jessica bruder, whose book "nomadland" looks at the societal impact of the 2008 recession. later, philip wegmann talks about the republican legislative priorities in 2018. ♪ host: good morning. it is saturday, december 30, 2017. we are nearing the end of the year, in which the u.s. military has seen a number of successes, including key tactical victories in the fight against the islamic state. the defense secretary told reporters yesterday that the caliphate is "on the run." the pentagon also faces challenges, including a naval fleet officials say is straining fleet demand and lingering questions on an ambush in niger that left four u.s. service members dead. today, we are asking for your

thoughts on the u.s. military. we have special lines for this question. if you are an active member of the military, call (202) 748-8000. if you are a retired military service member, call (202) 748-8001. all others can call (202) 748-8002. you can also reach us on social media. on twitter at @cspanwj. and on facebook at facebook.com/cspan. good morning. let's start by taking a look at what the president said earlier this month about the state of the u.s. military during his comments about his national security strategy. [video clip] dealt isis one devastating defeat after another. the coalition to defeat isis has now recaptured almost 100% of the land once held by these terrorists in iraq and syria. great job. [applause] really good.

really good. thank you. thank you. we have a great military. we are now chasing them wherever they fully. and we will not let them into the united states. in afghanistan, our troops are no longer undermined by artificial timelines. and we no longer tell our enemies of our plans. we are beginning to see results on the battlefield. and we have made clear to pakistan that, while we desire continued partnership, we must see decisive action against terrorist groups operating on their territory. and we make massive payments every year to pakistan. they have to help. our efforts to strengthen the nato alliance set the stage for significant increases in member contributions, with tens of

billions of dollars more pouring in, because i would not allow member states to be delinquent in the payment while we guarantee their safety and are willing to fight wars for them. we have made clear that countries that are immensely wealthy should reimburse the united states for the cost of defending them. this is a major departure from the past, but a fair and necessary one. for our country, necessary for our taxpayer, necessary for our own thought process. host: we are talking to you this morning, getting your thoughts about the state of the u.s. military. if you are an active member of the military, call (202) 748-8000. militarye a retired service member, call (202) 748-8001.

all others can call (202) 748-8002. let's take a look at one of the headlines from dod news, where secretary mattis said operations to fight isis will change in 2018. it says the distraction of the islamic state of iraq and syria's physical caliphate will change the way the coalition will go after the terror group. defense secretary james mattis told pentagon reporters yesterday. operators against the terror group dominated the informal press gaggle with the secretary. he said "we sit here today at the end of 2017, the caliphate is on the run, we are breaking them." summarizes terrorists escaped the encirclement of raqqa into the middle euphrates river valley. we are in the process of crushing the life out of the caliphate there while trying to keep the innocent people safe, which is very hard with this

group, he said. the story goes on to also point out the fact that secretary mattis said, as a brand, isis is losing. mattis to 2018, matus -- sees isis being a brand for terrorists, inspiring lone wolf attacks, but it is less inspirational when they have lost their physical caliphate. less inspirational as the stories of what it was like living under their rule came out. i think it is a brand with a diminishing appeal, but the appeal is still there for groups who go in for that philosophy. callingon the line, from new jersey. good morning. caller: good morning. my comment about isis -- i do not understand why they always say we are winning, when it seems like tim -- to me, they

are just relocating. seee were winning, we would them taking bodies off of the field, or we could see our troops coming back in caskets. they don't never sure how many isis people are dead or how many leaders they captured. yet still, trump keeps coming on, talking about we winning and this and that. i wish some of these republicans would call in and explain that to me. i really do not understand that. thank you. host: ok. in one of the other headlines we have today about that fight against isis, saying there is a dwindling number of isis fighters remaining in syria and iraq, according to military.com. only 1000 isis fighters remain in syria and iraq. it says with islamic state extremis thrust out of their two major strongholds and key tactical victories this year, fighters remaining in the region

continued to fall. according to new estimates from the combined joint task force operation and have resolved. army colonel ryan dillon, a spokesperson for the tax force antask force, said in interview that the official estimate of isis presence has been revised downward by a significant number. "up until today, we had an estimate of less than 3000," dillon said thursday. "but the latest estimate we got today was, there is about 1000 across iraq and syria." a retired ranch of the military, daniel calling -- which branch? the navy. thank you for taking my call. i am very shocked that obama allowed our naval air forces to become so degraded that they ,ave to get parts from planes

like a junkyard. it is shocking that service people have to grovel for parts so that they can fight for their lives. what a horrible thing that man has done to our country. think the president may be the greatest president we have ever had since andrew jackson. host: what more would you like to see? what do you think is the solution to the strain on the naval fleet? caller: you cannot send a soldier out to battle and not give him a gun. how do you put a pilot in the air and not give them an aircraft to fly, or give them junk to fly? would you fly on an airplane that has no seat? would you do that as a civilian? would you fly on an airplane that has broken parts on it and salvaged parts?

-- beyond words. i am so shocked that obama let our navy of forces get to that level -- let our navy care -- navy air forces get to that level of degradation. host: let's see what senator angus king said about the uss john mccain. caller: every boat has a radar that -- [video clip] >> every boat has a radar that lets you know when another bow comes within five miles or two miles -- how does a billion-dollar freighter not know that a boat is coming up on it? maine lobster men -- they can tell when there is a flock of seagulls off there bow. >> got the same questions. it is very hard to understand. with the sophisticated systems

on board this warship, that we let it should get close enough coalition -- of >> not one ship. three ships. aren't there -- can you give me a system -- answer specifically? aren't there radars? >> there are primary and backup radars. we have to find out what happened. >> is there a black box on the ships, like there is on an aircraft, so we can determine what the sequence of events was? >> we will get to the sequence of events, yes, sir. >> and don't we have sailors on the bridge with binoculars anymore? >> yes, and there are required to be lookouts. host: in the "wall street journal," the navy has a smaller fleet. it says that readiness of the navy has decreased.

report issued in the wake of a string of deadly , the demandis year for naval operations increase, but the number of ships and other resources dwindled. calling from california, what do you think about that? caller: i always shocked when you let me get on and let me sneak my entire comment. i enjoy donald trump as president. politicians have to have vision. vision is very important in politics, because they can see, basically, what the future is and what is going on with their country. donald trump represents a new way of life. this whole war has always been about colonial rule.

donald trump deals with the germans and the native indians who this country actually belongs to. you have to understand that the war in afghanistan, israel, syria -- all of that is about colonial rule. and north korea -- i do not care how much weaponry they have. no country is going to be generous with guns. what countries need to do is they have to drop the guns and fight fisticuffs. there has to be a way where people can protect their land like gentlemen. hand-to-hand combat. ok.: gary is calling from atlanta. retired military member. what branch did you serve in? caller: i was in the army. good morning to you. i was in the army. i am a vietnam veteran. i really believe that the

military is the past right now. i really believe that donald trump is a reflection of what they see. what i mean about that is when nixon was going through what he was going through what i was in the military, i wanted to get out. i felt betrayed that i was serving in that capacity. i tell you something -- as long as i have been a veteran, i had always been kind of proud. whatever since donald trump became president, i really regret my service. i regret my service. i do not see the flag the same way no more. i do not know how other soldiers feel about this that are active. they cannot speak out. i believe they are really depressed about some of the lives and buffoonery heat -- some of the lies and buffoonery he does. he does not answer to no disciplinary code. and he never served in the military.

let me ask you this. one unusual thing about this administration is he has a lot of generals on his staff, even his chief of staff is a marine general. does that change your view about how he approaches military decisions? caller: no. that is mainly for the ego. i also feel that the military industrial community is what really controls him. and they control it through them generals to they want to sell the missiles, sell the guns. america has a reputation of selling guns to both sides. there is a conflict coming, a storm coming. see it.ple can it will be a really devastating thing. this is the same pattern that bush used. gave tax cuts to the wealthy, then started a war. the economy went south. obama did what he could do with

what he had. because republicans said there were no funds for anything else. hopefully, everything will work out for him. and a happy new year to you, too. hill" reports the military said to begin accepting transgender recruitment after the trump administration -- that the pentagon will accept transgender recruits monday after the trump administration decided not to appeal a court order blocking the president's ban. the department of justice announced friday it would delay announcing a stay on the president's transgender van before the supreme court. the department of justice -- the department of defense announced it will release an independent study of these issues in the coming weeks. rather than litigate this interim appeal, the administration decided to wait for the study and will continue defend -- to defend the

president and secretary defense's lawful authority. steve is calling from indianapolis. what are your thoughts on the u.s. military? caller: it is no secret that this country has been 10 times more than -- has spent 10 times more than any other country in the whole world. it will keep being that way. --never have to worry about we will always have money for military. they will not always be money for the middle class and the poor, as we have always seen on the tax -- as we have jesse on the tax cut spirit there will always be under for the rich and the military. and we do need money for the military. no doubt about that. nevers one thing you will have to worry about. we have always been good whipping on other people. for the cat that commented on obama not being there -- he was there. he was the one who got in lawton. isis was already on the run. this is just another trump

declaring victory, just like he is declaring victory with the .conomy he got handed something pretty good to him. obama did not get the credit he deserved for a lot of things. ok.: last week, the vice president made a surprise visit to afghanistan. according to reuters, he said that the u.s. will "see this through." the vice president made a surprise trip to afghanistan to meet its leaders for months oner donald trump agreed open warfare there. he flew by helicopter to kabul, where he met the president and chief executive at the presidential palace. let's look at some of the

comments that the vice president made during that trip. [video clip] >> from the safe haven off afghanistan, terrorists of al qaeda, aided and abetted by the taliban, struck the united september 11, 2001. we all remember the day. a day where we sought to thousand 977 innocent men and women, mothers and fathers, daughters, lose their lives. the american people understood this for what it was. an act of war. and as one nation and one people , we vowed to win this war on our terms on this soil. together, with our allies, we came here to afghanistan to liberate its people and prevent the terrorists from ever threatening our homeland again. and we are staying in that fight. and we will see it through to the end. [cheers] [applause] jasper is on the line from

memphis, tennessee, retired member of the military. what branch? caller: retired army, 1993. in 1971. when i went into the army, the army was the army. ronald reagan came along and started cutting the army. we used to have education benefits and all kind of benefits. he came in and cut the military. after, i went on down through all of the other presidents. i will tell you -- when president went into the military -- do you are member what donald rumsfeld said? we have to go to war with what we got. here come trump -- trump do not know what he is doing. i agree with the other guy before. president obama done more for the military -- housing, education. and try to get them paid. we didthe republicans --

not get no pay. and our benefits -- he tried to get our benefits. people do not realize that george w. bush put a bunch of people in the administration to stop the veterans from getting their benefits. when people are talking about the military -- i am a vietnam veteran. i fought in vietnam, all the way down through the years. before saudi arabia. we did not have no different pay for a vietnam veteran. but they want to make all of this thing about the gulf war victims. i am a veteran. if you are a soldier, you are a soldier. do not go telling you are a gulf war veteran. i am a soldier, too. i fought in battle, too. i do not like the device they do. as for the vice president, they

are a disgrace. i have my friends in germany saying, we talk back and forth -- i will tell you something. america is a big disgrace to this world. if people think we are number 1 -- we are number three or four in the world. we are not going far under trump. they got ripped off under this tax cut. needs ismilitary coming out of your pocket, not the rich folks' pocket. thank you. host: let's talk about some of .he budget numbers according to the defense department, the dod topline $639t for fiscal 2018 is billion. that is just a slight increase over last year's $606 billion topline. something we saw an increase 2011.001 until about

that has sort of leveled off in recent years. it also outlines the priorities for fiscal year 2018. it says to improve war fighting readiness, achieving program balance by pressing shortfalls, building a larger, more capable, and more lethal joint force. it also outlines some of the major investments, the largest billion on aircraft, followed by almost $19 billion $7.5 millionng and -- $7.5 billion on preferred emissions, ground systems, and missile defense. getting a call from texas, retired member of the military. which branch? armyr: a member of the unsold 2005. the readiness of the military needs to be upfront and honest

do not needk, we any of these transgender or anyone -- you need someone capable to do the fight up front. , we will not do that never win a battle. trump.ve in i believe what he is doing is the right thing. irregardless of what everyone else thinks, i think the democrats and republicans need to be bipartisan and need to make this work. host: what would you like to see them do? what would you like to see republicans and democrats come together to do in order to make sure the military is at its top readiness level? pay the military. make sure they have all of their parts that they need for all branches of government. needs to make sure they

have all of the parts they need. the marines need to be paid for all of their equipment. -- have a life. the military person is the one serving. when they say serving, that means they are going without a lifestyle -- the point is, they go without. not that they will be rich. going in the military is what we want our people in the united states to be. they want to be respected and everyone wants to be respected.

everyone needs to live in this lifestyle, no matter what you believe, no matter what your race, and get along. is calling from san francisco. what do you think about the state of the u.s. military? caller: i do not think they are prepared for the kinds of people that are against us right now and preparing for war against us. they are telling us that, including icbm's that they could hit any city and destroy a lot of our country, and they have a good morale. that is what i like. they like the president. he is a good man. i believe in him. i think he is good for our country. he came in, and he is the only doneician that has ever anything that they said they would do. he works and,

works to he cares about us. i did not see that an obama. i think the other countries in the world found that they did obamake us because of went around apologizing for the kinds of people we are. we are good people, and we need a good military. what is wrong with our military today is that we talk a lot, but we are not showing what we have. other countries, they show that their military is still something. , even if theyiers have to have documentaries on tv -- and we need them on all of the coast. right here in san francisco, and our newspaper, they showed the chinese coming in on ships in our marina in san francisco. they are illegal. we are being destroyed by people andjust want to come here, they do not care about us. they do not like our culture.

we are good for the world. we are good people, and we are willing to give to everyone. but we have to show our strength. you cannot just talk about it. you have to show what you are doing and what you say you are doing -- host: ok pay let's take a look at what the president said about his desire to boost military spending. [video clip] >> we recognize that weakness is the surest path to a conflict and unrivaled power is the most certain means of defense. for this region, our strategy breaks from the damaging the fence sequester. we are going to get rid of that. [applause] it calls for a total modernization of our military and reversing previous decisions to shrink our armed forces, even as threats to national security group.

it calls for streamlining acquisition, illuminating loaded bureaucracy and massively building up our military, which has the fundamental side benefit of creating millions and millions of jobs. this strategy includes plans to counter modern threats, such as cyber and electromagnetic attacks. it recognizes space as a competitive domain and calls for multilayered missile defense. [applause] colin is calling from georgia. you are a service member. what branch are you serving in? caller: active duty army. host: what do you think about the state of the u.s. military? caller: currently, the president has done a fantastic job in the expansion of the military. i have watched the doors open up

tremendously. economy will have an impact on that. the problem i am currently seeing is that the state of the military is so affected by feelings. he used to be the military was not so affected right feelings. everyone was not so he said, she said. it was this is what it is, this is what it was. nowadays, everything has changed that we are worried what other people think. worried about what other people do. with that being the case, that also puts out that perception to other countries that we are so worried about how they field and that's how they feel and how they are, and now they're seeing that, and that is why i believe so many other countries have gone to question us and gone to not be in full support of our decisions and other things. i think the president has spent so much time trying to get rid of that perception -- unfortunately, i believe he

spent a little too much time on twitter, but i do believe that his overall perception is forget what other people feel, this is what it should read -- host: can you give us an example of what you mean about feelings? feelings about what? for example, this whole transgender policy -- if you are a transgender person, you have some kind of a mental illness that causes you that you are not 100% stable. we are so worried about how they feel about being equal to everyone else that we are not worried about the actual state of their mindset and the state of the support of their brothers being an active duty, which is a big concern. if i am alongside battle, and you are worried about your mindset and not our brotherhood or sisterhood or our family that we are supposed to be, that is a big issue. we are so worried about that that now we are going to start

along these people to come into the military, which is going to eventually be an issue. at that point, we are so worried about how they field instead of what is the greater good. host: ok. dave is calling from the intensity washington. retired military service member. what branch? caller: navy. host: what are your thoughts on the military? caller: i am going back to these collisions we have had, between military ships and others. i was an electronic technician, radar repair. i was not an operator. i do not -- why were they not running their lights? effective.is very they could hear those props 10 miles away. yet they collided. that really baffles me.

out a long ways -- i cannot member how far -- 25 miles to 80 miles. what -- why did they collide? host: what would you like to see the pentagon do? what might you think is the solution? as far as the accidents were concerned, someone was sleeping. they ought to either fire him, demote him, or get him out of service day they should not have collided. the third one was doing bully work, or something like that. i can see where one ship would possibly rubbed up against one of ours. but that is poor seamanship. the other two should have heard the sonar picked them appear the radar should have to do them up you go back seven or eight years. the submarine that sunk that

boat with a bunch of japanese students. keel in that he'll -- half. that radar -- sonar would pick it up 10 miles away. host: all right. the "washington post was quote --orts about a potential "the washington post" reports a first looksffer at a large sea ray drone. it offers intense navy crudeition to building on aircraft to land on an aircraft carrier. the competition for a navy carrier that can refuel fighters in midair could mark a significant advancement in

technology and is another sign of how the military is increasingly incorporating robots into how it fights. lockheed martin are also vying for a contract to build as many as 76 of the vehicles that will become operational in the mid-20 20's. this is setting the stage for a high-stakes competition in 2018. you, askingng to your thoughts on the state of the u.s. military. if you are active military, call (202) 748-8000. if you are retired military, (202) 748-8001. all others can call (202) 748-8002. from chattanooga tennessee -- from chattanooga, tennessee, another retired servicemember. what branch? caller: united states army,

proudly. i would like to say this morning that is a pleasure to be able to talk with you before the new year. ons is a topic i could talk all day. the military. let me make one thing clear. everybody that serves in the military -- i served in the united states army. infantry brigade in vietnam. c.i.v., i seabright -- earned my ribbons. everyone you have serving in the are fightinghey people -- infantry, u.s. army, and the marine corps -- all of these other dudes talk about they have been in combat -- they have not. they have been in a combat zone. they have not been on the field. they tell from the way

talk. quit blowing your horns about you served -- i am so tired of people "thank you for your service" -- you had a cushy job. you sit and watch computers. you are not really in no danger. the people in the infantry -- if you are not an infantry combat in the or driver calvary, you were sitting back basically in the safe zone. start the draft. see how many of these patriotic people, especially the lady from california, talking about obama -- obama is the reason why things got better. they want to give donald trump a pass. call it a giveaway. this man is not doing anything

to deserve the credit he is getting. i just call it white privilege, just like it is. it is sad to say it is white privilege. thank you. host: vincent is calling from prescott valley, arizona. what do you think about the state of the u.s. military? caller: i have been listening to the other people talk. i think people have a lot of pent up anger. and when they do not know how to to do anything, they complain about government officials not being able to get things done. but the government is not just the ones we elect to the executive part of the government. the government is the people. we need to get into our communities and get things done. the coalition for compassion and justice. i help the community. do not complain about the officials -- officials are less

than 1% of the people of this country. when the people get frustrated, is join thent to do military and get things done the military way. -- fortunately, i have an education. i have a degree in political science and health. they do not understand that living in a military state is not the highest part of evolution. following alltop that haveeat nations" relied on the military to keep the culture go in, that is all we will have. a military culture. the bible says you live by the sword, you die by the sword. post -- theshington "washington post" reported about the divide between the president and the nuclear authority.

authorities are trying to prevent the president from launching an unprovoked nuclear about -- after a panel of experts one them against rewriting laws to restrain a commander in chief many worry is impulsive and unpredictable enough to start a devastating international crisis. senator bob corker said trump's threats to global rivals put the country on the path to a war -- iii, warning of the danger in a system where the president has sole authority to give large orders there are no ways to revoke. by the time corker emerged from the hearing, he was at a loss for what to do next. let's take a look at democratic markee. [video clip] >> absent a nuclear attack upon

allies,ed states or our no one human being should have the power to unilaterally unleashed the most instructive forces ever devised by humankind. yet, under existing laws, the president of the united states can start a nuclear war without provocation, without warning. it boggles the rational mind. i fear that in the age of trump, the cooler heads and strategic doctrine we once relied upon as our last test hope against the unthinkable seems less reassuring than ever. in other areas of government, our constitution system of checks and balances ensures the president does not have sole power to make extreme decisions without some level of national consensus. solen the president's authority to start a nuclear war, even in the absence of a nuclear attack against our country, no one can tell the president no.

not secretaries mattis or tillerson. even general kelly can control the president's twitter tantrums. as a result, many american share my fear. is calling from spring valley, new york. you are retired. what branch of the military did you serve in? caller: army, ma'am. 1967-1969. i hope some of the people can turn their vacuums off and open up the inside latch and maybe something might go in. let me tell you something. first of all, i am proud of my service. i am ashamed, now, of my country. because of the leader. i am a flag waver. i took my flag out of my car, off my truck.

my flag at my house is upside down now. it will be upside down until trump gets out of there. trump has bamboozled into this whole country hostage. first, let me say this. arrested iner was 1927 in long island. someone look it up. in a violent ku klux klan rally. him and for other people. now i will jump to this. first of all, trump do not have a friend -- trump is running the country because of how he read his company. there was no board. trump was the last word. if you talk or read anything about anybody that knew him, everything he has done he has either failed at or it was a just -- it was

shady. let me just say this. i love my country. . am also a disabled vet it still takes a month for an appointment at a va hospital. i am a witness. i have had a bad sciatic situation going on now. if i go to the local hospital, it takes a month before i get an appointment. because the head of the v.a. is riding in them planes with his family, going on vacation to all of the virgin islands just before the storms hit. that is the head of our v.a. yet, they cut the vans out that run the guys to the different clinic's in the hospitals. find it sol, i stupid that those ships had those three collisions. i almost think it was fake. i believe we are calling somebody's bluff. how could you be so stupid?

then again, i do not want everything publicized. first, let me say this. --rybody in trump's cabinet check it out. everybody from the treasury on down to the last one -- and they kicked two of them out. every last one of them. if the democrats were anything -- these people are shady, just like trump. they owed trump something or he owed them something. host: all right. is calling from minnesota. what do you think about the state of the u.s. military? good morning. i have a little bit of a cold, so i may sound funny pai just want to read a couple of facts. you can look this up, anybody listening. it says the u.s. military is the world biggest best the world's -- the world's biggest polluter.

america's military has killed more innocent civilians that isis has. the majority of the kills america does, they say they are not civilians. they are roughly around 10 years old or older. there are 40,000 homeless vets .n america every night, the u.s. military is using thousands of radioactive depleted uranium bombs in syria that contaminates the water and makes the humans and animals sick. john moore said they would not use that. so why is this guy not in jail for lying? what about in iraq, where we put sanctions on them? .here are 3 million people dead

over 575,000 children killed by the u.s. in their sanctions. you know what some of the sanctions was? so the iraqi people could not get clean water to drink. these people suffered. for a longs suffered time before they died. we can blame ourselves for that. host: and we are talking to our viewers, getting your views about the state of the u.s. military. active military, (202) 748-8000. retired, (202) 748-8001. all others can call (202) 748-8002. while we wait to hear from your calls, we will look at other headlines today. the front page of the "wall street journal," it says the record run has defined skeptics. the dow jones posted its second biggest yearly gain, rising a surprising 25%. the market notched the most closing highs on the index in a

single calendar year. volatility drop to historic lows as many global stock markets finished the year at or near records or multi-year highs. it is a sharp change from what many money managers and analysts anticipated at the start of 2017. at the time, many spec and what they call a "sideways" market. instead, the s&p 500 posted its best yearly gains since 2013. oyle is calling from tennessee. you are retired. in what branch did you serve? caller: i am not retired. call the wrong line p and i am maybe. host: what are your thoughts about the military? full.: everybody is being we are the strongest military in the world. i was a destroyer sailor in the

1960's. i do not see how another ship could run into a destroyer. i served on a destroyer. missile destroyer. they could not get within 200 miles of us, just about. well, 20 miles. we tracked them all the way in. not weak.ry is we have a strong military. telling everybody we have a bad military, but we have a strong military. host: what do you think has been the cause of these accidents? caller: that is what i would like to know. you have radar, good radar. you have lookouts. aft lookouts 24

hours a day. looking. they are outside of the ship, looking for our ships and everything. within pick up a ship 30, 40 miles. we have 14 to 15 aircraft carriers. russia has about one. and it is an old diesel. we have nuclear powered. separating the army from the navy and the air force and do not think is right. host: all right. "help" is reporting the white house is readying for an overhaul in the new year. the white house preparing to overhaul its senior staff ahead of what could be a tumultuous midterm election in 2018. moving a white house aide who used to work under john

boehnerto help -- john to have manage the west wing's political outreach. the plan would have destefano temporarily oversee the office of public liaison, the office of intergovernmental affairs, and the office of political affairs. in another change, the white house john kelly is excited to name jim carroll as his top deputy. ronald is a retired veteran. can watch -- in what branch? caller: i served in the airborne unit. host: what do you think about the state of the u.s. military? caller: things are not born right now. in germany.urs i was also in south korea. the way things are

going. the united states is not putting out a lot of information. i know what they got. they have a lot. i keep up with everything going on. i watch c-span all of the time. you should be on two or three times a week to collect this information. james is calling from san diego. you are also retired yet what branch did you serve in? caller: the current state of the military is that they are having youarmed services, if include the coast guard, having no problem with recruiting. there is a nine-month waiting list just to get into the door. that shows me american individuals are interested in getting into a trade school and starting a good life for themselves, going uphill.

there is no problem in the military academies. they have a waiting list as well. it is a wonderful opportunity for those individuals that would -- that qualified for the armed services. one of the biggest headlines involving the military was about an ambush in niger that left four service members dead, and the ensuing controversy when the president made a call to the widow of one of those soldiers. the "washington post" reported the moment -- the mother of one of the soldiers killed in the ambush said the president disrespected her son. sergeant ladavid t. johnson's mother told the "washington post" that she was president -- present during the call from the white house to johnson's widow.

she also stood by an account of the call from represented a frederica wilson that trump told johnson her husband "must have known what he signed up for." [video clip] thee and my family were in limo to receive my husband. we were literally on the airport strip, getting ready to get out. and he called nasa sergeant neil's -- master sergeant neil's phone. i asked him to put it on speaker so my aunt and uncle could hear as well. he goes on to say in his -- what he said -- >> the president? >> yes, the president. the president said he knew what he signed up for. but it hurts anyway. it made me cry. i was very angry at the tone of

his voice and how he said that. he could not remember my husband's name. the only way here member of my husband's name was because he told me he had my husband's report in front of him. that is when he actually said "ladavid." i heard him stumbling on trying to remember my husband's name. that hurt me the most. if my husband is out here, fighting for our country, and he rest his life for our country, why can't you remember his name? that made me upset and cry even more. host: that is the widow of johnson, one of four service members killed in that ambush. are -- rs

nick is calling. what do you think the state of the military is? caller: it is fine. my brother-in-law is in the army. my brothers in the army. my father was in the army in the 1980's. my stepfather was in the marine corps. there is a long list of military in my family. personally, listening to these callers commenting about the president -- i would like to remind you all, our military is a lot bigger than just one man. our president has to make a lot of hard phone calls. i am sure the hardest phone call he would have to make would be to a spouse of a military servicemen who just died, or a military servicewomen who just died a at i do not think anyone of us have ever made that call. i would also like to say, i heard someone say that there are tens of millions of people who died in iraq. i would like to know where and when? i would like to know where and when that happened? my brother-in-law defended the

water pipeline. my brother-in-law defended the one water pipeline that provided the rock with water. it was still there. they were still getting water. that is an outline -- outright lie. i have heard a lot of callers call in. it is really said, the bias against this president. our country would work better if you would work with him. host: paul is calling from pittsburgh, retired servicemember. in which branch did you serve? caller: i served 30 years in the navy. , we arek, right now going through a rebuilding phase with the military. there was a lot of damage done

under the sequestration of what went on. there was a lot of damage done when president obama led from behind for eight years. through four or five secretaries of defense. because he insisted on selecting targets in afghanistan and other places. of thee the hands military in afghanistan with these ridiculous rules of engagement. i think, right now, the big advantages we have some really savvy retired military server and our government, starting with the secretary of defense, general methods. -- general matters. he is just a really good guy. retired marine corps general as chief of staff. another retired general as nasa -- national security adviser.

the president listens to these guys come -- the president listens to these guys, something the previous president did not do. we need better funding of our military. we have planes we cannot find have sparedo not parts. ships that cannot get underway because there areparts. aviation training was suspended, because they were losing too many pilots. there is a lot of work to be done. incredibly proud to have served 30 years. just two things. for the gentleman flying his flag upside down, shame on you. of have shown snippets negative comments about the president, most recently being -- i remember senator

mccain recently made comments about how incredibly well this president is doing in listening to his generals and a turnaround in the military. hopefully, you'll find some of those to get some balance. serviceso a retired number, donovan. which branch did you serve in? caller: the army. host: what do you think about the current state of the military? caller: i think we need more oversight on this military budget. spendingalking about $100 for a stapler or hammer or something. we are talking about billions of dollars. a $700st authorized billion funding for the military -- that is a lot of money. for those folks who keep talking about how much they love the

military -- i agree with one of your previous callers. we have all of these homeless veterans. folks who had these and you know, i think a lot of folks really won't have a choice. you have a lot of low income whose only choice is to going to the military. they don't necessarily want to going to the military. are the winners military contractors. the losers are the civilians and the people who have to go to war. host: ok. curtis is calling in from hattiesburg, mississippi. you retire from what branch, curtis? caller: the army. host: what you think about the u.s. military? you get the last word. caller: the way i look at it, it

is a lack of training, lack of discipline. when i was in the military, people worked with people. alwaysde sure that you was right. the man that mentioned about the ship. how can a big vessel like i run into another vessel? accidents like that don't just happen. host: all right. caller: furthermore, they were talking about the president, ok, the president ain't got nothing to do with it. you have a mission when you sign up to going to the military whether you are a republican or a democrat, and i am a democrat. i have to fight and serve and defend this country from my children, ok? that means you cannot sit back and just complain when you are never going anywhere and when you don't vote.

-- iint is this here support the military because i'm retired from it, and i am always going to support the military. without the military of, we won't -- without the military, we won't have nothing. host: coming up up, we will be joined by author jessica br ewder. later on, we will take a look at the legislative priority for republicans in 2018 the in 2018 with someone from the washington examiner. >> this weekend on american history tv on c-span3, tonight on lectures eastern and history, we visit iowa's university as a professor teaches a class on food during

the great depression. >> and a lot of families, there was selective starvation of adults, meaning adults we choose not to eat in favor of letting their children eat. there were families that stayed in bed all day and reduce their so that two mils a day everybody could conserve as much energy as possible and that it is hungry. they also rely on the kindness of friends and strangers. america, a unreal from 1967 titled 1999a.d, look ahead at family life in the 21st century. >> 2, 1. [laughter] lunches,second disposable dishes, a part of the instant society of tomorrow, which in leisure and taken for granted with comforts. >> historian james oakes talks about runaway slaves and the

consequences of fugitive slave laws. >> one of the most significant and least appreciative of fugitive slaves from being returned was among the most peaceful and least violent. the refusal to enforce the laws in many northern communities, particularly black communities. at 8:00 p.m., we will tour the national world war i museum in kansas city. >> it is an extraordinary story of support of crowd source funding to pay for what turned out to be an extraordinarily dramatic memorial. >> american history tv this weekend only on c-span3. >> washington journal continues. host: and joining us now from new york city is jessica bruder, she is the author of nomad land,

surviving america in the 21st century, and she is joining us as part of our series on authors looking at key authors in the past year. we will be doing that through tomorrow. jessica, thank you for joining us today. callerguest: thank you for havi. host: what prompted you to look at this issue? i am a generalist and i have been interested in labor issues for a very longtime in the digital era. like a lot of journalists, i read everything i can get my hands on and was fascinated when i was reading about somebody working in an amazon warehouse, and i briefly met a woman who said, i live in an rv full-time and i cannot afford to retire. amazon referring to an program who hires people full-time on the road to do a

lot of the heavy pick and pack labor meeting up until christmas. what i did not know then is that there was a whole world of people who are full-time on the road living out of vehicles in traveling from job to job. the article was the genesis of the book project. host: and your book, nomad land was noted as a notable book for 2017. in one of the topics of 2017. the book, you are looking at people who live these transient lives. you traveled 15,000 miles from coast-to-coast from the northern to the southern border. what about the things you found? guest: i found resilient people doing pretty tough jobs. what is funny is as somebody who grew up in the northeast, whenever i used to see an rv, i thought they are going to the

national park and they are having -- and they are enjoying their golden years. but what i saw on the road was quite different. i saw people doing pretty hard physical jobs. everything from cleaning campsites and campground toilets to running the rise at the parks , to working 12 hour shifts on their feet of the annual sugarbeet harvest in the red river valley, to doing pick and pack and amazon warehouses. this whole economy that i think, at least i had not been aware of, before the project began. people in another era, might expect to be retired who were doing those jobs. host: and forbes was writing about your book, talked more living these painful life of tribal life of 60 some things. ranging to harvesting sugar

beets to flipping burgers and jobs,to amazon's camper walking 50 miles a day during christmas season, pulling items off warehouse shelves and then returning to frigid campgrounds at night, sometimes living on less than $1000 a month. talk about the lives of these folks, and how the 2008 recession spurred this movement. , so i think the movement has been there for a long time, but the 2008 recession really brought a lot of this to the surface. amazon's program actually started in the month following the housing crash. i first started reporting on the phenomenon in 2013 and met people who really have their lives upended by that crash. people who let planned to retire on the equity of their homes, and something lost that, and people thought that they put enough away for retirement only to see all of that evaporate in

the stock market. and they were joined with another big group of americans, folks who had worked low-wage jobs all their lives and never been able to afford to put away enough to actually retire. host: we are talking with jessica bruder, she is the author of nomad land, surviving america in the 21st century. in the journal with expertise in subcultures and economic justice as well as an adjunct professor at columbia school of journalism, my alma mater. if you are under 30, you can .all 202-748-8000 between 30 and 49, call 202-748-8001. and if you are 50 and over, you can call 202-748-8002. demographically, who are the people who you are profiling? what types of people are most likely to be a part of this

nomadic culture? guest: most of the people i saw working these jobs were at or near traditional retirement age. but i also saw younger people. whot millennials out there were either crippled with student debt, or did not want to go to school, and a merge into a market where the jobs were coming back, federal minimum wage has been stalled since 2009. so getting out of that debt chasm is a really hard thing to do. -- itot of types of folks is funny, lots of different ages, lots of different class backgrounds. the demographic was primarily white. and i think part of that is rv camping has been marketed to a white audience. i finished the book before trump took office. in the headlines every week, you had an unarmed black man being shot by a cop.

so it is really hard to live on the road, you are vulnerable. and it is hard to be a person of colored traveling during these times. i think that may be why these workers were largely a group of white people. but again, all different ages, class backgrounds, and the camaraderie across those lines was something that it really impressed me, the willingness to help each other out and share skills and share wisdom. that really impressed me. host: you said a lot of these folks are retirement age. these people who had retired and want to continue working? had they been laid off or been unemployed for a long period of time? guest: all sorts of stuff. i met people who were squeezed out of their jobs, like a former advertising creative director, who basically said he went from freelance to be virtually employed to virtually unemployed. there were people who had jobs and then the economy chipped

away at any stability they had. one fellow had been a long time cap driver in the bay area who planned to retire on the value on his -- then uber cayman and really disrupted -- then uber came in and really. came ind the market -- and really disrupted the market, so she started living out of a van. ok.: and jack is calling in from buckeye, arizona. you are 50 and over, and you are on with jessica bruder. caller: thank you for taking my call this morning. hi, jack. caller: i went to, it on the great recession. this wasn't really a great recession that started in 2008. this started years ago. corporate america, including washington d.c., the politicians have roland america since about

1980 -- the politicians have ruined since about 1980. 90% of everything was made in america back then. corporate america sold-out. idea came in the mid-1990's about going to college and you could get this great job. will they forgot about all of the people that had all of these jobs and factories -- jobs in factories across america. the great recession -- bush did not start this, but they said obama did so great. he did not do great. the reason trump got elected was because of the fact of everything that i just said. so until we get this all straightened out and get back to putting america first, you are going to have big problems in america. big problems. host: all right, jessica? that ratherld argue

than being an america first issue, it is a who is first america issue? 1965, ceo tok to worker wage ratios were 20-1. were making 20os times what an average worker was making. we are now at 271-1 right now. when you look at the concentration of wealth, it doesn't make a lot of sense. we have so much of what we need right here, but our culture has become so polarized, and i do think a necessarily. while someone may think this is about our role in the world, a lot of it is how we are handling ourselves in the country. want to read an excerpt from the book. ,t says there has always been oh my god, i cannot say this work today. [laughter] guest: i'm sorry.

there has always been itinerant, drifters, hobos and restless souls. that now and new kind of wandering tribe is emerging. people who never imagine being nomads are hitting the road, giving up traditional houses and apartments, living in secondhand rvs, campers, travel trailers and plain old sedans and driving away from the impossible choices that face what used to be the middle class. talk a little bit about what that mobility -- talk a little bit about mobility. the fact att -- what these vehicles have to do with this. with the twoaced columns of the ledger and what is coming in cannot even begin to compare what is going out, people are noticing that what we pay the most for his housing. for americans, that is by and large the biggest expense.

right now for a full-time minimum-wage worker in the state, there is only one city and 12 counties where you can afford a one-bedroom apartment at fair market rent. this is a crisis. so for a lot of people, making the switch and giving up traditional housing feels like a hack that will enable them to create some sort of a mobile middle-class beyond that crippling weight of paying for shelter. host: mike is calling from illinois on our 50 and over line. good morning. mike, are you there? -- and i onon live live? host: you are. caller: happy new i have three points of what a mate. who are the migrant workers, they may do it for a

season, but they are going to want to move on and find other things. the second thing is, amusement park workers, that is not a great thing. important, mymost 56-year-old cousin in august was going through a park, nice rv park to visit his kids in florida. she is talking in a, his wife was living guy killed her. i can't think of the word. this type of lifestyle, these not wanna-bes. i will take my answer off-line. bye. i think generalize based

wantf one crime also demographic of people is dangerous and not empathetic, and kind of a scary thing to do. that is a rather dramatic story in that sounds quite horrible. calvin is on from 30 to 49. caller: after my call, my question is a little milder. i want to say to c-span, thank you for these types of shows. they are fantastic. i'm a doctorate candidate and it is great to see women off-color leading the dialogue and women in general writing books. i want to first respond in reference to the housing. here in portland oregon, that is the movement to deal with the housing crisis. in thoseks living types of vehicles you all talked about. it is a reflection of the real high rent that folks cannot

afford to pay. my question to you, jessica, has to do with a correlation between the recession and the free trade agreement. the laborclinton, wrote naftactually and argued that nafta was good for the country. hillary and bill made their money from companies that benefit from nafta. -- a comment of them my question -- i don't see hillary being a supporter of nafta and then pick a vp the supporter of nafta was a benefit of getting elected. i think she should have gone with bernie sanders and nelson mandela said that he picked a clerk, the rave a man who put

him in prison, to be his vp because he needed the other half of the electorate. so my question to you is, do you find fault on both sides of the free trade agreement with both republicans and democrats with context to the recession? because congress approves these processes, and the democrats have supported nafta. host: i want to give jessica a chance to answer that. go ahead. guest: you have to forgive me. journalist, sog i drive around naked people's stores and talk about them. on the whole, i do where he about the process -- i do worry about the process of globalization. i feel like so much of what is happening is directly -- even if the standards are not quite what we want for workers. i do feel that labor has been sold out. i can tell you that. i don't know how that is going to change and i worry about that. host: brian is calling from new

jersey on are under 30 line. good morning, brian. caller: hello and good morning. host: you are on with jessica bruder. go ahead. caller: hi, jessica. i was watching your show and it seems like you did a lot of research for the low and no portion of the labor pool. jobsbout the higher tech out there, and people, you know, using the nomad traveling around? do you have any feedback on that? guest: sure. so they are definitely people for whom the work is portable. example,ople who, for are nomadic bloggers, they get referral links and commissions by selling things online. i know people who do that intend them with lower tech jobs -- i know people who do that in tandem with lower tech jobs.

bracket, what income people have a cell phone, and was using social media to keep in touch with people to exchange advice about how to make a go of it on the road. lots of there are different jobs. in one of the populations i did not get to spend a lot of time with all the tech workers in silicon valley, and all of the people who have been priced out of the bay area and are often doing jobs that feed the tech industry, but cannot afford to live in those places anymore. that is another place where rv culture has boomed. host: what else did you learn from the folks you talk to about their past experiences, and how that factored into their decision to hit the road, sort to speak? where there are who previously worked in the white-collar field as opposed to blue-collar fields? credit a factor in

their decision to live this way? guest: yeah, people were all over the map. that was one of the things are really interested me. for example, i met one gentleman who was the former vp of mcdonald's global and it worked his way up from being a kid who picked up garbage in the parking lot to flipping burgers, to starting to do management, and then making it into the upper echelon of management before he went off and did his own franchise, and then thought he would be retiring in a pretty comfortable way, and just got socked in 2008, and his life changed quite dramatically. people from that sort of background, and then people like linda was the main person i followed in the book. she just -- she did just about every job you can imagine from the low-wage ecosystem from plucking bird's feathers to be a cocktail waitress at a diner waitress. she did some work in general

contracting. you name it, she did it. but what she did was never enough for her to put aside for retirement. but she was all over the map. questionhave a tweeted from gel saying, how do such nomads get health care? guest: often, they don't. met did notple i want to take out the extra $100 a month to get the federal benefit from social security. a lot of people end up relying on clinics in locations where they are. there were a couple of states with aca that allowed health care to be portable, but that wasn't something that was really common. one of the challenges for these people is where do you set up an address for everything from voting to paying your taxes, jury duty, if you are on the move all the time? that issue got tangled up in health care in a way that did not offer a lot of good solutions for most people i met. host: we're joined again by

author jessica bruder, author of nomad land, surviving america in the 21st century, about the culture of people who are living in mobile homes essentially, mobile vehicles, after the recession. again, if you are under 30, 202-748-8000. .0 to 49, 202-748-8001 -- and 50 and over 202-748-8002. you said, from a distance, many mistaken to be carefree. they blend with the crowd. in mindset and appearance, they are largely middle-class. they wash their clothes at laundromats and join fitness clubs to use the showers. many look to the roads after their savings was obliterated by

the great recession to keep their gas tank and bellies full. hard,ork long hours at physical jobs. they have unshackle themselves from rent and mortgages as a way to get by. they are surviving america. in talking to these folks, do , if say that maybe perhaps things change, they may go back stationaryn more places, or are they not feeling the recovery at all, and expect to keep going like this? guest: they are not feeling the recovery. if we go back to the depression era when you had a lot of people done aroad, and i have lot of reading from that time, and the prevailing sentiment seems to be that everything would go back to normal, and people would kind of find themselves back in the lines of the middle class. a lot of the people i met were planning to do this for the long haul.

they don't think the cavalry is coming. they are almost post-political. it wasn't like everybody was voting for trump. they have given up on government and doing this for themselves. while i have met people who found themselves back in stable , we also lost a few people who passed away while they were still nomadic and never went back to a regular home. i know a lot of people anticipate that is how their lives will go as well. host: we talk about the job numbers improving every month. unemployment down to 4%. what is preventing these folks from going back to more permanent type of jobs? guest: sure. first of all, there is a lot of ageism in the workplace. second, federal minimum wage for a decade has been stuck a $7.25. we had this crazy chasm between flat wages and rising housing

costs. what is often lost in the debate over economic recovery in the job figures are two things that go missing. one, people have given up and stop looking for jobs. they are left out of the tally. the second is a simple matter of job equality were so many benefits have been stripped away and wages are still low. it is quite possible to be working in on this permanent work treadmill where you can barely afford to rent or to feed yourself and cannot put anything away for later. a lot of people i met say i cannot give myself a raise, but i can pair back my overhead. from debbie is calling gainesville, florida on our 50 in over line. good morning, debbie. caller: good morning. jessica, good job, and i hope your book turns into a movie. and c-span, and you for having this woman on. you took my thunder earlier when in talk about the ceo pace

1935 when the ratio between the ceo's pay and the workers' pay starting to grow and it is continuing to grow. i am proud and am very fortunate to be 50 and over. i am 66 years old, and i think i have seen the best, at least for now of our country. we used to take care of our people. we had good infrastructure. we had good paying jobs. and everything seemed to be really -- and everything seemed to go south, especially when the democratic party formed the democratic leadership committee, where they said, we want to take corporate money, too, in washington, itnd is just a whore house. i am a democrat, but we get crumbs from the democrats because they are all on it together because they need the corporate funding for the elections. but my question to you, jessica,

in the 1980's, the reagan tax cuts, they sealed the deal to end the quality of life for the middle class in america. i would love to hear your opinion about the reagan tax cuts of the 1980's. guest: i think trickle-down is nonsense and i think the 1980's proved that, and the fact that the arguments are getting resurrected during the trump era , is not only misleading, but downright grotesque. problemwe had a big that started then and is continuing now. tax cuts for corporations are not the solution and do not spur job growth. they do not create a healthy economy. we have proved that because we have lived it. i am with you. host: jessica bruder is joining us from new york city, the author of nomad land, surviving america in the 21st century, and also previously in editor at cnn

money's innovation quorum and a former staff writer at the new york observer. continuingrt of our author's series where we took -- where we take a look at authors from the year. you can talk to her by calling 202-748-8000 if you are under 30. 202-748-8001 if you are between 30 and 49. and 202-748-8002 if you are 50 and over. are these folks subject , for example, crimes? what happens if their vehicles are stolen? are they subject of break-ins and other things like that because of their nomadic nature? guest: yeah, i mean, people live in terror of break in the breakdowns, that actually happened or commonly been break-ins. i did not know. in a van and overnight

parking, and someone did smash through my window when i was not in the van. but the funny thing is i heard quite rarely about things like that. people are very savvy about where to park. when all of your possessions are in your vehicle, people are pretty vigilant about it. and people also tend to watch out for each other in a way that i did find heartening. i think even if it is a mobile neighborhood, there is a neighborhood watch system going on among the people. host: james is calling from texas on our over 50 line. good morning, james. caller: good morning. i have watched this phenomenon occur over the last 20 years. to i am fortunate that i got work for some of these facilities were these people live. and a constant statement by everyone that i have met and talked to who lives in these parks, it is always the same thing. they have fallen into poverty

and have had a loss of income. i used to be an engineer and i am self-employed as a mom and pop type business. you get to a point in life or your property taxes and your income taxes exceed her ability topay and become enslaved that home and those taxes. the only out of it is to move into an rv and try to cut your costs so you can survive. that seems to be a common thing that everybody says. they just cannot afford to live in a home and survive. so they move into an rv and they become nomads. host: go ahead, jessica. guest: absolutely. you hit the nail on the head. i have seen that a lot. a lot of the people i met aren't even regularly staying at parks. they will go to national forests, or places they can stay

on land bureau of management land. of people this time of year may be out in the deserts of arizona where they can go financially dormant. the cost of solar panels have dropped so greatly, even people with limited incomes can bolt one of those to a van or an rv and go financially dormant and avoid the cost of staying in a house. host: you talk a little bit about the ingenuity and camaraderie that you found among the communities of folks. i want to read another excerpt from your book. said, there is hope on the road. it is a byproduct of forward momentum. a sense of opportunity as wide as the country itself. a conviction that something better will come. it is just ahead in the next town, the next gig, the next chance encounter with a stranger. talk about some other things you found that spoke to the hope

that you saw. guest: yeah, i remember i was out there, my first winter out in the desert in this camper van, and i had parked with a woman under 70 who went by the swankyinky wheels -- wheels, and she was teaching a young trans man on how to bolt solar panels to his van. he felt this was the only way he could be financially independent. actually, swanky was letting vincent received his testosterone after po box. seeing thisjust sort of apprenticeship, i don't feel like i see these things in more traditional living contexts. of logicalthat kind family set a biological family.

stuff like that i found quite moving. host: glenn is calling from georgia. caller: good morning. i want to make a comment. , and nobody talked has brought up about the housing bubble when it first came. -- who hasw who have made billions of dollars, he is now over our department of treasury. and nobody has ever brought that up. under $100,000 a year, and you were actually, i don't care if you are white or black, you are too poor to even vote republican in the first place because if you look back -- count back on through every time a republican has came in to office, we have just about went into a depression, and it took a democrat to pull us out.

roosevelt was one of them and going for, obama was another one. so people can say all the awful things they want to say about the last president, president obama. if he had not made the choices he made when he did, we would not even have an america in the first place. that is my comment. think, people. guest: i am with you. obama was dealt an incredibly lousy hand and the country could have slipped into a nightmare, and he stabilized the ship, and the owe him for that. going forward, we are going to need come and you know, continued and even greater courage from democrats. i am really worried about the administration in office right now. and talking about income inequality. old -- but tells us that america is the most unequal in the world.

this.d to do better than i just worry that right now, we are backsliding. and it is going to take some serious guts among the democrats to say, this isn't about we need a compromise. no, we need to push back. we have a lot of lost time to make up. i will share my political cards right there. want to redo a poll that says most u.s. employed adults plan to work past retirement age. work pastey plan to retirement age. 63% saying they will work part-time. say they will stop working altogether. is this an indicator that we may continue to see the sort of nomadic folks making up at least a part of the workforce that is beyond retirement age? guest: absolutely.

another poll that blew my mind, this one was run by aarp a while back, saying that americans fear outliving their savings more than they fear dying. ist the real ultimate fear outliving your means to support yourself. i completely agree with you. i think we are going to continue to see more of this. a lot of people don't have enough put away, and we are living longer and longer. i do believe it is inevitable. host: one of the places you focus on, you traveled 15,000 miles, one of the places you focus on in the book is quartzite, arizona, a town in the county. talk about what you focused on this place. guest: while i had never heard of it before, and when i first heard about it, i was interviewing people added rv park who were all working for amazon, doing pick and pack but before christmas and were all temporarily there. when i asked people where would you go next? they kept saying quartzite. it sounded like a mecca.

turns out, quartzite is a town between phoenix and l.a. triplethe summertime, digit heat, couple thousand people there, the place is pretty much a truck stop on the highway. need winter when the temperatures get mild, it explodes. it is a nomad's mecca. all of that because there is a time of public desert out there. bureau of land management land where people can camp for very little money. it is essentially a city with tens of thousands of people out there at least who spend weeks or months at a time on the land, essentially creating a community, and then dissolving when the weather gets too hot in the head back out again. but all sorts of employers find them there. kudos for amazon -- recruiters for amazon, being parks, working for the national parks.

it has become his ecosystem that is really interesting. host: davis calling from virginia on are 30 to 49 line. good morning, things. caller: thank you for taking the call. i really appreciate your insight. one thing i noticed is that there is a major disconnect from what you are relaying to the people and what i see actually existing, unless i am living in a bubble. every time i watch a sporting event, i found out that all the seats are sold out. this will weaken, you cannot buy a ticket for under $200. of do you account for all these people going all these major sporting events and paying this phenomenal money? is everybody a millionaire? thank you. guest: goodness, i have to tell you i am not a huge sporting person. but there are some great pockets of wealth in this country. that is part of the economic inequality and part of the polarization. it is not that everybody is broke, but yeah, there are still people out there who can afford

those tickets or they would not be selling them. i could not imagine paying $200 for a sporting ticket, but maybe i live in a bubble and out of touch. host: i want to ask a little bit about protection these types of workers. are there protections? we regulate everything from workplace osha requirements to child labor. are there things like that that protect these workers? question tweeted saying why don't some of these nomads betty together and create a worker co-op or they can own it and share profits? guest: that would be amazing. ellerbee absolutely incredible. i think we do need to see a revival of unions in this country. her power has been a salud gutted. amazon is definitely afraid of the idea people unionizing. but the problem is, when you are are a reallyu

vulnerable population already, people live in abject terror of being fired. so many of the stuff they are working our act will. that means you can be terminated without notice at any time. i have seen incredible abuses of that. for example, some of these companies have people working in the national forest and can quite easily have people work hours beyond what they are allowed to invoice for, and if those people complain, they say you will be out in five minutes because you can be terminated without cause. i would love to see some sort of organization happening. when you have a transient population who was only on a job for a few months at a time and are afraid of losing it, there are fermentable odds to organization -- formidable odds that organization. host: we have a call from tennessee from jim 450 in overline. you are on. caller: hi, how are you? guest: how are you? caller: i am doing good.

i would like to offer a different view. my wife and i have been on the road for over 15 years. in gasdon't shower stations. we have a washer and drier in our motorhome. it is a quarter of a million dollar unit. we have done sugar beets and sold christmas trees and sold rvs. we have done thousands of hours of volunteer work. and there are a lot of us that are out here by choice and are just protecting our investment. host: go ahead, jessica. guest: i think that is great. i think that is great. i think the freedom and the choices and all of those things are fantastic. i just wish they were available to more people. host: all right, jim was calling joe ism the louisiana -- calling in from the louisiana on our 30 another line. caller: hello.

[indiscernible] it's true when reagan was in there, he had the same thing over and over again. it seems like it is happening again. but there will be more trouble this time because it will be a lot more millennials. there won't just be a lot of trouble, but maybe a revolution of what trump has created. i hope so. wouldeve bernie sanders make it more orderly few could get into office. thank you. host: go ahead, jessica. guest: yeah, i think there is a lot of frustration, and i think many people to betty together to say enough is enough. i hope it happens. i am with you. host: the washington post wrote a piece looking at what might happen if there are fewer pensions. your people have pensions in the

country and says, the way major u.s. companies provide for retiring workers has been shifting for about three decades with more dropping traditional pensions every year. the first full generation of workers to retire since this turn offer a sobering preview of a labor force more and more dependent on their own savings for retirement. that goes on mama line of the fact that we talked about that more people plan to work past the retirement. talk about this shift in focus on how people plan to support themselves postretirement eight, and how that factors in with looking at things like social security and other entitlement reforms here in washington? is funny because to someone about how this is the first generation

in modern american history where, when it comes to retirement security, there -- they are less secure than their forbearers. what happened to pensions? starting in the 1980's, pensions began getting way to 401(k)s, which are marketed as an instrument of financial freedom. but instead of having it defined -- but instead of having a defined benefit going to the worker, you had a defined contribution coming from the worker, and that a shifted the dynamic. it outsources a lot of the risk for putting away for retirement on the workers' shoulders. that is a big problem. the social safetynet has a lot of holes in it and it is framed quite a bit -- and it is fraying quite a bit. is calling from huntington beach, california on the 50 in overline.

hi there. caller: yes, hello. my fist because you, jessica. guest: and you too. caller: the common i wanted to make is being 69 years old -- the comment i wanted to make being 69 years old in the world we're living in today, i noticed that there is a real difference where society was back in the 50's and sick -- or society was back in the 1950's and 1960's. it is no longer really party against party. it is the working man against the elitists. /middle-class of the 1950's and the 1960's became so wealthy that they became elitist in their own outlook at life. and that is a real detriment to society because no longer do they feel the burden of helping poor people, and helping people

that really don't have insurance or a way out of their situation. and i think this is a real sad commentary because the reality is, yes, it is true they do pay a lot of the taxes, but you know, we are still one society. i completely agree with you there. what a lot of them forget is we are also a society that created the necessary conditions for their wealth to accrue. we have so much pro-business structure in our culture. we have so many systems by which wealth concentrates, so the idea i think that people can have these great financial successes and then say, this happened in a vacuum and it is just about me rather than us and the culture at large, it is just insane. nothing happens in a vacuum. we are all in this together. and like you, i do worry that

we're at peril of forgetting that. host: you mentioned compared to the united states to places like china. bloomberg quick take took a look at the workers of the world and found a third of workers in the u.s. and japan expect to work past the age of 70, with the u.s. and japan leading following by the u.k. aher countries like china has very, very low percentage of people planning to work beyond that. what are the differences there? guest: in japan particularly, we are seeing a rapidly aging population to the point where they were looking at warehouse work over there, and this is fascinating to me -- there is a robotic exoskeleton that companies have started using with older workers doing things like handling baggage and airports are lifting heavy loads and warehouses. essentially come and let older bodies lift more weight --

essentially, it lets older bodies lift more weight. i do think the problems we are continue tot will face societies that are aging. ours and italy's and japan, the problem is not going away. iel is calling on our 50 and older line. caller: good morning. you're talking about jobs disappearing. data than disappearing for decades. -- jobs have been disappearing for decades. the politicians did nothing. when politicians talk about jobs , election after election, it is a joke. they let the job scope. what are the politicians do for all of these decades when these jobs are disappearing?

in the city where i live in cities all over the united states, you get the same story. jobs are gone. pack, -- jessica, i'm going to piggyback off of his comment. we talked about the issue with the economy and jobs. what did you find among these nomads in that region? guest: it is funny, i found the pandering to the rust fault in the last election disingenuous. the things trump was saying about coal. we are in an era and i see with the nomads, that would have been unimaginable a decade ago, but renewables are getting to a point where solar will be as cheap as coal at some point. and coal is not good for the environment. we have seen all of these disingenuous promises that these industries of yesteryears will not be a part of the future and will be revived.

that is really, really disheartening to me. we are going to have to look in different places for the jobs of the future and in areas where there is vast amount of job loss, we are going to have to talk about what we value as a society, and what we do when jobs are scarce and people still need to have an incoming feed themselves. host: talk a little bit about the impact of the opioid crisis on this nomadic society? guest: it is funny, i really did not see opioid use on the road. i think people who are out there, i mean, they are on the margins in terms of they need money for food, gas, and need to be really, really lucid if you are driving a vehicle all the time and the vehicle is your home, and if you are staying in places were sleeping is not allowed overnight, you are at risk of being stopped by authorities all the time. phenomenon is not a

i felt overlapping among the people i met. host: our most of the folks you came across single, married? do they have families with them in these vehicles? guest: some of them did. i met a lot of single people in single, older women, which i found interesting. some couples, and occasionally, some people with children out of the road. from losry is calling angeles on a 30 to 49 line. good morning, larry. missr: good morning, kimberly. and i want to thank you and c-span for allowing the viewers to call in and express such intelligent and mostly intelligent comments. and i would like to say to miss jessica, i think you have touched on something that israeli important. -- you haves very touched on something that is very important. thest wonder how many of

tickets for stadiums are purchased on credit? i would like to know what you think about credit as being the new slavery? i know a lot of the indigent or nomadic people don't have access to credit like maybe some other people do, but i would also like to say something about the inequity imbalance and the tax cuts that have been recently enacted. it was like a rush up for trickle-down. but i would like to thank you for your service. that is what you are doing. thank you. guest: well thank you kindly for tuning in. and in terms of talking about ,rickle-down, kimberly, help me which part of this through line should i go for? host: talk about credit for a little bit. how that affects people's living situation. guest: i met a lot of people who have gotten themselves into

credit trouble in bad credit. i met people who had succumbed to the temptation of predatory loans. for a lot of people, the promise of having to spend less on housing seemed like the only way they could get out of debt. people just your earned and yearned to lift the fields of debt. i saw that being an issue, but a lot of people have had some pretty rough credit histories out there, and were just trying to get out of it. and being nomadic and parenting -- and pairing down dramatically was part of the struggle. host: grant is calling us from our 30 to 49 line. hi there. caller: thank you. there are 22 people ahead of me for your book in the library. my comment is about tribalism. it seems like there is an optic in the last couple of years. my personal theory is this

endless, four-year election cycle. is, it is ation please, how can we stop this tribalism? last night, i heard brooks talking about civics duty and returning to a mandatory civics duty. your thoughts, and please and thank you for your contribution. guest: thank you. my hope, and this may seem simple, is that we need to talk to each other. i'm aot a policy wonk. journalism with a lot of worries about the future of the country. there's so much polarization. read their favorite three blogs for the news and shut out the rest. one of my goals for writing this book is that people make a lot of assumptions for people who are living in vans. people, wek at other

need to take a moment to assume that there could be an interesting story there, and there could be value there, even if someone is living differently from what you are familiar with. that moment of pause and the potential for dialogue is really important. host: jessica, you mentioned that there were a lot of single women that you came across when working on this book. part, of result, in the gender wage gap? guest: you better believe it. women, as you know, have lower lifetime earnings than men. part of them is the gender wage gap, and part of that is unpaid live -- part of that is unpaid labor. like childcare that falls on women's shoulders. and women have typically lower social security benefits than men, and women outlive men. in the generation of folks i was talking to, i mean, gosh, you go back in the late 1960's, you

could still lift a family of three out of poverty with one person working in minimum wage job full-time. e ea then, families had on rner, typically the man, and that was enough to support a family. it is no surprise that a lot of women have found their retirement prospects really stretched and are seeking this out as an option. joe is joining us from our 50 and over line. good morning. caller: good morning and happy new year. i know there is not one way to fix this issue the way that the jobs are in the united states, and how the middle class is being treated. but when i was in college, i was mc taking a business

class, and i heard the term outsourcing, and i thought, this is the best thing ever when my professor explained it to me. but that was in 1995. the past year, that term has been weaponize against the middle class. sending our jobs overseas and -- so-called job creators getting to the fix, not this government, but the next government body that comes in and goes full force as long as bringing jobs back home gettinge to bring jobs back home. whether they create a situation where there is legislation or tax incentives with the so-called job creators to get our jobs back home, that would fix a lot of things in america, including social security. want to give just get a

chance to respond in the 30 seconds we have left. go ahead, jessica. yes.: we don't just need jobs. we need good jobs. jobs that are not fragmented temp jobs. we need jobs with a decent wage. i am with you and wishing we could bring some of that back. host: all right, jessica bruder, author of "nomadland." thank you for joining us today. guest: thank you, kimberly. host: coming up, we will be talking to "the washington whoiner's" philip wegmann will help us look at the republicans' legislative priorities in the coming year. stay with us. we will be right back. ♪

>> c-span's cities tour takes you to springfield missouri. in springfield, we explore the literary scene and history of the birthplace of route 66 in southwestern missouri. 6 at noonjanuary eastern on book tv, a discussion of the conflict along the kansas-missouri border and the struggle over slavery in his book "the border between them. the territoryk to and began a series of raids into western missouri during which his men will liberate enslaved people and help them escape to freedom. of course, they killed a number of slaveholders. so, the legend or the notoriety of john brown is part of the locally that people

understand is really the beginning of the civil war. than sunday, january 7, at 2 p.m. on american history tv, we visit the nra museum. >> president teddy roosevelt was probably our shooting asked -- shootingest president. he would go on a very long hunting safari to africa. this rifle had a presidential seal in graves on the breach, and of course, roosevelt -- engraved on the breach, and of course roosevelt was famous for the bull moose party and there is able most engraved on the side of this gun. tour of c-span's cities -- springfield,

missouri. working with our cable partners as we explore america. tour continues in january with stops in columbia and other cities. follow the tour enjoying the conversation for our stop in raleigh, north carolina when our guest ison journal" north carolina attorney general josh stein. >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us now is philip wegmann. he is the commentary rider of "the washington examiner." to discuss republican legislative priorities and the impact on this year's midterm elections. thank you for joining us. there is a lot of weight on

this with the spending bill -- is there a difference in where the house and the senate stand on that? guest: oh, absolutely. there's always differences in something to squabble over. i think we will see a lot of the started in 2017 in 2018.he forefront for republicans, the priority in 2018 will be making certain they do not do anything that is going to diminish from their legislative achievements in the previous year. they got a big win when they assigned neil gorsuch to these up in court and when they get the tax bill across the finish line. whether it is if a structure, immigration, or the spending bill, which will be the first fight they walk into when they return from the holidays, their goal will be not to screw up so much one of their base voters will have any reason to stay home in november. as crazy as this is, we will be

in an election cycle and three days. so, with the spending bill, i would think the last thing republicans would want government tohe stop being funded for any time. what are the sticking points? obviously the arithmetic favors democrats. this is must pass legislation. keep the lights on, like you said. funding will run out on january 19. democrats have made clear they see this as the opportunity to get a compromise on daca and for thosee policies immigrants in the nation brought here as children. president trump has said this is something he wants to pursue during the spending negotiation. he wants the spending for his wall. lottery reforms for the and other immigration systems. wantthink the democrats'

to try to get something because they know that republicans will need thereby end. look at what president trump had to say december 20 about the immigration system as we await this potential fight over taco. -- over daca. [video clip] fight toking the groups like ms 13. they are animals. horrible, horrible. they are gangsters. that is why we are calling on congress to fund the border wall. we are working on that. we have a great wall. we put up six different righties of wall. we want to be able to see through it. we have a lot of help from the border patrol and the ice agents . who knows better than them?

we want to be able to see through, who is on the other side of the wall, and we have some wonderful permanent sections that have been put up and may be going there very shortly to look at them and their final form. and we will build building the wall and doing lots of other things. this funding fight, on one side you have president trump amending that the wall be part of it. on the other side you have democrats demanding a fix for daca. demandingnt trump that the wall be part of it. who blinks? give. somebody has got to democrats have the upper hand that they know the republicans are in control and they will have to own whatever happens because they control both majorities. not think president trump is going to be able to blinks on this one. he has demanded funding for that wall, and let's be honest what he is asking for. he's asking for something around

1.6 alien dollars. that is enough for, what? 60, 70 miles of wall when there -- 200rder of two mile miles. it's enough for a photo. both sides will have to come to except this is comprehensive border security and there will be a compromise. i don't see a shutdown at the stage of the game. host: ok, we are talking to philip wegmann from "the washington examiner. republicans can call -- bloomberg politics rights it is not just the funding bill -- writes it not just the funding bill where democrats and republicans will clash.

house republicans, especially conservative members, have been energized by their ability to rally around the tax overhaul and to limit demands from the democrats -- and from the senate -- on the stopgap spending measure that closed out the year and will keep the federal government running through january 19. with the tax plan no law, speaker ryan has said it's time to move on to another long-held republican goal, reforming safetynet standbys such as temporary assistance for needy families and the supplemental nutrition assistance program, known as snap, and possibly overhauling medicare, which he called "the biggest entitlement." likely is entitlement reform, especially when senate majority leader mitch mcconnell poured cold water on that idea? guest: it depends on what president trump says. obviously ryan has his sights on

welfare reform. it is second only to tax reform on his personal list of goals. this is something he is very passionate about and something conservatives in the house will rally to during this fight, i think. it depends whether or not this wes off the ground because have to see how far president trump go on this issue. willnell has said if there be reform, he would hope it would be bipartisan reform. i do not think we will see that this year. mcconnell will dig in his heels and make certain this does not get off the ground or president trump will weigh in and make certain this is a priority. all right, john is calling on our independent line from indiana. good morning. caller: hello. the question i have is this. what compromise do you think that the democratic party will dreams -- the the

dreamers? would they give up social security? i don't think democrats are willing to put social security or medicaid on the table when they are doing these negotiations. also if you look at what president trump said on the campaign trail, he was adamant he was not going to touch either of these programs. if there is one to be welfare reform, i think it will be at the margins for some of the orller programs like snap unemployment insurance, but it will not be the larger drivers like medicaid and social security. political playbook talks about the moves fordaca. "needless to say the fix for daca will be a huge priority for 2018." we hear some republicans want the gop congress to take up the issue in the first few weeks of

january. why? republicans say doing earlier allows them to handle the issue on their terms. if the gop let the close to jerry 19th, republicans their democrats could use the government funding deadline to .xtract more they have a few months. but there is the spending bill. .uest: absolutely democrats have leverage. republicans will need 60 votes. they will have to get by and from democrats no matter what on the spending bill and this is an opportunity for democrats to force republican hands and get a compromise on this issue. so, the longer democrats wait -- if they wait to fix daca in march, they lose the leverage. they are fighting just to get by in. if they make it a debate now, they are able to use the spending bill as leverage. i think that they can have a seat at the table and really craft whatever compromise they

end up with. going back a moment to entitlement reform and speaker paul ryan's desire to take that on. let's take a look at an 6terview he did on december about the future of entitlement programs. [video clip] so when you talk about entitlement reform, one of the things you are talking about is obamacare, right? have a welfaree system that is effectively paying people not to work and we have to work on that. >> are you thinking of doing reforms to social security or medicare at this point? president trump has not seemed interested in those things. he has notn: yes, shown interest. we're working with the president on the entitlement reforms that he is interested in it you cannot use the budget reform process for social security.

that's one of the rules. frankly medicare is the driver of our debt. that is where the problem lies. time, wethe same mentioned, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has a different view. told mike alan nunnelee would not expect welfare reform to be that he would-- not expect will for reprint to be on the agenda in 2018. if mcconnell doesn't want to do welfare reform in the upper chamber -- a politically risky endeavor to say the least -- it is not happening, no matter how badly speaker paul ryan, who has said he'd like to use reconciliation to take these on in 2018, wants it. ryan wants much more. mcconnell is risk-averse. if trump is in favor of the house, i think we could see limited welfare reform.

mcconnell has shown something of an appetite for this -- trump has shown something of an appetite for this in the last couple of weeks. we will see in here more when he does the state of the union address. host: and as the article pointed out, welfare reform is being looked at, for among other reasons, to address the big debt the tax bill is going to leave us with. if there is not welfare or entitlement reform, what happens to the deficit? guest: i think we will see deficits grow if we do not have welfare reform. democrats have said this tax bill was necessarily going to require welfare reform to pay for moving forward, but deficits have grown. and democrats have talked about cutting the deficit. i think this is posturing at this point.

host: virginia is coming in from pennsylvania on a republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. i just have a statement. i want to say these children that came near with their -- that camets here with their illegal parents that we paid to bring into the world, that they educated, i feel they should go back home and try to improve things in their own countries. and i think the american people deserve a break, and the democrats do not seem to care about the middle class american people in this country. that is my statement. host: philip? guest: even president trump has evolved in his opinion on daca.

during the campaign he was very harsh. he said this was a program he wanted to end. he took a very strong line. now he is in washington, d.c., in the white house, he seems to be much more compassionate on the issue and some of these kids were brought here and that was not something they -- this is something that happened outside of them. and i think president trump, he has eased up on that and republicans will follow his line. something has to be done and i do not think there is an appetite to send back some of these dreamers, who are already here. there is a fox news report about the effort of republicans to plot a roadmap for legislative victories. it is expected health care reform will dominate talks in january as the tax cut bill repeals only the requirement part of obamacare that all americans buy health insurance or pay a fine, while leaving

other features of the health-care law still in place. republicans tried to repeal obamacare twice this year, both times coming up short with the votes in congress to pass the legislation. how do you think the health care debate will change in 2018 after three failed efforts to repeal or dramatically cut back that law last year? guest: the obamacare issue is not going away, as much as republicans would like it to. house conservatives, specifically the freedom caucus, chairman mark meadows, says they are not ready to move on from obamacare. they would like to see the law chipped away. every chance the republicans get to weaken the infrastructure of that bill, too slowly deconstruct, i think they are going to take that. from ok, we have our call tacoma park, maryland on our independent line. for taking myyou call. i was wondering whether or not the gop legislative priorities

for helping to ensure funding for social security would consider perhaps lifting the cap's they have on income contribution so that people $130,000 or,han maybe, $150,000 could contribute to contribute to social security and help secure the funding? is definitely an appetite for innovation when it comes to social security. this is a program that goes back to the 1930's. there has not been a lot of reforms to the institution. it is desperately needed. something needs to be done. reforms are being talked about. but until there is serious political will to change the program as it is, i think it's mostly talk in the different camps. talkednew york magazine"

about the legislative priorities. one of them include section 702 of fisa. focusr debate put off to on tax cuts. it allows the federal government to intercept and collect foreigners' communications overseas, even if americans' communications are swept up to you well. top more about that debate over the fisa program. the things is one of republicans definitely need to be on guard about. they want to look at the big picture issues like infrastructure, immigration, it will be the smaller things, like fisa, the visa for levels, where they are coming you know, separated within their own camps between conservatives and mainline republicans and these are the smaller things that i could over the long-term,

get republicans off-track as they try to focus on maintaining the majority for 2018. these smaller fights create the divisions that could really harm them. host: what about the chip program, the health care program for children that expired last year? it got temporary funding in the stopgap spending measure, but lawmakers still have to do something to address that. what do you expect? guest: the debate will be on the offsets. were for a bill that would have paid for just. there was large republican by n, but democrats -- there was large but democrats-in, oppose that. this is something the republicans and democrats should be able to agree on. if both mcconnell and ryan are looking for some sort of legislation to move across the finish line, it's going to be one of those things that can be added to one of the

spending bills. is calling from napa, california on our democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. think you for taking my call. i have a comment about mitch mcconnell and what he stated that he was "going to focus on social security and medicare." about a year, year and a half ago he was on charlie rose's talkshow and when asked what his goals were, he specifically want to get rid of medicare and social security." i feel like hearing he is not that concerned about it the moment does not make it true, and that is something he is going to put forward, especially since the tax reform and everything went through. i wanted to make a comment about that. guest: there is definitely a withrence in tone republicans when they were not in control of the government and now that they are running the show here. there have been several things they have had to change, and i

think one of them is, while it has been a priority to reform these welfare programs, it just isn't possible with the margins they have in the senate currently. mcconnell does not want to get bogged down in a fight over welfare reforms when their other legislative priorities. host: there is this nbc news report that talked about the midterms. in every midterm election since the world war, the president's party has lost on average 32 seats in the house. .emocrats only need 23 seats history says we are going to lose the majority, says corey bliss. how much is the midterm election hanging over congress between now and november? guest: oh, wow.

as soon as 2018 starts, the new election cycle begins and it will dominate every consideration on capitol hill. so, 24 is the magic number for democrats to retake control in the house, but that will require a landslide for them to work. something to keep in mind that republicans are banking on is that during these midterms, this is their voters that traditionally turn out more often than the democrats' base. still, in order to motivate their base to the polls, they need to make certain they do not do anything that gives them second thoughts. a call from have new york city on our democratic line. hi there. caller: think you for taking my call. a question for mr. wegman. how with specificity would you define "welfare reform"? absolutely. that is a question i think a

majority of lawmakers will struggle with. it depends how you define welfare reform. republicans -- is not the republican -- the political will to go after social security and medicaid, but they will go over things like snap benefits and call that welfare reform, even though it is at the margins. and politically they will sell that as a manger overhaul. -- major overhaul. host: philip is calling. caller: good morning, c-span. how are you? i was. as. -- i wasfurious. what is they always dig into the people's budget? why isn't anyone holding them to account on the budget that they set for themselves with the automatic pay raises and all of that and it's all funded by the taxpayer? aren't they on social

security, the same system americans are on? why is it separate for them? and a small comment with the house speaker -- one of his andes was iran -- ayn rand, at the end of her life she was on medicare and damn glad to ha ve it. i don't think he finished her book. he just adopted it as a philosophy. why are they not also on the social security and medicare program like the rest of america? host: i want to give him a chance to address that. guest: that is one of the here.ons our lawmakers going to live under the same laws that they asked. i don't think even the most hard-core republicans are looking forward to getting rid of these programs completely. they want to reform them so they are targeted to helping the people who need help the most. lee is calling from grand

gorge, new york on a republican line. good morning. my comment is about the daca children. no one ever mentions anchor babies. the heritage foundation put a report that said 91% of anchor babies were free hospital births in approximately half will be on some form of welfare. if you sneak into this country to have an anchor baby that is an automatic u.s. citizen, and they also said approximately 144,000 anchor babies were born each year, and that's literally babies we areca talking in total, as compared to i and two years these -- in teedo beers the same amount will be. the democrats say if you are here for five years you will

only have benefits, but if you are a u.s., american citizen, you will get them right away. please comment on that. number thingsre a in the immigration status quo republicans will take a closer look at. daca as well as these anchor babies is a contentious issue. i not familiar with the statistics. host: how important is it to look at things like birthright citizenship, particularly in election year? guest: i don't think republicans would risk their majorities on this. they have to make certain they have to get some of these noncontroversial things to the finish line in order to keep the majority. that would be too much of a lift for them this year. all right, we have a call from oakland, california on our democratic line. caller: good morning. why do they look at social

security when all jobs do not keep paying into that? they have their own retirement. why do you keep saying that? why do you make that an issue? that is an issue on the republican agenda, right? absolutely. republicans have been looking at reforming social security for decades now. this is one of the big divers of spending in the u.s. and it has not been addressed. it is not completely funded and republicans know eventually they will have to pay for this. at we cannot continue to kick this off for future generations. i think their priority is to come up with a systemic solution so this will not be unfunded. host: ok, philip wegmann, commentary rider for "the washington examiner." , u can find him on twitter @philipwegman. thank you for being here.

guest: thank you for having me. host: coming up, we will be taking your phone calls. but first, this week on "newsmakers," we sat down with billionaire democratic donor tom stier who launched a campaign to impeach president trump. he addressed some of the criticisms he has received from democrats over his efforts. some quotes from democratic leaders do not address timing -- i wrote down -- unhelpful, vanity project. when you hear that, what are you hearing? >> i hear two different things. i hear, one, it's not good timing, which i was talking about before, and the other, questioning my motives and join to question me. from my standpoint, i do not

spend any time on that. this is not about me. this is about whether what we are doing is right and it's about the american people having a voice. we're supposed to be a democracy. we believe -- we are trying to avenue for the direct voice of the american people. if you go and look at the zip code of the people saying no today and where they spend their time, for my standpoint, we're trying to talk to people all across the country, we are trying to allow them to have a voice. we will not worry for one second about people who are trying to do an ad hominem argument. they should be worrying about whether it is true, whether it is urgent, whether it is right. pelosi -- what has she told you about this effort? what have you heard from chuck schumer? what of you heard from the democratic national committee? not had ave conversation about it.

i did not talk to nancy about this a single time. i will say it again. from our standpoint, we think the strongest power in the united states should be the voice of the american people and that is what we are trying to enable and activate, and we think ultimately that's going to be an overwhelming power. we are seeing it. we have seen it in the elections between then and now. we think that will continue to grow and build. fact, when we started, there were two people in the house who had spoken publicly about impeachment. they held a vote two weeks ago. 58 voted for it. that's not a fluke. i don't think they care about what we say either. say, hey, the american people are exercised about this, and they are right.

the american people are exercised about this. >> "washington journal" continues. we are taking your calls for the rest of the show. we will take a look also at more headlines. politico reports the white house state -- the white house and the state department are examining the irani in response to protests friday night, telling iran "the world is watching" as protesters speak out for the second day in a row. there are many reports of peaceful protest by iranian citizens fed up with the regime pro-corruption and its wandering of the nation's wealth to fund terrorism abroad, the white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders said in a statement. laterent donald trump tweeted out a similarly-worded statement.

we have this from our democratic line. what is on your mind, liz? yourr: in reference to last speaker, talking about the republican priorities for 2018 "reform" theto snap program -- given the big giveaway in the tax program end in sighthas no and the mediocre benefits for the people in the middle class families that are going to sunset after six or eight years here, they are not going to be able to make the money they need by nibbling around at snap. i think we need to face the reality that whether they diebold to it prior to the midterms in 2018 or not -- diebold to it -- divulge it

prior to the midterms in 2018 or not, they will be going after and benefits.y they have to. they gave away too much. as americans we need to protect these programs. we need them. we have family members who need them. i don't think we can rely on the to protect. ryan them. all right, thank you. tom is calling from new york on our independent line. good morning. caller: yes. good morning. thank you for c-span. thank you very much for letting me get my comment out. are burying this country. entitlements are really bringing us down. the illegal alien population in this country -- we cannot give amnesty to the daca kids.

it's not right. these people broke the law. they promised they would straighten it out. they have done nothing to do that. it is time to start enforcing the laws and get this problem behind us once and for all and start taking care of the american people. that is the real goal here. and hopefully donald trump keeps his word and does what he says he is going to do, make america great again, focusing on the american people. host: some of the headlines and "the washington post," talking about the president pro comments about amazon and the postal service. president trump on friday called on the postal service to raise the shipping rates it charges amazon.com, the online retailer, in a deal he says disadvantages the federal agency. "why is the united states post office, which is losing many

billions of dollars a year, what charging amazon and other so little to deliver their packages, making amazon richer and the post office dumber and poorer? should be charging much more!" opening bell,the shares of amazon fell by roughly .4%. that slide continued throughout the day with the stock price finishing down 1.4%. ramona is calling in from michigan on our republican line. what is on your mind today? caller: yeah, i would like to comment. know how you get to moderate this program when yours and other channels are ripping into this president. it is so one-sided. host: ok. we have this from indianhead, maryland on our democratic line. what is on your mind, kevin? caller: yes, i would like to say both of the republicans that called in and praised donald right do they think he is

because he lies all the time? what is so proper about lying that they respect this man so much? i served in the military. if you lied in you was in the military, they would put you out. why do we respect this man so much that teaches us how to lie? and as my comment. thank you. host: all right, and other comments, politico reports senators have scrapped a trip to russia after the kremlin snubbed one lawmaker. they called up the trip after newkremlin denied a visa to hampshire senator jeanne shaheen. shaheen, and outspoken backer of russian sanctions, was scheduled to visit russia along with gop colleagues ron johnson of wisconsin and john barrasso of wyoming. spokesmanheen

believes the kremlin has placed her under a travel sanction. she vowed to continue her work to hold the russian people accountable for its actions that go against international norms and because the russian people, a shaheen spokesman said yesterday. from michiganll on our independent line. what is on your mind? caller: hey, it's me, tim. sorry, i'm from the other part of the state. sorry. caller: that's all right. i did not know you were from detroit. i was so bad as a kid, i used to fish and picnic down at drug island, honey. to taski wanted to call the so-called evangelical christians about -- well, let's

see jesus and, you know, abortion. ok, ok, these evangelicals take the bible literally. well, let's take the bible literally. god is the father of everybody. he had an illegitimate child with a married woman named mary who was probably a teenager at , jesus isand then god on equal footing with -- well, 30% of all pregnancies across all species self terminate. ok? as soon as a sperm enters an egg , and they later that egg me solve abort. may that tells me if god is in control of everything, that would mean god in jesus and the

holy ghost are the biggest entirenists are the world. people who call in and say abortion is murder and the babies -- you know something? daca babies are babies, republicans. you want to kill them? you want to start them? pull yourself together. they just make me so mad. all right. paula is calling in from fairborn, ohio. good morning, paula. taking myank you for call. i just want to say to all republicans and independents that are leaning republican we are so grateful to have trump as our president. i really thank god for it. mostly for the courts. this country was going in such a .ocialistic, unruly direction i just thank god. and i am a white jewish lesbian

and i want republicans, independents to thank god for donald trump and to keep voting for him. thank you. host: all right, from "the new in puerto rico, 1.4 million people are still without power. for the first time, the government finally notes how many people still do not have power -- about half. the figure released by the island's governor and power utility company indicates that more than 1.4 million people on the island are still in the dark. experts say some parts of the island are not expected to get power back until next spring. "we understand how difficult it has been for the people of puerto rico who have been without power so long," said the governor of puerto rico as he the request for 1500 more restoration workers for the

electric industry. judith is calling in from indianapolis. what is on your mind, judith? just want to say i am frightened about the 2018 election. i am a black american woman who loves the democrats. and i hope we split every house at every level of government to blue because that is what needs to be done. as far as the lady thinking god that donald trump is -- thanking god that donald trump is in office, truly i believe that the lord put donald trump in office because donald trump is like judas. the lord uses the people who have the heart and the desire to do the things that need to be moved forward. judas had to do what he had to do in order to move the

execution of jesus forward, and whold trump is a wicked man has to move the wicked part of god's agenda forward. he does it because that is what he wants to do. i believe donald trump is a lifetime criminal. i do not know for sure that he is, but i believe that he is and eventually he will pay for what he did. thank you. in fromrol calling fairmont, west virginia on our independent line. hi, carol. caller: good morning. , we need to come in line with each other. congress is playing us, democrat against republican, republican against democrat, but i don't think that is where it's at. the americanwe people need to stop spreading so much hate and start spreading more love and more understanding

. and just being there for each other. i did not vote for trump or hillary. i am a third generational dem. i became an independent in 2016. i am more for country than i am for party. i pray that we can all start to come together and stop vilifying each other. and i am very thankful for c-span to bring this to us every day. host: ok. call from sanis marcus, california on a republican line. what is on your mind? caller: i happen to be republican from a very, very longtime republican family. everybody in my family is a republican. i am becoming disgusted with the republican party because of the things they have been doing to the poor. for example, we get a letter in the mail that we are not going

to get any reason social security, but millionaires put through a tax bill that gives them huge increases in pay, and they cannot even give us a little temper sent increase -- 10% increase. i think the government is not being run any longer for the poor. of ourll right, and some other headlines -- from "the financial times" weekend paper notes it's not just the u.s. stock market that is performing well. it is a global phenomenon. enjoyed theirhave best performance. the ftc all world -- the ftse all world index advanced nearly

20%, its biggest increase since 2009 as fourth best purely performance as early performance is the benchmark started in 1993. the global stock market age rose and is 1.8% in december not supporting straight months of gains, the longest run on record. we have a call on our independent line from indiana. good morning. morning.ood from the post office, there are two reasons they are going broke. they are the only federal department that has to put $5 into theith a b federal health program. they are also mandated by law that they cannot compete with fedex or ups. the law says fedex and ups can ,ompete with the post office but the post office cannot compete with them because in reality, the post office could a package and drive those companies out of business because we print of the money. so, listen, everybody support your post office.

remember, the sanctity of the mail, that is what counts. as the post office goes, so will your country. have a good day. caller: all right -- we'll call from ingleside, texas on our democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. i want to say to those people people are that daca anchor babies, they are not. those people were not born here. they consider the u.s. their country because they were had no here as infants, choice because the parents brought them. but remember. they are not anchor babies. they are young people who have been working hard trying to be part of this country. they are working hard at it. they are educated. they do not come here just to be criminals like some people say. they are not. and what we should be concerned with when we talk about anchor

babies are the chinese. those are the ones -- i don't know if many of you have read that. it is being discovered that chinese women come over here just for the purpose of having their babies here. they stay here because they want their children to be u.s. citizens. those are the anchor babies, not the daca. to donaldk reference trump. donald trump is evil for this country. people that love him and praise him so much, he is nothing that evil. if we are not careful, our democracy will disappear under donald trump. host: ok. in other headlines, "the new york post" reporting that eric garner's daughter has passed heartfter suffering a attack. her father became a national symbol of excessive police force

. her father suffered major brain garner suffered major brain damage my heart attack last weekend. she died at woodhall hospital natural causes, said the reverend out sharpton. she became a political activist after her father's .14 death, in which an nypd officer placed him in hl cold after an arrest. we have a call from north carolina on their democratic line. what is on your mind? caller: what is on my mind is this. i hear all these people call in and complain to you about this one and that one. nobody is talking about humanity. they are talking about democratic, republican. we are all humans. we share one thing. the air. without the air, none of us can live. that is what god gave us. that is what he told us to do.

live together. but we've got money daemons running things. these are demons. do you understand? people do not understand what is going on. it is a spiritual thing between good and evil. and people like trump and all the people that follow him, they are demons. that is what they are. they are money daemons. they do not understand it. excuse me. thinking about humans. we are talking about illegal aliens. eight nobody no aliens. we share this planet together. ain't nobody no aliens. host: all right, we have this from our independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. [laughs] c-span forgiving in this opportunity. i hope this year will be a good

year. i look at the academic bigots and they are doing great and when it comes to the public and party, you know, pull up your pants, start working. -- it comes to be republican party, you know, pull a pure pants, start working. that's what we need. -- pull up your pants, start working. that's what we need. goodbye. the fbi executed a search warrant on former sheriff david clark's emails in march according to a court filing made public. the affidavit dated march 7 20 fbi wanted access to clarke's personal gmail account for an investigation into an incident and fellowrke airline passenger dan black in january. black suit, claiming he was unlawfully detained by six uniformed deputies and two k-9 dogs after a squabble with and american

airlines flight in january. a civil rights investigation was closed in may due to a lakh of of evidence.ack frances is calling in from birmingham, alabama on the democratic line. caller: yes, ma'am. i wanted to comment on the economic growth. i think we are still experiencing the effects of , our former president. job growth was due to obama. it's kicking in gnome. a lot of people don't know it. it took time to kick in. also due to obama, the growth on wall street. i think people need to stop buying into the rhetoric of trump.

the thing is, america was great when he took office and it is still great. america was great. talk about making america great again. it was great when he took office. i wanted to get those points encourage just people, you know, to keep , the poor.r justice right now this tax bill that , peoplegot going on now have to feel the effects of it. when we feel the effects of it, it will be a different story for those who supported it, the trump supporters. i'm going to tell them, do not buy into his rhetoric. match the actions with his mouth, and right now, with this tax bill, it's not matching. you try to undermine the poor with this tax bill. all right, in:

other headlines, "usa today" reports former president obama to to twitter yesterday saying after what seems like a lot of bad news in the headlines, there are stories that remind us what is best about america. after natural disasters and intense political division, former president barack obama was to remind people that the year has bright spots, 20. the 44th president tweeted out two news stories from 2017 that remind us what is best about america. he said, as we countdown to the new year, we get to reflect and prepare for what is ahead. for all the bad news, there are countless stories from this year that remind us what is best about america. one story that he tweeted -- a couple that postponed the -- their wedding for a hurricane

are the relief efforts. in another story about the philadelphia eagles donating paychecks -- chris long donating paychecks to scholarships. we have a call from rob on our independent line. hi, rob. caller: good morning, can really. you do a fantastic job. trickle down does not work. it never has. back when ronald reagan was president he came to my area in new york and needed did a big speech saying he was going to protect a ship company around here because there is a bill going through congress that would lower the price of imports and i was there. i was on leave from the navy and he said, i am going to kill that bill when it reaches my desk. he approved it. within six months, it was closed.

this is just more of the same. i blame everyone who has a party affiliation. if anyone out there is voting for democrats and republicans, they are the crooks that got us into this mess and they are not going to get us out. we need a third party. thank you. a callp next, we have from south dakota on our dependent line -- independent line. i hope i said that right. ma'am. you did, when i listen to people talking about different issues pertaining to religion, as indigenous people in south dakota, we are still facing these dilemmas since the colonists arrived in 1492 and they are still exterminating my people, removing us from land, doing things, thinking we have no connection to the earth. met john the baptist first jesus, john the baptist told jesus to baptize him first.

never existed in america. my understanding is when jesus remember -- they this --sed [indiscernible] their language has been taken from them. , they areely struggling with white supremacy. remember, if this country is ever going to move ahead, it's the afghan people and business african people and the business people -- .ost: all right

tomorrow on "washington our guest will discuss the role of the white house chief of staff in the modern era. that is all for "washington journal." will be back tomorrow at 7 a.m. -- we will be back tomorrow at 7 a.m. until then, have a good saturday. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] next on c-span, i discussion about women working in politics, sports and business, hosted by politico, with the founder of campaign. and later c-span sits down with white house counselor kelan