.

they were men who were accustomed to being heard and even obeyed. men for whom the system was built. quote, the system held but barely, said representative adam schiff of california. and yet, she writes, our democracy only really functions at all because of folks like wandrea arshaye shea moss. she held a far less impressive title, employee. her testimony held the weight of a country's shame and sorrow. sioux falls south dakota's next, dan on the independent line. welcome. >> hello, sir. the only stop the steal here is by the republicans and trump. they tried to steal the election, they got smoked. biden and the democrats won by over 7 million votes. they won by over 30 -- so they won both the popular vote and the -- if you want to talk about elections go to george w. bush for instance. gore, his brother basically gave him florida for all the -- 500 votes.

and now gore conceded like -- the only person in our own nations never conceded to losing as trump. and the republicans, you guys gonna let this go, man. the democrats let it go with alec or and he got totally screwed. this is a legit election and trump got smoked, he got lost. some republicans got to let this go. as far as the gun battle, were the only nation in the world that's got all these machine guns with little kids running around shooting other little kids. wake up, people. we've got more mass shootings, we've got -- this is ridiculous. we shouldn't have assault weapons ban. when did it back in the 90s with the republican help. and it went great, we didn't have that many mass shootings. we've got to have an assault weapons ban, you've got to get the weapons out of these kids. i understand we had an argument over the weekend, my sister was saying hey now you can go get a drivers license and you gotta go through safety training, all

this other stuff, you don't have no safety training for guns. which they should have. a lot of these accidents could be avoided if they just have gun safety laws. and just be more structure on it. you've got to have an assault weapons ban and -- if you can say one child, is worth it to try to have a gun safety law here. thank you, have a good day. >> it is up next on the democrats line. breyer would, new york, good morning. >> and in new york, you're on the air. >> good morning. i feel compelled, yes, thank you, i finally feel compelled to call. three things i like to bring up. one, trump is not the best president ever. if you ask any historian of any strength, trump is the second or fourth worst president we have ever had. number two. the 2000 miles. that has been shown to be inaccurate. trump --

make him conclusions that just do not stand up to scrutiny. it's also a convicted felon. and also number three, yes, what happened with the riots in 2020 or 2019 -- but that is a municipal or state matter and is being dealt there. to compare it with what happened on january 6th is crazy because january 6th was an attack on the united states of america, our republic and our constitution. and our democracy is very fragile. and that's something that's really important. gas is important, food is important, but keeping our way of life is the most important thing of all. and i wish people would realize that. >> caller from georgia next. robert on the republican line. >> robert, good morning. >> oh yes, everybody talking

about this election and everything. people in this world christian by day and doubled by tonight. all these other things. [inaudible] this country was to can from -- [inaudible] cheeses said when they the bottom will come to the top in the top will go to the bottom. so the bottom the top, [inaudible] holiday reporting this morning to headline word on a potential national gas tax holiday. reporting this morning, the headline biden will push congress for a three-month gas tax holiday. they write that president biden plans to call in congress on wednesday to temporarily suspend the federal gas tax. an effort to dampen the soaring

fuel places that have stoke frustrations across the united states. during his speech on wednesday afternoon, mr. biden will ask congress to lift federal taxes, about 18 cents per gallon of gas and 24% -- 24 cents per gallon of diesel. through the end of september. just before the fall midterm elections, according to senior officials speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the announcement on tuesday night. the president will also asked states to suspend their own gas taxes, hoping to alleviate the economic pain that has contributed to the presidents diminishing popularity. the new york times for the white house will face an uphill battle to get congress to approve the holiday, however. while administration and some congressional democrats have four months discussed such a suspension, republicans widely opposed and have accused the administration of undermining the energy industry. even members of mr. burns on party, including speaker nancy pelosi, have expressed concerns that companies would absorb

much of the savings, leaving little for customers. senator joe manchin, democrat of west virginia said this year that the plan doesn't make sense. on our democrats line in plain field new jersey, it's comrade of next. good morning. >> good morning. >> i think what happened to georgia though, workers, the people working at the georgia election. it was nothing more than an act of terrorism. they were doing their job. and drunken giuliani came on and said that they were passing hair win between each other, i thought that was a completely irresponsible. rudy giuliani is a terrorist as far as i'm concerned. the president likes to say that he was a victim of a witch hunt. everything is rigged. well, innocent people, people who have been accused often, you know they do? they go to court, for in this case, they go to congress, and they offer testimony under oath. they're not gonna do that.

he is such a congenital liar that if you were to go under congress and say anything, he would perjury himself. just like his lawyer rudolph giuliani did. this man, what's really frightens me, the justice department will not have the fortitude to -- he managed a convicted, that the man should be charged. thank you. >> to jackie in miami, independent line on open forum. hello there. >> hello. >> jackie, new to your volume on your set there, jackie. go ahead with their comment. >> jackie, mute your volume and then go ahead with your comment. >> okay, can you hear me? now >> yes we can. >> okay, i have been dying to make this statement. i would like to say, first of all, i'm 72 years old. i don't believe in having an

abortion. with that being said, i will fight for somebody to have the choice to make that decision. i want to say something to the evangelical christians. i have heard it said that how can you care about a life that you have never seen, but you can walk right past a homeless life on the street and you won't even see them. if the christians know that jesus was always in conflict with the hypocrites. with that being said, i serve a god that can take a seat and not even use a man, and plant our lord and savior in that. you can't stop what god sends for. the sea that was planted, if that flesh and body decides

they want to bring forth, god will put that seed someplace else. that's why he can forgive us for anything. because he can correct anything that man does. jesus took death, he defeated death, there is no more dying. -- >> okay, i appreciate your call. we've been watching this story out of afghanistan all morning, the rising death toll with the earthquake. this is the reporting of the weather channel, their website. 1000 killed, hundreds injured in afghanistan quake. the earthquake in afghanistan is the deadliest since more than 2200 died after a earthquake in haiti last year. it is open for, and we'll hear next from danny in hollister, california. republican line. >> yes, thank you very much. you know, i've heard a lot about on your show and all across the media about gun safety and young people.

you know, when i was growing up, i'm 70 years old, when i was growing up we used to have looney tunes showing gun safety on television. we also watched the same looney tunes in our health and physical education classes in i scroll. took that off the air. you can watch looney tunes nowadays, speak on dallas had a gun. slow poke gonzales always had a gun because he could not outrun the cats. now they added out on the looney tunes. things have gone wrong. we didn't have mastered-ing's when i was growing up. and now you've got kids that are doing that, and they dream about it. you see it on social media. i think what we can do is go back and post the looney tunes on saturday morning cartoons for kids to know about gun

safety. >> california, independent line, sharon? go ahead. >> good morning. hey, i would like to comment on the testimony from ruby freeman and her daughter. first, i would like to say, i don't condone intimidating anybody, whether it is supreme court justices, election workers, anybody. but one question that has not been answered in my satisfaction, is that the night that they said that the voting was closed down, because of a broken water pipe, they sent all the election officials home. ruby, her daughter and two other people, they went back into the building after everybody was gone and there is video showing that they pulled ballots out from underneath the table and started counting them. have we ever gotten an explanation for that?

or was that at all covered? i can't find any explanation for it. are you aware of any, why did that happen? and what she said about that? why are they innocent? >> i don't know that they addressed it yesterday, but yes it has been addressed. in multiple multiple forms and evidence presented on -- florida, next up, we hear from karen. >> good morning. i want to address the gentleman who said lived by the sword, die by the sword. that's how criminals. live they go and rob people and they use a weapon to do that. jesus would not send his disciples out. don't take your coat, take your sword. the difference between defense and the people who don't want to hurt -- they want to earn an honest living. they take a weapon and they do the crime. also on this committee, i think it is terrible, there is no

cross-examination. they didn't address what the previous caller said, the -- with the ballots. they sent the poll watchers out when i started running this. representative jim jordan, and kevin macarthur, i don't know what state they are from, but anyway they wanted to be on the committee. they had a lot of knowledge. we had the fbi agent telling people to go in and people opening doors, and i think the whole thing with people in prison, the person sounds horrible. to be denied proper care, and not to see your family, not to be out on bail, what they've done. c-span.org. or with the free c-span now video app. to capitol hill now or state department official -- >> rest of the world would respond to his brutal unprovoked