been killed in nicaragua since afterts began in april president daniel ortega announced changes to the country's pension system. a discussion on the civil unrest and protest their hosted by the hudson institute. our live coverage gets underway at 12 p.m. eastern here on c-span. then, a panel of journalists debate freedom of speech and with a protects offensive speech. the association for our and journalism and mass communication host the event, beginning at 1:45 p.m. eastern. coming up on washington journal, nathan gonzalezs' talks about the results of yesterday's primaries in for the resultswhat could mean for the upcoming midterms . the founders of indivisible join us to talk about the progressive candidates in the upcoming elections, then brian marcotte discusses rising

health-care costs for employers. then, he discussion of the trump ♪ washingtonthe journal for august 8. a close call in that primary race in ohio's 12th district with ohio's tribe alderson holding onto a slightly over danny o'connor. we will look at those results, as well as those in missouri, michigan, kansas, and washington, and what those results might show us about the november midterm election, and if republicans can still maintain control in the house after those elections area -- elections. joining us to discuss that is nathan gonzales, with inside elections. analystso the elections

for roll call. guest: thank you for having me. host: you were quoted in the paper this morning, i think republicans are running out of excuses [inaudible] specifics,o into expand on that and what the races yesterday show us. guest: i stand by that quote. i think at the beginning of the cycle, there were some very candidate specific excuses that republicans would come up with. in alabama, roy moore had a particular set of problems and baggage. in pennsylvania's 18th districts, rick saccone was blamed for being a terrible candidate, they were blaming him for having a mustache in contrast with conor lamb. but the special elections lately, including last night, troy boulders and was a -- troy balderson was a fine candidate with no specific badge image -- baggage. in arizona, debbie lasko was fine, but almost every step of

democrats are over performing. george's sixth district is the only district where democrats have not over performed, and what is remarkable is that these special elections have been across the country. montana, kansas, south carolina, ohio, pennsylvania, and the one is democratsend over performing. i think that is because of president donald trump. he is fueling and energizing the democratic party than any single democrat ever could, and that you be concerning for republicans because democrats do not need to win districts like ohio 12 a pennsylvania 18 to get to the majority. there are more district that are within reach for the democrats to get to the majority. host: our guest will be with us for our first half-hour to talk about the primaries who took place yesterday. if you want to asking questions about some of these results and trends he is seeing, (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8000 for democrats.

for independents, (202) 748-8002 . electionted a primary on tuesday and you want to give your thoughts on that, (202) 748-8003. you can also tweet us at @cspanwj and post on our facebook page, facebook.com/cspan. do we standhere currently cap hotel is about the candidates involved and what this race shows us? some have called it, some have not. troy balderson has a narrow lead over danny o'connor. there are provisional ballots, and that is causing some news outlets to hold off on calling it, to see if it is enough to make up the difference, but republicans have already claimed victory. any o'connor last night said the fight goes on to november, because both of these candidates will face off in the regular election in november. he did not have to necessarily concede, he can continue his campaign. but win or lose for republicans, the lessons are still the same.

this is a republican district, that democrats have over is mored and it, and it special than some of the other specials, because steve stivers, who represents a neighboring district to this race, one of the big republican outside groups that congressional leaders have funded managed ohio .enator rob portman's campaign the president visited, the vice president visited, the republicans pulled out all the stops, but that raises less than 1% right now. host: and the president commenting, saying when i decided to go to support balderson, it was not looking good. inspeech -- he will win big november. adding that colette -- thatlations congratulations to troy balderson on a great win in

ohio. how much influenced if you have on these results? guest: i think it is amazing, because the only reason we are talking about this race right now is that donald transit and desk trump is the president of the united states. there was a democrat in the white house or even if marco rubio was there, we would not be talking about this. you get credit for lighting a house on fire and then showing up with a bucket and fire engine. in a close race, everything matters. you can say the president mattered, governor kasich endorsing at the end mattered, and i think balderson needed l the help he could get -- all the but he could get together, -- to get there, but i think the president claiming victory is a bit disingenuous. they will have to go through the provisional ballots, and i think democrats want to hold out hope,

but it is still going to take a few days ultimately for those to be counted. to ask ourf we want guest questions about this race and others, you can do so on the lines, or on twitter and on our facebook page at [video clip] . -- at facebook.com/cspan. is there anything else of note? in other key races, the stage is already set. this was a stand-alone race, and one of the reasons why republicans dismiss it. it is in august, people are wrapping up their vacation, this is not normal turnout. but ithand that is true, should be the overhaul trend when you look at the -- overall trend when you look at the races going back. host: republican line, california, steve, you are on. caller: the elections, people don't start to pay attention until after labor day. you have to keep that in mind.

also that the democrats don't -- they do not have a message to run on. as far as that goes. i think those are two important points. mean, in the macro sense -- i think the economy is going to play a big role and the conventional and structural changes we saw in 2016 with the republicans becoming the populist party, we have to see how that plays out as well. guest: steve brought up a lot of good points. payingas nobody attention, we are paying attention. tens of thousands of voters were paying attention in ohio 12. what should be another reason for concern for republicans is that i had to invest so much .oney in this race they cannot replicate this over dozens of districts across the country. in each of these vessels -- specials, the democratic

candidate has significantly . outraised the republican. the challenges those out side groups, they are paying two to three times more money than the democrats for the ads. when they get to november, they will not be a bliss bread cost dozens of district -- be able to spread across dozens of districts. and the midterm election, when you're not the party in power, you have an advantage of being the alternative or running against something. in 1994, the contract with america, that came out very late in the cycle, before republicans made their big gains, but it was a repudiation of president clinton and the administration of that point. -- at that point. our: when it comes to guest, you can find his research at two sources. inside elections, and he also publishes in roll call. roger from virginia, democrat line.

hello. caller: good morning, guys. does the comment, i was wondering if donald trump would release his tax returns to let us know he is our true president and that he does not have ties to russia. host: lee in alabama, the morning. caller: how are you doing sir? host: fine. caller: first, i would like to say that my ideal ticket would have been out of west and -- adam west and herman cain, ok? with trump, he is not a typical politician. 85% of republicans and democrats cannot trust him as far as he can throw them, but democrats have the press in their back pockets. so they are more emboldened. host: that is lee in alabama. guest: think about president trump's coalition, and going

back to stephen california, what i think is interesting in these midterm elections is that president trump did a good job assimilating a coalition that got him elected in 2016, but i am not sure that coalition is as transferable to all republican candidates. president trump is extremely popular among republicans right now, but that does not mean it will vote for their congressman, or otheroman, republicans. some of the trump loyalists believe the republicans on the hill are part of the problem. when their guy is not on the ballot in november, are they going to turn out to vote? maybe they do not want democrats to win because they think they will impeach the president. that could all be true, but i think democrats struggled with president obama. he had his coalition but it was not transferable to other democratic candidates, and republicans might be in the same box. host: the result in the ohio 12 district is not in yet, but troy stage,on taking to the

claiming victory. here is this from last night. [video clip] >> i would like to thank president trump. [cheers and applause] president, for coming to town, and i would also like to take the time to think vice president pence. [cheers and applause] the big shoes that i will be filling. i would not have got through a lot without him through this process. --.ressman pat [cheers and applause] i would also like to take this opportunity and time to thank chairman steve stivers, who has been a great asset to me and help me through this process. [cheers and applause] chairman, thank you. there are many others, i could keep going on and on. but tonight i am going to promise to you that i will work

forntlessly, relentlessly this 12 congressional district. [cheers and applause] america is on the right have, and we are going to keep it going that way. it is time to get to work. over the next three months, i'm going to do everything i can to keep america great again. host: mr. gonzales, anything from that that is telling as to what the next few days should hold? guest: what was interested about this particular speech -- last night, i appreciate that all the candidates had very short speeches, but he did -- you did mention john kasich, the representedo that area before pat tyrrany --

pat. kasich endorsed balderson at the end, right of -- o'connor was trying to cozy up to kasich earlier, but he did not get the endorsement that balderson did. host: our next caller, larry, hello. caller: hello. a previous caller said that republican -- a republican said the democrats don't have a message. i'm not sure democrats really need a message such as the republicans are saying. several republican congressmen are saying that the president should have the authority to shut the media down. things like that are counterproductive to the united states of america. shutting down the first amendment rights of the media is constitutionally wrong. i think in terms of the democratic message, there is a

little bit of a divide between democrats on what the message should be. i was talking with a democratic pollster not that long ago, and they were asking folks, do you want someone who is going to stand up and oppose the president, or do you want someone who will be a check and balance on the president? there was more support for that check and balance message? that is where you are seeing a lot of democratic candidates go. the challenge for the democratic party is that the energy, money, on theentum is resistance. it is on that standing up and opposing the president. so democrats need to figure out away way to harness that energy and harness that message, and into a check and balance against the president when republicans are in control of everything in washington. tweet, bernie sanders am his new sidekick, who i assuming is alexandria ok seo cortez, bombed out supporting

their candidates in tuesday's elections. can you talk about that? -- finished second to gretchen witmer, who is the democratic establishment favorite. we're still waiting in kansas' third district. i do not think that race is called yet. cath sanders and o us and thegot behind candidate, but i think that is fascinating because she got so much attention after defeating joe crowley. democratic primary in new york, in the city, where hillary clinton got 77% of the vote. now she is a rock star. brent welder asked her to come in, but he is running in a 47% hillary clinton district. i think that message will be tested, the democratic socialists of america message

and the more populist progressive message will be tested in a suburban kansas district. i am not sure it has the same appeal. he might end up winning this nomination because of his thelogy, and if he went to general election against kevin yoder, it might be in spite of his ideology because voters are focused on other things. host: speaking of kansas, one of the papers this morning highlights the small amount of distance in the government's race. race.ernor of the can you break that down? guest: that is a hot race between governor jeff collier, who ascended when sam brownback went to join the administration. he is running against kris kobach, who president trump has asked to be a part of his election commission and president trump and joist -- endorsed at the end. democrats nominated state senator laura kelly, and depending on the scenario, democrats feel good because if you win against kris kobach, you have a polarizing individual has

been unabashed in his support for the president, but if you have colyer, you have someone who was lieutenant governor under sam brownback, who was an unpopular governor. so republicans will have to spend time and money defending the kansas governorship. host: has the president himself weighed in on this? guest: he did for kobach at the end, so we will see if that is enough to push him over the top. on twitter, how long will he be in office before he faces another election, was this mandated by state law? and adding that this seems like a huge waste of money in all. whoever wins, once they are certified, will be sworn in, and this election was to serve for the remainder of the year. both face-off in november as well for the full two-year term.

so depending on how many legislative working days, there might be 19 working days on the calendar in terms of working in washington, so it is for a very short amount of time. host: david is next from south carolina, go ahead. caller: [inaudible] host: go ahead please. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. caller: as most americans understand, we give reference to though we named our worship. she, andto them as when we respect women, in all cases, we understand that the bush administration -- not the bush, but the trump administration has disrespected us in that respect. he says gravis by our private parts. host: before you go too far, how does this relate to the special elections?

us we: ohio has shown will not take that anymore. that is what i'm referring to. host: thank you. guest: i think it is clear that women are energized and away we have not seen before, whether it is marching in the streets or becoming -- in a way we have not seen before, whether it is marching in the streets are becoming candidates on the democratic side. trump reading an office has spurred a lot of that. i'm not sure it has a specific tie into the ohio 12 election, but it is no question that women are determined to take a stand against this president, and republican candidates could suffer because of it. host: missouri, let's turn to that. what was the most interesting result? guest: missouri was not as sexy as the rest. we knew that the returning republican would face off against their mccaskill, the democratic senate -- claire mccaskill, the democratic senator.

it is a tossup. in the senate, all the races are important because the senate majority is two seats. it is very narrow. that will be a race to watch. host: the president also giving comment via twitter, saying congratulations to josh holly on your primary win in missouri. i look forward to working with you on a big win in november. we need you in washington. his influence on that race? guest: he has been to missouri for at least one fundraiser for hawley, if not to. with very high expectations, but that is something a president can be helpful with, whether it is getey or other candidates, their campaign funds up to either defend themselves or lay out a message against democratic candidates. host: has claire mccaskill been in this position before when it is a tossup, or was it hurts to win in the previous races? wont: last cycle, she againstnfanmously

her opponent, who would not stop making comments about women's bodies and abortion. so that helped. she has been in a tough race before, but by the time it got to the end, when the republican party had largely backed away from todd akin, josh h awley will have the full support of the republican party. it will be a tougher race for her, and missouri might have even shifted to the right since the last time she was up for reelection. host: frank is next from utah, hello. caller: hello. , mitchondering mcconnell, when obama was president, mitch mcconnell stated so blatantly their concern was to make obama a one to see theent,

democrats -- i'm a lifelong democrat -- to see the democrats concentrate so much on trump rather than coming forth with i wouldtive specifics, like to hear -- you have already answered some of this, but if you had any more comments on that, and also how you think the sanders wing of the democratic party will influence the final outcome? is their influence growing? thank you. guest: frank, thank you for two great questions. we talked about the energy in the democratic party because of the president. when we sat down with democratic house candidates, we probably sat down with 50 this title, they do not talk about president trump. if he comes up in our interviews, it is because we brought them up. but what they want to talk about ofthe individual member congress they are running against. what have they done or not done

on capitol hill? what have they supported? they want to talk about health care and people with pre-existing conditions that could lose their health care because of what republicans are doing. that is what we are hearing on the democratic side in terms of messaging. as far as the bernie sanders wing of the party, i think the democratic party is divided right now. there is no clear leader. this is what happens when a party is not in the white house. i think republicans are relying on that division to help them in november, but i think what we saw over eight or nine years, republicans were divided. the tea party was attacking the establishment and attacking mitch mcconnell and paul ryan, but republicans -- where did all that division get them? it got them the house, the senate, and the white house because they had a common enemy in president barack obama. now democrats are divided, there is no leader, but they have a common enemy in president donald j. trump. that is what is going to help unify democrats in november, and that will be divided again

when we start the 2020 presidential election. host: derek in maryland, hello. go ahead. caller: hi, to both of you. i just wanted to say that the gentleman that was talking about the republicans are so proud of the economy, and we all know that it was barack obama. he ended the recession, save the american auto industry, i could go on and on and on. the dow was at 6800 when he took office, losing 700,000 jobs a month. when he left, it was 18,500. he was handed a strong, strong economy, and the only reason why it has risen quicker is because republicans did what they always do. they give tax breaks to the big corporations and the rich. host: thank you very much. the economy overall, and how tax cuts are playing out as a campaign message? guest: derek is a good example

of a democratic voter, because democrats are going to give the president credit for anything. numbers continue to be good, they will say it is in spite of president trump, not because of him. that is a good example. that is why republicans tend to say, the losses in the midterm will not be so bad because of these economic numbers, but i think where the economy, republicans should be focused not only on convincing republican voters that they need to support republican candidates when the president is not on the ballot to keep the economy moving the direction they want, but also commit independent voters -- convince independent voters that the economy is the most important thing. to ignore the tweet or the circus that tends to surround the president. we will see int this election, republicans will talk about the economy, they will talk about the jobs numbers, but democrats will come alongside and want to talk about health care. i guarantee if you take a drink

every time democrats talk about health care or pre-existing conditions, you will either be well hydrated very drunk by the time we get to november, because democratic candidates to take a look at the whole picture -- one voters to take a look of the whole picture, saying you might have seen more money in your paychecks, but how are your premiums? who is responsible for those premiums? from troyeard balderson last night, let's hear from his challenger, danny o'connor, also from last night. [video clip] --folks want lose leadership new leadership, new generation of voices that are not concerned about party politics, but what is best for mansfield, delaware, columbus, and newark, and everywhere in between. division into discourse hearing apart our country, we must never that each and every one of us are god's children -- were member that each and everyone of us are god's children, and each and everyone must must be treated

with dignity and respect. i think we could use a lot more of that spirit in washington these days. we have to work. [applause] we have to work to find crime and ground -- common ground. we have to not only listen to, but respect one another. that is why i will work with anyone who wants to deliver solutions percent or lower high up. too often, folks retreat to their partisan corners and are central ohio. two host: your take away from that? guest: the fight continues, and hay had the advantage in being able to continue the race. what he does not have the advantage of is being the only game in town. he will not have the beneficiary of having all the democratic resources focused on his race. there will be dozens of races going on across the country. host: two other states, michigan and washington state. break down the most interesting thing from last night? in michigan, a number of

house races will be solidified in the general election, but in the senate race, john james, he won the republican primary. he is an african-american businessman and a retired army ranger who served in iraq. i think republicans will take a fresh look at the race. technically represent a trump state. trump won it very narrowly. i think republicans will do some polling and see if it is viable. if they start to spend money, they will think -- that's an isicator that they think it a real opportunity. washington, we are still waiting . this is where a congressman is retiring and leaving behind a clinton district. democrats the this is a big opportunity. pediatrician kim schrier and attorney j shin -- jason ritter riser are running for that slot. democrats have to win that type of district to get to the majority. a republican, he has run a loss

before but is doing well in this district. we also are seeing cathy mcmorris rodgers, the highest-ranking republican woman on the republican side of the hill, in the third district. we also see jaime herrera butler running and getting less votes than we expected initially going in. host: also, if you go to rollcall yesterday, an interesting note. two changes you made when it comes to republican seats and shifting the tossups. guest: we moved both texas sessions andete kentucky congressman andy barr to tossups. this is a case where the primaries were crowded and competitive democratic primaries. sessions and kentucky congressman andythe cog shape in these suburban district , texas 32nd were sessions is running is more suburban, but in kentucky, you have the lexington area districts that trumpcare it, but a democratic candidate,

amy mcgrath, who was a marine, combat pilot, helicopter pilot, and she won a competitive democratic primary against mayor jim gray, and coming out of that primary she has high name recognition, high favorables, a lot more than other democratic challengers across the country. i think bar is in trouble he just try to define her as a an obama democrat and all of this stuff. he is in the fight of his life. fromtey -- petey from north carolina. hearingfirst, i keep you talk about the races last night and he keeps talking about how good the democrats done but i have heard no one name any democrat that won any race last night. then he made another statement to the regard of the women and how the women are voting against

the president of the united states. can't see that man, i him having a date, even knowing much about women. host: in terms of democrats not winning anyways, democrats were winning primaries that feeling of democrats not winning anyways, democrats were winning primaries and i think danny connor will come up short. but the democrats do not have to win this type of district. there are more districts that are more democratic than ohio 12 that are within reach for democrats to get there. when you take a look at it, we have identified 68 vulnerable republican seats around the country right now. democrats need a net gain of 23. they do not have to run the table. this is why the house map is different than the senate map. democrats do essentially have to run the table. one of the reasons i love primaries is because we finally get to have, what is the

one-on-one matchup? how strong are these candidates and that is why we run the campaigns and see who ends up on top. host: independent line, armand from florida. armand from florida, hello? caller: yes, good morning. host: go ahead, you're on. caller: can you hear me? host: yes we can, go ahead. caller: i am calling in response about obama bringing us out of this recession we are in. i think it is a big process the republicans are working on [inaudible] we're going to have [inaudible] out -- find host: you're breaking up, so i will just leave it there. as far as what you are saying

ideut the senate s around the table strategy more than the house side, break it down. what is the chance that either side remains republican after november? guest: right now, republicans are likely to hold a narrow majority. quick path to majority for democrats israel left all of your own senators. -- is re-elect all of your own senators. is, i do not think all of those 10 democratic senators are going to survive. in particular, heidi heitkamp of north dakota is in a very tough race. i think of one of those democratic senators lose, democrats will have to either win tennessee, texas, nebraska. it is possible. they have a good candidate in texas. in tennessee, in texas he has raised $4 million since we have been sitting at this table.

the house side, i think democrats are more likely than not to win the majority. but it is not a done deal. forcurrent projection is credit gains from 20 to 30. the lower end of that would be short of a majority -- democratic gains from 20 to 30. the lower end of that would be short of a majority. host: -- in ohio, democrat line. caller: good morning, mr. gonzalez. my problem with the democrats as they run like they are between a democrat and a republican. i understand they will run on health care and things of this nature, but in order to capture, to really have a way, they have to start running like democrats. to concede the issue of decency, and things that real democrats are coming out here to learn about. democrats are not talking about it, and that is ridiculous to me. if you have corruption going on in the white house and the democrats are constantly talking about health care and pocketbook

issues, ok. that might sell to a certain point, but you can't ignore the elephant in the room. it seems like the democrats run these stupid campaigns were they do that every election. and we're not sure if we are really democrats who might get republican -- did me a break. host: thank you, we will be that there. guest: jimmy is not alone in that line of thinking. this is what we are hearing from the liberal or progressive wing and the party, that the answer to winning elections is not going to the center, but about being a stark contrast to bolder ons and being policy ideas. some ofin november, those differences will be smoothed over, some of the people who wants that folder message will hold their nose for a more centrist democrat because they want to send a message to president trump, but those wounds will open up after this election, and the fight that

jimmy was talking about in ohio is going to be one of the prime points of the presidential primary in terms of who is trying to position themselves and ultimately get to face the president if he runs for reelection. yesterday when it comes to primaries. will we see big days in future months? guest: this is probably one of the biggest. we still have wisconsin coming up next week. we have new hampshire, the first in the nation, and the presidents race -- in the presidents race and last in the the primaries. and arizona needs to solidify a race and a couple of house races, but we are almost done with the primary calendar. host: nathan gonzales, you can see his work at inside elections and that roll call -- at rollcall.com. we will continue on with your calls.

you can talk about results from primaries yesterday or other topics. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. independents, (202) 748-8002. you heard our guest reference this during his time, but the story in usa today talks about some of the strategies when it talks to messaging over the next couple of months in the november election. democrats focusing on health care, republicans rallying around trump. this article says that from january through july, democratic groups aired nearly 70,000 as focused on health care, far and away the most common issue highlighted. the second star was jobs and unemployment, featured in about 30,000 spots. the gop's signature legislative achievement, the sweeping tax cut, drew slightly fewer spots, 43,000. more than half of those tax cuts for by republican leaning groups, as opposed to the candidates themselves. economy werend the

essentially tied for third place tong gop spots, with 34,000 32,000 ads respectively. -- former state senator gretchen democraticly won the primary over the democrat backed by bernie sanders, vying to become the country's first muslim governor. louis,n in st. travelria ocasio-cortez to help another young insurgent candidate tackle an incumbent.

100 9000 over the past year to 290 8000, 50 8% nancy from this again

is next, where she voted. hello. i voted last night and john james, i was for him. we were at his victory party and last was such excitement night for him in november. i believe that debbie 7-up, who is a democrat now, she better be very concerned today. i believe that john is going to it is possiblend the republicans will pick up another seat in the senate this fall. host: what is it about john james you support specifically? caller: he is just a wonderful, wonderful person. a family man and he went to west point and served for his country. of hiss there a policy that you specifically endorse? yes i do. in fact, i agree with almost

everything that he says. andhould put country first, he believes in immigration policies that president trump believes in. he believes that we should have a strong military and he believes in god and country. host: the president himself your via -- endorsing john james tweet, saying congratulations to a future star of their public and party. a great victory tonight in the state of michigan. it previous caller had mentioned missouri, and voters specifically took a look at right to work laws. thats on tuesday rejected proposal that would have hampered union organizing in the are sentd the results back to state republicans, who have long sought to make

missouri a right to work state, while handing a victory to labor groups his power has been diluted by the supreme court and gop dominated state legislators. with 95% of precincts reporting, the ap says that 67% of voters opposed the measure wall 32% supported it. ohio is next, democrat line. go ahead. sorry, this is tyrone from new york, go ahead. caller: i was saying i hope democrats do not go in there and play nice and swing for the fences. we keep going, and like donald to nice.d, don't be don't what do you mean by be too nice specifically? caller: hello? host: go ahead. caller: when barack obama became president, he wanted single-payer, and i do not think only republicans were against

him on that. if he had went for it and fell, that is one thing. but at least go for it. if you want to have clean air, clean water, if you want to have these things, you cannot expect the russian republicans to fall down and let you get whatever you want. you are going to have to fight. you cannot walk into a cage match with flowers. this is not why you are there. you are there to get in there and fight for the right to the things that you want for the public. let's go to kerry in ohio, stockport, ohio, democrat line. caller: yeah, i am pretty mad. iam a diehard democrat, but am pretty mad at obama and clinton this morning. up in ohio,showed the results might be a little different than they are this morning. if they want to be democrats

riding high, that is fine. but maybe you ought to change or standing to what you are going to be. host: you are saying they should have had more influence in the ohio 12 race? is that what you are talking about? caller: at least one of them, at least one of them. and a few other races, too, but don't run hard and colors of the democratic you are not going to help. -- kol yourself a democrat if you are not going to help. host: primary taking place in several states across the united states. we can talk about those races, what it means for the long-term, for november. if you want to call us, (202) 748-8001 for republicans. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. if you participated in the elections in those states, (202) 748-8003. a new story to show you about the economy, a new round of tariffs expected on china.

the trump administration completed plans to impose new ofiffs on $16 billion chinese imports of which beijing for its trading practices, wringing the total value of products covered by the duties to $50 billion by the end of the month. in response, the comments from businesses that might be affected by the measures, the u.s. trade representative's office made a slight adjustment, moving five items and leaving 270 nine products, mainly chemicals and auto parts, subject to the tax. to retaliateed with tariffs on an equivalent amount of u.s. goods. once this latest round takes effect. , from jacksonville florida. good morning. i just want to urge everybody to get out there and vote. i have been voting since i have

been 18, since i have been 18. because my forefathers that came before me, they made that path for me. on the line, they are angry, democrat, republican, and we need to start judging people by their character. if you want more ribbons rights, vote. the clean air act, vote. we have violence in the schools -- vote. faces inng some new the office, because we are now a global -- everything is going globally. if we do not come together, we will be in a mess. tina, do you think there

will be as much interest in this november elections for people who go out to vote than they saw two years ago? caller: i think so, because people truly want change. people want basically universal health care. people say the same faces and say ok, i don't want to go out and vote because it will be the same thing. i was 18, and when barack obama became president, it came true. i am not just saying that because he is a black president, he was a president for all people. candidate, choose a choose someone for everybody. saying, whatst state you are in, you have to go back and you have to look at the candidate record.

a lot of times, you look at things that come on tv and we look at the candidates -- you have to go back and even when it comes to voting for [inaudible] you have to look at the record and see. host: we got you, thank you, thank you. jason from oregon, hello. everybody,d morning, thank you for taking my call. i want to remind everybody that the sins united allowed the russians to get a foothold in america. saying theye people would rather be russian the democrat. voted major party, they have never produced a solid candidate for president, ever. [inaudible] is, that needs to be a talking point. furthermore, i am at the point where there is so much mad money and inequality this country, big money is with a few big families and their associates are able to manipulate the free market.

there is no free market, because they can manipulate it. there is more than one america, because the laws are different. if you are rich and connected [inaudible] i think we need to have cap's on wealth and income, and universal basic income for everybody, rather than trying to dissuade everybody's pain, they are trying to maximize one or a few people's pleasures. host: north carolina is next, republican line. hello. caller: i am listening to the get to, and before i what i want to say, if obama and clinton had showed up it would not have made different. we race was too close, and are having more change for the good with trump. i am also more afraid of the dems and illegal voting in trump. my thing is if you do not like some personality, that has nothing to do with it. you have to look at what he is doing.

i love him personally myself, but he is for america, he is for safety, and he is for no illegals importers and we need a wall. ands so good -- in borders we need a wall. he is so good for the economy and we need to look at trump and what he is doing, and i also want to say the fbi and the dems, release the papers. they are holding it so the truth don't come out for voters. i think they are hoping the democrats think it is fake, but republicanske and need to get out in november and do better than they did now. host: jenny in north carolina. we take a look at overstays for those who have visas in the united states and the washington times this morning, saying more than 400,000 people came to the u.s. on legal visitor visas in 2017, but were still here six months after their time was up. the government is detailing this

in a new report, detailing the less talked about side of illegal immigration. while people jumping the border is the most attention, visa overstays account for a large percentage of new immigrants who settled illegally in the country every year. a slightnumbers show improvement compared to 2016, but officials say it is too early to know what worked. they are a small fraction of the total travelers, slightly more than 1% of the 53 million visitors to enter the country last year, but that still amounts to big numbers, homeland security said. 7000 109,000 people -- 600,000 weree than still in the country by the end of the fiscal year, and more than 421,000 were still your seven months later. st. paul, minnesota, we will hear next room anthony. go ahead. -- from anthony. go ahead. like tohello, i would

speak about the election but just for a second. i was watching the news last night, maybe a lot of people weren't or there was something in the news about it, but we are approaching a cap or place where the climate will get to a point where we will not be able to reverse it very soon. what we need to understand is not worrying about jobs, we get to a point where our human existence is threatened, will you still be worrying about some coal miners' jobs? this is absolutely ridiculous. some people wake up -- i have 16 grandchildren i'm worrying about it this particular moment because we want to sit around and worry about cold jobs -- coal jobs and whether or not from south america is taking a job where there are 10 million available. if we were to have another election in 2020, i do not think he will leave whether he loses

her wins. -- four wins -- or wind. -- wins. we have wildfires going all over the world. host: christina, democrat line. caller: i was just calling about the election in ohio, and i just know, dannyu o'connor, if it comes out that will have to go and have another election again in november. if he wins, will they say that it was fixed or will russia interfere in our elections? and when trump voters come out and where the shirts, when he being a rally about him -- were they would rather be

russians been democrat, that is not patriots. russian andis more a patriot to me, and i do not know they would want to vote for danny o'connor. -- for people to get extended medicaid that needs it. host: got you christine, thanks. -- this is an artist rendering of mr. gates about that testimony that took place yesterday. that is in the wall street journal. more about alex jones sitting not long after several of the tech companies, apple, facebook and google kicked the conspiracy theorist off their platform, his

allies complained yet been deprived of his first amendment rights. the censorship purge has truly begun. on -- in his own message, says who will stand. the speech? tos is not the only effort stop mr. jones from spreading his theories. several scholars of free speech concluded many of the things he said online were not protected by the first amendment. law professors who specialize in his styleh issue said was riddled with absurd conspiracy theories and urged a judge considering a lawsuit to not let him hide behind the

first amendment. does not serve the public interest. last caller, from gainesville, virginia. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. a couple of points. democrats are not doing a good job in their messaging. in 2009 theook over economy was in deep crisis. longest job growth, and he handed over to trump, unemployment over 4%, no more , and training the resources. trump took over. obama realigned the u.s. economics. it goes up and up.

trump took over, because of his cut, screaming we are the best economy and the pride of the world but he forgets obama brought it to the brink of that position. that is number one. they keep talking about that. host: we are going to have to leave it there. we are going to feature several guests. the team behind the progressive , here toindivisible talk about the plan in the upcoming midterm elections. a survey of america's biggest companies shows the cost of health care is going up with no end in sight. and the group national business group on health on what these companies are doing about it. those conversations and more

coming up. >> this weekend on the tv author interviews for this year's freedom conference in las vegas. failure,g her book of the federal miseducation of america's children. and rethinking america's highways, a 21st century vision for better infrastructure. in order to live, a north korean girls journey to freedom.

at 10:00, life after google. the fall of big data and the rise of the block chain economy. >> tonight, barack obama delivers the annual mandell lecture in johannesburg, south africa. >> it does not mean we have to abandon our unique ethnic and religious identities. -- he did not stop being part of being a black man and being a south african. you can be proud

of your heritage without denigrating those of a different heritage. >> youth activists address the conference of mayors. explain the feelings you have during a school shooting. anxiety, ofof uselessness, of not being able to do absolutely anything. there is only one place i felt that. the united states congress. t might sound a funny remark but it is no joke. i've spoke with senators, mayors, not one person is donedent one thing can be about the 17 people who died in my school and the many others we have died since. , listen on c-span the free c-span radio app. >> c-span, where history unfolds

daily. c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies. today we bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events in washington dc and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or set light provider -- cable or satellite provider. washington journal continues. host: to guest joining us, they represent the group indivisible. both serve as cofounders of the group. tgood morning to both of you. describe the group and how it started, and the community you serve? >> we started as a google document after the election.

we were former congressional staffers. we were as surprised as anyone else, looking for what we could do. we wrote this guide to congressional advocacy. senatorsocus on your and representative an advocate for the values you hold to not uphold the trump administration agenda. we put this guide out online and then thousands of groups started forming. there are 5000 groups that have formed in every single congressional district in the country. these are volunteer led local groups doing precisely that. they are owning their constituent power to do that. would you label your group as progressive? guest: yes. what it is like then in this day since you

launched about being a progressive, with the victory of alexandra cortez in new york, do you see a movement when it comes to november elections coming up? guest: we are seeing a grassroots wave of energy sweeping the country from the leaders of indivisible groups that have --n elected, who have long won elections themselves. guest: the amazing thing we are thing, peopleique never involved in politics before are involved now. officialsing elected being elected but we are also seeing these individuals being elected for the first time. , and on local endorsements

over 70% of our endorsements are first time candidates. that is what is going to change the system. host: to my last question, there is this back-and-forth about being a progressive versus being a centrist. what do you think about that? guest: what we see across our network, thereur is ideological diversity, but everybody is a line that we ought to be fighting for progressive values. rubberstampnot just the trump administration. we should stand up for what we believe in. create a contrast with this administration, and let the chips fall where they may. where they have been falling is on our side. host: on centrist philosophy, what are you seeing? >> the fundamental thing is folks responding to their

constituency. the groups in oklahoma are going to look different than the groups in new york. every single one of those groups supports progressive values. what that means has to be defined by then -- by them. about what not just policies you support, it is how hard you are prepared to bring with that a message that unites the democratic coalition. in florida indivisible action tampa bay endorsed and then we moved to a state white endorsement of andrew gillam. he is standing strong against the stand your ground law. he is standing up to trump. that energy is motivating to the base. >> indivisible guide.com.

joining us to talk about progressive politics when it comes to 2018. if you want to ask them republicans (202) democrats (202) 748-8000. you can talk about races that .tood out in your line guest: what are the most important races actually was the race for prosecuting attorney in st. louis county, where a councilmember defeated the attorney who declined to prosecute darren wilson. that is the product of communities who have been organizing locally for a long time, groups like color of change getting out people who

refuse to support their communities. guest: i would look at the overall swing district. ohio 12 is at the top of the headlines. we saw a republican leading district. right now it is a nailbiter. is a six-point swing even if that holds. democrats need a three-point swing. we learned to lessons. it looks like there is a blue way building but it is not automatic. it is not a foregone conclusion. we are not seeing 23 votes on the democratic side. we are seeing 60 votes on the democratic side. are you confident when it comes to democrats overall? guest: our first weekend of action, this was what hundred days before the election, we had this countrywide weekend of action.

taxes -- to taxes, -- we went to texas. one, they have dozens of people , bringing doors, dozens in a room phone banking, for the first time. the second takeaway, we were calls, i saw something i have never seen before. we are talking to sporadic democratic voters. but they don't think that is enough. they want to figure how to get involved. we were talking to volunteers who had never done it before, so jazzed up and engaged they wanted to do something more than just vote. we are not taking anything for granted. this will not work unless people get involved ahead of time.

host: if you go to real color politics, that race, most showing ted cruz still leading at least by 10 points. this far out what to those numbers tell you. guest: what i'm taking from this is ted cruz is challenging beto o'rourke to a debate, he is asking donald trump to campaign for him. state.s a deep red we have not elected a timid credit in 20 years. i was in beaumont, texas friday night and there was a phone bank . that is the only kind of energy that is going to make this work. polls look good right now. to be as close as it is is good. this is a winnable race. isst: what that tells me enough people think this is competitive they are sinking am a whichpolling it

is unprecedented in a texas election now. caller, you are on with our guests. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. thent to say that environment should be the key reason why we should let people know that if we do not keep up with our environment, we won't our anything to give children. i think it is very important people understand that. guest: great point. with we talked indivisible groups the environment is something that comes up again and again. donald trump decided to withdraw from the paris climate accord in

response to that indivisible put out a guide to how you can s tocate to get your state uphold those standards. the thing we see across the network when we talk to these groups is they care about the environment, they care about civil rights, but the unifying aboutthat everybody talks is the fundamental state of american democracy. american democracy is not responding to the will of the people. there are a lot of things we can do to make democracy work better . we will have environment to laws, pass reproductive justice things that those rely on a democracy to actually function. host: where does health care focus on that? guest: absolutely. that is a powerful message.

republicans will stop at nothing to attack people's health care. the only way you will secure it is to improve the health care system is if you get a democratic congress in november. host: that is a message point now. guest: we are. indivisible started right after the election. a big conservative platform, the biggest thing they proposed was a repeal of the affordable care act. saw hundreds,we , saying ifhowing up you repeal this bill i will be dead or bankrupt. do not do that. they want against a conservative -- they won against a conservative government.

this is an incredibly motivating issue. if they maintain control of congress they are going to make another go at it. people going to motivate to make sure they don't have that opportunity. host: let's hear from kurt. caller: the most enlightened comment came from the young lady when you asked about what elections happened last night. incident talking about ohio 12, kansas, she gave an immediate response, about a local election in st. louis. i'm not from st. louis but if you're going to start any kind of change are going to have to start at the very grassroots. there are so many levels of politics that talk about grassroots but they focus on these big elections. when you what to talk about grassroots we have to go back to the seeds of the grassroots,

school board races, district attorney, and judges. i applaud her. she answered about a local election and that is where change is going to occur. thank you. guest: thank you. i appreciate that. we think that is part of the problem with american democracy now, we talk about who is going to be running for president in 2020 we don't talk about who is running for school board. one of the amazing things about this wave of grassroots organizing is how invested folks are around the country making local governments better and taking on the responsibilities of local governments themselves. we have seen a wave running for office from the deepest red to the deepest blue places in the country in we are excited about this rising class of american leaders. host: what is the best formula for a get grassroots -- for a grassroots turnout? guest: we work for the leaders

of this movement. we are talking to you because there are thousands who are leading on the ground. we can provide strategic advice and tell them what is up in congress, opportunities at the state and local level but fundamentally if they are not leading themselves none of this works. host: as far as alliances with other groups, is that indivisible strategy? guest: absolutely. we work with everyone. this is an existential crisis we have to be in this together. when we are working on advocacy, ,e are working on that fight daca, united we dream. we believe it is critical for us all to be filling in together be part of coordinate strategies to maximize our impact. host: republican line commuter on with our guest. caller: good morning. am an action eyes citizen.

i would like to know being an avid reader of history what is your version of progressivism, because if i remember correctly it started out in the turn of the 20th century with different people from both united states and england trying to decide how they would make a movement, which they did, that included eugen next. one of their favorite people was george bernard shaw who wrote a , that is all i need to say. you seem to be so articulate, please tell me what you call progressivism. i will listen to you. i think that we should not fall into these games were

people try and tar the words we are using to change the framework that we believe and prepare grass it is about a set of shared values. the justice, equity, love and caring for our community and holding each other up, creating the welcoming of america where safe and secure, and everyone has opportunity. i think that what we have seen over the course of the last several decades is the right is good at making us afraid of the words that they want to tar. they went after liberal at one point. called liberal and now they are not willing to say it. when he to defend those words and talk about the common values underneath. guest: that was great. host: from arthur. independent line. you are with our guest. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. my comment is we need to stop

being all of these labels. one thing or the other, and start being smart american ends, -- smart americans, and fight the ignorance with the and use ouron, with issues that are local to us. that is the only way that it is going to progress further and we are going to get these idiots out that are just on popularity contest. host: what is your issue then on the local level? what do you look at most when you're voting? [indiscernible] roads, traffic,

the education of my children. those are the things important to me. i'm just a small business owner. to $1200 a month just for health care. that is one of my other issues. host: thanks. things we seethe in the network is in rural and red areas there are folks who are newly engaged to call themselves a democrat, but they do find his administration so far outside the bounds that they have to get engaged some way. a lot of folks here about taxes or their children's education, they care about what this congress is doing. indivisible provides that a way to get involved locally. provides the way to exercise

their constituent power. he is making a good point which we can't get caught up in which side we are on. what are the values we need to fight for and how do we productively contribute to that? guest: our guests are cofounders , indivisible guide.com, the website if you want to see more issues they are advocating for. one of thosethe choice of the supreme court. where'd you fallen this? guest: we think is choice is absolutely unacceptable. cavanaugh is a partisan hack. he has a long record of working to advance republican ends. there is enormous now we don't know about his time in the bush administration. the positions he advocated for. what we know is he hasn't been mistreated record of core american rides, decisions like roe v. wade. a vote for cavanaugh is a vote to in the affordable care act

and repealed roe v. wade. host: what is the strategy with those senators were going to he goes tocide if the supreme court? mr. long: we have a -- guest: we have a two-part strategy. president obama was nominating a justice republicans unilaterally prevented it from being a vote. we have heard a lot of folks asking why don't democrats just do the same thing? they don't have a majority. a can't do that. the only way to defeat have a nice to get 51 votes in the senate. you have to get all democrats together. you have to pick up one or two republicans. the way to do that is getting constituents out. work,s what is going to the same thing that worked on health care. everybody thought the affordable care act was going to be

repealed on the first day of the administration. people knew it was going to get done early on. it did not happen even though republicans had done it dozens of times in the house. they could not do it. that is not enough. if we defeat cavanaugh and failed to retake the senate trump is just going to nominate another extremist. you have to defeat kavanaugh and retake senate. host: what do you do with senators such as joe donnelly in indiana, and heidi heitkamp meeting with judge kevin on next week, as they voted for the last choice of the president. host: we need to make sure they are hearing from their constituents. individual groups are mobilizing in those states to make sure they understand their

voters know what is at stake and what they expect from them. we had 50 people in joe manchin's office in west virginia. we expect they will continue the pressure. host: what do you do with those republican senators by collins, how they may vote in the process. guest: the secret here is that every single senator depends on their constituents for their jobs. the number one thing susan collins cares about is what people in maine think. not whattant thing is our messaging is, what we're talking about, what are alaskans doing? are they showing up, are they making calls? if they are not lisa murkowski is going to go their own way. host: does indivisible have a presence? guest: we absolutely do. we had 100 73 events on her day

of action. the day of action was to go to district offices in the states and say we're sitting here until you agree to vote against the repeal of the affordable care act. covered,trict offices one group member at show -- drove ours north to the tip of participate. we saw the exact same thing in alaska. we have groups across the state. this is locally led. they are doing the work. what we do is say you have power in this situation. you can defeat kavanaugh if you make your voice heard to your citizens. host: independent line. caller: i want to talk about these conservative groups in texas, our state representatives will not do anything about it. checked, she is 86 years old, she has debt over

thousands of dollars from these groups sending her letters saying they are going to take her social security. she has been sending them money and no one wants to do anything. they are scams. i talked to my state representatives. they do nothing about it. the reason why, the fact that these political groups, it is helping the conservative groups, helping the republicans. that is a shame, and it is a big thing in texas, all these older people being taken advantage of. it has become a sport. republicans and democrats. nobody that votes knows what they represent. it has become a sport. the news media are supposed to keep them in line and they don't anymore. host: you put out a lot. guest: that is reprehensible.

it legislatures duty to protect citizens from fraud. at the same time it is important for us to help hold the people working together with accountable. any conservative getting support from groups that are scaring people and soliciting from them on fraudulent terms ought to be ashamed. guest: great to hear from another texan. texas is ao say that nonvoting state. most people eligible to vote do not vote. this is why you have the representation you have. i would encourage you to not just wait until november to get involved but talk and your community. if you can find in indivisible group near you, join you and get involved. not just init is republican versus democrat thing. if you have a democratic representative at the local level, focus on them.

are they proposing a bill to fix this? this doesn't just have to be republicans versus democrats. are your elected officials representing you? good morning. how are you doing? what i was wanting to ask your panel, they were talking about infrastructure and how this administration doesn't really do anything towards infrastructure. i live in florida and we have 17 different view -- freeways being rebuilt continuously. and they are proposing another new freeway from taxes to augusta, georgia. it is like it is a constant thing from the democrats to just pick, pick. the last question is for the young lady on the panel. would you explain how you say roe v. wade -- you are saying it is a right, but when did abortion become birth control?

guest: i would say that you probably should talk to more women about how abortion is a critical part of reproductive health services. that no woman uses abortion as birth control. they use it as a critical part of the way they manage their reproductive health and their bodily economy. guest: i think that is right. on the infrastructure question, what we have seen from the commitment is to is a plan to give a giant corporate tax-cut in the guise of infrastructure and not billed anything. what we would like to see is a plan to fix america's failing infrastructure. it is failing. it gets failing grades when experts review this. we have roads that need to be fixed. this is something that a functioning elected body would work to do, which is why we come again to this

problem of elected officials need to represent folks who they are elected to represent. host: what he of -- what do you think of the dnc? particularly tom perez? guest: we see a mixed bag. this is been true with existing power structures in progress at or democratic space. a lot of folks as i have said got involved because they recognize the institutions let them down. the force that should have prevented donald trump from rising and taking power did not. that is what indivisible groups are doing. not creating a separate arm of the democratic party but this structure where constituents can apply their power. sometimes it is applied to the democratic party to say we don't agree with what you were doing. we want you to fight harder. we have seen that on health care and taxes.

democrats stood up and fight. which was great to see. that is excellent. we see some conflict during elections were received to kinks -- campaign committees parachute into a district and endorse thenne who no one wanted, we see them get the message. they came in and said ok, we are going to get behind them. that is how this should work. we see the democratic party coming in and recognizing where is the energy on the ground and listening to it. we will never go into a local group and say that is the indivisible candidate. we listen to them and support them. that is what we would like to see from a national structure. landrieu, at a meeting he talked about strategy going forward. he said the republicans have chosen their path.

they're going to run a base election. mistakes are making a if they run a base election. i think that is an interesting comment. if we don't have a message that actually response to that that notes that they are trying to divide us and speaks to the people who were under attack, why would we expect them to come out for us? guest: i think there is this interesting prognosticating from .raditional prognosticators the fundamental thing we have seen, swings against pro-drug candidates because these candidates in successful races have been responding to the will of the people. that is what to look different in different places. everybody quite as a has to check these boxes.

the people of the best position to determine how a candidate who should run is people at the local level. host: we have indivisible cofounders joining us to talk about campaign 2018. from michigan, democrats line. hello. caller: hello. can you hear me? ok. i have a question and a comment. i hope i can say both. my question is, this name, indivisible. i didn't understand what that means. you said you were hammering on joe manchin. was that to elect the supreme court judge that trump wants, because i remember that being sent, the people were questioning him in his office can hammering him, just going after him. the other thing, my comment is like the other person said, a

couple of calls before me, there groups.many individual that is causing confusion. it is causing people to not know which way to go. you said you might have a candidate that could be an indivisible candidate. that is a challenge to the democratic party. if you're working with the democratic party you need to work together come and not come out with these different groups. that is how the russians took over the control of the conversation and everything going on. host: a lot to pick through. guest: i will start by talking about the name indivisible. we came up with the name after the election because we were in a moment where everything we as progressives cared about was going to be under threat. the environment. education. health care, racial justice pre-gender justice.

all of these things would be under attack. we come from many different things, butfferent the huawei we were going to get out of this was if we stick together and treated each other's issues and needs is indivisible. that is where our name came from and that is the position we have taken. guest: the too many groups. i hear you. there are too many folks. it can be tough to know where to engage. we are not setting up a separate party structure to oppose democrats. indivisible national will refuse to endorse candidates in a democratic primary unless the candidates agreed to endorse whoever wins in that primary. there is an issue when people don't like what came out of the primary and take their ball and go home. in primaries you can have debates over what the strategy

ossa b but that it matters who retakes control of the house, who retakes control of the state legislature. to win the power back you have got to come together. independent line from texas. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i would like to complement the couple on their initiative trying to help the general population, which is largely ignorant of what is going on in this country. with the corporate influence and unlimited funds that are currently available since citizens united has been passed by the supreme court justices, i applied both of you and your attempts to educate the public, bringing real information that is newsworthy, unlike abc, nbc. fox network.

publicbringing to the trivial personal commentary. i'm unfamiliar with your organization. , i'mhat i have retired going to try to vote -- devote as much as my personal effort as i can to unseat john cornyn and ted cruz. those two gentlemen have done a great deal of unpatriotic harm to this country. host: thanks. guest: great to hear from you another taxes -- texan. you are preaching to the choir. appreciate your comments about corporations in american politics. one of the things we are seeing energized folks in texas, when candidates refuse to take campaign contributions. that is what a to our work --

o'rourke has done. folks don't want corporations controlling their democracy. energy young the have replicated across texas in the country. the only way we're going to win is if folks like you start devoting energy they have to retake. caller: good morning. i would like to ask about -- have they heard of george soros or tom sires. they talk about money coming in from industrialized giants. i guarantee your panel, i don't know if they paid her way through college or is she a college grad? guest: i am really far out of

college. thank you for thinking i am that young. they do have influence on progressive politics. thet: happy to talk about role of money in politics broadly but what we see on the ground, early in the movement, indivisible groups standing up with signs that said george where is my check? they were criticized as being this fake grassroots energy. these vary -- we have heard these things from republican officials, a comfortable frame of mind, saying that is fake this is just energy being paid for. i will tell you, folks in beaumont texas are not showing up because the billionaire is writing them a check. they are scared for the state of their democracy. that is real. when i was on capitol hill, there were tea party group showing up and at initial stages

that was real energy. we should be hesitant about dismissing constituent anger as just something that an astroturf campaign funded by billionaires. funding atey do any all? guest: tom stiers does not. receive -- george soros, rooted in it is anti-semitic racist attacks. under been something to right -- host: when it comes to leadership what changes would you like to see from nancy pelosi? guest: the great question, it is

premature. paul ryan will not be the speaker of the house. work, it will be no republican in the speaker of the house. at that point we should have a discussion of what does the blue wave want, what does the resistance want? the only way we are we taking is because of this blue wave. host: what does indivisible want? guest: again, we are different -- it will be wrong for us to the candidate. we have to talk to groups on the ground. what do they want? guest: that is a decision that should be made around the country. not people in d.c.. host: the cofounders of indivisible.org. a couple of discussions on tangents of health care.

in our next segment, a survey of america's biggest companies' cost of health care going up. we would talk about what faces these companies. later, grace meng return are on the expansion of short-term health plans. what it means for the affordable care act. >> we don't live in the same parts of the country. we don't have the same outlook. where we are the same is meant of color and women of color, the at we try to instill fear the consequences of what could happen if an interaction with

police goes wrong. like sunday night d.l. hughley shares thoughts on race in america with his book how not to get shot and other advice from white people. >> although having a police that is respectful of the public they work for, held to a higher standard than the children? there is a point when children just don't listen. should they die for that? should we accept that as a society? is it the best we can do to tell children to be more responsible than the adults serving their community? after words on c-span two. >> c-span where history unfolds daily.

in 1979 c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies. we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, supreme court and public policy events in washington dc and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. washington journal continues. us, taking a look at the issue of health care costs for employers. tell us about your group and who you are present. >> the national business group on health is a nonprofit organization that consists of 420 companies. large employers, 74 are fortune 100 who come together because employees.bout their

most of these are self-insured. from ay for claims general asset and they pay health plans or pharmacy benefit administrators, to manage provider networks. host: what are those companies saying to you about health care and the cost to employers of that care? guest: it has been a drumbeat for years, the costs keep going up and rates are higher than general wages, and it is unsustainable for the long-term. while cost increases have been years,over the last five , 5% after% per year employers make changes, when you continue to have costs that run in advance of what general

running, we are getting to a tipping point here. a survey of employers, this is the results they found. premiums come out-of-pocket costs, the costs will rise for the six consecutive year. $14,800. employers cover 70%. those are the numbers. talk about what is behind those numbers. >> you will see premium contributions over the years really has not changed much. 80% ofmpanies pay around the cost of the premium for employees. maybe less. that is consistent over the years. where you have seen greater cost

increase is beyond their percentage, deductibles have been taking up. they are key drivers. high cost claims, especially pharmacy, which affects 2% of the insurance population accounts for 50% of pharmacy spending today. claims, youh costs have cancer, you have certain disease categories, and then you have price. price keeps going up. our guest is with us until 9:20. the perspective of large employees, 202, 7 8000. how did the

affordable care act change things once it was fully implemented? what did it do? >> in general he didn't have a material impact on active employee population. it did provide access for part-time employees to public exchanges and retirees to public exchanges. there is that benefit. there were some requirements in additional burdens on employers but overall the public exchange concept was a good one to bring access to a broader population. the one piece of the affordable care act that was more thelematic and still is was cadillac tax, which was basically a tax intended to be on high cost health plans but it would tax all health plans.

this was supposed to go to and affect in 2018. that accelerated movement to more consumer directed health plans. togot kicked down the road 2020. now 2022. a level moving to high deductible plans. 9%have seen a retraction, a reduction in companies offering only high deductible plans. i think there were other reasons but the fact that the employer's view the tax as continuing to be moved down the road, maybe not going into effect at all has leveled off the movement by companies to high deductible plans. ast: how much power does company have? guest: it depends.

you look at our membership. companies, 170 participated in the survey. 19 million employees across the country. people in they affordable care act today. it is a large group. we have 420 members. you have some employers going direct to the market. you have other employers working through their health plan. most work through their health plan because they are multistate companies. they don't typically have critical mass in many markets. those markets where they do have critical mass, more companies are doing direct contracting with provider groups in those markets. still leveraging a health plan

to provide health insurance. negotiatings to price you are negotiating price more on the administrative fees you are playing -- paying for health care delivery and performance guarantees around that. most of these companies are self-insured. they are at risk for the cause -- cost. where employees have most leverage is trying to help insurance companies to drive delivery reform in select markets to adopt innovation, to drive improvement. we could spend some time talking about that. i think that is where most companies are focused on trying to push health plans to more actively change the models of delivery in particular markets

and to move and drive innovation. rouphealth.org. are the results of the survey available online? guest: they are available to members. packs we have given out to the media. it is not available yet but the highlights are and are being communicated. we do the survey every year. that is when most companies make their decisions about the upcoming year. this becomes a survey about what people are doing, not what they are thinking of doing. we change the survey this year to really focus on employer perspective on the rapidly changing health care environment.

we asked questions we had not asked in the past. how is the role of the employer evolving. we asked employers thoughts on industry consolidation at the provider level in the market by market basis which goes under radar. pharmacyealth plans in managers coming together. we ask questions about the pharmaceutical supply chain. care andabout virtual the role they think that will play in the future. it was a different survey from that perspective. we still asked what health care costs look like for you next year. what are the initiatives you are driving to control health care costs? perspectives on what employers think. host: robert is on with our guest. go ahead.

caller: good morning. i have two quick questions. election, after the mr. trump said he would be working hard to bring down the price of prescription drugs. do you have evidence to show that he has been successful or tried that? that theirors stated price per car when it comes to measuring steel prices, and the price of insurance, the price of health insurance exceeded the cost of steel. has that changed? that is it. there is a lot of focus in the media and in washington about prescription drugs. , as companiessons have moved and increase deductibles, consumers have been more exposed.

price has been an issue with pharmacy for years. more of anhave upfront deductible to pay. the exposure to price has created a spotlight on an issue where there had not been one available before. why are they going up so much? what can we do about them? the administration is focusing on the price issue. rebates within the health care system and may g away with rebates altogether. we are seeing a lot more talk about it, and a lot trickle into thre -- system.

companiesaceutical have agreed to lower prices on drugs, and a very complex pharmaceutical supply chain model. their our members, thoughts on the pharmaceutical supply chain and how well that is working for them, and we gave them a spectrum -- it is working well for me today to it needs to be overhauled. majority of employers believe the pharmaceutical supply chain needs to change . it is everyone a touch of that drug from a process of prescribing the hand of the patient. that is the supply chain. our members who responded to the survey, 170 companies covering 19 million dependentand their said the pharmaceutical supply chain is too complex, inefficient, and needs to be

overhauled and simplified. point as at a tipping to how we drive change at the pharmaceutical supply side. we are seeing a focus and talk about it, but we could talk about what could possibly change, but there is a lot of focus there. as far as the cost of health care in relation to this deal, i do not know what that is today but that is still the case. as we talk about health care costs continue to increase in multiples of general inflation, and even though it has been 6% or so over the last five years or so which is lower than it had been, if you have gone back to the last decade, it was double digits. increases in health care, you look at the 1990's, we were looking at increases. s, assumption would be, ye

they are still paying more for health care today than they are for steel. .ost: let's go to virginia caller: hello. question for brian. were there any studies performed on health insurance was nonprofit versus profit today and what would happen if they reduce the salaries to the ceos and put that back into the premiums? has there been any studies in those arenas? i know of butt you have a number of institutions in the market that are nonprofit or profitable health care institutions or systems. it is less about the profit or nonprofit. it is more about the overall reimbursement system itself. we have a reimbursement system incensing thatily

behaviors in terms of overutilization of services or unnecessary utilization of services. system inte in the terms of how health care is delivered f if you want to change health care. , you have to change how health care is reimbursed. if you want to change health care, you need to change medicare. providers,roup of health plansd working together to try to understand what are the competencies systems need to have and how do those competencies change over time to deliver a more efficient, effective health care within communities? the providers in the group, the physicians in the group, as well as the health plans and employers believe you need to get to a tipping point of changing how providers are reimbursed in order to effect

change in the system. that tipping point is to get one third of a provider's practice alternative delivery models that are not fee-for-service in order to affect change. abouts more about -- not nonprofits versus profit, but about the general reimbursement model that exists today. host: from ohio, larry. caller: hi, thank you c-span for what you do. for thetion i have is co-op programs that are starting to expand throughout the country. can you talk a little bit about that versus standard insurance companies? and second, in reference to the general co-op programs, have there been additional focus on individual responsibility on health and their own individual maintenance of their health and

healthy living styles to help reduce costs? guest: let me start with the second question first. as far as the individual responsibility, you are seeing a shift in companies. our members are all big companies for the most part. health care strategy and companies used to be about health care costs. for a segment of our members, that is still the case but for , my healthjority care strategy is really part of my focus strategy. and trying to address not just emotionalealth, but well-being, financial well-being, social determinants of health, and trying to help the individual. and this is what you should do to improve your health -- well-being is about, what can we

put around you to help you meet your goals and enable you to be and thatyou can be best employee will produce better for the company as well as for themselves as an individual. we have 27% of our survey the health say that and well-being of their employees is essential to most competitive, engaged, productive workforce possible. the shift we are seeing within companies to not just focus on health care for the sake of costs, but on health and well-being, because that is not only good for the individual but good for the business and workforce -- it has opened the aperture in terms of what companies are doing. they are bringing a lot more resources to employees. we are seeing a lot more mental health resources that employees are providing to their employees including anti-stigma campaigns around the mental health to help

desensitize people and to help increase access to mental health benefits. we are seeing employer, supervisor in pure training how helpsognize issues and steer people to resources on behavioral health. when it comes individual responsibility, companies are trying to not tell employees what they should do, what they are trying to do is wrap the resources around them. financial well-being, putting food on the table may be their priority, managing debts may be their priority, and they are trying to help employees address basic needs that are affecting them as an individual so they can focus on their own health. that is where we are seeing a lot of development in terms of focus on well-being by big companies.

i really cannot speak to the s of what role that is and how effective that will be. host: kathleen for mississippi, hi. caller: good morning. 13, i'vee the age of been holding down a job, 9:00 to 4:00. i've got disability in 2010. because my husband died. what i worked for my went back to the state. was paying $110 a month until our president came through and the first week he was in office, he was cutting off care, and that care paid for me.

mandate, with an executive order on top of it. but, what happened to us? i have a mother and she is 85. she has a stint. there are people in the nursing home waiting for medicaid expansion, medicare only paid nd you have come out of your pocket with it. we live in mississippi, $7.25 an hour here for you and only some of the problem. host: thank you, kathleen. guest: there is no question that tells care, health care access, and health care costs are a problem one of the -- are a problem. we tendhe challenges, to focus on access and not just

delivery. affordable care better access which was terrific, but it did not focus on how we reformed the delivery system and the financing of the system so it becomes more affordable to get at some of the issues you are talking about. an opportunity to build on the public exchanges in the affordable care act. the interesting thing is the public exchange concept was republican dogma. when you look at the politicization of health care, s a real challenge right now that we cannot get congress to agree on anything on how we move forward and health care. ace should bepl focusing on improving what we have with the affordable care act as well as standing up these public exchanges so people can continue their access, health care, and improving more

insurance companies back into the model, rather than dismantling what we have. when he to build going for it because i am not sure what they are thinking thousand terms of replacement. host: brian marcotte joining us for this discussion. bloomberg reported yesterday that general motors negotiated directly with the detroit employees to offer smaller costs. what do you think of that? guest: we see a number of companies going direct and select markets and increase from 3% to 11% in this year. it becomes a very surgical strategy for companies. in aeed critical mass market. you need a willing provider group that you can partner with

to create something more reflective of the needs of your negotiate and then, the standards and guarantees and agree on target -- it is a lot of work. you are seeing companies take this in a couple of markets but it is not something they can drive across the country. members are multistate employers that have a bandwidth to take that model and go market by market. they leverage their health plans to do that but we have a number of companies and that is growing , that are picking certain markets and going direct. and they can be more nimble than possibly a health plan can be in creating a network,more efficient because they do not have the baggage of a broader network. the minute a health plan try to go that narrow in a market, you disrupt the overall network. have the all of contracting

related to the other providers in that market. ity can still do it but takes more time to work through that where an employer can go direct and say, this is the system i want to work with, and negotiates with them. a number ofg companies take that approach, but it is a really targeted market. host: herman in maryland. caller: hi brian, i was a little disappointed when you answer the question about drug pricing and i hope you are familiar with this. name somebody, and i do not know who it is, to deal with drug prices. he gave a statement that one of the daily press briefings to bullet points what he is going to do to bring drug prices down. it sounded like a lot of bs to me, but the one thing he pointed out was getting grade of the middleman.

that is one of the things i that stuck in my head as the biggest factors with the supply chain, the middleman. the new plan would get rid of that person. would beded like that an improvement, i did not think the whole plan was what the american people need, but i would like your opinion on that. by middleman, they mean the pharmacy benefits manager that sits in the middle of the manufacturer who produces, develops the drug, and the retail pharmacy that the consumer goes to to receive the drug. in the middle is a pharmacy benefit manager who contracts manufacturers for drug prices and works with distributors to get drugs to retail pharmacies and the negotiates price. and manages drugs to some degree for efficiency, what is on the

formulary, negotiates rebate, so there's a lot going on there. of the middleman is easier said than done. the pharmacyust benefit manager at being the issue whether a facture of being the issue or the retail pharmacy. it is the supply chain in general that needs to be overhauled. there are roles for everybody, but different from what they are today. specifict only want stakeholders within the supply chain is probably not going to solve the problem. look up supply chain starting with the patient first with the physician and working our way back. what should that experience be? 20% to 30% of drugs do not get built between the physician's office and the pharmacy because of a number of issues. sticker shock when a consumer

goes to the pharmacy. notorization that was followed mandatory generic -- that was not followed. mandatory generic substitution. we need to start with patient and the physician, and the physician is the one prescribing the drug to bring transparency on price, options, prior authorizations, and everything right to the office so the patient is completely understandable about what their cost will be, whether the drug is going to be covered, what their options are, and drive the process working backwards so it is the most efficient and effective from a consumer perspective as well as the lowest cost for consumer and

employers. it is a supply chain challenge. -- george is next from florida. caller: good morning, thank you for taking my call. this is a second time i've called in to c-span because of health care. i have lived for the past 45 my -- i austria and get am on the national healthcare there and i have a question. discussing all of the variables in the health care system here, i have to say it sounds like a lot of gobbledy gook. the health care system in austria works wonderfully well. i pay for anything, five dollars, for any medicine. when my wife was working in one

of the universities, i is to bring her drugs over because they cost to seven times that h ere -- here in the states. i am wondering if any of these groups looking at health care, how much they have studied the countries where works really well. host: thanks, george. are always looking that other countries and models and trying to figure out why -- what they do differently. the fact that the u.s. pays the premium for innovation and other western countries is a problem it. it was something on the list that the administration was looking to work on. we do want to new treatments, new therapy is, that will extend lives and cure disease, but

should the u.s. be paying the premium for all of the animation is one question on the table. when it comes to different models versus the u.s. system, part of the challenge is how those systems grew up. in the u.s., health care started as an employer benefit. t is hard to just flip that to a universal coverage system like the u.k. or canada because of where we came -- what we are coming out of. when we look like things for medicare for all, employers are systemhealth care not because they want to be but because it is the most efficient, effective way relative to anything else within the u.s.

when we think about medicare for , we need toloyers fix health care -- me to fix medicare in order to fix health care. fix medicare before we talking about moving everybody and and not just focus on access again. we are focusing on access with medicare for all but we need to focus on fixing the delivery system and financing. let's start with medicare and then consider a move to medicare for all. i think we have challenges when at other systems and we say, why can't we just do a an austrian system? it is a hard move from where we are today to that. we did not grope in this country with that type of models what makes it harder to make the transition. health.org marcotte,

the website, thanks for your time. guest: you are welcome. host: another discussion, the future of short-term health care policies. a discussion on that with grace-marie turner. we will be right back. >> tonight at 8:00 p.m., former president barack obama delivers the annual mandela lecture and johannesburg, south africa. >> it is not mean we have to abandon our unique, ethnic, and national identities.

but he did not stop being proud of his tribal heritage. he did not stop being proud of being a black man and a south african. can bebelieved that you proud of your heritage without denigrating those of a different heritage. [applause] >> on thursday at 8:00 p.m. eastern, activists address the u.s. conference of mayors. the feelingexplain you have during a school shooting. anxiety of of uselessness, of not being able to do absolutely anything, there's only one other place where i felt that. the united states congress. it might sound like a funnier mark but it is no joke. i've spoken with legislators across the board. senators, representatives, mayors. is one single person

confident that one thing can be done about the 17 people who died in my school and the many others who have died since. >> watch on c-span, c-span.org, and listen on the free c-span radio app. c-span were history unfolds daily. c-span was created as a public service by america'a cable television companies. you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events in washington dc and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. "washington journal" continues. host: joining us now, grace-marie turner from the g alen institute. hello. guest: hello.

host: can you remind people institute anden the policies you take when it comes to health care? guest: we specialize in health policy and we particularly look for ideas and policy recommendations that restore control, and medical decisions to doctors and patients. host: we saw from the administration this idea of a short-term health plan. how are these plans defined? guest: they have to be called technically short-term limited duration health plans. people think of them as temporary insurance, i am calling it the new freedom option, but these are plans that have been around to help people between jobs, they need a bridge policy. starting ane is small business that does not have job-based health insurance for its company but needs to protect himself and his family.

body retiring early, 62 or 63 and they are not eligible for medicare yet, so they need a bridge plan. a longere in place for time in the obama administration decided to limit the short-term plans to three months and could not be renewed. the administration last week expanded the eligibility for these plans back to a year, which is where it was before. littleople may need a more help so we are going to let them be renewed for up to three years. this is up to the states whether or not they decide to allow these plans to be sold in their state. this was never a federal authority and the administration that the obama

administration deny have authority to regulate these plans. they are returning it to the states with the old authority and the new availability. the higher premiums, hired a bowles, whether if you are in or employerlan plan, and what is the value to those types of features? guest: the estimate is that these plans are going to cost 50% to 80% less than insurance that is available now. these are to the individual and small group markets only. these plans have been so much more expensive over the last several years than they were before. premiums have doubled in the individual market since the took a factare law and what is happening is a lot of people are being driven out. a state senator from virginia spoke at an event we did recently and he read and imo from one of his constituents. it said, i am trying to protect

my family and my healthcare policy now costs half of my income, what am i supposed to do? well, this is going to give him an option. give him an option for a plan that costs less so we can stay insured. are people who, most of the 2 million people who they believe will be eligible for peoplelant -- plans, have dropped out of the markets. madison's premiums of really exploded and deductibles and this gives them a different option. it is something they can afford, and there will be a myriad of different plans. the crucial thing is they do not have to abide by all of the aca benefits and mandates rules for

y people c -- mandates rules. -- policies have to be very explicit about what they cover, that they are renewable, and a lot of consumer protections that are not currently available in the aca. you can buy a policy that will guarantee that your premiums 1, 2,ot increase over the 3 years. even if you get sick, so there are new consumer protections, option for it is an people, maybe 2 million people will find this attractive, but it will help senator reid's constituents. host: if you currently receive ,ca insurance, (202) 748-8000 if you receive employer-based insurance, (202) 748-8001, if

you are uninsured, (202) 748-8002, all (202) 748-8003. chuck schumer described the plans, it will repeal protections on pre-existing conditions and allow insurance companies to cover fewer benefits. these new short-term plans are nothing short of junk insurance and dangerous for americans. democrats will do everything in our power to stop this. guest: there have been a lot of different organizations forcing support for this. position groups thatn will provide access to primary care for a relatively low monthly premiums of people can get their immunizations, if their child gets sick, and they can go to their primary care

doctor but they know they have coverage of something major happens. consumers are a lot smarter about health insurance than they ago.four or five years this is going to give them a new option. not junk insurance. it has more consumer protections than the aca in getting people the opportunity to renew these plans at the same premium over the life of the policy. likelihoodis the that younger people on the aca would leave those plans for affectlans and further the stabilization of the aca plans? guest: a lot of young people have already been driven out because of so many reasons are forced to pay so much more across subsidizing older and sicker people, they have dropped out. we want them back in. a lot of them are not in the market. this is going to be attractive to them.

before the aca, young person to be insured for $50 or $75 a month. for a lot of young people, that gives them that protection. i think the most important it givesf this is that people more option to currently feel -- that currently feel they get nothing. aca and theythe get a subsidy, they are going to stay where they are. this is an option for those people who cannot afford insurance, who have dropped out, and one insurance for their friends and family. host: in oklahoma on our line for others, hello. caller: yes, good morning. listen, i am a proud austrian american i was born and raised in austria.

let me tell you something, if the american think tanks only ever would not go ahead and look at the english or the canadian profiles for health insurance and would study how it works in austria, and it is not just employer-based, however, yes, everyone pays into it. meaning i am fox, a proud senior, 66 years young or old, it does not matter. in austria, we do preventive medicine. 'am, ifse think tanks, ma you only would have worked with the obama administration -- i have to have cataract surgery for both eyes. eye, i was amongst the uninsured because i cannot afford because that is how it was.

i could not afford the employee health insurance so i dished out $2000 out of my own pocket, then, i waited until i qualified until i was old enough to qualify for the obama andth insurance came out, glory be, my beautiful president for thell i paid was x-rays for $145. the rest was under the affordable health care act. host: thank you for the explanation. nk that one of the things you experienced is that people need to have health insurance and i think that is what this does. it gives people health insurance that were shut out of the market. to your point at looking out of the systems in other countries, a lot of us has studied those systems and we are getting ready to have a debatable for the 2020 presidential election over

whether we want a larger role of the federal government in providing and paying for health care and health coverage. provideer we want to people with more options that work for them and really get this market working to better in the health sector. i think you are forecasting the debate we are likely to be of whether or not we build on the system we have that people foroice for high-quality health care or whether or not we moved to the system with a larger government role. host: from washington dc, brian is next. caller: good morning. great conversation i will -- great conversation. are is two things that republican party finding the obamacare to be a nightmare is every republican voted themselves off of the employee health care on to obamacare. this also sounds like cobra to

me. as an employer, i've been paying into cobra for years, how is this different? and can you give an example of how what a deductible would look like for a family of four who decides to sign up for what sounds like cobra to me? thank you. guest: that is very insightful. the policy that allows people to take their employer insurance when they leave their employer and continue to pay the premiums themselves but to keep the employer insurance and those policies are generally available for up to three years. that was the benchmark of the trump administration used in determining how long the short term limited duration plans could be renewed for. it is like cobra, but many people find that cobra insurance is extraordinarily expensive and

the two many people -- and too many people cannot afford it. we believe these options are going to be an affordable option who either do not have the option of cobra insurance or cannot afford it. to your point about members of congress voting themselves, basically exempting themselves for obamacare, a majority of members said they did not agree with that. find that they also felt that members of congress should not get a special deal, and they and their staff are in the individual market with everybody high premiums because few of them are eligible for subsidies. host: the elements of the plans include that the short-term plans do not have to cover

health benefits that workforce under the aca and under prescription drugs, they do not have to it cover those. how would that affect people? felt it was aople rolls-royce plan that they could not afford. sellplans may short-term plans that are very comprehensive and others may be more limited. the important thing is that consumers are going to know up front, what does this coverage going to provide? how my protecting myself and my family? so they can make those decisions. instead of the government. 28 million people are still uninsured. if this helps to million, that is progress. saying that the

standard silver plan under the aca averages about $481 a month or a-year-old non-smoker, a short-term plan made caused others little as $160 according to some estimates. guest: yes, it may. and some people were paying much higher premiums and there will premiums that were less than the $160, but it gives people an option as a bridge for coverage and when there are other options do not work for them. host: oklahoma city, our line for uninsured. steve, hello. caller: hi. i am extremely disappointed in the conversation regarding health care. the last individual was with a galenss organization, the institute that is the current guest on represents basically

one of those free-market people. all of the solutions for our health care are going to center around profit and greed. exactlyok back, that is why we have the health care situation we have now. too much greed in the system. we look around the world, everybody is doing it much cheaper, they are living longer, and they are happier. that is what the survey showed. president trump ran on getting wall street lobbyists out of washington, but he did the opposite. administration is chock-full of wall street and lobbyists. guess what? he has delivered on affordable health care, he has not started negotiating drug prices for people on medicare part d, and savingsw big thing as a health care savings

account when your average american does not have $500 in the bank. medicare for all, get on board. as i said earlier, that as of the bait that is coming and i think people feel as you do very strongly about not having a private sector engaged --would just tell you engage. i would tell you that i a lot of innovations come from the private sector. if they had more options to meet consumer needs rather than oflow so many dictates washington, that is going to be an important debate to have in the future. is important for consumers to be able to understand upfront to what their options are, what they are going to be paying, and making sure they have options that work for them.

when everybody is in the same federal system, it is going to be really hard for individual needs to be met. that debate is coming. host: there is a bloomberg story today saying that starting next year, private insurers that provide coverage to 20 million seniors are going to get power to negotiate over drugs. what is that due for the consumer who needs these drugs? guest: that was one of the points that steve made about part d, and there was an announcement yesterday that was allowing medicare advantage plans to integrate their drug coverage with those drugs , which areer part b usually the drugs that are infused that require a doctor

hospital to administer. d are drugs that you pick up at your local pharmacist, to be able to have more negotiation on those drugs, and more importantly, to have savings passed along to consumers. -- weed about one of talked earlier about the middlemen. the middlemen capture the savings and the seniors or whoever is purchasing wind up paying the same amount. the new rule is to require that the savings have to be passed along to seniors. the prescription drug plan ideasly had 138 different that they solicited information about. i think you're going to see over regular year or two, announcements about specific,

targeted, surgical approaches to this larger problem to make sure we continue the innovation that lso giveely on, but a people relief that they feel from high prescription drug prices. host: stephen san diego, california. caller: hi. hospitalently in the and had great care from my employer. what a lot of it is is that people distrust the special interests as it is turned into a political football like the immigration issue. a large think that is part of the problem. people feel powerless. they are told in many counties in united states, people have a choice of one carrier if they are looking for an individual --

they want more choices, more control. told of the benefits packages that their insurance covers. maybe they do not want to have the benefits. maybe they are the 63-year-old retiree that does not want to maternity coverage in their package. giving people more options, i think it is the powerlessness and the lack of understanding of where the money is going. why does health care cost so much? to haveoptions and consumer power in reducing the cost of health insurance? i see the guy who is leading this effort to provide more health insurance options for suree, but also to make prescription drug prices are lower at the direction of the president.

to theime i talk president, what are you doing to get prescription drug prices weekly,he is delivering daily different options to get the system working. host: the concern about this types of plans is the marketing. -- the commissioner for concerned thats some would try to market the short-term plans as comparable to aca plans and the story adding that she revoke the licenses of eight brokers for deceptive marketing. guest: she is got the power, good for her. the rule that came out last week explicitly says that when these policies are sold, they have to be up front with consumers and even more than the what the policies cover and what they offer, and what they do not cover or offer. buyer beware. will be able to be

more informed and required under this role to make sure they have the information. host: grace-marie turner from the galen institute joining us for this conversation. this is from texas, don, hello. caller: hello. thank you for having me on. i have had a ca for three years -- aca for three years now. andent from $400 a month, last year was $236 a month on the same insurance. and i called to renew it and they said, you do not have to pay anything. it does help me get to my especiallyvider and six the dollars compared to my primary provider which is $20. took theine, they

prescription co-pay which is $500 or $600, and once you pay that, the presc -- medication was cheaper but this moved the co-pay deductible over to the regular deductible, so you're the pay , out-of-pocket which i will never do in a year. it does have some benefits and i'm not paying anything for it. what happened, i do not know. but the insulin is expensive and i just had a cataract surgery, and luckily, i got the credit. i got care credit and it paid $2000 upfront for the surgery because i -- eye doctors are the only doctors i have ever seen that want their money first. host: thank you for your story.

you are suspect, don, eligible for subsidies to be able to offset the cost of your health insurance premiums. those numbers fluctuate every year, so i am glad you have coverage, i am glad it is working for you. there are changes every year to these plans, but the people we are talking about with the short plans are primarily those who are not eligible for subsidies. they cannot afford the full cost of the health insurance even at you maylars a month, have had some subsidy, the subsidies have increased, maybe your income is changed, maybe the coverage offerings have changed, but i am glad you have coverage. we are talking about the people who are shut out of the market to need insurance, who can it, but cannot

afford the full price. host: in maryland. hi. caller: thank you for taking me call -- my call. i ame three ideas that sure someone else thought up and i am curious. retainer so care on that people save for future needs the odd what is currently done with a flex savings account which expires in a year, but maybe go on for three years, 10 years. ra until new insurance is , a fund where each fund has the same amount of money and it's that they are broken up so the more frequent costs such as diabetes or daily medication is in one fund, and the expensive procedures are in another fund,

everybody still has the money they need but it is categorized. and conditions that contribute to like pepsi-cola, coca-cola to diabetes care. and is adjusted for c-span, some kindplease have of competition among high school they can replace your theme music when you're changing between sessions. host: [laughter] thanks. guest: you are talking about the medical care on retainer and there are a lot of different ways that can be done but the one i mentioned earlier was a new system of care call direct primary care. these are individual physicians,

havey medicine doctors who decided not to participate and insurance but instead to charge patients a monthly fee or order to in provide them a full range of care. medications, immunizations, somebody there that could be your advocate for more serious medical intervention, and no most everybody has a catastrophic plan that has these plans, but it may cost as little as $10 a for a child to be on this plan. a lot of people find they can save money by having a direct primary care physician working with them and then insurance policy. and that is what you are talking about in the third piece as well.

i think your ideas are really good ones and the cobra extension, that is basically short limited duration plan is built on. do not havee who the option of taking their job-based health insurance with somethrough cobra to have of the same benefit to buy a much more affordable policy that comply with soo comply many benefits they cannot afford and be able to have that for up to three years until they can find a more stable situation going forward. host: there was a story in the "new york times" yesterday that highlights the fact that a governor in maryland says that limited health care plans cannot be extended or renewed. in vermont, governor there eliminating those plans and are subject to approval.

a limitetting as well, and anybody who is eligible to buy, rent of insurance through the aca. guest: the whole point of this is to give states more options. about six states and our most also, survey, new york they do not allow the short-term limited duration plans to be extended for any longer than the obama administration three-month rule. but i think they may be hearing from their constituents. friends and relatives in other states find this option helpful in these relatively limited circumstances where they need bridge policies. a lot of these people are people who are shut out of the individual market. they cannot afford health insurance. giving them this option will bring them back in rather than

having them outside the market going there and increasing the number of 20 million people without health insurance. states have this option. not the solution to everything. we still need congress to act. congress needs to pass legislation that helps more people. this is something to the administration can do but much more needs to be done with legislation. i would love to be invited back to talk about a plan we have developed called the health care choices plan, the website health reform2018.org. host: what is a key feature of that plan? guest: given the authority of the states to be able to figure out what works for their state. federal rules are just too

difficult, they want to turn the over to the states to make sure they provide support for people who are currently getting moredies, but they have flexibility to cover more people and to begin to give people affordable options, this would be one of them, but let the states make that decision, provided they have a much better idea. every governor we have talked to says, how can we get more power more authority. we need more resources but we also need more flexibility. ,ne of the things they could do isk to our earlier caller, provide a separate fund to support people that pre-existing conditions, high risk, chronic illnesses, whose premiums are now driving up the coverage .osts for everybody else

let's make sure they get extra subsidies so they get the coverage they need but everybody else does not have to subsidize those costs to the point of dropping out of the market. -- this is mason from is from mason -- this is mason from ohio. caller: they it would taking my call i appreciate it. of outcomes, do you or your organization believe in when it comeslth to viewing health care and health insurance? guest: profits or health? i actually believe that if there were incentives for more companies to offer more creative plans that could help aggregate who have diabetes, love chronic conditions, and provide care,ially good i think we could wind up with

better care, private companies engaged, and do things for federal government does not have the resources to do. i support the profit motive as an incentive for companies to do a better job in providing people with more options and better quality care. al who is under the aca from missouri. caller: yes. to ask the young lady that when they took the tax cut and past it, -- and passed it, and now they want to cut medicare and social security, why don't they put it back? that is all we want. guest: i have not seen any proposals to cut medicaid or social security. [laughter] president trump has been pretty clear that those social safety net programs are going to continue to exist. the challenge is going forward because these programs are

putting huge strains on federal and state taxpayer budge. wing to figure out how we can be more creative, innovative, and make sure people get the benefits they earned and paid for but do this and a way that is more efficient. protectink we need to those programs, but in thatcting those programs, may very well down the road mean we have to make changes to them so they are sustainable. host: we have about a minute and a half left. james from indiana. r of verys. turne attractive face of wall street. america ranks 39 out of 40 and the world for health care systems. of 120 million

americans that are on our underinsured. are pouring into canada prescription medications. how dare you sit there and represent wall street. believe in helping doctors and patients and consumers to get better choices and improving health care. the world health organization number has been highly, highly discredited in not representing the quality of health care in the united states. there are many people who are underinsured, we want to give you more options to be able to have coverage that you could afford, but the private sector is so much better able to offer a myriad of choices than one government, centrally controlled program. host: galen institute

grace-marie turner serves as the president, and we thank you for your time. guest: thank you. comesanother it edition at 7:00 tomorrow morning, we will see you then. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] ♪ here's a look at our live coverage today. at noon eastern, a discussion on recent civil unrest in nicaragua. journalists debate the limits of freedom of speech and whether it protects offensive speech. in association for education

journalism and mass communication is hosting the event. the senate returns a week from today to debate judicial nominations and 2019 federal spending. the house remains at a district work period throughout the month. watch the house live on c-span and the senate on c-span2. tonight, at 8:00 p.m. eastern, barack obama delivers the annual mandela lecture in johannesburg, south africa. >> does not mean we need to abandon our identities. never stopping proud of tribal heritage -- he didn't stop being proud of being a black man, a south african.

he believes you can be proud of your heritage without denigrating those of a different heritage. [applause] >> on thursday at 8:00 p.m. eastern, youth activists addressed the u.s. conference of mayors. >> i can't explain the feeling you have during a school shooting. one thing i can relate it to, being's idea of uselessness, -- the anxiety of uselessness. there's only one other place i felt that. the united states congress. it's no joke. i've spoken with legislators from across the board, senators, and nottatives, mayors, one single person is confident that one thing can be done about the 17 people who died at my school and the many others who have died since. >> watch on c-span, www.c-span.org, and listen on the free c-span radio app.

tv,his weekend on book author interviews from this year's freedom test conference in las vegas. saturday at 3:20 p.m., vicki discussing her book, "failure: the federal miseducation of america's children." robert pool with "rethinking american highways: a 21st century vision for better infrastructure." sunday at 1:00 p.m. eastern, "in order to live: north korean girl's journey to freedom." walter with "space capitalism: how humans will colonize planets, moons and asteroids." the fall ofgoogle: big data and the rise of the block chain economy." charles discusses "profit motive: what drives the things we do." watch this weekend on c-span2's

book tv. on the rolescussion of civil society in u.s. foreign-policy. more specifically speakers provided recommendations aimed at improving workforce diversity, inclusion and equity in the foreign policy sector. alex johnson moderates the event. >> good afternoon. let's get this level appropriate. welcome to building the bridge for inclusive foreign policy in a civil society, leading by example. follow on social media using the hashtag,