purchase supports c-span's nonprofit operations. scan the code on the right or go to c-spanshop.org to preorder your copy today. >> saturdays, watch american history tv's 10 week series first 100 days. we explore the early months of presidential administrations with historians and authors and through the c-span archives. we learn about accomplishments and setbacks and how presidential terms in the nation of the present day. saturday, the first 100 days of jimmy carter's presidency and 1977 after defeating president gerald ford in the 1976 election. he promised to move the country forward after watergate. present carter offered proposals on energy, taxes, welfare, and reform of government. jimmy carter passed away in december 2024 at the age of 100. watch our american history tv

series first 100 days saturday at 7:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv on c-span two. democracy. it isn't just an idea. it is a process. a process shaped by leaders elected to the highest offices and entrusted to a select few with guarding its basic principles. where debates unfold, decisions are made, and the nations course is charted. democracy in real-time. this is your government at work. this is c-span. giving you your democracy unfiltered. we are joined by emily gee a senior vice president for inclusive growth at the center for american progress and romina boccia is the entitlement director at the cato institute. welcome to you both. let us start with you and

describe your organization and what position you take on economic issues. guest: we are a nonprofit, independent think tank, so we develop policy ideas and bring that into action. host: are you on the left, center, or right? guest: left-leaning. host: what about you? guest: the cato institute is a libertarian think tank and we believe in free markets, individual liberty and peace. host: so emily, let us talk about the current state of the economy. where are we right now and what would you say are the current strengths and weaknesses? guest: we appear to be heading into a trump slump. if you look at the data they are our worrying signs for the economy. consumer sentiment has fallen by a few different measures. we expect inflation to be ticking higher because of the tariffs. we came into the year with a strong economy and historically

low unemployment rates and the economy keeps adding jobs. under the surface there are worrying signs for a labor market that will be worse for workers and unemployment going up. host: let us look at the unemployment rate and i will get your reaction to that in the meantime. do you agree that we are heading into a trump slump? guest: it is not clear that we are seeing, but it is more volatility in part because of the uncertainty of trump policies including the tariffs that keep being introduced and pulled back and delayed. the economy and people investing in the economy thrives on uncertainty and expectations all over the place. and that is affecting the figures. i do not know that we could say that we are going to for certain have a recession and what i am concerned about is that inflation has been going up

slightly again and what we are looking at with the budget in the house and senate, it would increase spending and deficits and that would add to inflationary pressure. even if we do not end up in an economic slump we would pay higher prices as a resort of tariffs and a higher deficit. host: lies inflation going up now? the uncertainty or the tariffs, what is going on? guest: i think it is because of the tariffs because we inspect -- we expect that to increase prices for imports or intermediate products that u.s. producers use to produce things in the united states. we live in a global economy so it is not as simple as president trump and the others make it out to be. if you slap a tariff, that will produce production in the united states. in many cases it reduces u.s. production because you increase

the price of intermediate goods. host: emily, i have the numbers for the unemployment rate for february. 4.1% and jobs added 151,000. what do you make of the numbers? guest: those are strong headline numbers. if you look under the hood there are worrying signs. even though you added jobs you saw a huge jump in the number of people working part time. her hundred 60,000 more people were working part time because they could not get full-time hours or the company cut back. that is one thing. we have seen the unemployment rate tick up for some glue -- for some groups and jobless claims picking up. the full effect has -- of the federal layoffs have not gone through yet. to the point about economic uncertainty, we are not sure the extent of the layoffs which could be bigger than they are now. we expect to see those filter

through jobless claims in the coming months. host: let us look at kevin hassan who gave a bullish outlook on the economy during an interview with cnbc yesterday and then will have you respond. [video clip] >> near-term we have a biden economy and still most of the biden policies are in place. if you look at the atlanta fed gdp now number it is showing negative first-quarter which would be a metric of the inherent tension president biden. a lot of that is from a big increase in the trade deficit which you know and you have been covering, is happening because people are anxious about future tariffs and are stockpiling. that is a temporary phenomenon. medium-term, what you are seeing the biggest tax cuts in history and a massive deregulation and productivity boom. and tariffs that even if you take the high end estimates they will be a tiny fraction of the size of the tax cuts which

almost surely will be in place by the summer. if you think about what will happen to capital formation if you take the cost of capital measures goes up 10% or 11%, there are a lot of reasons to be bullish about the economy. but this corner there are some blips in the data including the negative gdp related to the biden inheritance and the timing affects the happening -- that are happening ahead tariffs. [end video clip] guest: i disagree. i think it is trump policies pushing up inflationary pressures. a lot of inflation is about expectations. if they think that input costs will increase and they need to pull ahead inventory in order to get ahead of tariffs they will do that. we are seeing companies like best buy and target say that they are poised to increase prices. and we saw a decline in computer -- in consumer spending. consumers because of the uncertainty may be are putting

off purchases of cars or home renovations because they do not know what the situation will be like a year from now. the effect for households for people like you and me will amount to a loss of over $1000 12,000 to $1600 by different estimates. so you do see the chilling effect on consumer household behavior as well as retailers saying that they expect slower sales and higher prices. host: what do you think of that and the outlook that kevin has heard of? guest: i agree with kevin on the medium and long term outlook. we have a fairly strong economy. the foundations are there for growth. we are leaders in the ai boom and we have to see how that disperses and what the impacts will be in the future. but the tariffs are just frankly, horrible policy. i can only hope that as president trump sees these

negative numbers at the drop in the stock market and gdp that he will to terms with the fact that the tariffs while they might look out on paper they are very destructive for the american economy. host: why? guest: because it drives up the cost of goods in the united states and it takes more money out of people's pockets. there is a misunderstanding about the trade deficit. that is due to the fact that the federal government is borrowing so much money it is not just a reflection of our import and export relationships but one of our primary exports is the u.s. dollar which is used in global markets and as a reserve currency in other countries. as long as a u.s. runs a current-account deficit and if we will keep borrowing and have this high u.s. fiscal deficit, that creates the trade deficit that president has been lamenting. and they are talking about adding to that with the tax cuts

that would not be paid for under the house or the senate plan. and then president trump has a hold at -- whole agenda that could add to this and fuel inflation. host: if you would like to add to our conversation you can do so. democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. republicans are hoping to pass a continuing resolution in the house to keep the government funded until september 30. what do you think of the effort? guest: we looked at the details. it is 99 pages long. so for something that is supposed to continue current policy there is a lot more going on in those almost 100 pages. there are several anomalies in part because it is highly unusual for the united states to have no budget for an entire year, especially when it comes to defense.

there has to be flexibility as to allow for that mechanism. it is ultimately an abdication of fiscal responsibility and it is admitting that there is not enough strength in the congress to actually pass a budget. this is really just a band-aid to avoid a government shutdown which is clinically bad for both parties, potentially. it manages -- it depends on who manages to pass the blame. it does not rein in spending nor does it lock in the savings that doge has been putting forth or the officeof management and budget. there is a shiny object called doge where all of these people are thinking that spending cuts are happening but congress has the power of the purse and if they do not enact the policies to actually lock in those savings in the future they will be easily reversed through the courts or the next administration. host: your response to the gop budget plan? guest: i worry that congress is

given carte blanche to continue with reckless firing of federal workers and to make -- to freeze funding for head start facilities. to lay off people who work on suicide counseling or cancer research. and this is not a clean cr, this has all sorts of other things in it. this is not just a continuation of the budget. as patty murray has said it is creating a slush fund for elon musk and donald trump to continue to take away the power of the purse and to erode checks and balances. congress is supposed to be the one who decides how our tax dollars are spent. in the white house even this morning has been twisting the arm of lawmakers telling them that they will illegally impound money if they have the funding from the department. host: what about entitlement programs which cost a lot of money and people are worried about social security, at a care medicaid. what needs to be done to make

those programs is glee viable? guest: there are all sorts of reforms that you can do to make sure there is enough money flowing into the government including that the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share. really the biggest threat on the table this moment is the medicaid cuts in the reconciliation passed by the house. host: does it specifically say medicaid. guest: there are instructions to congressional committees on how they need to cut. energy and commerce was to cut $880 billion out of that jurisdiction. the way the methods up there is no way to do it without massive coverage losses from medicaid. the urban institute projects that if congress were to do that through decreasing the federal matching funds that go to support states, about 16 million people could lose medicaid coverage. host: let us talk to the callers.

ed a republican in new jersey. good morning. are you there? sam, woodland hills, california. independent line. that morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. the first is, and this is hypothetical and i do not know if it has happened. can a president lawfully refer -- refuse to ball up -- to borrow which would force congress to balance the budget? the reason i am looking forward to what president trump can do to reduce prices. what can he do? i remember. covid -- i remember pre-covid a five dollar foot long from subway, i do not think you could reach that point again, so what can you do to bring down prices. i know inflation is one point, but we once defrayed --

deflation to reduce prices. thank you for taking my call. guest: there are a lot of policies that would help ease pressures on prices, including adopting a credible first -- fiscal framework. the reconciliation bill before congress is the avenue to do that. unfortunately, there is not enough appetite among republicans to reduce spending enough to stabilize the debt over the long term. given our deficits which are $2 trillion annually, it would take about $9 trillion in 10 year spending cuts to stabilize the debt meaning not add to it further as a percentage of our economy because the debt is already at 100%. they are looking at at most $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion over 10 years coupled with about $4.5 trillion in revenue reductions from extending the 2017 tax cuts. the math does not add up and it

will add to inflation. another way is to reduce regulation, which is a priority for president trump and they were very successful in that regard during the first term of the trump administration, which boosted wages and created one of the fastest-growing economies in the recent decades. those are some of the proposals. in the present refuse not to borrow money by saying i will not keep borrowing? maybe once we had the debt limit? not really. if congress authorizes more borrowing, the house budget resolution will increase the debt limit by $4 trillion. the president is bound to execute the law faithfully, and that means continuing to issue bonds to cover that massive desolate -- deficit financing gap that we have. host: any comments? guest: the trump administration has pledged to lower prices and lower costs, and this is an area

where he is making and breaking promises. one thing that would lower prices and inflation is reversing the tariffs. the tariffs that was -- that were put in place on canada and mexico are tariffs on our biggest trading partners and they are very broad-based. this is foreign policy and international economic policy by hatchet so americans will see higher prices for energy and for groceries and sporting goods and clothes. these are not targeted measures and these are tariffs that will increase costs for families by $1000. one simple way to do it would be to decrease prices. and, one particular pain point is eggs. we have seen those prices continue to increase. part of that is the effect and concerns about bird flu. at the same time, the

administration has laid off workers who do the medical research to develop future vaccines. they have laid off people who do surveillance of those epidemiological situations. they have laid off workers at the department of agriculture and hhs. so i worry about our ability to handle shocks like future pandemics or things that can affect our food supply. host: ed. independent in new jersey. caller: good morning. i am tuning in and i am listening to them carry on and say about the tariffs and how donald trump is not lowering prices. what i'm confused is no president cryer has tried to address this issue -- no president prior has tried to do this issue. if he has said reciprocal, it will take time. they are saying the inflation

and prices are going up by him. they had been up in the prior administration. it has been going on for so many years. the only away to attack that is to do something and he is trying to do something. at every avenue he goes they criticize him and he is not even there four or five months. when you enact the policy it takes time to triple down. he is trying to negotiate and bring corporations back here. manufacturing back here so we are not relying on somebody else. at the end of the day i will pay more money for making america better and bringing back work here and supplies that we need, then i guess i would rather pay that then based on a new idea telling me that natural gas is no good and fossil fuels and so on and so forth. host: we will take your question. go ahead, emily. guest: i would welcome policies to lower the prices and the

costs are things that are the biggest chunk of the american wallet say childcare or housing but we have yet to see that. instead we are seeing these tariffs and we are seeing -- host: the argument that these things take time to actually fix things. guest: if you actually wanted to fix things, tariffs could be tarred that could be part of your toolbox. what you would see is we should make investments of management -- of american manufacture and american education to have the skills for advanced manufacturing. that is what the chips and partisan act did for example. that was during the biden administration. congress passed a bill to revamp u.s. manufacturing on semi conductors. that was a multipronged strategy that involved investments in manufacturing here. we have seen it go up over the last few years. it was also export controls and

it was trade policy aimed at making sure that we could build things in america, but also we were not flooded by cheap replicas. guest: i appreciate the patriotism has shown in terms of saying i am willing to pay more if it means we have a stronger country down the road. the thing is, you do not have to. to the extent we are paying more is not a result of trade policies but that the federal reserve printed $5 trillion so the government could spend $6.5 trillion during the covid pandemic. it is a pure increase in the money supply and devaluing the u.s. currency, and that is why we are paying more. these tariffs will not change that. i would agree with the caller that the biden green energy subsidies are one of the most distortionary policies adopted by the last administration. there are indications that one

of the reasons we are seeing a shortage in some of the infrastructure for natural gas is in part because investment shifted towards green energy sources as a result of government subsidies, the inflation reduction act. and i disagree with emily on this. the way to bring down prices is not for the government to spend money and dole out subsidies to corporations. the way to increase our energy supply is through deregulation. and they are the trump administration is on the right course. host: would you like to respond? guest: the recent investment laws including the chips and science act and bipartisan infrastructure law crowded in private spending. this is not just government spending but federal -- but private companies investing in america to build semi conductors and for clean energy. those laws also made clean energy cheaper.

and we are making sure that americans can manufacture solar panels so we do not have to manufacture everything from china. the tariffs are doing the opposite. we are seeing not just the outgoing tariffs on -- by the united states that american consumers will be paying what see reciprocal tariffs from our neighbors including to -- including canada which will increase energy prices. host: from kevin, i thought it was on congress to levy tariffs? guest: this is another area where congress, there are different types of levers that the u.s. government has at its disposal to place tariffs on foreign countries. this is another case where

congress and the republican majority in congress is rubberstamping what the trump administration is doing and they are not standing up for going through the sorts of accountability measures that they should be holding elon musk and donald trump accountable fo r. making decisions about how federal prices are spent and we should be asking a lot of questions about what is the value of increasing prices for households on things like food and groceries. host: chance in san diego, california. chance? nope. roy in california. republican. go ahead. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. it is refreshing to me to hear these two young women that actually spout facts, accurate facts. i know i am republican and we

are going to hear quite a bit from the gullible and intellectually deficient and morally challenged maga cult members who are convinced that by cutting the federal employees and adding more people to the unemployment rolls is going to be beneficial for the country. actually, it is not going to be. and, i am happy and hoping that some more republicans would listen to this. it has been the agenda since reagan to cut taxes. he phrased it as starving the beast. cut taxes, deny more government tax revenue coming in. the government is not a for-profit business. it cannot be operated as a

for-profit business, ok? that is all i have to say. guest: i think we have seen that starving the beast does not work. we did not get to a $36 trillion debt because we did not -- because we did not tax people enough but because we are spending too much. what we are seeing that as the government decides to spend more, primarily on autopilot entitlement programs, a major health care programs and social security as well as interest on the debt, which is one of the fastest-growing categories and exceeded our spending on defense, the budget is going further and further out of balance regardless of tax revenue. we need to look at reducing spending and capping the growth, which is out of control. to the degree that people value the services that the government

provides and the benefits that a particular support that support vulnerable americans that rely on services, we will not be able to afford those if we have a masco -- massive fiscal crisis that we are racing towards with the 100% of gdp. and after this budget cycle plays out, if the senate gets its way and adopts the current policy baseline where they pretend like the 2017 tax cuts extending will not cost anything, that could drive the debt to 130% of gdp over the next 10 years until the question is how high our interest rates going to go and how much is the federal government going to spend on interest on the debt which consumes more of our revenues and eats into the ability for the government to exercise its core functions. in terms of downsizing. the way to do it is the administration is doing what

they think they can without congress because congress has abdicated so much responsibility. there is a government reorganization act that would allow and initiate the process of eliminating inappropriate government spending including on programs such as head start and consolidating federal functions and getting rid of duplication and addressing some of the waste, fraud and abuse to the tune of $500 billion annually in an organized fashion where congress can vote on those recommendations so the administration does not have to go it alone. guest: can i pick up on one point is that you cannot run government like a for-profit business. because when you do not perform essential functions people died. they are real consequences. a couple of examples. doge has gone after transportation funding. to the point where sean duffy,

the transportation secretary has been worried about air safety. they have also cut spending on biomedical research the point where there are cancer researchers who cannot go through with the medical trials that patients are enrolled in. so we are undermining the future development of drugs and cures for cancer. and then, the administration laid off and i called back -- and then called back some of the people responsible for the u.s. nuclear arsenal. these are things that we all rely on and there is too much at stake to be playing roulette with federal firings. host: i want to show you from yesterday on abc this week, the united autoworkers president talked about his respect -- his support for the president's tariffs and then respond to it. [video clip] >> we are in crisis mode in this country. there is no single issue that has affected our economy and working-class people in their

jobs than nafta, the usmca and/or trade laws. the broken trade system. we are in crisis mode. and we are triaging. i hear this debate about blanket tariffs and all this stuff but we are in a triage situation. tariffs are a way to stop the bleeding from the hemorrhaging of jobs in america. as we speak right now, decisions are being made. there are over 2000 people laid off at a truck plant in michigan. stellantis is shifting truck production to mexico. they could change overnight and move it right back to michigan and put people back to work. you have deere workers in wisconsin and mack truck in pennsylvania where the companies say they will move their jobs to mexico. so tariffs are not the end solution but they are a huge

factor in creating and fixing this problem. [end video clip] host: what do you think of that? guest: tariffs are a tool that we use for trade and economics. there is a right place and wrong place. and donald trump has instituted a very broad and sweeping tariffs against our biggest allies. the fact that you saw the administration delay the auto parts tariffs by a month is a sign that reality is that these tariffs will be increasing the cost of american consumers on cars to the tune of thousands of dollars and they will hurt business. you saw the big automakers lobby the white house to push back the tariffs because this will be a big hit for them. host: eric in a soda. democrat. good morning. caller: i have three issues. i'm reporting a 4.5 trillion dollar theft against our government. i am reporting a cover-up and i am reporting an accomplice. the theft is occurring because

he is taking the salaries of good working people, vital people that monitor airways and etc. and he is going to give that money to billionaires. that is theft. mark sandy from moody's, who is one of the top accountants in the world went on c-span and said that the tax cuts since reagan are the number one driver of the deficit that has appeared since clinton, end of story. others can say that it is because you are giving out medicare. that would be a choice. if you want to cut off your grandmother, that would be a choice as opposed to giving it to a billionaire. you will have to decide right about now, his grandma more important or is it more important to stuff the pockets of billionaires? what is a cover-up? box. the russian mob. they are creating an agenda driven not by facts, but the

need to pump up this group that is undertaking the theft. and you hear it in the voices of the c-span people who are calling and saying you did not know the facts at all. they are being fed a line which is akin to what happened in the third reich where geobbels fed false facts and people followed up. how did that work out? they all died. guest: the rhetoric on the tax cuts and what is driving the growth in the spending does not match up with reality. there is this convenient myth that if we just taxed corporations and the wealthy more that we could close the federal budget deficit and make sure that we could fund unsustainable programs like medicare and social security and not have to worry about it. that is not true. if you raise taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations,

and by the way taxes levied on corporations are paid by workers and consumers. at most even democrats have conceded you will raise another two percentage points of gdp and revenues. that gets you to 19% of gdp and meanwhile spending is growing to almost 30% of gdp over the next 30 years and it is primarily driven by health care and social security and my good friend is a trustee and he has put forward a great paper that details what exactly is driving the growth and spending. it is not the tax cuts. it is medicare, social security and the introduction of medicaid. i am excited that the house budget committee is looking at addressing some of the worst offenders in the medicaid program including the provider tax money laundering scheme that is bleeding about $600 billion from federal tax players --

payers that was a loophole that president palma -- that even president obama suggest as well as the medicaid expansion to able-bodied individuals that has taken away services from the traditional medicaid problem -- populations including pregnant women, children and individuals with disabilities because under the obama administration they decided that the federal government should reimburse states at higher rates for covering able-bodied individuals instead of the most vulnerable americans that primarily rely on medicaid. we have another half $1 billion in savings if you address that issue. guest: there are ways to streamline government but gutting retirement security and taking away health care coverage from 16 million people, the majority of whom are working is not the way to do it. if you want to be fiscally responsible. one thing that is before congress is the tax cuts that expire at the end of the year. donald trump said that he wants

to go through with this for trillion dollar tax package that would benefit the wealthy. it would give $1 trillion of tax cuts to the top 1%. and they are doing this by gutting medicaid and gutting food assistance. host: what do you think of that? do you believe that those tax cuts should be allowed to expire or be made permanent? guest: the tax cuts should be made permanent. if you look on a percentage basis. the biggest tax cut is going to the bottom 50% of earners. on a dollar basis which is what emily compared, you see a higher tax cut because about 75% of the tax burden is bourne by the top 10% of earners. what the american people need to understand is that if we do not reform federal health care and retirement programs, middle class and lower income americans

will have to pay higher taxes in the future. you cannot extend tax cuts if you do not reduce the spending that those taxes would otherwise fund. it has to go hand-in-hand. extend the tax cuts, make them permanent because it provides certainty for businesses which will booth grote -- boost growth and you have to pay for them and you have to do so with the spending reductions and that is where you are falling short. host: doug in maryland. independent. caller: i just want to talk about the budget. we are in such a deficit. we have trump in his first term ballooning the deficit and other president has also. he is in office and we are talking about him now. it will obviously balloon again. he threatened to leave nato in the first term and that is obviously coming back around again. secretary musk is on board with it.

we will lose nato and our defense around the world. we will not have any strategic areas to defend ourselves. but we are going to keep hoping that china buys our debt so we can keep spending our military spending? it will have to triple what we are spending now if we lose nato. we will not have protection and we have to keep hoping that china buys our debt so we can defend ourselves. host: what do you think? guest: if you are someone who believes that your budget is your values, i think the budget proposal on the table in the reconciliation bill and constructions that contradicts past -- that congress passed, it will be extending tax cuts wall cutting programs that americans rely on. if you look at the growth to jet ddp -- gdp ratio, the biggest factors are our -- for those are

the donald trump tax cuts and the bush tax cuts. host: joanne. nevada, republican. caller: i do not approve of either of these ladies that are on right now. i want to ask ms. gee that says all of the manufacturing jobs are back, i just checked on the labor statistics, 2024, joe biden and all of your great economy, they lost 80,000 manufacturing jobs. where did those go? thank you. host: go ahead. guest: if you look over decades we have seen a lot of manufacturing move overseas. i am talking pre-biden. you had this china shock where a lot of manufacturing move to china. that is why you have seen not just trump and biden put tariffs on chinese goods to prevent or delay of -- to level the playing

field for fair competition. i was referring to manufacturing construction. the reality is whether it is private or public investment and it has been private companies that have been investing in plants in the united states. it takes a while for those to get filled. you have to build a plant and then you have to hire the workers. we are at the point from the infrastructure investments from the chips and science investments where things are being built and you see that in the numbers and a sharp increase in manufacturing construction and eventually those will become manufacturing jobs if the trump administration does not interrupt that. you saw at the state of the union that trump took a dig at the chips and science act. so that is an investment that is on track to build semi conductors in the united states. host: a question on text from ystaine -- cryal in

portlande. "n you speak about the t deportations and how that will affect the economy. i live in a small town in maine. we have a older homes in a limited amount of construction workers. one of our local contractors had a guatemalan roofing crew. they were great and they helped a lot of homeowners." and they continue. guest: immigration is a boon to the economy. the people who come to the united states primarily come to work. we should have more legal immigration and an easier pathway for people who want to contribute to the economy to do so. our immigration policy is broken and this is another example of congressional abdication in dealing with issue that really could both fuel revenue for the u.s. federal government. many immigrants, and those who are here illegally are contributing to social security and the medicare trust funds and

never collect those benefits. if people are concerned about immigrants consuming u.s. welfare, there is a very simple fix, close off the welfare system, dues -- do not close off the border. guest: and the economic data, his threats of mass deportation of immigrants is pushing up prices. immigrants are part of the economy. people come here and they contribute. we are overdue for reforms to create better and more effective legal pathways to immigration. but the bluster that trump has, what his administration is doing towards deportations, it has a lot of people concerned about businesses to hire the workers they need and that could put pressure on prices making it more expensive for households to buy things and adding to the pressure coming from tariffs. host: north manchester, indiana.

democrat. caller: good morning. do you think that the president and musk are encouraging a government shutdown so they can further the project 25 plan to dismantle the government? guest: nobody wants a government shutdown which is why we have a weak continuing resolution to keep government spending going the way it was initiated during the biden administration. you would think that republicans with their newly gained majority would seize the reins of the federal budget process and do all of the things they say they support including eliminating the department of education, which is something that elon musk and president trump have put a spotlight on. that is not what is happening. i worry that there is more rhetoric about spending cuts but in actuality spending is continue to grow. guest: on the point of shutdown it is clear who controls the

white house, donald trump. and republicans control both chambers of congress. if a shutdown happens it is very clear who was not able to pass the bill. host: what do you think about the president and a lot of republican lawmakers saying that elon musk's effort is going to provide revenue that will offset those tax cuts. what do you think that? guest: so, i think it is very unclear what elon musk is doing. every day we hear news about new federal layoffs and hirings and then they call back some of those people. the scope is still a big unknown and that is what is driving this policy that is plaguing business investment decisions and helping driving the s&p 500 down 2.7% yesterday. i think the end game is clear. they want these tax cuts which benefit billionaires in the wealthiest and they are doing it i getting services that ordinary americans rely on.

whether that is freezing funding for head start, taking away school lunch programs that go into the pockets of farmers across the country, or gutting food security and health care. host: ron in michigan, independent line. caller: i would like to make a comment to both you ladies. i taught school for 32 years and i am up here in my low 80's. but, i commend you for your honesty and the facts that you are putting forward to the people of america. i think that trump's new deal is out the window. i am waiting for midterm when people like you will change the attitude of the people in this country to change congress to the democrats. i am not necessarily a democrat. i listen and follow the facts and follow through. you guys are doing an excellent job of teaching the american people. that is what we need.

we need people to stop listening to some of the fox channels because i think c-span is letting people know exactly -- women like you need to run for office. i would love to see you in the congress and challenge the people with the knowledge. for that, i am looking forward to seeing trump gradually deteriorate the value of the republican party because they are basically destroying this country as a whole, economically, socially, and spiritually. that i do not like. host: are you going to run for congress? guest: i do not have plans to at the moment. i would say that our spending crisis is a bipartisan problem, as several callers has mentioned. presidents from both parties have overseen a huge increase in

the debt and this is not a problem we will solve on a partisan basis. so people often think just boat -- just boat in the other party but we have seen debt go out -- go up on both sides. i have been a bid advocate for recognizing that congress is not willing to make the tough spending reduction decisions that are necessary to stabilize our debt and ensure future prosperity and the national security of our country. i have been calling for congress to establish a commission. it should be structured like the enlightenment control -- closure commission which closed obsolete military bases as a great model for how congress can overcome political gridlock and stabilize the debt, which has eluded them for far too long. last year we had the fiscal commission act passed out of the house budget committee under the leadership of chair jodey

arrington who is the chair right now as well. it was a very good approach to get members of congress and experts on both sides of the aisle together under a shared goal of ensuring that we have a strong nation going forward and we do not wait for a fiscal crisis to force congress's hands. they will keep spending like there is no tomorrow until tomorrow comes. at that point we could face severe asteria day that would make -- austerity, that could make the great recession look like a blip or lose the united states status as -- the dollar as a global reserve currency. they are severe implications of letting debt grow out of control and now is the time to rein it in. guest: i want to thank him for his kind words. those where the optimistic thing to say at a time when we are seeing a tax on people in public service.

and the reckless layoffs by elon musk and donald trump are helping show americans that it is not just faceless bureaucrats. it is park rangers. it is people who help you out in your local social security office. it is cancer researchers and people who staff the v.a. system to make sure that people who served our country in combat can get the care that they need. so thank you for that. i think looking ahead into what the outlook for congress is, i hope people regardless of their party will stand up for the checks and balances which has been part of the country since its inception. congress has the power of the purse and they should be making sure that the trump administration follows through on what they have appropriated. host: the caller talked about the need for better education. where do people need to go for information about the economy, especially given that a lot of

people no longer trust the media? guest: the federal reserve publish statistics for people who want the latest data on unemployment measures. there is a site run by the federal reserve banks, fred. so, i think some of the things that i will watch as we see what unfolds this year are those hard data sources from survey data from the federal government which is important to fund though so they are accurate. household surveys and surveys that talk about payroll and unemployment rates. i am watching the consumer sentiment surveys which are good early indicators of where the economy is headed including the university of michigan's survey. the conference board sentiment index and both of those were trending down which is worrying. host: rick in sheffield lake,

ohio. democrat. caller: good morning. i have a question. i am an average working guy and i make about $16,000 a year and i pay taxes. i have friends who are very wealthy and they are always complaining about paying too much in taxes. so i made them an offer and i said i will tell you what, i will switch places. you make $16,000 a year and pay little taxes and i will make all of the money you make and pay a lot of taxes. the funny thing is, none of them want to switch. why is that? thank you. host: any comments? guest: it is a very generous offer. the u.s. tax code is highly progressive. the top 10% of income earners pay 70% of all federal income taxes. while they rake in about the top

1% rake in about 22% of total income, they cover about 40% of the total income tax burden so his friends might not be wrong that their share of federal taxes is much higher. people making $60,000 a year do get hit with payroll taxes and if we decided not to reform social security benefits, slowing the growth of benefits in the future, but just tax people more in order to pay for the funding gap that we face, people like the caller making $60,000 a year could face up to a $10,000 payroll tax burden with their tax burden going up by $2600 per year. so, we also need to reform social security and federal health care programs if we want to keep taxes low and have a vibrant economy for the american people. guest: it is not enough to look at income tax brackets and payroll taxes. a lot of the tax giveaways in

the tax code can be and they mostly go to benefit the wealthy. so things like lower rates on capital gains. there are a lot of deductions that are basically end up lowering the tax obligations for people who are wealthy and make their money off of things other than wages and salaries. and that is part of the reason why the wealthy and corporations are not paying the fair share that they owe to pay for the government services that we need and to help pay down. host: one more call, anthony in rochester, new york. independent. caller: great program this morning and good discussion. a couple of things that i wanted to address. i know the category of social security, medicaid and medicare are referred to as entitlements. i have worked for about 45 years and i looked at it and i looked at my social security statement.

i paid over $340,000 combined myself and my employer into social security. so, what interest over the period of time over 45 years the interest that the government earned. i paid over $100,000 for medicaid -- for medicare. again, combined between myself and my employer. if they will start cutting social security, can we get my money -- can i get my money back with interest and call it even? he started his whole project off saying that he could cut 2 trillion dollars without touching entitlements and then he was saying we will have to take social security and cut that. it was obvious in the beginning he could not achieve it and get his goals without doing that. the other thing i will talk about is a talk about having the president saying we have to feel some pain and we have to be bad before we can be good again. it is ridiculous. you know what pain would be? leaving the tax cuts and letting them expire.

host: go ahead. guest: i have not seen any legislator proposed to reduce medicare or social security benefits for people already on the roles. i do think there is a real opportunity and a need to reduce the growth in those benefits for future unofficial areas because they are incredibly unsustainable. most of medicare is not funded by the payroll tax but already funded by general revenue taxes. in terms of the caller and others might have been better off if they had been able to invest the money that they had taken from them by the government into private retirement accounts and private health savings accounts and reaped actual returns because there is this misconception that the government did not earn any interest on those social security revenues either because they were spent immediately. social security is already running a cash flow deficit of more than $100 billion that will

grow to almost 700 at the time the trust fund will be depleted by 2033. medicare and social security are driving us into a debt crises as a financial report of the united states government details. more than 100% of unfunded obligations, the gap between spending and the revenues that government will bring in can be attributed to medicare, two thirds of that and social security. host: that is romina boccia and also emily gee, >> mr. speaker, on this historic day the house of representatives opens proceedings for the first time to televised coverage. >> since march of 1979, c-span has been your unfiltered window into american democracy bringing you a direct no spin coverage of congress, the supreme court, and the white house.

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