washington post -- washington journal, an author joins us. quart talking about her book "squeeze: why our families cannot afford america." [video clip] >> to see what we were doing over here and i am very impressed with these folks. we have gotten a lot of communication through the white house, but i wanted to see it firsthand. iraqt: president trump in yesterday after his first visit with troops stationed overseas. the first lady and the president landed in washington a couple of hours ago. the president has been criticized for not making the trip earlier. this morning, we will hear from -- militaryurrent only. in the eastern part of the country, 202-748-8000. mountain and pacific,

202-748-8001. join us on twitter @cspanwj and facebook -- facebook.com/cspan. good morning to you all. we will get started with your phone calls with active and retired military only. thepresident talked about strength of the u.s. military. [video clip] >> i think i am probably more hawkish than anybody. i also like to use it in the right place. frankly, i like not using it at all and one of the things we are doing is we are building the greatest force we have ever had -- we have ever had. we have never had a force like we are building. we have the best people to start off with. by doing what we are doing, hopefully we won't have to use it. there is nobody that believes more strongly in having a powerful military than i do and

we are respected once again in the world and that is nice to see. our military was seriously depleted when i took office. seriously depleted. it wasn't bad shape and very soon it will be in phenomenal shape. host: that was the president yesterday and you can see the first lady next to him. they left christmas night and landed in iraq. there was a lot of secrecy surrounding the trip and where he and the first lady had gone and the president talked about flying over europe and landing electronics on the airplane for security reasons and the president greeted by the new york times saying a crowd of about 100 servicemen and servicewomen, several wearing red "make america great again" caps.

he and missus trump spent 15 minutes talking with the troops and he talked to reporters and gave a speech to the troops who gathered. he posed for selfies and shook hands as well. this morning, active and retired military only. some have criticized the president for not making this trip earlier in his tenure and his decision to pull out of syria. secretary -- defense secretary matus resigning over that decision. the outgoing chair of the senate foreign relations committee, bob corker of tennessee -- here is what he had to say about the president's foreign policy and military decision. >> i think what has happened, for five months ago i noticed a real change and i don't think -- i doubt there is anybody that really can -- i think the

president has felt, i have got this now. input from people like this is less relevant for me. i think we are in a whole different period when you've got secretary pumpout -- secretary and -- general mattis like a decision tweeted out about syria. i think you are at a place where we are beyond that. devastating decisions are being made even with people giving input in the opposite direction. can.e done as much as i as a senator, i am leaving soon to point out all the problems with this type of decision-making. we are in something that is incredibly sober as it relates

to syria and possibly afghanistan coming soon. i am hoping the president will make decisions that are not ultimately devastating. host: that was the outgoing tennessee from tennessee who has been chairing the foreign relations committee. we are asking active and retired military, what is your view of him? the president just returned from visiting our troops in iraq and germany. he stopped at a base in germany for refueling and spoke with of the troops were about an hour. "we have incredible people representing our country, people that know how to win." bradley byrne from alabama, great gesture from potus to visit with our troops overseas. i am glad president trump is with our troops. i understand a sacrifice our men and women undertake, including not being with family during the

holidays. ralph norman saying thank you, president trump and first lady, for visiting our troops overseas . we are beyond grateful for our courageous men and women. carl in portland, oregon, retired military. what do you think of the president? caller: i am making my opinion about politicians in america. host: okay. amazing hows very all of these congressmen and our fear oftatives have a our president. let's take our troops out of syria. i hardly heard any kind of when our military bond, i hardly saw any

reaction -- that's all i have to say. host: mr. trump ran for presidency in 2016 on a platform of bringing home the troops. it was proud of -- part of a broader strategy of ending two decades of american military interventions. criticized as costly and ineffective. the united states still has 14,000 troops in afghanistan and 2000 in syria. while the number of casualties is a fraction of what it was during the two previous administrations, the fact american troops are still on the ground in the case of afghanistan, 17 years, a test to -- difficulty of extracting the headline in the world news

action -- mr. trump made three hour visit -- the president received a standing ovation from the troops and posed for selfies and signed several red make america great again hats service members bought. the president defended his move to pull out the troops in syria. mr. trump came under criticism for not visiting troops in war zones. surprise visits of commander-in-chief have been a hallmark of thes -- commander-in-chiefs have become a hallmark of the holiday season. president bush and obama always received warm receptions from the forces as they dished out holiday meals, shook hands, and rallied troops, spending holidays away from their families.

mr. trump was criticized for not visiting an american military burial site in france last month . and later for not going to arlington national cemetery for veterans day. mr. trump told the troops despite the plans to withdraw from syria, there are no similar plans for iraq where the u.s. has more than 5500 troops and any move would likely be fraught by past u.s. decisions in iraq as the islamic state rose up after troops left in 2011. let's go to frank in tulsa, oklahoma. retired from the military, what is your view of the president? caller: my view is he is president. he was a duly elected president. we put him in office because he was different and was going to offer us things that were different. like you said, he is going to pull out of syria. the deep state hates him because

he is going to expose their corruption. states was turned into a homosexual nation under obama and nobody squeaked. host: why would you make that statement about president obama? caller: because of the big changes that have been happening in america in my lifetime. i am almost 70 years old. i was brought up under hike -- -- who was a kind and dental gentle man. host: that makes no sense and has nothing to do with that statement you just made. let's move onto michael in alabama. what is your view of the president? president view of the

, i am glad he made it over to visit the troops. i am retired military and my son is serving in the military and i think this is a long time coming for him to go over and see some of the things we go through. was longer.rip i would like to wish all the troops a merry christmas and a happy new year and hope they all come home when it is time to come home to help keep our country safe whether it is here were over there. , societyast caller changes over time, it is not what president obama or we don't look -- at them as republicans and democrats. we look at them as the

presidency and serving the united states. host: your son, you said he is serving right now? caller: he is a marine. i am retired air force and he spent three years in college and decided he wanted a change and joint the marine corps. he is going to get over to japan in another month. host: have you spoken with him about this president? what is his view and what was his view of defense secretary matus to resign? -- caller: with my son, we talk regularly and one thing i always asked him was to keep his views to himself. is -- he is like me,

the president is the president and the president has support and all we can do as military officers andthe generals, we are looking for them to be that wall and stand up along with the secretary of defense to help make those decisions of where we are and where we are going to be. -- ifew is going against it's going against the country --the advice of leadership he did the right thing because he brought the attention of what is going on even more focus to the people who don't follow politics every day. i am of very political person. i know how i lean. i keep my views to where they are respectable and i think that is the difference we are

starting to see. agree with some of the things the president -- say the wall. i understand we need security. i understand as times change read i will cut it short. people are trying to come here, i understand what is going on. we need a safe and secure way to welcome immigrants to the united states. we understand with this economy that is going on right now, we need immigrants to come in. not just educated immigrants, we need every day workers. host: i will leave it there. retired military and his son currently serving. with matus leaving the pentagon -- mattis leaving the pentagon, is dunford next to go?

tobelieve it is right for me step down after citing the personal importance after 40 years of military service. --ford has also repeatedly this is the chairman of the joint chiefs -- general joseph dunford repeatedly stressed the importance of alliances to protect interest as china and russia rise and emphasized broad forces whokurdish have been crucial in the u.s. campaign against the islamic state. the president addressed that decision to withdraw from syria to the troops in iraq. [video clip] iraq can do things from that can take over some of the slack. i told the generals about a year and a half ago. i said, let's get out of syria.

they said, can we have more time? i said yep, you have got to get out of syria. syria, let's get out of and bring our young people home and they said, can we have 6 more months? have 6 more months. they said, can we have 6 more months? i said, yep. they said again recently, can we have more time? i said, you cannot have any more time. we have knocked them out, knocked them silly. i had very good talks with president erdogan who wants to knock them out, too. we are in their region and we should be sharing the burden of cost and they are not. they will go into places like turkey and russia and iran and

iraq, lots of other places. these people will have to do their own work and paying for it because the united states cannot continue to be the policeman of the world. we want to protect our country. host: president trump yesterday in iraq at an air force base describing his decision to reporters. the new york times has a question and answer full-page report in their newspaper about what this means. syria faces brutal future dominated by russia and iran. towardforces rolling territory the americans will soon abandon. israel is bombing iran and russia could soon -- the syria the united states military is vacating is a

version of the country that plunged into a calamitous civil war years ago. i ran and russia will be freer to select power in syria. -- leading a repressive government puppeteer by russia and iran. both countries are long time allies. rescuing him with russian airpower and -- they have embedded themselves even further. -- led by saudi arabia for influence set tens of thousands of iranian and proxy fighters to syria. building shrines and strengthening malicious it hopes to use as leverage against israel. russia holds sway over the foreign policy military services. that is part of the price moscow

exacted for having protected assad. we are hearing from active and materially -- retired military only. your view of president trump. let's go to larry. go ahead. served 30 years for this government. 20 in the united states marine corps. i don't have respect for the man. i know what russia did to help with the emails. i have no respect for the guy. when he says we cannot be the police of the world, we have to be. if we vacate that area, his buddy, russia will be there. i really cannot trust the guy. when he makes america look ignorant. i am from san diego.

paid $1.2 million for a tunnel to go to the mexican airport so people can get out without going through the airport. 50% of the people who came here in an airplane. the other thing. host: let me go back to your comments about russia taking over and having a foothold in syria. what do you think the ramifications of that are for the region? back toit really goes religion, unfortunately. ende people really want to the world. i think the only reason we are in iraq for 17 years is because we are afraid they are going to put nuclear bombs in the oil back out of cannot being police. we have to take control.

we have oil and drug money going crazy. there is a lot of things going on the american people just don't know. unfortunately, the person that does know a lot is putin. i see a lot of things trump does to help this man. we cannot trust russia. they are not our friends. host: putin to deploy new hypersonic missile system. a successful test escalates arms race with united states. the russian president announced the impending deployment of a nuclear capable missile he claims will invade american defenses worldwide, upping the ante of a growing arms race with washington. moscow worked for years on the system. mr. putin boasted the russian military successfully tested the system with missiles that fly at

20 times the speed of sound. to render all missile-defense systems obsolete. moscow continues to test the western resolve with acts of aggression. -- underscored his desire to position russia as a leader in the global military stage. the new york times reporting because of his decision in syria, russia telling those in the region the united states cannot be relied upon to help lead in the area. john in louisiana. what do you think? >> brian lamb -- he and i graduated purdue at the same time. i like the president. he is plainspoken. is he always right? no. is he always wrong?

no. no human being is. i will judge what i think of his presentations and make that decision myself. -- he iseed somebody not doing that. i don't care about that area die am not into social media, so i will not comment. i don't do it, so it doesn't concern me. that's why i watch c-span. i like to watch views from a lot of places. i support him. he is doing good for the military. 26 of my 28 years involved in being ready to fight a global nuclear war. it is a changed world. the point about the religions is a big thing. i like it because the -- he is frank for it i would rather have somebody saying what they think

then not saying anything, but doing something they don't know what it is what they are doing. this old 75-year-old warrior likes him. host: what military decisions have you agreed with and are there any you disagreed with? caller: i agreed with getting the military robust again. for 8 years, it was in a point of decay. it did not get the assets and the resources to stay current and robust before they could react to things. i support 100% his efforts to get the military the money they need to do the job the constitution says they shall do. i like that. his decision like we are going to pull out of syria. that is not going to happen instantly.

he cannot make it happen overnight. i support like the secretary of defense. if you don't like what the boss is doing, step aside. that is a natural thing and it doesn't bother me in the least. he wants people that support him. so did the last president. it is made out like it is chaos or something. four went through secretary of defenses because he finally got the fourth one that would sign off on releasing prisoners from gitmo. no big deal, that is his position. that is his job area die don't get wrapped around the axle about stuff like that. host: gary in fletcher, north carolina. also retired. we are talking to active and retired military.

your view of president trump as he makes his first trip to see troops in war zones. overhead, gary. military, ig in the have always considered the presidents to be commander-in-chief more than presidents. since you put this program on this morning, i realized where i got my viewpoints from. being in the military, we serve the commander in chief don't care who it is. toswear and of -- an oath honor that person. as far as him going over to visit troops, that is really good. hime young men are seeing and you see how happy they are and i feel like they share the viewpoint i have. as far as taking people out of syria, boots on the ground is obsolete at this point.

we have drones and eyes on the sky and can see what is going on. boots on the ground are easy to take out with i.e.d.'s. warfare has changed. he is changing with that. i have given him a chance with the economy. i am willing to give him a chance on this decision. it is kind of different because he is the first one to not be the police men of the world kind of guy and that is different for us and hard to comprehend. a lot of people in washington are being thrown off and times are changing. littledy has a apprehension. he has not been bad so far. i will watch to see what happens. host: when and where did you serve? caller: i served in navy. i was in san diego and the philippines in the 1970's.

hostages in iran and jimmy carter was president. he was my commander-in-chief and i remember worrying about that when ships were -- making ships movement, we did not know where we were going or what was going to happen. we thought it was the end of the world then. president backing out and waiting to see what happens, it's not like we can't go back if something goes wrong. ingrained in stone. it is a chess game and things are always moving. i am not going to be overly concerned or worried. he has information we don't have. think he has available

information we don't know. we should not judge from our seats. we don't sit in a war room and hear briefs by the cia. we don't have the information he has on the inside. host: all right. some of his -- and those in his own party have been critical of his decisions, including bob corker. including pat toomey was on a sunday's meet the press and here is what he had to say about defense secretary mattis' resignation. >> i think he has views that are distinct from a vast majority of republicans and democrats elected and unelected. i think the president does not paxe my view that the americana of the postwar era has been good for america.

it has been good for the people i represent and it has taken a commitment of leadership and the ability and willingness to project force at times. mostly as enteromedics points out, it is cultivating an alliance. america is rich in many, many ways. the greatest asset we have is most people around the world want to be allied with us. that gives us enormous ability -- it is a force multiplier and a great ability to achieve our goals and i don't think the president shares that view nearly to the extent the rest of us do and i think senators need to step up and reassert a bigger role for the senate in defining foreign. host: that was senator shumate -- senator toomey, his reaction and thoughts on the resignation of defense secretary mattis.

we are asking active and retired military to tell us your view of the president. rocky is in texas, retired. good morning to you. caller: good morning. i wanted to interject a comment about christmas time in the military. i don't know how many christmases i spent underwater on nuclear subs, but it was quite a few, a total of 6.5 years underwater. these guys are continually sent overseas during the christmas season. it is just normal. they do sacrifice a lot. of course, there is a lot of them that aren't. one thing i noticed you took offense at a while ago caught me off guard when the fellow made the comment about homosexuality or something like that. i noticed you seemed to take offense at that. host: i think that is an

offensive comment the way he framed it for an entire group of people. y.ller: my grandson is ga host: okay. caller: do i have to except that lifestyle or is that your opinion? say anythingot about accepting the lifestyle. caller: pardon me. i think the point the man was trying to make is except people the way they are. you don't have to accept their lifestyle. it seems as if we are getting it crammed down our throat 100 times a day through media outlets like this and we don't appreciate. much. my grandson very my niece is also gay and she works in washington, d.c. she is a phd. i know there are a lot of gay folks around washington, d.c.

that doesn't mean i have to accept his lifestyle. i was surprised you cut him off so quick. i admit, he was a little harsh. don't push my lifestyle on them or you or anybody else. i think of when we start codifying it through congress and people -- through the media, then it becomes a problem. that is what i am upset about. other than that, i am very, very in love with my grandson. i want you to understand that. host: ok. caller: i don't understand people trying to force a lifestyle down my throat when 1/10 of 1% or less of people are in that category. host: i will leave it there pretty to your first point, this is the usa editorial board. trump's visit to the troops was welcome if not overdue.

troops at war, particularly in endless, seemingly often conclude that few people, except their loved ones, are aware american servicemembers are serving in hot zones and feel their sacrifices are forgotten. from his to take time holiday home reminds them that american -- america has not forgotten. what is your view? active and retired military only. let's go to nick in el paso. caller: good morning, greta. i am retired u.s. marine corps veteran. trump. for i disagree with him on the syria policy of pulling out the troops. some of the countries like

russia, iran, north korea, china, those are the countries i despise the most. to give that ground up to them and abandoned the kurds, i don't think it was wise. i backed president obama. i did not vote for him, but i inked him on the surge afghanistan. it is like general patton said. i hate paying for the same ground twice with american blood. i hate to pay for the same ground. we are not holding ground. we are going to go straight until we defeat the enemy. war has not changed. to still need infantrymen hold the ground. that is what we have to do. we have to hold our ground. i do not trust turkey.

i do not trust syria, china, north korea. the soviet union back in the 1980's where i would train in northern norway, they were always watching us. help defendto norway. host: what branch did you serve in? caller: u.s. marine corps, ma'am. host: for how many years? caller: 20 years, ma'am, until i became disabled, ma'am. i love the marine corps. i miss the marine corps. i still keep up with it. one of my famous generals. even though i am a u.s. marine veteran, i love george patton who said "i hate paying for the same ground with american blood twice.

" i cannot believe what president obama pulling the troops out of iraq helped create. i think about the half a million people who were slaughtered and then we have to fight for the same ground again? nah. if we are going to put troops in, we will hold the ground until that country is able to stand up. host: even if it takes 17 years and more like the situation in afghanistan? caller: yes, ma'am. studied11 i have radical islam and this is not -- like president george w. pullingpresident obama the troops out, no, ma'am. then we have to go back in and fight for the same ground again. it is like what happened after world war i and world war ii

came on, ma'am. we got american troops buried in france and the philippines and all around the world. host: i understand your point. that is nick in texas, retired marine. in other news to give you an update on the shutdown extending into the 6th day, this is the "washington journal." -- this is the wall street journal. they predicted it could last into 2019. the house and senate are oneduled to convene thursday, today. mr. trump visited u.s. troops on wednesday and announces -- officials didn't announce any meetings to discuss the shutdown. no meetings so far scheduled for negotiations. vice president mike pence, incoming chief of staff mick mulvaney made mr. schumer an offer that included at least 2.5

billion dollars in border security funding. a physical wall they say is ineffective and wasteful. mr. trump said funding border security will be pointless without a wall. republicans hold a 51-49 majority, giving democrats leverage in the talks. if the shutdown last until the new congress on january 3, nancy pelosi, who is likely to regain speaker ship is expected to move quickly to pass a spending bill extending the government to february 8 with no border wall funding and send it to the senate. it would still need to be signed by the president to end the impasse. the new york times notes democrats say they have little reason to negotiate. the administration spent only 6% of the $1.7 billion advocated -- allocated for physical barriers on the border.

wast $1.3 billion designated in 20 for different types of fencing in areas that would have covered 96 miles. little spent, democrats argue congress has no business more than doubling this year's allocation. all but 70 million of the money allocated in 2018 had been committed to border security. we will see what happens today. the republican leader steve scalise, who counts the votes in the house while republicans have the majority in the remaining days of 2018 has told their members, no votes scheduled today. it looks like the impasse could continue through this weekend and into next year. back to our calls with active and retired military only. jack in kentucky.

good morning to you, jack. caller: good morning. host: you are on the air, sir. go ahead. caller: all right. i agree president trump has .elped the military i don't particularly blame the shutdown on trump. president trump is just one of the factors that caused a shutdown. congress should have passed funding bills along time ago. they should fund the government every year and not have shutdowns. that is stupid and it messes up the acquisition of weapons systems and the funding for the pentagon. as far as president trump, he never served in the military. he seems to like the military. he did say some things i did not like. senator mccain was a hero.

what he said about him was wrong. he sometimes steps on his own success. i don't think president trump will win this the way it looks because as soon we hit the new year and get the democratic house, this is behind then. kentucky, you and others are looking at a live shot of the white house. the president and the first lady flew back from iraq, making a stop in germany after they met with troops in those two countries and landed in the washington, d.c. area around 5:15 this morning coming off of air force one at andrews air force base and making their way over to the white house after that.

this is the president coming off earlier this morning with the first lady. they talked to troops for about three hours in iraq we understand and when they landed at an air force base in germany, they spent about an hour talking to troops while refueling air force one and making their way up to washington. we do not know what is on the president's schedule this morning quite yet. from the papers this morning, which were published last night, we don't know exactly, no meetings slated on this government shutdown. the huffington post has this banner headline on the website, 44,000 coast guard without pay. the washington post said coast guard members living -- huffington post said coast guard members may have to take out loans if the shutdown -- again saturday because it is funded by the department of homeland security. other branches received money

through department of defense appropriations signed into law in september. with the funding -- working without paychecks until congress and white house reach a deal to reopen the government and provide backpay. we are talking with active and retired military only. we will go to sergeant jason in louisiana, active military. good morning to you and what is your view of the president? caller: pretty much, i don't have anything good or bad. the main thing i wanted to say was the timing. the timing is overdue and i guess people don't realize this president possesses a double jeopardy risk. not only is he's -- he very wealthy, he is also the president. maybe he did not want to go.

andar as logistical support ensuring safety, that plays a key rate in our modern times, that is a double threat. he is wealthy and the president. i just had my guys come back from over there. we were in all three countries, iraq, afghanistan, syria. i am going to talk more on that. as far as the decision, wait and see. we are the greatest military in the world and like the other caller said, i don't want us to get pulled out in a bad way to where we have to retake the same land and have more of my brothers and sisters die. host: the administration saying yesterday while he is pulling troops out of syria, those stationed in iraq close to the syrian border may help out the situation by running operations out of iraq. is that effective? caller: that is exactly what we did on this last deployment.

host: so that could work? caller: it did work. my guys just came back off of deployment not even four months ago. it does work. host: can you tell us a little bit about the operations and why it worked? caller: i would like not to. guys -- we the started in iraq and we dispersed guys as far as the mission dictated as far as security was concerned and i know a couple of my own battle buddies went over there. one from our support group. other than that, it was a pretty successful mission. a wait and see. this is a moving target all the time.

we are the most logistical and moving military that we are. sergeant.an e-5 i am not a general or a bigwig. i am the closest to the guys and we are a very mobile military. i hope this is not a mistake. like the other caller said, we need -- we don't need to be paying for this same land with more of my brothers and sister'' blood. we don't know all the intel. i think everybody is all flustered, but we are a rapidly deploying military -- moving military. host: we will go on to russell in georgia, retired military. caller: hello. with in vietnam and i was

the special forces. we did quite a few things. you have to have troops embedded with the syrian troops in order to get those troops to do the stuff they need to do and when they know they have that security with them -- that they have american support behind them, they are going to work harder. you pull all the embedded troops out of syria and troops going in and out of iraq from syria -- they are not going to be able to do that job and another thing, this is not about the troops. this is about the president saying i am going to save money and show them they should give me the money for the wall because of us spending all that money into syria and other places, i can show them i saved

over $5 billion so they can give me $5 billion. that is what this is about, nothing else. host: on the coverage of the president's trip to iraq, the wall street journal editorial boat dashboard calls it the constant spin zone. his visit to american soldiers in iraq on wednesday you would think would be a straightforward event to write a report of how and when he arrived, who he visited and what he said and what some of the soldiers said. these trips have become a ritual for presidents. here the first two paragraphs of the news dispatch the washington post published on the website. they quote president trump touchdown wednesday in iraq and his first -- in his first visit to a conflict zone. visited to the air force base west of baghdad

follows months of public pressure for him to spend time with troops deployed to consulates in the middle east and punctuate the biggest week of turmoil the pentagon faced during his presidency. the wall street journal writes we admit we stopped reading, so perhaps there was news in the story. can anyone reading those opening two sentences wonder why millions of americans believe donald trump when he tells them he cannot get a fair shake for the press? they cannot get a news account without working in a compilation of mr. trump's controversies, contradictions, and failings. the point isn't to feel sorry for mr. trump, but the point is that such gratuitously negative reporting undermines the credibility of the press without mr. trump's having to say a word. to mark in seattle, who is retired. hi, mark. caller: good morning, greta. good to hear you and see you.

the guy grows on you, but this is a political move by the president. withw bush senior do this there.st war over water.n hot this is a case where these people directly work for him. go over can easily there and get some respect and honor and nobody is going to get his way. he has probably never learned to negotiate. when you are in the military, fore is no room negotiation. it is yes, sir, no, sir, or i don't understand, sir.

wall.d say give him the have some kids build it. have mexico build it while paying pesos to build it. people need jobs. don't bicker about the wall. he is like a bulldog biting into a piece of meat. he is not going to let go, it is the most important thing to him, ever. he has never been denied anything in his life that he wanted. host: we will go to georgia. raymond, who is retired. caller: good morning, greta. how are you doing? host: doing well. caller: i am retired, so i am retired first sergeant. i still get talk to soldiers. once you are first sergeant, you are always first sergeant. the problem i have is the defense authorization act, they pulled money from one source to

another and i have had soldiers come up to me now, veterans complaining about medical issues. they have already started to privatize as well as all the expenses are going up. co-pay used to be $12 and now it is $20. for the emergency room, it used to be $30 and it is $60. delivery medicine to your home used to be free and nowadays seven dollars -- now it is seven dollars per prescription. they are leaving behind the veterans who are out and retired, they need to learn how to balance. my opinion on the president, he should have been following the troops. you have always got to see the troops. they need that morality is to. he should have -- more row -- morale booster.

host: last sunday on "newsmakers ," we talked with the chairman of the senate armed services committee, james inhofe. he took over for senator mccain when he became sick as acting chair of that committee. theill retain the post for 116th congress and we spoke to him as part of our newsmakers interview. we spoke with senator grassley and senator inhofe after that. you can find it on c-span.org and he talks about his priorities for the committee. also other issues you and others might care about. yesterday, the president talked to the troops and again repeated that under his administration, troops have seen a pay raise. trump iraq troops pay raise, from -- trump boasts a fictional

pay raise. -- about he had delivered them one of the biggest pay raises you have ever received while falsely saying it was the first pay raise they received in decades. they go on to say according to the defense department, military members have seen a pay raise in each of the last 10 years ranging from 1% to 2.9%. at the last time there was not a pay increase was 1983. only because the date of the raise was moved forward from october to january. military personnel received day 2.4% raise in 2018 and it will raised by 2.6% in 2019 as a result of the national defense authorization act signed by the president in august. despite the 2% increase already being the largest in nine years, trump exaggerated the amount by nearly four times its actual worth by claiming he fought with

plenty of people for the figure and claiming troops had not received a raise in more than 10 years. that is the headline on newsweek. let's hear from robert in maryland. you are retired, your turn. go ahead. caller: i want to say you have got all these guys defending trump that are in the military and these are the suckers they see coming. trump is a bad guy. you should not follow him. he is terrible. what has he ever done? was he in the military? what did his dad do? his dad was a criminal. his dad was a slumlord. he got his money from his dad. trump would not give anybody the time of day. not anyone of us. if he walked by on the street,

he would spit at you. host: how do you know that robert? how do you think that? caller: it is fact. you can google it. his father was a criminal. a slumlord. host: about spitting on a military person. caller: trump was not in the military. he might have went to military school, he never saw combat. host: so, therefore, you don't think he has respect for the military? hasn't he shown otherwise? caller: he can say he does. that is what everyone wants to hear. host: okay. robert's thoughts. the president yesterday when he sat down with the generals in therend john bolton was and ambassadors, he had this to say about hiring a new defense secretary, nominating someone to replace outgoing defense

secretary mattis. [video clip] >> we have a wonderful man in there now. our friend, shanahan, is a good man. he is a good buyer. i wanted somebody that could buy because i am giving a lot of money and i don't want it to be wasted. when i came here, they were -- for a $4 billion aircraft character -- carrier, they were up to $16 billion. i inherited that. the cost runs all over the place. shanahan was at boeing and did a great job. he was there for a long time. boeing is a hell of a company. very successful -- responsible for the success of a certain plane and he is a respected man. he could be there for a long time. i am in no rush. everybody and his uncle once that position.

also, by the way, everybody and her aunt, just so i won't be criticized. everybody wants that position. so many people want to be. who wouldn't want to be secretary of defense? even these folks would like to be secretary of defense. who wouldn't be? he is looking over like i would like that. we have a lot of great people who want to be secretary of defense. host: president trump yesterday in iraq talking about who could possibly replace general mattis. patrick shanahan is serving and he will become the active secretary of defense when general mattis steps down january 1 and as the president he was a former boeing executive. he popped up as a surprise choice for deputy secretary of

defense and has spent the last year focusing on reforming the internal processes of the pentagon. there is a president talking about what is next for that position. in some other news, "the wall street journal" notes that the dow logged its just a daily , as didin yesterday each of the 11 factors -- 11 sectors. retailers rallied as holiday shopping data appeared robust. a nearly 9% climb in oil prices. "the new york times" saying the rise was due to the president not being on twitter and not criticizing the federal reserve chairman powell. substantial ride it -- substantial rise in crude oil and the president not

criticizing the federal reserve escaping bear territory. a specialto note report inside "the new york times" this morning. "this is our reality now. president trump has systematically undone protection for the environment over the past two years. he says they have cost jobs and heard the economy, but undoing them has a profound cost. here's how it is affecting communities across the country. several set -- the country." this section delving into the cost of rolling back regulations. here on the back page of this section, "78 environmental rules on the way out under president trump, and 11 reinstated after challenges." quite in-depth reporting in "the new york times" this morning. let's go to dave in north

carolina, retired. good morning to you. tell us what you think of the president. caller: i think he does a lot of good things. i think he does a lot of bad things. i don't agree that pulling out of syria was a good thing. i don't think firing mattis was a good thing. what they are saying about him not visiting troops during christmas, i think that is a little picky. i was in the marine corps and president reagan wouldn't come visit us. host: you think that is just a little much? caller: i think it is a little much. host: i like him generally -- caller: i think it is a little much. i like him generally. i think he's doing good things for the economy. but i don't think pulling out of syria is a good thing. here's what we are doing. we are leaving a vacuum again. host: when did you serve? caller: i served 1982 through

1990. i was with the marines. host: thank you for your service , and thanks to all of those who called in for their service, active and retired this morning. "washington back, post" reporter maria sacchetti will be here to talk about the latest in the fight over the border wall and the death of a second migrant child in u.s. custody. later on, day five of five-dayon journal's" authors series. we will talk to alissa quart about her book "squeezed: why our families can't afford america." we will be right back. ♪ five new members from minnesota join the house of representatives, including the only two republicans elected to seats previously held by democrats, the first of whom is pete stauber in minnesota's

eighth district. he was a police officer before being elected to the st. louis county commission, but early in his career he played professional hockey. he spoke with us about some of the lessons he learned from that sport. >> teamwork, perseverance, hard work is always the equalizer. for me, many people never gave me a chance to not only play let alone hockey, but professional. it was through hard work, dedication, and that drive to meet your goal. i was very fortunate. >> how long did you play professionally? >> three years. a retired due to an injury to my neck. jimuncer: jim hackett on -- hagedorn in the first district is the son of former representative tom hagedorn, and served on the congressional staff of former representative arlen stensland.

democrat energy craig is a former reporter from memphis, tennessee. in 2005d to minnesota to be an executive at st. jude medical. she's the first openly gay person elected to congress by minnesota voters. muslim woman elected to congress succeeds keith ellison. she worked in a variety of positions teaching proper nutrition and a while also being engaged in state and local politics in minnesota. that led to her election to the minnesota house of representatives in 2016. democrat dean phillips was less than a year old when his father was killed in the vietnam war. his mother later married the son of abigail van buren, who was popularly known for her "dear abby" advice column. he is now president of phillips

distilling company. new congress, new leaders. watch it all on c-span. announcer: "washington journal" continues. host: "washington post" immigration reporter maria sacchetti here to talk about immigration policy. of course we have to start with the shutdown, in day sex. where are we -- in day six. where are we on whether the president will give up on the wall? guest: the president has referred to a steel slatted wall , which is similar to what is currently at the border. the president has said he wants this money for it, and it is part of the money they need to really build the wall. it is $5 billion. estimates have gone as high as $25 billion. but there is no end in sight as of this moment. host: where does the existing wall go, and how far?

where would this part of the wall the president is talking about be built? guest: there are pieces of the wall along the border. the administration needs to shore up some of the pieces that are not very strong, and then they want to extend it. for example, there's a part in brownsville, texas where the wall just runs out in the middle of a field, and border patrol agents say it helps them where it exists, but people can just go around it. democrats have argued they are not going to give the president more money because the in ministry not spent the last allocation -- the administration has not spent the last allocation. they have spent nearly all of it on border security. does that mean the wall? where and how is it being spent? guest: the administration has invested in border security and in improving the wall and fixing parts of it where it exists now.

there is also been a lot of migrants costing -- there has also been a lot of migrants crossing the border, so that has taxed their budget. has been many more families crossing, and that has led to different kinds of expenses for the border patrol and immigrations and customs enforcement. host: what are you watching for next in this debate? guest: what the democrats will get in exchange for funding, if they even agree to that. if republicans agree to that. comeig question is daca people with temporary protected status. one million people are losing their protection to stay in the united states that have been here for years. but there are others. the democrats are taking over the house, for me as an and immigration reporter, this is an open question. host: remind people what is daca

and what is happening with those folks. guest: it is called deferred action for childhood arrivals, not the catchiest name. but it did help almost one million people who came here as children and either overstayed their visas or were brought here illegally. , that for all intents and purposes they are american, and they could lose that status. get mis-direction is still renewing it because of lawsuits, but there are people who are graduating -- the administration is still renewing it because of lawsuits, but there are people who are graduating who might not have that protection. president tweeting, "have the democrats finally realized that we need a border wall? to the democrats realize that most of the people not getting paid are democrats?" guest: about the people crossing

the border, the president characterizing them in the way he just did in that tweet, who are the people that are crossing the border? guest: for most part, the apprehensions the past couple of months have been families, parents and children and unaccompanied minors. that is a major shift from a couple of decades ago when it was mostly single men from mexico. these new groups are from central america, fleeing violence and poverty. advocates point out there risking their lives to do it. the trump administration's contention that immigrants are criminals dates before his campaign. that has been his characterization. and some have been criminals, but the vast majority -- and according to the trump administration's own reports -- are not criminals and gang members. they are coming here in search of a better life for fleeing violence. this morningdlines

on the same story. "the new york times," "migrant boy died after days adrift in immigration system." "sick migrants surge across border as diseases spread." a second child has died in custody of border patrol. what were the circumstances, and what happened? guest: this little boy, philippe felipe -- philippe a -- he had his family crossed and they were moved across the border as holding cells filled up. they were held for six days, double the time the border patrol standards recommend, even for adults. they are austere holding cells with very minimal provisions. they are supposed to be transferred to ice custody. fell very sick.

his fever spiked to 106. the hospital released him. we still don't know why. he was taken back into border patrol custody for hours, and then rushed back to the hospital and he died. host: "the washington times" says after he was released, he was given amoxicillin and ibuprofen, but his father refused more medical attention. guest: i don't know what the father's background is, but if he is not a medical professional, i think that raises questions about why the hospital released him, and also why he remained at a highway checkpoint for several hours afterward. there are big questions. there are also security questions. in fairness, the trump administration, border patrol officials and immigration and customs enforcement, have to

make sure he is not actually a criminal. that is an important part of the job. but there's real questions, to have two children die in border ,atrol custody, in any custody is as the border patrol itself put it, a tragedy. it is extraordinary in the border patrol's history. it has not happened in memory. a child has indicted more than a decade. host: what is the follow-up from the homeland security secretary? checks,he has ordered medical checks of children under 10 years old, to have an initial screening but also a secondary screening to make sure they are not sick. she's also dispatched the coast guard, which is under homeland security, to the border. , andhave a medical corps there are teams down there helping out. she will also go later this week to see the facilities herself. host: you contributed to this

front page story in "the washington post" this morning. what is this about, who it is about, and what happened? guest: the story is about a young man who came to the united states to seek asylum. he was, like many immigrants now , and also this happen under the obama administration, but now under trump as well, they are detained. host: he came from central america. guest: correct. he was detained for months as he tried to fight his case in immigration court. was pressured, according to his family, to give up. that he wasn't going to win his case. eventually he did. i listened to part of this tape of his hearing. in the beginning, his voice is soft and he's not really sure of himself, and he's afraid. by the end, the judge is saying he wants to go home.

he wants to get out of jail. the judges say and i can send you home if you say you are still afraid. soon after he returned home, he was murdered. host: by the gangs who had been threatening that they would kill him, these gangs in el salvador. guest: this is the understanding, yes. a lot of crimes are unsolved in these countries, and in this country as well, but particularly in central america. but yes, that is the understanding. his family pieced together funding to take into the united states three months after donald trump was inaugurated. let's take calls. mike is in janesville, wisconsin. independent scholar. goa -- independent caller. go ahead. caller: yes, i would like your comments on the number of people that are coming for immigration.

few years agoof a when we had a huge number of people come from guatemala, but it is nowhere near the numbers now. i don't have as much knowledge as you do, but i saw one saying on immigration where people maybe 10for asylum years ago was like 2900, and now is over 100,000. i know my figures are wrong, but do you think the people that are coming now because of the huge in relation to all the number of people from guatemala a few years back, the word is out that this is how you get into the united states? i will hang up and listen, but i would love to hear your comments. host: that is a very good question -- guest: that is a very good question because back in the 1990's into thousands, the numbers were much, much larger of border crossings.

right now we are having many more families from central america, not mexico. that is completely different. recently there was a historic high in the number of families and unaccompanied children at the border. inis notable the spike asylum, people asking for asylum. it could be because more people know about it. back in the 1990's, particularly in the 1980's, there were wars in central america. more people can apply for asylum, perhaps. but some say the spike is also a smuggling tactic because they know that the united states has followed international law and its own federal law and processes migrants differently than they would if they were just trying to deport them. shows, andfront page we had another story a few weeks ago about this issue come a some of these cases are true and some immigrants aren't entitled to free lawyers and have to defend

themselves against an immigration lawyer, and i can be very difficult to do. so sometimes immigrants are deported to their death. it is a very a student -- a very astute observation. host: i want to show viewers what homeland security secretary kristen nielsen had to say. -- today i am announcing historic measures to bring immigration of the control. effective immediately, the administration will invoke the process of the immigration and that, once act implemented, individuals arriving in our entering the united states from mexico illegally or without proper documentation may be returned to mexico for the duration of their immigration proceedings. they will not be able to disappear into the united states. they will have to wait for approval to come into the united states. a they are granted asylum by

u.s. judge, they will be welcomed into america. if they are not, they will be removed to their home country. let me be clear him a we will undertake these steps -- let me be clear, we will undertake with our the military and commitments. mexico has informed us they will commit to implement essential measures on their side of the border to facilitate this process by providing humanitarian assistance. they have announced that affected migrants will receive humanitarian visas to stay on mexican soil, begin and the ability to apply for work, and be given other protections while they await a u.s. legal determination. in the coming days we will discuss ways to ensure the implementation of our decision in a way that is transparent, effective, and ensures a safe and orderly flow. moreover, as was announced by the united states and mexico december 18, both countries are

also committed to work on a conference of plan to reduce the regular migration across the region. this is something i have spent years pursuing behind-the-scenes. i've had dozens of meetings with leaders from the northern triangle am a convenient private sector executives, and put forth proposals to address the root causes of illegal migration. we look forward to addressing illegal smuggling across the border once and for all. i cannot overstate the significance of these developments. we are taking lawful, unilateral actions to stop illegal entry now. mexico is taking its own appropriate actions in response, and our two countries have committed to a major regional plan to solve this crisis. host: maria sacchetti, what has been the response to this policy? guest: a judge has temporarily enjoined it. the judge said the way federal law works is if you cross the border or present yourself at a

legal port of entry, you should be able to seek asylum. however, there have been some developments. apparently the united states and mexico have reached a deal where mexico would house asylum-seekers and the u.s. would adjudicate them. performed -- they prefer legal ports of entry. this is all a crackdown on what the administration considers to be asylum fraud. and it is true that some people come in and ask for asylum, are given a court date, and never show up. but as you can see on the front , somef our paper today people are deported to their deaths. it is a really challenging situation with asylum. it is a life-and-death situation. host: let's hear from josh in connecticut, a republican. caller: hi.

this woman keeps talking about the people killed when they go back to their countries. is she concerned about the people killed by illegal immigrants in this country? because that is a problem. host: are there any statistics on that? guest: i've actually investigated that, when i used to work at "the boston globe." one of the issues we raised was that ice was often releasing criminals in the united states without deporting them, and without notifying their victims, who are also often immigrants. i have looked at those issues in depth, but the facts, and the trump administration's records show this, the vast majority of people crossing are not criminals. if that is the case, and these are folks coming to the united states to flee for their lives, they are also victims of crime. under federal law, they are entitled to apply for asylum. host: maria in new jersey,

independent. caller: hello. good morning to the other maria. [laughter] caller: i have three questions. please bear with me. ofelieve since 1965, only 5% legal immigration came from europe. i have relatives that are on a waiting list and they are skilled. immigration counter says there's about 30 million illegal aliens 90% areountry, and over either from mexico or other hispanic countries. i want to know why we can't just stop immigration now and see who is in our country legally. this lady says most of them are hard-working, but what happens is if you are making five dollars a day in guatemala, no matter what you are paid in america it will put you in the top 10% when they remit it. they are not vetted for disease

like our ancestors were. i think we have to stop reverse racism and keep people as individuals, and stop all immigration and check who is in the country. i would like your opinion on that. host: i will add, pew research did put together some numbers in november 2018. mexico, china, and india are top birthplaces for immigrants in the united states. these are the top five countries and the numbers in millions. close to 12 million from mexico, nearly three from china, 2.4 india, philippines almost 2 million, el salvador almost 1.5 million. guest: the question i can answer particularly is the number of undocumented immigrants. there are 40 million immigrants total in the united states, and a small fraction of them are undocumented. not small, but a fraction. it is about 11 million. some go as low as 10.

and m.i.t. study results said it could be as high as 20. some folks debated what was correct. most people go with 11 to 12 million. i think some people agree with you in that it is time to stop and take stock and see where we are with immigration because it is not just undocumented immigrants. the trump administration is trying to curtail legal immigration. they say the issue one million green cards for family immigration every year. that included president trump's in-laws, who recently became citizens. apparently that was also through family migration. but one issue with undocumented is correct that a lot of those folks did enter without inspection. many also did come in with visas and were vetted properly. but some people feel that 11 million people is the highest it

has ever been in this country, and the big question will be how you want to deal with that population. some people say it is just too big, you have to legalize that. other people think they should be deported. host: these are the metropolitan areas with the largest embers of immigrants in 2016. we will hear from rick in oregon, a democrat. caller: i am concerned about the as the way adence reasonable person makes a decision, and how some of the data is gathered. obviously you can't ask a drug dealer how much volume of drugs did you get from mexico this month and keep track of it that way. so i think there's a lot of assumption and conjecture when it comes to putting together data that is used to fearmonger. maria, how do you gather dependable or reasonably dependable data from sources

that you can have at least a modicum of trust in so that you can make decisions on how to report something to infer what is going on, or rather imply what is going on in these kinds of situations? i think you've got an idea of what i am saying. host: we understand. guest: it is an excellent question. with thee big issues immigration system is immigration and customs borderment and enforcement are the only agencies allowed to make secret arrests. there are court records and they will try to find out about the underlying allegations. you can't do that with immigration system. they may say they are criminals, but they might not be. earlier this year, someone was claimed to be a terrorist and was an fbi informant. these are real challenging

issues for immigration. it is especially challenging under the trump administration, which has made immigration a centerpiece. what i try to do in my colleagues try to do as reporters is we request statistics, but also go to the ground to verify them, whether in central america or in immigration court hearings, or in the jails themselves. we do all this kind of on the ground reporting. host: don is in republican, michigan -- is in michigan, a republican. you are on the air. caller: hello. i would just like to say a couple things about immigration in the law. as far as immigration goes, i wonder if this lady knows about the orphan trains that they loaded. they took them away from their parents come up with them on trains, and ship them out west

and gave them to anybody standing along the railroad that wanted children without looking into what kind of life they would have for the rest of their lives. host: don, where did you read this story or hear about it? caller: all you've got to do is get on the internet. that is common knowledge that absolutely is correct. if you don't believe me, check it out. host: ok, maria sacchetti. guest: thank you for your question. host: are you familiar with this story? guest: i am not. juanita inida -- cincinnati. caller: yes, i wanted to make a few comments and then i will go. first of all, here in cincinnati we have a rather large eritrean community. some of them would have been killed. that is number one.

number two, setting all these people on fire about drugs and all i'm a what i never hear from trump or his supporters, these people are responding to a demand. if the demand was not in the , we would not be having this problem. i am tired of the hate. they need to tell the truth. these people are responding to demand. host: what do you do about the demand? caller: the first thing you need to do is educate the american people. number two, treat them as stop treating it as a crime, and treat drug dependency as an illness, as it has been for the past 40 years. . host: because then you would more american workers able to get jobs? is that what you are saying? caller: what i am saying is to me, the entire immigration

-- when i look at the entire argument that the president and his followers are making about crime coming into the country and drugs and all of this, remember, they would not be coming here if they were not responding to something. and in central america, if you look -- [indiscernible] host: all right. she mentioned the large population of rest o -- of refugees from eritrea. more than half of u.s. refugees the democratfrom republic of the congo, iraq, and syria. guest: my sense is that you are

raising the concept of the magnet, the jobs that draw immigrants into this country. the demand for drugs from people in the united states. host: is there any discussion about e-verify in these negotiations over the wall? guest: president trump has said he wants e-verify, but my colleagues have reported that he just really hasn't fought for it. there have been many stories on this, just looking at this program that helps employers screen workers. you can check if somebody has permission to work or not, and it should be a fairly quick fix, according to advocates for it, but it just hasn't come to fruition. host: steve in south carolina, independent. caller: good morning, greta and maria.

just back to one comment by the last caller, the reason so many have notom europe gotten in is because they are trying to get in legally. let's face it. we know the biggest problem is from the south. ofs is not really be subject my call, but all you got to do is pick up the telephone and call any business. the language is offered in spanish and english. if i was french or italian, i would be a little angry. that is just an indicator of the large influx of people. but here's the thrust of my call. it's about that building we go into that the fire marshal says this building can only safely hold 400 people. we simply don't have the resources and infrastructure to support the large influx of people without it being checked. we don't have the schools. let me tell you, i have a good heart. if my grandchild goes to school next year and they say he's going to have to go in this on

air-conditioned building outback because we had a large influx of people we didn't plan for, here's where i'm going with this. there are people with good hearts on both sides of the aisle, but you can't plan for people if they aren't part of the census. undocumented people never are recorded in the census, so the federal government cannot plan and allocate funds for people if they don't know they are here. this is simple math. you can't do it. we don't do that. if you can't record those people, how are you going to deal with social programs and some of the very people who want all these immigrants to come and who are going to affect the funds that go to them? guest: just to clarify, undocumented people are actually included in the census, and there's a lot of work done to do that. there's a lot of fear that they will try to avoid it, but if someone doesn't respond to the census, the census sends people

into the community to try to count them. livesst neighbors who downstairs, send people who speak other languages if needed. the estimates are based on census data and other data that people rely on to try to count undocumented immigrants. those are all those questions. the other questions you raised, people are concerned that there's increasing segregation in school systems so that some perhaps immigrants or english-language learners and others. , thendocumented children spring court has ruled, heavy right to go to k-12 schools, so education has to be provided. host: what about the status of the caravan? he was sort of mentioning the large amounts of people coming from central america. where will they stay?

where will they be housed, etc. what is the status of the caravan coming from central america? guest: the caravan has essentially stopped on the border. some thousands are on a waiting list to get in. others have crossed illegally. the ones that i've known anecdotally have met up with family members already in the united states. that is typically what happens. that is part of the pull that brings people here, that they have relatives here that say they can work and find jobs. that's what is happening right now, the economy is moving along, so the market has been up and down pretty dramatically come but there are jobs, and they are open. host: john in sherman oaks, california, a republican. good morning. caller: good morning. interesting discussion. i've been following specifically

the stories of the two children who died. it is very tragic, but virtually every media story about this, your newspaper, other newspapers, all the television programs, pretty much have the same narrative, that the children died in our custody. implied is that the officials who were in charge of watching them did something wrong. story do in in his ever hear anyone even ask the question about parental responsibility. the most recent case, for example, the young boy who just died, he had been checked wants, then they found him to be vomiting, and the doctors wanted to check in again. now, when the doctors went to see him, his father refused treatment, saying the child was feeling better and did not need treatment. it was after that that he died. no one even mentions that in these stories. you might have read it in

"the washington because we just read it here about 15 minutes "go -- "the washington times because we just read it here about 15 minutes ago. caller: the parents who take these children on these 1200 mile treks through whatever conditions they happen to run into, nobody even says they had any responsibility for the safety of their children. why is that? why doesn't your newspaper report that? two questions for you about parental response ability. but when you talk to parents who have decided to make this track, what do they say? or they have paid people to bring their children. what do they say about that decision? guest: one issue about the father refusing medical federalt, they are in custody, so the federal officials are responsible for their health and safety at this point.

that child was essentially a detainee. border patrol standards are that they are supposed to take care of them. is a very real debate about whether people should migrate. migrants will say we wouldn't leave if we weren't in danger, if we weren't poor. as you can see from the front page of our paper today, people have been deported to their deaths. but for those who are not in those urgent situations, there is a debate among family members about whether you should really go in search of this better life. times in the first many years a child has died in border patrol custody, but children have died crossing the border with their parents or without them for many years, including under the obama administration. and adults have died, thousands of them. this is the situation. but there is a real debate. it is a real risk to cross the border.

the secretary of homeland security urges people not to do it. host: maria sacchetti is a "washington post" immigration reporter. thank you for the conversation. it is day five of "washington journal's" weeklong authors series featuring some of the most important books of the year. after the break, we will talk with alissa quart about her book "squeezed: why our families can't afford america." ♪ sunday on "q&a" -- >> we are on the floor of the united states senate. this is unprecedented. no one else has ever gotten an opportunity to do this. this is for a production of the documentary of the u.s. senate on the floor on our before they begin. shots during the

session, and afterwards back down on the floor. it should be special. announcer: c-span executive producer mark farkas talks about work on the upcoming production "the senate: conflict and compromise." much control did mitch mcconnell have over the content? >> zero. we had several conditions. one, if we get access to the republicans, we want access to the democrats. and two, you don't have any editorial control over this. they said that is fine, but we don't want you to focus on the acrimony. we sort of said, well, no. you can't ask us to do that because we are not going to concentrate on it, but we can't shy away from it. we've got to come out with a people onat we feel the journalism side and the people who watch the senate can say they didn't give a big, wet kiss to the senate, but also say

we didn't do a hatchet job either. ,nnouncer: mark farkas executive producer on c-span's original production "the senate: conflict and cover mise," sunday at 8:00 eastern on c-span's "q&a." announcer: c-span, where history unfolds daily. 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies, and today we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events in washington, d.c. and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. " continues.journal host: we are back in day five of "washington journal's" weeklong authors series looking at some of what we think are most

important books of the year. joining us to talk about her book "squeezed: why our families can't afford america" is alissa quart, executive editor of the economic hardship reporting project. let's first talk about the group. what is the economic hardship reporting project? guest: it is a nonprofit founded , and wera ehrenreich support journalists who are economically struggling. a quarter of our grant recipients are low income, and the rest are regular reporters, photographers, filmmakers. we give them grants so they can do fine journalism about income inequality in america. host: this latest book, "squeezed: why our families can't afford america," what prompted you to undertake this project, and who are you writing about in this book? guest: i was having my first child in my late 30's eight years ago, and just realized my husband and i, both freelancers,

would be going through our savings at a heavy clip unless we changed our lives substantially. i call it a vortex. we entered this vortex where we forme increasingly anxious ourselves, but i started to want to report on my friends and many of the other people in this country going through this as well who were journalists, lawyers, accountants, nurses, school teachers who felt like they had tried to do everything right according to the middle-class american dream, and yet it hadn't quite worked out for them. i spent four to five years on "squeezed" was what emerged at the end. host: what is at the heart of this book? what kind of people? what are their stories? guest: i have a story about a librarian who was living in a one-bedroom apartment in minnesota, and her husband was in i.t., and they were deep in debt. debt is a theme in this book,

from education to health care. they couldn't figure out how to have separate rooms for them and their young son. i talked to an adjunct to had a disabled child and was trying to figure out how to live on $24,000 a year. she was a professor. she had an advanced degree. and yet the masted workout. she was getting paid -- and yet the math didn't work out. she was getting paid so little her class. wholked to daycare workers in some ways have it worse than the middle-class parents who are squeezed. it the nesting dolls come of this continuum of child workers who support the year --lass "$5,000 a making $25,000 a year living and -- living inexpensive places, and that doesn't cover it anymore.

host: we want to have our viewers join in this conversation, so we've divided the lines by household income. if you make less than $50,000, dial-in at (202) 748-8000. if you have an income between $50,000 and $100,000, your line is (202) 748-8001. if you make over $100,000, (202) 748-8002. what are your stories? how do you define yourself, lower or middle-class? you talk a little bit about that, but what is -- how is the middle class doing since the recession, and how do you define book? those in your guest: a lot of the people in my book are struggling economically, or they are just kind of, they feel like the security their parents had is out of reach. there's a study done of class mobility that shows that people born in the 1940's, by the time

they were 30, had a 50-50 chance of making what their parents did. now people born in the 1980's -- i'm sorry, people born in 1940's had a 92% chance of what their parents did. people born in the 1980's had a 50-50 chance of making what their parents did. so for many of the people i am talking to, their parents were more secure than they are. i do find the middle-class in a never of different ways. one is household income of a $115,000,2,000 and which is kind of a big spread. the other is how people feel about themselves. do they think they are middle-class? do they aspire to certain things? what is their american dream? the third way is professional training. do they have advanced degrees, certificates? have they gone to medical school, law school? there are three different measures people tend to use.

host: what is it that makes these people feel squeezed and can't afford america? guest: a lot of it is debt. there's a huge amount of school debt that has gone up astronomically. public universities cost double what they did in 1996. there's a lot of health care debt. there's a cost of housing, which is squeezing people in major cities. new york, san francisco, l.a. even smaller, fashionable cities like austin. i've been talking to people around the country since this book them out, and people talk about housing. they talk about school debt, their own and their kids' school debt. people talk about daycare also, which has gone up at a clip as well. i spoke to people spending at least 30% of their earnings on day care, sometimes more. that, of course, is not a sustainable thing if you have

more than one child. you start to be incredibly pressured. host: what about the types of jobs that people can get as our economy has changed over the years? people hear about the gig economy. how has it changed, and how has that impacted people's ability to afford or attain a certain level of lifestyle? guest: what of the chapters of my book is about school teachers who drive uber on the side. i talked to 10 or 15 schoolteachers who were driving over or fast driving over -- driving uber or lyft or other ridesharing services. they were unable to make it work because they were living in these expensive school districts where they were teaching jobs, but school teacher salaries didn't go very far. that meant they were grading at stop lights and creating

curriculum on highways, sometimes even driving the parents of the kids they were teaching. to me, that was a strange thing as an example of the gig economy because uber had cunningly come up with a scheme to try and recruit teachers and nurses. the campaign was called something like teachers driving our future. to me it is because middle-class is more valuable as a sign or symbol than the teachers themselves. the teachers weren't being paid enough, but uber recognized how important they were as a symbol to potential writers. generally the gig economy has affected this is people don't have health insurance, necessarily, working for these companies. they don't have an ownership stake. they are working part-time, contingent where their labor is them -- withim or her labor is unsure of where

their next job will come. whether it is domestic workers or drivers, generally the gig economy has added to contingency and this lack of security people are experiencing. host: we will go to calls. byron is first in oregon, makes less than $50,000. what has been your experience, and how has it changed over the years? caller: i remember when i was younger, i could get a job pretty easy at almost any framing place. now there's a lot of people that pay the least amount as they can to get people in their crew and work them hard. it's good because there's a lot of buildings going up in my area , but housing costs have been driven up ridiculously. i have a girlfriend that cannot find a place locally. to even afford to pay for this

housing, i mean, it has gone up to $1000 from $700 plus in like two years. it has been growing steadily. we live next to a sanctuary city here. it is hard to get insurance for what i do because all i do is a handyman job, and it is hard for me to figure out how to even pay the taxes i owe. a business,become it makes it more of a headache to report quarterly. it is a struggle out here. i still live with my mom. i am 35. that is not something i want to do, but at the same time, i like the freedom to be self-employed. host: and byron, what do you do for a living? caller: i am a handyman. are you part of this gig

economy? caller: no, i am it part of a small economy in forest grove. i don't advertise. host: where do you live? caller: forest grove, oregon. guest: what of the things that strikes me is you are living with your extended family. that was a pattern i saw. since i've been talking about this book, people have been telling me stories about being in their 30's with children, living with their parents, and that is not what they expected. sometimes their parents don't fully understand the challenges. is that something you've experienced? caller: she understands. i live with my mom. my mom and my dad have been separated for a number of years, so i am kind of the guy of the house. but yeah, it has been a number of years. i've lived here for most of my life.

to get my own place right now is kind of unfathomable. i don't know when i can actually afford without going into massive debt. that's the problem. i don't think going into debt is necessarily a good way to get what you need. host: what do you think? guest: one of the things i saw over and over again were people experiencing this kind of sense of guilt or shame, and debt was part of this. student debt is something like $1.5 billion right now in this country. that itpeople have debt has almost become a new normal. something like 80% of people have debt. one of the things i hope this book would do is remove that stigma and remind so many people that it's become an ordinary thing, and perhaps you should just live with debt or perhaps you should consolidate your debt, or perhaps some people are

pushing for things like debt forgiveness, where colleges or other companies forgive people's debt because you have so much of the country in that state, we have to do something about it. host: what about his thoughts on rental income and buying a home across the united states? guest: it is absolutely true come a rent -- absolutely true, rents are going up depending where you live. in tennessee a family could be living fine on $50,000, but in lots of places, portland or potentially replace this fellow lives come and you might be struggling at $80,000 or even more. it depends on where you live, and for real estate to a great extent, but ever since 2008, people have been struggling with their cost of housing. i feel like that is being under

addressed right now. we keep being told about unemployment numbers, but we are not really talking about the cost of housing as much as we should be, or how wages aren't keeping up with the cost of housing. .3%le are raising wages by in one recent year, you know? it is not enough to address this, when he says it goes up for $400 for an apartment in a year. host: in "the wall street journal" this morning, "home price growth remains steady, remaining favorable for buyers and will likely do so in the months to come. more moderate price growth is a relief for taking the edge off of higher mortgage rates and potentially allowing wages to start to catch up with price gains in recent years." illinoisr from will in , who makes between $50,000 and $100,000. caller: good morning.

i was hoping you could comment on expendable income between the 1980's, when my parents were my age, and now. it is just my impression that i have a lot less. i think i make more nominally been my parents ever did. my dad was a construction worker. i am a software engineer. when they were 30 years old, they had a boat and a house. i am just getting out of my student debt, and i had very good scholarships. just hoping you can comment on that. guest: that is interesting because i've heard about this a lot. the problem isn't the cost of computers or televisions. all of these consumer goods are actually as reasonable or more reasonable than they were when i was a kid and you were a kid, but it is things like the cost of school, advanced syndication, or things like health care that thing to be -- advanced education, or things like health care that begin to be huge costs. did they not go to college? host: i'm sorry, he's not on the

line anymore. guest: oh, all right. that is one of the things that, if they went to a public university, as i said, it has doubled in price in the last 20 years. that means a lot of americans are being crushed by this debt. and also the sense of anxiety that comes along with it. ont: we will keep callers the line in case you were to ask questions. we will go to shelby in tallahassee, florida i'm a making over $100,000. caller: good morning. if we want to have something different and better for our country and its legacy, we are going to have to make the change in the policies that we have. the ramallah -- egala of the far right and retail is -- and religious tech fantasy of

this race less internet, there seems to be a narrative that seems to be preaching. of course, we are -- my husband retired. has a postgraduate phd. we are retired, and yet we are still learning over $100,000 in the midst of retirement because we adjusted our lifelong learning as people must do. you had a lady on -- host: what do you mean by that, i just your lifelong learning? what did you do? caller: the gentleman calling said he was a handyman. what is a jack of all trades to be in offer to the society? we have to offer skills to the society to be given pay. my main comment because i don't want to get off track, this is a very good book.

i just finished. i read both "squeezed" and "even. -- and "even acted -- and "evicted." -- country that has a legacy of exploitation of its people and now we are living with this consequence. we have teachers that we claim as an image preview just stated that you were -- uber has a nurses,-- we also have we have young people in school with high debt. because we've created it through a lobby of policy. the lady that was on immigration wouldn't talk about the e-verify where we are hiring high skilled of our have the job young people who are in college getting postgraduate masters degrees with dead but yet we bring in the foreigners. they're claiming now they want to give people -- this is not

about race for me. this is about the fact that we have to create an institution of work. host: ok. i think we understand. guest: i'm not quite sure of the question exactly. one of her points was that we live in an exploitative society. i definitely feel like that's one of the points of squeeze. people had a false consciousness that they were struggling. they got these degrees and it didn't hand out to her weren't these opportunities. we keep doing told education and that comes along with a lot of some of these degrees don't actually lead to work. there are states that have surplus or excess lawyers. 50% of the people law degrees in certain states can't find

employment. i think part of the point was kind of a warning about doing what you love. doing the right thing that when you have a society that is to use a word rigged against a lot of americans these degrees don't always help anymore. correctede caller was when she said this is exploitative and it's a culture of services that are exploiting people's dreams and not supporting their reality. host: leo in minneapolis. makes less than $50,000. and i'mmy name is leo 61 and i'm a substitute teacher in the minneapolis public school system. i make less than $50,000 a year. is i haven't read your book but i definitely do plan to read it. i don't understand why it is

that people like myself for , i'm currently struggling with my job as substitute teacher. i love my job. i love doing it but i am struggling to pay bills. decisions ofe whether i pay the light though or the mortgage payment or do i pay the water bill or the mortgage payment and stuff like degrees.i do have two towards twod degrees. have workedut i towards a third one which is a doctorate in public administration and i don't feel that my education has actually really helped me in terms of being i guess what you would define as successful. host: you make less than $50,000

a year. how much do you have in income per month and can you tell us what your bills are? you just rattled them off. can you tell us on average what your bills come to? ok so for average i for the water bill. $200 for the gas bill. the mortgage payment might be $948 to a thousand dollars for month. -- per month. when i get my check from my it is where i sub, usually less than $600. host: for the entire month? caller: yes. that's for like a week. so for a month i make less than

$2400 a month. host: alissa quart, go ahead. caller: this is the kind of piecemeal drop -- job that you are describing that is now more typical. a lot of people are also working longer and longer hours. something like a 10% of the american workforce is working 60 hours or more. you have people working lots of hours but they are not getting a lot of security. they are not making enough and paying for things like the cost of your mortgage which sounds like a very large chunk of your earnings. it's close to half right? say, i'mnd also people vet.of that -- a i've been to the v.a. and this is the second time that i've been close to foreclosure on my mortgage.

not because i want to but for example during the month of july, august and september i'm not working. jobs even apply for for jobs like the dollar store for example and i'm told, you are overqualified. we don't what you doing this. and then there aren't very many jobs, other jobs i can apply for. and then i get no help from the v.a. host: this is a problem when people are talking about close to full employment. some of these jobs are bs jobs or their jobs that the fellow is overqualified for. the dollar store. they are sort of coming into communities when other stores close and they have become this kind of kudzu in serving all of

these underserved communities. food deserts. they may be the only game in town when you are looking for a job but that doesn't mean that you're going to be a fit for it or this is the job you would -- would want. i'm thinking about the g.i. bill and earlier moments in american history where the middle class was supported. once they buy a house had been a veteran or there's other kinds of support for them around schools and scholarships and things. i wonder if this guy has gotten any of that. host: leo? caller: i have not. i can say that if you are a veteran and if you are not either a vietnam vet or a recent vet then the v.a. is of no help to you. toause i served from 1981 1984 and did two years inactive

reserves and when i go to the v.a. i have asked for help several times and i have not gotten that. quart, let me go on to day via in huntsville, $100,000 youg over are on the air. caller: how are you? guest: nice to hear your voice. caller: i'm actually really excited to talk to you because your books seem extremely interesting and i have a friend who does a lot of indie documentaries. it's called limitless video productions. i think you make a lot of valid points. this is more like a comment. what do you think about how the gig economy can benefit people with the increase in community participation and linkedin and

building more of a collaborative structure within small business integrating digital and gauge and ai and software? that's a great question. i address some of that in my book. there's an idea of platform cooperative is him where the worker from handy or the task rabbit person would now have a stake in the app and so there , there's one for domestic workers and caregivers. there's one for graphic artists and these workers meet in real life in a cooperative setting and then they also have a share in the app and i think ownership is going to be the company. i think the problem is whenever these giant digital

conglomerates where you don't ever see, there is no clear management. you don't see a human face. you're just a cog in the wheel. work andetting sent you are getting sent payment with them taking so much off the top of it. that's a problem. have creating some new world where people have ownership in any of these apps it could actually be a boon. there's nothing in itself wrong with doing freelance work if you have a stake in it. bob is in broken arrow, oklahoma. you make between $50,000 and $100,000. you are on the air. i always hear these experts talking about why americans are getting squeezed. i never hear them talk about what role the nanny state plays in squeezing out the american dream. because from obama to the v.a.,

obamacare, all that stuff has wrecked a lot of businesses and a lot of our economy and i never the hear somebody say government has to stop doing this. the government has to stop doing that. host: alissa quart? i think me and that gentlemen have a disagreement about this. i don't think the government is doing too much. i think the government is doing too little. there were obviously some problems with obamacare. when i spoke to a lot of the squeezed folks in my book they had trouble with it when they were freelancers. it wasn't a panacea and i'm not making excuses for it. i also think if you look at most developed nations they do much more for our citizens. there's pregnancy leave and maternity leave. there's subsidized day care. i started looking into this and recording. i spoke to people in iceland and people who lived in denmark. i saw a very different world.

and canada for that matter. i think we would be a lot more productive if we helped our families with pre-k and day care in the early years. host: we will go to patricia in minneapolis. caller: good morning. my comment is illegal immigration affects rent prices, employment. that's a huge problem. if there is more demand for housing of course the place fills up. also i noticed you two aren't listening to the callers. the handyman called and you asked him what did he do. he already said he was a handyman. and as far as that goes he said he didn't advertise. he didn't want to start a business. and then he complains about not having enough money. he didn't want to do quarterly. some of the reasons he can't afford things is their own behavior.

he doesn't sound like a go getter. guest, when the software engineer called in she asked him, did you go to college? how come i hear these colors and you two don't and that's your job. host: i apologize. i did not hear him say handyman at the time. that's my job. i will do a better job. alissa quart? guest: i think there's a limit to what individuals can do to be a go-getter. there is something that starts to emerge called decision fatigue. figure out your bank balances, how to care for a clear career trajectory it can be kind of depressing and people stop making good decisions. that's not to say they are not youwhat culpable and maybe have been able to do this and

oftenhrough but i think it's very hard to do that especially when you have a kid. as manyeing laid off journalists are being laid off for another profession. that's my attitude towards some of this. i think i have been listening pretty closely to the callers. in wisconsin makes over 100,000 dollars. caller: what about hard work? i got my associate degree. after two children i got my bachelors in nursing and i lived without a car because i couldn't afford it and i walked to work and school and i didn't have any play money and i-8 the patient's -- i ate the patient's food. you don't think about getting married or having children until you can afford that and maybe bringing religion back into

schools so people can hear the important things like thou shalt not commit a robbery to get where i want to be. thou shalt not have sex until i'm married and can support myself. i think that would have a lot to do with the downtrodden nowadays and the kids don't have religion. religion is left out of the schools and a lot of problems start arising. workingile you were early on in your career you said you would walk to work and school. did you have children at home at that point in your life? caller: no. because i was raised catholic and i knew it was not the right thing to do morally. it was the wrong thing to do. i think if more kids were raised that way it would make a huge difference in this environment. host: alissa quart, take her

point. guest: i personally don't think people should be the entire religion in the schools. it's illegal in public schools. think we should have more andcal kind of reasoning more ethical structures in our families. i agree with that and some of the best stories in my book came from that. managed toeople who collectivized. they came together. they lived in the same house even though they were not biologically or romantically related and they were pooling resources, caring for each other's kids, cooking meals for each other. some of the happier stories in my book happened when people had opened conversations with their friends and neighbors and had that kind of ethical or moral set of values around community. huge chore for

some of the ills of squeeze. it comes from inside us. it comes from smaller communities around us and having open conversations, being as generous as we can. if someone is struggling to pay for daycare, be willing to pooling or day care with theirs. that kind of thing. how work as changed over the years. -- host: how work has changed over the years. you write in the book that that wes -- we assume should be able to buy or eat whatever we want whenever we want even in the middle of the night. extreme day care has risen up in part because our system does not ensure that the needs of all families are met including those parents who work on ours. ours is a forever clock. what's extreme day care?

host: i embedded myself for a week or two in this -- i was there for a couple days. i was in touch with them for a month. it's a 24/7 day care. cityoutside of new york but there are many all over the country in las vegas. there's even one across the street from the place i profiled in the kids come from 7:30 in the morning to 10:00 at night. some of them stay over. they are there for regular hours. in a family home. it sprung up because people are now working these just in time depot, they are night nurses. they are all sorts of things and they don't see their kids as much as they want or they have to see them in these ofttimes and that has become more and more typical in this country. people are now working unbelievably odd hours. and part of it is our voracious

consumer appetites. we expect to be able to shop late at night. in the middle of the night sometimes. ithink one of the things found important is we have to start rethinking this. we aretions have said not going to be giving our workers these strange hours just because they suit our corporate model. we are going to think this through. maybe as consumers we shouldn't be demanding this from our stores. host: carl in pennsylvania makes between $50,000 and $100,000. caller: how are you today? to me it's not that difficult to understand. i'm 60 years old and i have an advanced degree in a scientific field and basically what i do now is i have to compete against this tidal wave of people that come from china and india. nowave spent 50 years

open-door trade, open-door immigration. we outsourced millions of jobs in entire industries. we in sourced tens of millions of people over the last 50 years . how do you expect wages to keep up with inflation when you have an overinflated labor market? i work at a university. i'm underemployed and i know that if i don't take this job at the money they're paying me if somebody from china or india is ready to take it. i work at a university where they proudly boast that 20% of the undergraduate population is foreign. 40% of the grad students are foreign. yet american citizens are struggling. and it's all good for them as they can shake them down for big tuition dollars. they keep the labor costs at universities down. this happens in business, too. we are not allowed to even have a rational sane discussion about these issues anymore.

the identity politics gets involved. host: what were you making or what should you -- think you should be making versus what they are offering now? caller: basically i make $52,000 a year with a phd in a scientific field when i first graduated i was just ending my academic training and that's when the tidal wave of --igration just started from for advanced degrees. i don't know. i see it -- i don't feel squeezed because i'm 60, we never had children. we never got into big debt. i was able to get through college without a lot of debt because i did a lot of those jobs growing up that supposedly americans won't do and we need illegal immigrants for. laugh becauseat i

i did all those jobs as a teenager and paid my way through school. to me it's really simple. we were told when all of the industries steel and all that that working-class people make good livings from when abroad. by the aristocracy that we will replace those with high tech jobs. ok. apple is making computers in china and we import all these people from abroad to take these jobs that they can outsource and we hear all the stuff that we need to increase visas because we don't have enough trained people. we have millions of underemployed americans. americans struggling and we can't invest to bring those people entering those people? this is all about cheap labor. guest: of the things i found reporting my book is the biggest challenge to american labor is not coming from outsourcing or immigrants, it's coming from automation and robotics.

i talk to people who are creating robots that go into hospitals and do basically nursing work or janitorial work and pharmaceutical work where they're putting the medicine into the wilds. -- files. it's in law and many other fields. even in charitable is him a company called automated insights that is doing what you and i do. my joke if it doesn't have much of a style but it kind of is doing basic reporting. threathat's the biggest and it's kind of scapegoating and it's a form of blame to start pointing fingers at other human beings when that is statistically accurate to this is something i have seen again and again. people either are squeezed and they are not being witnessed or seen for their pain and they are

blaming you to themselves as many of the subjects of my book do or blaming other people as the callers who are saying it's all immigrants are doing. that kind of cycle is coming up when you have people who feel like their pain and their economic struggle is not being mean or knowledge by the country they live in. host: connie is in south carolina making less than $50,000. you are on the air. caller: good morning and thanks for having me. i was in that middle category until two years ago. with a college degree and i have done several different jobs. but i'mjob was in sales trained in health care and i have done it nuclear medicine. and radiation monitoring at a nuclear station. i've always tried to do better, work hard, take care of my nephews. i don't have any immediate children.

but i've watched this world get harder and harder to survive in and i'm literally afraid of the world we are leaving. my nephews and probably your children, i got cancer two years ago and two days after i let the company no i had to see an oncologist i was laid off. and at this point in my life the taxes that i've paid in my family has paid and everything that's going across the water and in the illegal immigration, these people, i can't. i am so boggled in health care bills right now of my own and and 75.eople 50 and 25 . have nothing left to live on if it wasn't for a family member i would homeless right now and i'm sitting here watching this illegal immigration mess.

this is not what america was founded on. it was founded on pulling yourself up and working hard and it wasn't founded on giving it away. host: we hear your point. i'm going to have alissa quart respond. feel terrible hearing you talk about your health care bills. that is something i heard a lot about even just from things like giving birth. and ifare paying $16,000 there's any complications people are paying hundreds of thousands. i feel for you and i'm sorry that you served this country. you are measuring radiation and faltering and you are laid off. that's really too bad. charles in colorado preview make over 100,000. welcome to the conversation. caller: thank you.

i see a country based on greed and money. you look at the colleges. we used to have pell grant. i used to be able to go to a free state college and now college debt is exceeding mortgage debt in america and who's making all that fixed interest you can't lower it off of? the banks. who's writing the bills? the banks. how about medicare? how come not medicare for all? who has one of the biggest lobbies in the world? the health industry. think about medicine. who has another giant lobby? the medicine industry. who's benefiting? if you look at these politicians that tell you they are not their for this go look at bank accounts in their pack account and you are going to see that they took money from these industries quite a bit. so america is not going to have a leg out.

the middle-class is never going to have a leg up until we completely change our system and take money out of it because that's what it's all about and these people who are complaining , you immigration and stuff know when i grew up it cost two dollars to make a phone call over to europe. people in india and china didn't have high-speed computers and now they do and they can learn and they can get education and they can compete for our jobs in other countries and come over here so we don't have the luxury of in the automation is exactly corrected. you watch the cars being built in detroit. you see all of these automation machines. we need to teach these people how to run the machines. host: we are running out of time. alissa quart, take the first part of his comments about the banks and the health care industry and the lobbyists. think, thisinitely

is almost like i maxim by now. campaign finance would really help. this is part of the problem. we have candidates who are beholden to special interests and the holden to fundraising. and this new congressional class a lot ofats coming up, them seem very independent thinkers and i feel very hopeful about that and i'm hoping that some of those people can see the greed you are talking about and the lack of medicare for people and also the lack of grants for colleges and some of the pressures that ordinary citizens are under and address them and speak to them because that's what we really need. we need leadership that recognizes what it's like to be struggling instead of these majority millionaire class that we have had among our politicians. host: the book squeezed.

alissa quart, thank you for the conversation. guest: thank you very much. we come back we want to talk about the government shutdown as we are in day six of this negotiation. we will see if they continue today as lawmakers return to washington. we want to talk to federal workers only. if you live in the eastern or central part of the country (202) 748-8000. nonspecific, (202) 748-8001. --will be read back through be right back. >> conversations with johnlicans peter roskam, duncan and mike duncan all discuss losing their reelection bids and reflect on their time in congress. >> we go on our devices. we want things quickly and yet jefferson road this 14 years after he wrote the declaration of independence.

he said the ground of liberty is to be gained by inches. we must be content what we can get from time to time and eternally press forward. it takes time to persuade men even to do what is for their own good. my point is that we culturally need to step back and say these things take time. we have to take small steps in order to get their. >> to think that we have spent trillions now on these wars and the war in afghanistan has been going on 18 years i think is just ridiculous. these wars ando our foreign policy has caused us to have more enemies than we would have had. they have done more harm than good. >> in the congress of the united states i believe in the house of representatives simply still even with the reforms that nancy accepthas pledged to based on my counterparts in the

problem solvers caucus i believe there's too much power into few that somethingr to change. >> watch conversations with retiring members of congress saturday at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span and c-span.org and listen with the free c-span radio app. >> washington journal continues. the nextare back for 30 minutes. federal workers only. your thoughts on the government shutdown as it extends into day six. producercapitol hill tweeting out that the house convenes at 4:00 p.m. today awaiting senate action on possible white house congressional agreement over border security and reopening government now shut down for six days. the senate convenes on 4:00 p.m. on government shutdown days six. today if possible bipartisan agreement is reached between the white house and congressional leaders over security. no deal has been announced as of

this morning. the president talked about the government shutdown on christmas day state and federal workers support it. here he is. i would rather not be doing shutdowns. i've been at the white house and i love the white house but i wasn't able to be with my family. i thought it would be wrong for me to be with my family. my family is in florida. long beach. i just want to go down and be there when other people are hurting. it's going to all worked out. many of those workers have said to me, communicated stay out until you get the funding for the wall. federal workers want the wall. the only one that doesn't want the walls are the democrats because they don't mind open borders but open borders mean massive amounts of crime. the democrats don't want it because they want open borders and yet every one of those democrats approved the wall.

very substantial barriers. host: federal workers only. do you agree with the president that he want the government to stay shut down over this portable? -- border wall? magdalena in washington, d.c., good morning. i'm a federal employee. i'd like the government shutdown because congress gets paid and they are federal employees. host: what agency do you work i'm retired from the armed forces institute of advanced pathology at walter reed. shutting don't support the government down over the border wall. could: is another way we get money besides showing the government down. you are ambushing a person or holding a person hostage. say if you don't approve of

bill and i will shut the government down and then the employees might not even get paid. won't becausesome you have already stated that he -- stated that. host: do you support the idea of a wall? what today have down there now? i was told they had already given the president x number of dollars and they haven't even used the money that was first allotted to them. now they are coming back asking for more. what did they do with the first amount of money? the democrats are saying they have little reason to negotiate. the administration has spent only 6% of the $1.7 billion allocated during the 2017 and 2018 fiscal years. about 1.3 billion was designated in 2018 for different types of

fencing in areas that would have covered 96 miles. of shaved off 12 miles. that alln aide said but 70 million of the money allocated in 2018 had been committed to border security. not specifically the wall. border security. robert is in creighton, missouri. we are talking to federal workers only this morning. have you been impacted? caller: no. i'm in the postal service. but greta, what i'm so sick of as a vietnam veteran 's the stuffworker that is going on in my government. and the outsourcing of ups and

people having to pay to go to college. corporations outsource jobs and we should get free education as well and free learning how to do those jobs. host: i'm going to stick to the question here. federal workers only. do you agree with the president that federal workers want the government shutdown over this border wall and funding for it? this morning said the house will be in for a pro forma session today but kevin mccarthy's office said there will be no votes held during the last gaffe of the 115th congress. the houses and planning to return to washington this week in the city is reached and approved by the upper chamber. senate aides said there's no significant movement there

either. there will be no votes in the chamber until a deal is reached. pelosi is expected to try to push through a democratic plan to reopen the -- the without money for the wall. mitch mcconnell did not say whether he would put up a lucy spending bill on the floor in the new year. federal offices were set to reopen wednesday for normal business unless they were among the nine departments without government funding. those include the departments of housingure, commerce, and urban development, interior, justice. nasa and the fda are among the agencies hit the shutdown as well. are talking about roughly 400,000 federal employees will be for load with another 400,000 deemed essential personnel and required to stay on the job without pay. 11 payday is scheduled for federal employees.

we are asking federal workers whether you are part of the shutdown or not create what do you think about it and your reaction to the president saying that he has heard from federal workers and they want the government shutdown. kevin hassett took questions from the reporters yesterday in the driveway at the white house. here's what he had to say about the impact on federal workers. >> there have been many government shutdowns. there are a lot of technical things that happened during the shutdown. what happensa is in the end is that people get their pay. they might miss up a period because the government shutdown but in the end even if they are working in congress has decided to pay people for the whole time and so in the end it's really just a short of short-term problem for government workers. about two thirds of the national parks are still open and the

services that people get out of government aren't really affected very much. the only thing you see is that sometimes things will move around a little bit depending on when the shutdown is. if the shutdown lasts longer than december than all of that back pay that people would get for the weeks in december would come in january and that would have a slight negative effect on gdp in the fourth quarter and a positive effect in the first quarter. if the shutdown extended through the job survey week about january 10 in the government workers who are not reporting to work would show up in the unemployment statistics as well. that would be more of a temporary thing. we expectsomething his material for the outlook. mentioning hassett the national park service. trash piles up on the national mall in washington, d.c. on the fifth day of the partial

government shutdown. the national park service overseas and runs them all here in the capital. go to lisa in leesburg, virginia. what do you do? caller: kevin hassett has lost his mind. employee youal have to come in and you are not getting paid. it's very easy if you work in an administrative office you can sit home and just wait until the government opens and get your back pay in the next couple of weeks. the difference is when you are an essential employee must come in and i will say that i'm more than irritated because i had a vacation that was scheduled that was starting today through january 7 and i have to come in. i had to cancel my vacation. i had no refund on my airline tickets and my family has been their firstr

christmas vacation that we earned in 11 years of working for the government. so people think that this is some type of temporary inconvenience. because donald trump has an agenda. these are people's lives and we planned our year for this and now to not have to report to work and not get paid and my kids are home on their holiday break is unacceptable. this president and this congress needs to find a better way to work together because this is they will never ever earn my vote until this problem is fixed. this is unacceptable. host: will you get paid january 11? know.: i don't we got a paycheck for the last two weeks. as far as we know, we are not getting paid. i had to come back to work from my vacation. my kids are home. who does that? that's very easy for those that are not affected.

i have to go in. that's where people misunderstand the difference and they take this likely -- lately and it's not. this is my livelihood and everyone else is out there trying to protect this country. you have border control agents at the border not getting paid. how do you sleep on that and think that that's ok? it's not funny. host: allen is in alabama. caller: good morning. do?: what do you how is this impacting you? caller: i'm a federal subcontractor. we don't get any back pay. we have to use our vacation time that we accrued so that we can get a paycheck and then after that we get nothing. far as i know we don't get any back pay or anything like that.

host: how do you know that's the case? you belong to a union? have you talked to any representation? caller: all i know is what we hear on the news. that's the only source we have. we have no official information line whatsoever. host: john lewis on the phone is nicole was a reporter for the federal news network to give us more information. we are in day six of the shutdown. when will federal employees feel the financial effects of this shutdown? guest: i think it all will depend on how long the partial shutdown will last. ofheard from the office personnel management at the end of last week that the most onent pay period that ended december 22 federal employees

should receive that either tomorrow the 28th or maybe a few days after so that paycheck is still scheduled to go out to federal employees generally on time. the real question is what happens after that. the all depends on how long shutdown will last. we know for sure that accepted employees can't get paid until that shutdown actually ends and then as far as furloughed employees go that all depends on whether or not congress passes legislation that says they will get back pay for the time that they were basically off during the shutdown and we know from recent memory that congress has generally passed the legislation. the senate passed with unanimous consent the friday leading into the shutdown legislation that would guarantee back pay. about government contractors?

will they also get back pay? we were speaking to one on the phone. guest: i don't think that all contractors will get back to. i think it depends on whatever company they work for and it's up to each company to decide how iey might handle that you think the color before mentioned that he's using vacation time during the shutdown and it will go back to generally what each company decides to do. we have heard in the past that some contractors have tried to bring in their employees to do things like training or other activities that they can still get paid for but they are not actually at their agencies doing agency contract work so there are ways around this but it really depends on each company and congress has never passed that would give back pay to federal contractors. host: what is the pay cycle like for federal workers? to the all get paid on the same day? guest: it really depends on the payroll provider for each

agency. there are about four big payroll providers doing this work in government so there's the national finance center, the interior business center, the general services administration provides some payroll services and the defense department has their own. payroll providers are under agencies that are impacted by this partial shutdown but they do have employees that are at work doing their general payroll work to the interior is impacted by the shutdown yet their business center is still as far as we can tell functioning and putting out paychecks. it really depends on where you are. i think for the most part opm has said that employees should get their most recent paychecks about the same time that they would otherwise. host: what about these back pay

payments? how long will federal employees have to wait for that check? guest: it really depends on how long the ship down the last. places like the coast guard for example. they are part of the military but yet they are impacted by this partial shutdown because they are within the department of homeland security. so for employees at the coast guard this could get a little tricky because their pay period 16ually ran from december through the 31st. so we are hearing that their paychecks could be delayed depending on how long the shutdown last and it doesn't seem like this is going to be resolved anytime soon or at least within this week so unfortunately i think the answer that we have to give in most of itse circumstances is

depends on how long the shutdown will go. host: what about capitol hill? a previous caller said members of congress still get paid. how is the shutdown impacting capitol hill? guest: it's a good question. congress did pass appropriations for itself earlier this year so they are actually funded. we did see some members of congress essentially announced that they would forgo their paychecks until the government shutdown ended. hadow mark meadows announced this pretty early on even before the shutdown actually happened that he would forgo his pay. of depends on which member of congress is making that announcement but congress is actually funded. and other agencies, the government accountability office are part of the legislative branch technically and they still have funding. nicole, thank you.

federal workers only. gene in milwaukee. retired worker. what do you think? support trumps shut down. the congress and senate are both getting paid and they need to go back to work. that's their job. to get the job done. people,t up to the other people that work for the government. do is calleed to their senators and congressmen and tell them to get off their duff. get back to work. host: pete in medford, massachusetts. caller: good morning. i'm a petty officer in the coast guard. and we had some conflicting information. first that wet

would be affected by the shutdown. i am not for the shutdown. i'm against it. we were told we would be affected by it because we are part of homeland security. that it we were told would be some of the crew were affected, some were not. and then we were told finally breakefore the christmas that we would not be affected because we do other jobs aside from homeland security so i suppose it's just a matter of how they label that task at the time. we do search-and-rescue and all sorts of safety things like that. my point would be that the havingnt is insisting on this amount of money to build

his wall. we gave him 5 billion to build a wall that would not cover the cost of the project because we alwaysat the projects escalate in cost. there's always cost overruns. been petty the way he has and to say if i don't get my way i'm going to take my ball and go home, he's not increasing security. house has offered to give money for border security. it's just not necessarily for his wall specifically. leave that they're so i can get more voices from federal workers. some workers have gone to ,witter with #shutdown stories

tweeting things like michael did. federal employee working with notepad. -- no pay. don't know when i get it again. no end in sight. melissa, a disabled veteran is been waiting -- has been waiting for surgery for over a year. patrick, i'm an army veteran. i was working three jobs to survive. any retired in sugar grove, north carolina. your turn. caller: good morning. jean the federal worker who said call your, i did. and guess what?

their leave was not canceled so they are all on vacation because federal workers are annual leave was canceled and the poor woman who had to go into work and can't be with her family over the holidays. i worked for the federal government 21 and a half years and when you get five weeks of leave, working really hard to get those five weeks. a lot of people end up with lose or use at the end of the year. many vacations are planned because they are going to lose that annual leave if they don't use it. i worked through 21 day government shutdown. it was horrible. ptsd just from listening to the stories. and these people that call in and say if you are nonessential just to look for another job. let me explain something.

i worked in a u.s. attorney's office. civil u.s. attorneys some of them work in essential because but represent the v.a. paralegallytic -- assistants were considered nonessential. i work for the criminal side of the office. they were essential, i was essential. not only was i working for the criminal ausa, i was also working for the civil ausa that dates.rdates -- court this was before electronic think goodness they were only on the floor above us. how many courthouses are separated from the u.s. attorneys offices. fred is in greenbelt, maryland. what do you do? caller: i work for the irs.

host: are you impacted? caller: yes i am impacted. we are not working. we are shut down and i wanted to point out the ripple effect of such an action being taken by our president. how it affects our government to then affect our people because the irs is a great example. be delayed. returns will not be taken care of. people do file early. to theycome to the irs cannot be addressed because the irs is shut down. this creates a backlog of work. it creates a delay of people getting their tax returns taken care of as promptly as possible by the irs. ye in columbia, maryland. caller: i want to send solidarity out to my fellow federal employees.

we received funding through the end of the year. disregard forws the federal employees that you use employees as ponds. i left out loud when i heard trump say federal employees support the shutdown. the vast majority of people work for the federal government. some people rely on incomes of two federal employees. don't know when they're going to be able to go back to work. people have children in day care. it's just a disregard for people and human beings. right now no public events on the white house schedule as of yet for the president. he just returned from iraq at 5:00 this morning. no votes are scheduled in the house or the senate yet. they are supposed to give lawmakers 24 hour notice to get back here to washington, d.c. once they have reached a deal.

we are talking to federal workers only. #shutdown stories on twitter. contractor, i took a year before i got paid for the last big shutdown through -- big shutdown. three kids. as ansays i have worked air traffic controller. army veteran. father of three. now working for the promise of a future paycheck. i'm being held hostage for a stupid wall. thinks theyone military is getting paid during the shutdown but the coast guard is facing no pay. in new york city. pay over 2000 month in rent. have a toddler and one on the way. review guidelines for

public med. can't get students to bill monday. can't submit or received research grants. angel is in martinsburg, west virginia. what do you do for the government? i work for the department of homeland security. human resources. host: what have you been called -- told? caller: this is my first furlough and i have an told it's a waiting game and to watch the news. also been watching the tweets of the president. host: furloughed means what? caller: i am not working. i'm not getting paid and i am not to process anything. i'm not to do anything. no work. host: what have you been told about back pay? caller: it's not guaranteed. everyone's confirmed that they have always received back pay. i have never had an issue receiving it. it's not guaranteed.

i've never understood this process and i do know that back pay is not guaranteed without legislation. angel in martinsburg, west virginia. working for the department of homeland security saying she's if you want to continue to follow this coverage here on , continues on day six of this government shutdown. let's go to mike in wheeling, west virginia, trying to get your voice and. mike, go ahead. caller: i have been through shutdowns. the biggest one during bill clinton's ears. i believe it was 27 days. i did not get paid for that. getpeople that worked to paid. the people who did not work did not get paid. as far as the federal shutdown

goes, why is it happening now go this is three times what -- i want to say one thing. earlier in your conversation, you had something about the military. , he did not go into service. he is a draft dodger. that is all i want to say. we did not get paid in 1997, i believe it was. host: the house in the senate in later today host of no votes are scheduled right now. continue to follow the story of this government shutdown, as i said by watching our coverage on c-span, c-span2, c-span.org or follow along with the free c-span radio app. we will be back tomorrow morning 7:00 a.m. eastern time. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

>> c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies. today, we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme policy eventslic in washington, d.c., and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. >> it has been six days since the government shutdown began. the house and senate are back today, but much of the agenda this week depends on whether congress and the white house can reach an agreement on border security. president trump is still calling

for $5 billion in border wall funding to which congressional democrats remain opposed. you can follow the house live on c-span and the senate live on c-span2 when both chambers returned today at 4:00 p.m. eastern. >> the united states senate, a uniquely american institution. legislating and carrying out constitutional duties since 1789. >> please raise your right hand. >> wednesday, c-span takes you inside the senate, learning about the legislative body and it's in formal workings. >> arguing about things and kicking them around and having great debates is a thoroughly

american thing. >> the longer you're in the senate, the more your appreciate that cooling nature. >> we will look at its history of conflict and compromise with original interviews, key moments in history, and unprecedented access allowing us to bring cameras into the senate chamber during a session. follow the evolution of the senate into the modern era. from advice and consent to infringement proceedings -- impeachment proceedings and investigations. the senate, conflict and compromise. he c-span original production exploring the history, traditions, and role of this uniquely american institution premieres wednesday at 8:00 p.m. eastern and pacific on c-span. and be sure to go online at c-span.org/senate to learn more about the program and watch original, fully interviews with senators, view farewell speeches

from serving members, and take a tour inside the senate chamber. the old senate chamber and other exclusive locations. next, constitutional law experts and attorneys discuss freedom of speech in the 21st century. you will hear about hate speech, social media regulation, white house media access, and controversial campus speakers. held by the new york city bar association, this is an hour and 45 minutes. >> good evening. i am roger juan maldonado, president of the new york city bar association, and i welcome you to tonight's program on the first amendment in 21st century america. we started this first amendment series last year, following the tragic events at charlottesville. those events, and the media's coverage of those events, led many of our city bar members to openly question -- what does the first amendment's protection of free speech mean in these times?