potential to be a big bipartisan accomplishment of the congress. both sides realize we have to datasome sort of national privacy standard or law that will protect people's personal information. >> where fat multiple meetings and one of the big missions is we can't have states going out and doing their own thing. we have to have a national standard so that everyone out there understands. >> watch the communicators tonight. reportersrning, a roundtable discussion on the week ahead in washington with later, chi chi wu from the

national consumer law center on efforts from house democrats to have more oversight over credit rating agencies. we take your calls a new can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. "washington journal" is next. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪ host: former colorado democratic governor john hickenlooper announced he will seek the presidential nomination. he said he will bring "progressive change washington has failed to deliver." with the addition of rand paul, several republican senators threatened to vote against the president's use of emergency powers to gain funding for a border wall. senator paul questioned the constitutionality, adding it rackley overstepped the powers assigned congress -- directly oversteps the powers assigned by

congress. said yes -- wes are going to show you the results of the poll. plus, an op-ed that makes the argument socialism is a rising danger within the democratic party. if you agree with that concept, give us a call and tell us why, 202-748-8000. if you disagree, 202-748-8001 is the number to call. you can post your dots on our twitter feed @cspanwj. on our facebook page at facebook.com/cspan. mark then was the former chief strategist for bill clinton and's worked on hillary clinton's presidential campaign --and worked on hillary clinton's presidential campaign. this piece takes a look at socialism saying it is a rising danger. here is his argument from the op-ed saying the democratic party is reaching out -- reading a dangerous tipping point over socialism and what it really

stands for as the american economy grows nearly 3%. poverty is down and the number of people employed at a record high. a young monk people and a large socialistngress, sentiment is rising sharply and could be a defining issue. he highlights this february harvard harris poll that takes a look at this concept. if you were to go to the harvard highlights some of the things and the details of it. we will show you the results of that and if you could let us know in this first hour your thoughts on socialism and if you agree with mark penn and his idea it is a dangerous concept. if you agree with that, 202-748-8000. if you disagree with that, 202-748-8001. if you want to post on our twitter feed, @cspanwj, you can do that and if you want to post on our facebook page it is facebook.com/cspan.

the hail is the place where you can find this harris poll along with the harvard university when it comes to this idea. they said 56% of registered voters polled between the ages of 18 and 24 favored a "mostly socialist economic model. 48%" of respondents between the ages of 25 and 34 said the same. it also found in the same poll that among respondents between only 27%of 55 and 64, said they prefer a "mostly socialist system." 22% said the same according to a poll. saying perhaps this is life afterf college america that has people living with roommates and groups. perhaps it is a function of the delay of marriage and families. or perhaps it is ignorance on what socialism would mean for

america, their lives, and now equated with free college and medicare for all. that is some of the ideas of mark penn, formerly working for bill clinton and hillary clinton. we will show you more of that and others. if you agree with his basic argument that it is a rising danger within the democratic party, this idea of socialism, if you agree with that, 202-748-8000. if you disagree, 202-748-8001. we will start in new york. bernard starts us off. go ahead. caller: good morning, c-span. first of all, this started around 1917, it came out of russia. this entire movement. socialism has failed in every single country it was ever tried. that theost madness democratic party has allowed themselves to be brainwashed

into this very failed, sick ideology. that is the real danger in america today. host: when you say they are brainwashed, what would you give as an example? cnn, msnbc,ller: every network except fox news never has anything to say about either capitalism or this president. is that good enough? i can go on and say colleges. i can go on and say hollywood. host: when you say the democratic party, what makes you think they have embraced this concept? what makes you say that? caller: they have embraced it. they haven't, every single one of them, embraced it. host: okay. caller: the major players have embraced it. the democratic party, are you kidding me?

you think it hasn't changed since the days of kennedy? host: let's hear from david in akron, ohio, disagrees with the concept. caller: good morning. first of all, i am a main street patriot, not a wall street patriot. i think our policies should help the majorities of americans, especially the working people. to me, democratic socialism means free enterprise with a conscience. we still have privately owned small businesses, but you have rules about wages, work lace safety, and protecting the environment. franklin delano roosevelt got us out of the depression with socialist policies, social security, medicare. when we pay our taxes, i think we should have more of a say in what of those taxes get spent on. the way the world is going now and the problems, if we do not pull our money and all of our problems together, we will not

be able to solve them. i see it as -- democratic is the key word. some things should stay private and free. entrepreneurs should be rewarded for their efforts and their genius. host: if you embrace that concept and you have people like bernie sanders interested in becoming president, does that automatically mean your allegiance is to him? caller: to the extent that i agree with his policies which, largely, i do. democratic is the keyword. you vote on it. you do angst the people support. under fdr, when he tried to get us out of the depression, republicans were screaming socialism, socialism. has social security been successful? has medicare been successful? yes. host: david brings up democratic socialism. you can go to their website, it

predominantly says what is democratic socialism? they say democratic-socialist believe the democrat and society should be run publicly. many structures of our government must be radically transformed through greater economic and social mocker receives so ordinary americans can participate in the many decisions that affect our lives. mark penn makes the argument it is a rising danger within the emma craddick party -- democratic party. if you agree with that concept, 202-748-8000. if you disagree, 202-748-8001. anthony from miller place, new york. hi. caller: thank you for the programming. having not had read the article, it is hard for me to make a clear correlation. it seems to run its course because of the human condition that underlies policymaking

processes. capitalism has only survived as long as the -- as long as it has because of bank bailouts. american history has seen all these bank bailouts on the 2008 -- isn't that a socialistic policy to bailout banks who then in turn to continue to put people out of their homes because they cannot afford to pay the piper? isms run their course because of human tendency. humans seem -- always seem to be to donstant -- a tendency things we perhaps are not -- are perhaps not the best for everyone. are a wake-upn's call. america isn't like diet coke,

you cannot get all the flavor without the calories. it takes hard work, ingenuity, healthdo we need to make care coverage more affordable? of course. at the same time we encourage and incentivize -- do we need to make college free? maybe not free. we have to ensure every student capable of college can get financial support while being fair to those who choose another route. we need to make sure colleges provide ideological diverse environments that do not shortchange the compliments of america. zach on our disagree line from washington, d.c., hi. of all this whole idea these definitions is absurd to me because we live in this postmodern age. it's like every single caller talking about a socialism has a completely different definition of it. our culture has no ability to

really reflect on itself and it this lack of self-awareness. i just think it is really important to include the awareness that we are in a postmodern age and not everything is meaningless and this whole idea that we are structured in our leading of our own country is basically diluted. host: when it comes to the idea of socialism and if it is a rising danger being embraced by the socialist -- democratic party, what do you think? aller: i don't think it is rising danger because it is arbitrary how people understand socialism. it deserves a new word. we are cycling a word from the past -- ohio on our in agree line.

caller: i did not know which one to call because socialism, capitalism, a good idea is a good idea and a bad idea is a bad idea and i wish we could drop the labels. medicare,urity, medicaid, public schools, public roads, they -- these are labeled socialist ideas, but they work and they are good. i wish we could stop people -- stop calling people republican and democrat. host: the pollster makes the comment it is a danger in the democratic party. is that something you agree with? caller: there is a lot of good ideas with socialism and some bad. there are good ideas in capitalism and some bad. i wish we would drop the label. host: let's hear florida on our agree line. hello. caller: hi.

i totally -- i don't think people realize what they are think socialism should be a thing now. not american. host: why shouldn't it be a thing? , look at any socialist country. look at what happened. okay. medicaidple claim that -- medicare doesn't work. edit care would work and social if they would work money's that every american paid in while they are working stayed

there. host: this embrace of socialism and to mark penn's idea it is a rising danger in the democratic party, you agree with that or not? caller: i agree. host: because why. caller: you see it more and more with these congresspeople. congresswomant a going against israel, of all places. of all places. a congressman in the united states is going against israel? host: let's go to henry on our disagree line in new york. caller: good morning. i think what is rising in the democratic party is the determination to correct. i don't call it socialism. i call it a correction. if we have to correct some of

the really sad things this society has done in the past decades, the damage that was done to people in 2008 has not been corrected. the damage that was done to homeownership has not been fully corrected and the damage that was done to young people. i am an ex-teacher. to think of kids coming out of college with these huge debt sick.s makes me we have a set of uncorrected conditions and the democratic party is saying fix it. people want to call that socialism. distortion asl some of your callers have already said. host: miriam webster technically defines socialism as any of the

various economics and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership in the means of production and distribution of goods. that is the textbook definition. bernie sanders interested in becoming president of the united states and it was at the cnn town hall he participated last week where he kind of gave his thoughts on what that means to him. >> can you make a simple persuasive case as to why socialism is preferable to capitalism? >> democratic socialism? >> yes. >> let me tell you what i mean by that so we are clear. right now, we have a nation which prides itself on a lot of political rights, under the constitution, thank god, you have freedom of speech, the media can do its thing even though trump calls you an enemy of the people. how does that feel to be an enemy? that is another story.

have political -- freedom of religion and all of that is important. you know what we don't have? we don't have guarantees regarding economic rights. 1944 in an little-known little publicized state of the union speech, franklin delano roosevelt said something and i am paraphrasing, but he said when we talk about human freedom and rights, we have got to understand everybody needs a decent paying job, that people need health care, that people need education. all over the world, these ideas are taking place. you go to countries in scandinavia, health care is a right. higher education is free. they have strong preschool programs and they make sure elderly folks can retire in dignity. these are not radical ideas.

emma craddock socialism means having in a civilized society, the understanding that we can make sure all of our people live in security and dignity. health care is a human right. all people should have health care. you cannot get ahead in this country, in this world unless you have a decent education. we have got to, as a right, end the kinds of discrimination, sexism, racism, and homophobia that exist. when i talk about democratic socialism, what i talk about our human rights and economic rights. the last sentence of the mark penn piece saying the democratic party needs to get back on track of being we aresive, but not -- just beginning the primary process, so i am hopeful the winner can move the rudder if not all the way back to

moderate, at least from this newly popular socialist label. this is mark penn. he was a chief strategist for bill clinton and worked for hillary clinton on her senate and won presidential campaign. albert in michigan says the disagrees with this idea. caller: you see all the young people disagree. this election 2020 thing they to taring to use, trying baby and say it is socialism. what about fascism? the republican party with trump's fascist. it's the same thing in world war ii. hitler's was fascist and they had communist in germany. mark penn's words don't mean anything. host: he formerly worked for bill clinton and hillary clinton. caller: it doesn't matter. he is just saying his opinion.

i don't care who he worked for. host: if you disagree with him, why is it not a rising danger? caller: i am a democrat. i am not a socialist. i am not a fascist. that is mean. that is just something he is saying. you are enhancing it. is he saying god's law? host: we are just asking people's opinions. that is all. arizona in phoenix, disagree line. caller: i disagree and here is why. first, the person referring to that -- whenever the government does something, conservatives always claim it is socialism to scare people and it is more socialistic, it's the government helping people. aren't we, the people, the government of the united states? it says so in the constitution, i believe. also, if you think of that --

the democrats always hope the -- help be have-nots. it helped those without civil rights get civil rights and those without a vote get a vote. right now the have-nots are without a home. on a singleople corner. all day long, i drive up the intersections and there are two or three or four people with a sign begging for help. this is a failure of the government of the highest magnitude. host: this is the ron bock report on twitter who says socialism is not compatible with constitutional guarantees of freedom and liberty. socialism andort its fruits. someone who describes himself as the socialist party saying a rising danger for whom? the parasitic selfish asset owning class obviously don't want changes in results -- that result in them changing -- result in them losing wealth.

those are some of the thoughts of our twitter feed if you want to make that, @cspanwj. our facebook page is open as well at facebook.com/cspan. this is john on our agree line. hello. caller: hello. thanks for taking my call. i want to recommend the democrats litter which can help them. the most important issue in each administration is about the foreign prophecy. one of the most important -- host: let's stick to the topic of socialism and if it is a rising danger in the democrat party. do you agree with that and tell us why? caller: yeah, i want to explain it. host: let's stick to the point as far as the topic is concerned. do you agree with the topic and why or why not? caller: yes, i completely agree. i think we must change the policy on one israel.

rich in will go to kansas city, disagree line. hello. caller: hi. help but feelt --e this is all being rich, you are on, go ahead. hold on a second. i think we lost rich as well. i apologize for that. this is the idea. if you go to the fox news website, there is a piece by mark penn taking a look at this idea of socialism. he says it is a rising danger. we are asking people to agree or disagree with that. if you agree with that idea, as we have read some of the things and concepts this morning, 202-748-8000 is the number to

call. if you disagree with that, it is 202-748-8001. you can post on our website or at least our twitter feed and our facebook page at facebook.com/cspan. cpac speecht at a on saturday, a two hour speech in which some of the speed addressed this idea of socialism and the democratic party and here is what he had to say from saturday. [video clip] >> democrat lawmakers are now embracing socialism. they want to replace individual rights with total government domination. just this week, more than 100 democrats in congress signed up for a socialist takeover of american health care. their radical government run plan, if you call it that, would lead to colossal tax increases, increases like you have never

seen before, and take away private coverage from over 180 million americans. we have some great private coverage. we have initiated some incredible plans like the new cooperative plan where you get better insurance than obamacare for a fraction of the cost. perhaps nothing is more extreme than the democrats' plan to completely take over american destroynd completely america's economy through their new $100 trillion green new deal. [booing] whichthe green new deal, somebody described as a high school term paper written by a wouldtudent -- who believe it? it is so bad.

from marylandlee on our agree line. caller: let's define socialism. it is two guys working on an assembly line and what they make goes into a storehouse where it is given back to them for whatever need they have. sooner or later, the one guy realizes he is working 60 hours a week and one guy is working 40 and he doesn't want to give what he has. it all morphs into communism, socialism at the end of a gun. you asked someone what is the proof this is going on in the government. the proof is people send five dollars to the government and believe somehow the government is going to make seven dollars out of it when in reality all they get is two dollars worth and three dollars disappears. fascism is the other side of the problem in this country with the one gentleman that called earlier. host: do you think this concept

is being embraced by the democratic party? caller: absolutely. just like with the republicans, fascism is being embraced. money has become their god. we are in the middle with two hard places. democrats are not good and republicans are not good. what is good is returning to the old beliefs we had in our country. first of all, god being first. host: fort myers, florida, disagree line. we will hear from bruce. caller: i completely disagree with everything the previous caller just said. the biggest problem with the concept of socialism in this country is so many people have no understanding of what socialism is. if you noticed, every time someone asks bernie sanders, he corrects them and says democratic socialism. we have socialism to a point. we have public schools.

i don't have kids, but i don't complain about my property taxes paying for my neighbor's kids to go to school. host: tom is next in new york on the agree line. hi. caller: good morning, cnn. host: we are c-span, not cnn. caller: sorry, c-span. idea.ism is not a good they keep talking about social security being a communist thing and it is not. the people put in money for social security so they have something at the end of their lives to fall back on. the government mismanage his it. -- miss manages it. -- mismanages it. host: so this is not something -- being: i agree it is

adopted by the democratic party and i believe they are wrong. i believe america should never be a communist party, never should be a communist country. there are communist countries here. if they want to be communists, they should go to those countries. america will never be communist like trump said. int: let's hear from lewis new jersey on our agree line. good morning. how are you? host: fine, go ahead. caller: socialism only works for people in power. most of the folks pushing it are already wealthy and now that they are wealthy, they want to draw a line that says to be wealthy, you have to get here, not where we were before. socialism is a danger. host: give me a specific why you

think it is rising within the democratic party itself? caller: look at bernie. he drives an expensive car and he is trying to tell everybody that that is not good? you have to do this and that. pay more people to money and everything, tell you how to eat. socialism only works for people in power. look at venezuela. host: that is lewis in new jersey. we will spend and half out -- a half-hour on mark penn's piece, getting your thoughts on this idea of socialism and if you agree or disagree with this rising danger within the democratic party. 202-748-8000 for those of you who agree. 202-748-8001 if you disagree. if you go to the washington post , jerry berman writes a piece, the five myths about socialism. mythrites -- i will read

number two. socialism and democracy are incompatible. she writes in a speech last month, the president argued socialism "must always give rise to tyranny." communists reject democracy, but other socialists have supported it. wanted -- onein of the fathers of social democracy described democracy as a means and and ends. a weapon and struggle for socialism and the form with which socialism will be realized. if you want to read the piece, it is online for the -- at the washington post. for those who disagree, one of them is christine from boston, massachusetts. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my

call. i grew up in germany. spd,ny you could vote which was social democrat or cdu or csu, was -- which was christian democrats. i grew up there. nobody can tell me germany is a communist country. people who voted by had little stores, mom and pop democrats christian -- president trump is lining his pockets while he is in office. people who are talking out

-- one countrysm where they have --i am getting nervous now. host: it is okay, we get your point. carol in clearwater, florida. carol in clearwater, hello? let's go to mike. mike in kingsport, tennessee. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you, c-span. i agree it is a rising danger. it is a power grab by politicians. keephing i wish they would -- quit saying is free education. somebody has to pay the professors and somebody has to .ay for facilities and so forth if you see the $22 trillion in

debt now, i don't see how the socialism the democrats are talking about. danger.it is a rising your thoughtsmake known on our agree line. if you disagree, 202-748-8000 -- 202-748-8001. there is a contributor to forbes magazine who writes fighting socialism is -- in the united states today is the headline. some of the argument he makes is let me focus on the socialist modestrrien -- all observers know how different human beings are and how on equal and it comes to productivity. joseph stalin attacked socialist .ho called for equalization

he added the claim we want all men to equal one another is an empty phrase and a stupid invention of intellectuals. he writes the unlikely dynamic duo of senator sanders and alexandria ocasio-cortez has not been used in the language of communism. their policies show they believe in the marxist dream of a classless society. that is available if you go to the forbes website, fighting socialism in the united states today. jeffrey is next from carlsbad, california. caller: good morning. i strongly disagree with the premise. the real danger here is misinformation about what it is bernie and aoc are supporting,

that is social democracy like what is practiced in norway, the country that is absolutely devoted to free enterprise and capitalism. to call their form of social democracy the same of -- as communism is wrong. host: from our disagree line, anna from delaware. caller: yes, i disagree. i think the family -- the parents -- if they have children, they should put their children through college. throughree of them private schools and college and i said, we paid for it, not the government. i think it is up to each individual to take care of their own. host: why do you think it is not a danger within the democratic party? caller: why do i think it is?

i think the democrats are nuts. host: you called on the disagree line. think we should have it. i disagree with having the socialists. we have got 20 $2 trillion in debt. in delaware. anna we will continue on this for 20 minutes or so. you can post on our facebook and social media sites. it was this morning the former democratic governor of colorado john hickenlooper announced he plans to run for president of the united states. he released his thoughts on why in a video posted online this morning. [video clip] >> at the age of 50, i was elected mayor. we transformed denver. during my eight years as governor, we did the hard things families needed. with a divided legislature, we

got health care coverage for nearly 95% of all coloradans. the number one economy in america. we brought environmentalists and coyle and asked -- oil and gas companies to the table. enactingeat the nra by universal background checks and banning high capacity magazines. we need dreamers in washington and we also need to get things done. i have proven i can bring people together to produce the progressive change washington failed to deliver. join me and we will repair the damage done to our country and be stronger than ever. park in to civic center denver march 7 and we will kick off this campaign together. cpac thewas during washington times conducted a poll on who might be the

democrat who proves the biggest threat to president trump. 911 respondents, most of them saying joe biden. we have 38.7% of those saying he would be the biggest threat followed by bernie sanders with 11.9%. 11.3%.harris with bill from florida, go ahead. caller: good morning, sir. how are you doing? host: fine, thank you. go ahead. caller: i think this socialist agenda is dangerous. i disagree with it. i worked hard all my life to pay for everything i got. never asked for a handout. i don't want my money going for somebody else that doesn't want to work or cannot work. this health care for all, medicare for all and free education for all is not going to work for us. i have a good health insurance plan and i do not want to give

it up. i don't want lower quality health care insurance. host: do you think those ideas have a real chance of becoming a reality? caller: if the people of the united states don't wake up, it has a real chance of becoming a reality. people need to wake up and quit wanting freebies. host: we will hear from james from florida. hello. caller: good morning. i think there are a lot of people that don't have a firm grasp of the history of this whole thing. the entire 20th century was fighting against the forces of socialism. how can you explain the union of socialist soviet republic? people think it was fascism and communism that are polar op unit -- polar opposites.

i am going to use a word, not street vernacular, the dictionary definition. socialism is a bitch and she whelps fascism and communism. itself -- a reason the person might agree with a lot of things they are saying. there are eventually laws in place where they decide guess what else isn't fair? democracy itself. at the end of the day we can have a true classless society is if they take control of the whole thing. host: one more bit from this harvard paris -- harvard poll saying the youngest voters between the ages of 18 and 24 were also the most likely to say the democratic party back socialism at 71%.

conversely, 29% said they see the party as opposed to socialism. you can find that poll online and read it for yourself. you can also comment on it. if this idea. we started by reading mark penn's piece and what he sees are rising dangers within the democratic party. 202-748-8000 if you agree with that idea. if you disagree with that idea, 202-748-8001. from joe in massachusetts, go ahead. caller: yes. my father died at the age of 41 and left my mother widowed with five children at the eight of 34 in the late 50's. my mother successfully raised five children, very successfully, got us all through college. we were supported by a great family. the reason i bring this up is i

think the fear of the people who disagree -- we all see the abuse in the present welfare system. until we square that away, i don't think you are going to get the confidence of the people who disagree. i agree, i see firsthand the abuse going on in the welfare system and parents taking advantage of that and i think that is where the real fear is. when we hear socialism, we all think about welfare first. host: from shreveport, louisiana. go ahead. this is lisa on our agree line. caller: i think it is a terrible thing, socialism. however, the reason why this question -- you all want hickenlooper as your candidate, and he will be.

what makes you say that? she hung up. several presidential candidates travel to alabama to participate in the 54th anniversary of the bloody sunday civil rights march amongst those, bernie sanders, cory booker. brown oftor sharad ohio, who is considering making a white house bid. they attended across the bridge, one of the speakers was cory booker in alabama on sunday. here are some of his comments. [video clip] is a memorial moment in america. the very idea people are losing faith. people are feeling like the forces tearing us apart are stronger than the ones holding

us together. this is a moral moment in america. it is time for us to defend the dream. as langston hughes said there's a dream in this land to save the dream for one and save the dream for all. it is time we dare to dream again in america. to dream that we can be a hastry that every country clean water and clean air. with public schools professionals that are well paid and care. the fact that we dream bigger dreams in america, that health our is a right, the days of children dying from gun violence are long, long gone. we have to dream bigger dreams again in america where we do not leave the war -- lead the world in incarceration. we must dream bigger dreams

again in america, that we can banish bigotry and heal hate and that we will elect leaders that people.nly way to unite that is what it takes to make america great. that lovemy heart thrives in this nation. i know we are here in a church and we are not alone and that all across this country, people are dreaming america can work for their families and their children and their seniors, but it is up to us to do the work it takes to make the dream real. host: more of those comments available online if you go to our website. new york is next on our disagree line. this is harry. caller: do you mean gary?

host: i am sorry, go ahead. isler: i disagree socialism a rising danger in the democratic party. i believe many of your callers are confused by the fact they are calling in on the wrong lines. socialism does not mean free. socialism means all. that's all it means. we the people. the constitution is social. it just means all, doesn't mean free. capitalism means individual or few, that is all it means and i do not believe socialism is a rising danger and the democratic quasi-- our country is socialistic and capitalistic. it's not pure anyone thing. our country a mix has always been a mix and people even calling your lines not understand that by the fact they are calling the wrong lines. alabama is next, disagree

line. caller: good morning, pedro. i disagree and i am offended with the debate this morning. first of all, look how the federal government was shut down about three weeks ago, a month ago. how no one could go out and do their work that is supposed to help the american people. you know what? i don't agree with that. is natural there is a rising force in the republican party. host: we are c-span, not cnn. from trenton, new jersey, go ahead. thing. here is the it is very interesting because spokery booker actually at my graduation. he was really channeling his

inner dr. king. host: this idea of socialism as a rising danger, do you agree or not? caller: do i agree. ? yeah. host: why so? caller: i would say it is a rising danger not necessarily to democracy. oriented is more toward the community, when everyone is willing to give up rights for the good of everybody else. -- itk it is definitely is a danger to independence, is what i would say it is. host: that is timothee in new jersey. usa today has an interview with mike pompeo stemming from the .resident trip to vietnam one of the things he says in his

interview, the secretary of state highlighted trips he is .aking to pivotal states it started with iowa and then kansas where he is under pressure to run for senate. he insisted his travel itinerary was not political or in any way intended to help bolster trump's 2020 reelection campaign. he also was quoted saying at this point we do not intend to begin having major war exercises in south korea. we will also always be prepared to defend american interest everywhere, so the american people need not worry about readiness issues for the military. pompeo spotted irritably when asked about the president's assertion kim did not know about the mistreatment of otto war mbier.

"i don't believe he knew about it," the president said. and asked if he holds kim responsible, pompeo said the north korean regime's response both for the death. let's go to john in triangle, virginia. on our agree line. caller: yes. host: you are on, go ahead. socialismagree that not beke our children hard, inspirational workers. host: let's go to caroline in virginia. she disagrees. hello. caller: thank you for taking my call. bobby kennedy is my cousin. a little shout out. i prefer the term mixed economies. plans,e group oriented

individual, capitalistic and i wanted to share two new pieces. there is so much going on, i would love to see a new rule that says whoever is running has pix for theirted vice president and cabinet team in the process. out more why you don't think it is a rising danger. caller: nature is incredibly powerful. i like the idea of a green deal. i do emergency response work. i help people with people rescues during storms. you need coordinated efforts to take care of the environment. host: how does that relate to socialism and the democratic party? new deal.th the green i put in a little plus and say i think along with that, i think truckers should be given a tax isdit if the administration

going to pull emergency funds, they should be given tax credits to help in emergencies. host: michael in kentucky on the agree line. caller: how is it going? host: fine, thanks. caller: do people not realize what socialism has been in the past? ask stalin. ask all the germans. ask west germany, russia. it is a system that does not work and never will work. your last caller talking about the green stuff. green is capitalism. host: why do you agree it is a raising -- rising danger? caller: you have people that are just taking over. host: actions such as what? caller: controlling. it is control they want. not helping out people, it is the control of the people is what the democratic party is

attempting. host: that is michael in kentucky. michael cohen, who testified in public last week testified a couple of times in private, comes back to capitol hill march 6th two a closed session. the washington post highlighted some of the work behind the scenes when it comes to house and senate -- house legislators saying they are exploring the possibility of a pardon talk. neverhen said publicly he asked for and would not accept a pardon from the president. people familiar with the matter said his mall it -- knowledge seemed to extend beyond that. whether he had discussions on a possible pardon and if so, when and with whom these conversations took place. people spoke on the condition of anonymity because the -- it was not public and it was not immediately clear what, if

anything, cohen told lawmakers to spark their interest. cohen from. cooperating with law enforcement . he is scheduled to return to the house intelligence committee on wednesday. ron is next from maryland. go ahead. caller: good morning. thanks for c-span. we already have socialism. we have social security, our military. from 1on for our kids through 12th grade. this country is already part socialism. we have free labor. are you still there? host: yeah, go ahead. caller: i don't understand what all these people are talking about. maybe they just don't know the history of this country.

if you look at the military, everybody pays for it. what is that if not socialism? host: from michigan, our agree line. ifler: i just wanted to say the democratic party does not stop with the socialism. unfortunately, they are not going to win in 2020. i am worried about this. i do not agree with socialism. host: why do you think the party is embracing it? she hung up. we will hear from brenda in pennsylvania, who disagrees. caller: i do disagree. our country was founded on socialism. the founding fathers came from england where in england you paid taxes to enrich the king and the monarchy. we pay taxes and everybody calling in has benefited from socialism, public education. our taxes subsidize the food

industry so everyone can afford food. everybody chips in and everybody benefits. what is the matter with that? that is for the benefit of everybody to have food and education and health care that benefits the whole country. host: david in this piece this morning in the new york times takes a look at the democratic party. he argues saying there is risk in the move to the left that similar criticisms of progressivism sometimes obscures. the 2020 candidates have mostly been competing with one another to see who can come off as the most boldly and purely liberal. sanders, harris, and kiersten gillibrand talked about eliminating private health insurance and so on. ideological purity does not tend to play well in general elections. every modern president found even ifappeal for --

the candidate appeals have been stylistic then substantive. it donald trump campaigned as a defender of medicare and social security. barack obama reached out to red and blue america. ronald reagan put a sunny face on his conservatives. more on that -- on his thoughts if you go to the pages of the new york times. from nadia in georgia, hello. juanita.his is venezuela,a, look at look at russia. you have your answer. it is destroying the democratic party. host: give me a modern-day example or something that suggests it is a danger. caller: look at the ideas they are coming up with. host: kim is next from

tennessee. i have a southern drawl, so be patient. care soesentatives that much for what they get, paid off holidays, sick days, health care -- let's -- next hour, several events happening in capitol hill and politics. we invited two reporters to invite us to have that discussion. senatorsepublican turning back against the president on this idea of emergency powers for a border wall. jonathan willand join us next. later in the program, it is our -- your money segment.

we look at consumer credit rating agencies. chi chi wu from the national consumer law center will talk to us about that hearing in her concerns for the practice of credit rating agencies. those and more coming up on "washington journal" when we continue. ♪ announcer:announcer: c-span but to texas asking folks what it means to be american. you can american means be anyone and everything -- anything. you have the freedom to express yourself and the freedom to embrace your culture and show off your culture. america is a melting pot. it is nice to share values

like respect for one another. we have the freedom to share lucky, things and we are -- you see a foreign exchange student come here because we are so fortunate. even health care, we are very fortunate people. go usa. >> for myself, being american is, on the one hand, being a free person. as far as being an american citizen, i would say taking an active part in trying to better your country and not think of it as a perfect nation. always go on a mission and try to make it better. announcer: voices from the road on c-span. ♪ >> c-span, where history unfolds daily.

in 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 , and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. announcer: tonight on the communicators, we are on capitol hill with john thune, who chairs the commerce and science subcommittee and bob latta, ranking member on the house energy and commerce subcommittee to discuss high-speed broadband service, privacy laws, 5g, and net neutrality. [video clip] ,> very much interested in 5g spectrum availability, autonomous vehicles, privacy, which i think has the potential to be a bipartisan a compliment

of republicans and democrats realize that we have to have some sort of a national data, thatcy standard or law will protect people's personal information. one of the big issues come you are absolutely right. we can't have states going out and doing their own thing. we've got to have a national standard out here so everyone out here understands. theuncer: watch communicators tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span two. washington journal continues. issuesng a look at happening in congress and the white house this week, our two guests. the philadelphia inquirer, he serves as national political , and a white house reporter for the publication.

thanks for joining us both this week. we will start with you what it comes to the house judiciary committee expending their probe into the present white house. what is happening and how was the white house reacting? i think with democrats, everyone was putting their exit robert mueller -- there egg -- eggs init and robert -- robert mueller'ss basket. we some michael cohen go before the house intelligence committee, the house oversight committee, the senate severalence and and different areas. money laundering with the trump organization. i think that we can expect over the next month this to continue

very thoroughly. we will show you what the chairman had to say, here's what he had to say. >> the investigation goes far beyond collusion. using all the democratic norms that we depend on attacked by the administration. attacks onthe press, the department of justice, the fbi, on judges. delivery and to the proper functioning of government. all of this has to be looked at and laid out to the american people. it's very clear that the president obstructed justice. to themes he referred mueller investigation as a witchhunt. fromied to protect flynn being investigated by the fbi.

he fired comey in order to stop the russia thing. -- he hasgled intimidated witnesses. >> if that's the case, is the decision not to pursue impeachment simply political? if we believe he obstructed justice? >> no. we have to do the investigation. evidence now have the all sorted out to do impeachment. somebody, youeach have to persuade the american public that it ought to happen. you have to persuade the opposition party voters -- >> that's a very high bar. >> it is a very high bar. we may or may not get there. but what we have to do is protect the oval office. host: seems like a shotgun approach to this.

go in a lotnk they of different directions especially off of the testimony. someone compared it to him setting a field for democrats where he raised issues related's to some of the president's children, what they have known, issues about the chief financial officers in the trump organization. he laid out a bunch of names but democrats are likely going to want to bring in as well. the idea that you have got the chairman of the judiciary committee saying that the president obstructed justice, that's pretty significant for him to reach at that level. now, that's a push that is gaining momentum as well. there are a number of different , each trying to get a piece of this. when did they issue

subpoenas to make this happen? soon, i think very chairman cummings asked the white house about jared kushner's security clearance. i think the democrats being in charge of the house for the first two months is tied up in the shutdown, now that it is over, they are flexing their muscles on both policy and investigation. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8002 for independents. what are they prepared to do? guest: i think for a while, and a lot of people in the white house were worried that they were not prepared for this.

like i said before, i think they were really worried about impending release of the robert report. now, they really take in a lot house withthe white what is expected in these investigations and chairman adler said today 60 names that they want to bring in for ivanka, jaredom kushner, felix slater. a lot of people from all different corners of the white house and his businesses will be affected by this. host: there is an expectation that the white house mull a report will be released, or won't be released?

initially, they thought that robert mueller had more respect. they, i really don't think know if anyone is going to be coming. but i think everyone is still kind of in the dark about that. host: the reaction from the various committees to the expectations, do we think we will get a full release of the report? guest: they are guarding against that possibility that they want as much information in the public record or behind closed doors, that if they don't get a full report, they get a piece of the report, it gets redacted. that they have the information in dracula and -- the information to act on. host: the word impeachment is

does not get thrown out as a strong possibility, why do you think that is? guest: even though there are some people who really want to go there already, there is a feeling that it's not just a legal question, it's a political western and you need to convince ae public that this is not witchhunt, as the president calls it. in order to take that step, you need to have a large segment of the population on your side or you are going to be seen as overreaching. host: is there a roadmap to the white house as far as a plan that does come to light? guest: i think a lot of people within the white house do see it .s being a political asset wereer pelosi and others against impeachment talks this early on despite other members

wanting to bring it up now. it could backfire as we head into 2020. i actually did a story a few weeks ago just trying to gauge how many people were in support of impeachment. surprising, and a lot of people said let's wait for the mueller report, it's wait for some of the house investigations to way moreow, have evidence to support some sort of impeachment. host: she is a white house reporter, jonathan with the philadelphia inquirer as national political reporter. the first call for you comes from michelle in georgia. democrats line, you are on with our guest. caller: yes, good morning. nazi that sitst in the white house is up to his ears in all kinds of corruption. he wants to try to blame everybody but himself. with putin inre

russia, stealing secrets, giving away secrets. he's a liar, he is a known white nationalists. he's a threat to every black and brown person caller:. i hope isis comes over here and -- go host: we will leave their because we will not accept that, just so you know. a two hournt was at baseh to appeal to his own in light of what is going on. guest: a bit. we have seen this at his rallies across america. you can tell the energy that he was playing off the crowd. it is ace like cpac, place where like twitter, he has

a chance to tell his own message and not through the lens of the media. host: what the you think the expectation will be on capitol hill in north korea? you saw,at interestingly, you saw a relief all around. i think there was a lot of fear that there would be a bad deal done. a lot of people would rather have no deal than a bad deal. you saw democrats and republicans glad he walked away. democrats did it in more of a critical way, but expressing relief that there was not some f-step just in order to declare victory. i think this is one of the areas you might see the most potential pushback because one of the areas that you really see republicans ever push back on the president are foreign trade and foreign policy. most of the other areas are pretty much in line, this is one

where there could be pushback if there's disagreement. host: massachusetts, independent line. go ahead. caller: thank you, good morning. i'm not sure i really have a really solid question, but i'm someone who voted for obama twice and voted for trump and i have to say, i do still support many of his policies but yet, when he came out and said that the press was the enemy of the that was so autocratic. but yet, the people i love most in my family, my friends, they still support him. these are among the best and the brightest -- i say that humbly. and yet, they have no defense of him and the only news they watches fox media. and i'm just wondering how one breaks through that political divide when impeachment is really political.

know,inton, as you all clinton was reelected due to sympathy for being attacked so hard for his relationship with monica lewinsky. sorry for the shuffle of papers, i was trying to find a new wall street journal poll taking a look at the president approval ratings, 46%. what do you think about a comment as far as the president with his own party and for those against him as well? guest: it is true to the caller's point that it is difficult, people who only watch perhaps msnbc versus only watching foxnews, it's hard to break through with that. level, that on a greater

,hat is going on in washington i think that to break through that, you have to pay attention to everything that's going on in a think with the approval ratings, those will change. it's hard to only rely on polls. we saw what happened in 2016, a lot of people relied heavily on and did not expect trump to win the election. i think you have to take stock of that as well. host: jonathan, does that mean he has to appeal to more? guest: that has been the case since before he won the election through his entire presidency. 35% to 45% ofid the country that his with him, 35% that is with him no matter what, another 10% of that comes and goes a little bit and another 50% to 55% that is not going to vote for him no matter what and is designed to get out and vote against him. he's going to have to do well in the right states the same way he did in 2016 in pennsylvania,

ohio, michigan, or the. in thoseke sure that states, even though the national nature is more against him than with him, that he can win just the right majority. host: is that from the midterms, or has that energy run its course? guest: i think it's all going back to 2016. were justndependents so stunned by that result and could not fathom a president trump. people whothere are love trump and are thrilled that he president, there's a larger faction of people who still can't believe he is president and they have been ready to go since the day after 2016. headline from politico, four out of 10 would reelect the president. he will have to hold on to the states. there are two key demographics in 2016 a potential

democratic nominee could take back which are the independent swing states and also suburban female voters. this is also, to turn it around on democrats running in 2020, they have to transcend party politics. learnre's anything we from 2016, you have to appeal to more independent, moderates, and voters in places like is constant, pennsylvania. host: let's hear from our line for democrats from michigan. i was wondering about your opinion on the tax issue. trump during the campaign said he would release his tax returns after the audit was done. he did not release any tax returns for many years and then the taxs asked about issue and he said as far as he knew, nothing was under audit and that, in fact, trump was

worried that if he did release any of his tax returns, that it would show discrepancies and then he would be audited. the second point would be that brought documentation about the valuations of the properties and trump overvalued his properties when applying for against loans and insurance, and that would be bank fraud, a crime. host: those issues coming out last week. so far they have been pretty quiet. that a lot ofing democrats especially on the committee investigating the president want to get into. cohens something michael

brought in. so, and a lot of democrats are starting to look at whether they want to subpoena tax returns. that could open a whole can of worms that they might not be ready to open yet. i think a lot of people on these committees investigating the president -- we should expect more on this. host: i fourth appearance by michael cohen. with this one closed, what is the significance? guest: democrats are building their information about the president and accumulating it on their own. investigations are pretty much nonexistent on the hill, at least on the house side. they are building up as information so that whether or not robert mueller's report becomes public, they have this information and the testimony is public.

doors, it's hard to know what they are asking. you wonder how much further it goes behind closed doors. host: is this going to be the main feature of the rest of those terms? guest: there will be legislative work as well. democrats last week passed a bill for universal background checks. the first strengthening of gun laws, they have cleared through the senate or house. message toignificant the moderate suburban voters, that is a really big issue and it allows them to say, we are doing things besides just investigating the president. this week, they are bringing up an ethics bill on campaign finance, disclosure, lobbying rules. thatwill be another one they say the president talked about cleaning up. a storyu posted

specifically about that. guest: it is called the for the people act. jonathan was discussing hr 1 which was the first legislation they brought forward in the new congress. billnk it's a 571 page that gets to electoral reform, ethics reform, campaign finance reform. part of it is tax returns that would require presidents to release tax returns from the past 10 years, things like that. and so it is a hefty bill. they recognize it will very likely passed the house where they have the majority but when it is to the senate, mitch mcconnell has already said that he's going to block it. a lot of people who i've spoke with who have either worked in support of the bill or a pushing this forward are hoping that they can play the long game and get this and active. republican line. caller: yeah.

i believe all this stuff democrats want to try to do because what michael cohen says, he's a convicted liar. with and have testified orange jumpsuit in shackles because i believe everything he said was a lie. i don't believe nothing he says. if he wants, i will never believe you again. that colored woman called and said donald trump needs to be killed, i hope isis comes and kills her. host: again, callers, we won't accept that. cohen hashael admitted to lying. weekid in his hearing last that he has lied about congress in the past. there are major questions about

his credibility, either he is lying then or he is lying now. a lot of democrats say that they found what he said truthful, that he was in the president's orbit. is issue that comes back that, yes, there are a lot of questions on his character. but a lot of that ends up blowing back on the president, one of his closest advisers and assistants. why would you employ somebody like that? there are questions about his credibility that republicans are going to ask. president has been making a call for emergency powers, several republican senators already saying that they pushed back. senator rand paul, this is an op-ed piece published yesterday. there are questions whether this power and therefore this action are constitutional. the supreme court made it very clear in the case being closely

re-examined of executive power. they ruled that there are three kinds of executive order. jonathan, talk about not only rand paul's thoughts, but what is the president's hope of gaining funding for the border wall? if all of the democrats that voted against it, the house has already voted against it, there's now enough senate majority to reject his call for an emergency. and i suspect that now that there's a majority, that more republicans who have an on the fence and maybe did not want to over thee to tip it line it might also come out and oppose it. in the long term, what probably happened is the senate probably it, there he vetoes is unlikely to be enough republican support to overturn that veto and then it goes to court which is where i think we

all thought this was going when he first declared it. likely we are looking at a long court battle. believe there are three, a blow from the white house, a significant blow. guest: senator rand paul was definitely a big blow because he aligns with the president on several other issues. to this point, he said that a lot of republicans were against using executive power in this way when former president obama was in the white house. senator rand paul says he has to stand up for that again. likely if it doesn't make its way to the white house, the president will veto it. i doubt he's going to change his mind on the emergency declaration but as a political message, there's a lot of pressure on him which is never a good look. the presidentseen launch offensives before what he wants to get things done. do you see anything coming up for senators who might be on the

fence? there's probably enough for it to get to the white house. people probably meet behind closed doors with some senators to explain, but nothing for my legislative point will be changed. not sure how much work they have to do behind the agency he does have that veto power. have we seen senator mcconnell respond to this? guest: he might not, he might want to talk about other topics. this is not something -- senator mcconnell is not thrilled about having to bring up something that opposes the president under the procedural rules of congress, it does have to come up in the senate. i do think that when it comes to the behind-the-scenes lobbying, you might see the white house , to keep itdown from being a really big loss. there was a relatively few number of republican defections even though that bill was going

to pass. they might try to keep the number down on the senate side and not have him veto -- there is a difference between vetoing something that four republicans voted for instead of your nine. host: independent line. caller: good morning, glad to get on finally. why don't we get into this about.what we talk every time i watch the congressional and senatorial votes and i see that the number of votes you put up on the screen, you need to learn how to spell democrat because you spell it with ic and there is no ic. it's not the democratic party, is the democrat party. when you have your phone lines, you: democrats. there's no republicanic party and no democratic party, so please don't democratsic me. host: what are your questions or comments? caller: i just want to let you know that i really feel pitiful

for the democrats. all you people out there who think he is a not s -- is a nazi, you are being indoctrinated and brainwashed. host: pennsylvania, democrat. high crimes and misdemeanors, it's not necessarily something that's against the criminal code, but it is something that's unethical and there's footage of trump doing his high crimes and misdemeanors. you have footage of that on your website. many, many incidents of thing that he has done that would meet the criteria for high crimes and misdemeanors. host: give us an example of one. caller: ok. he lies on his taxes, he

said that in public. they elected me anyway, why would i show them now? somethingmately, if comes to investigate, you need something specific. again, as we spoke earlier about congressman adler, not only is it illegal, but it is going to have to be bad enough that a significant portion of the country would want to remove the president for it. there is a political bar as well. everybody looking at 2020. democrats, i think they feel pretty confident about their position in the election area do you want to risk that, mr. electoral position for a long shot impeachment that is probably not going to make it through the senate and could even backfire? made was here to comments yesterday.

>> i think congressman adler decided to impeach the president the day the president won the election. this is exactly what he said. he talked about impeachment before he even became chairman and he said you got to persuade people to get there. there is nothing that the president did wrong. >> nothing? >> to be impeached? show me where the president did anything to be impeached. framework forthe the democrats not to believe the mueller report. there are now saying we have to do our own investigation. after he had hundreds of interviews, millions of dollars spent, they find no collusion. even if you listen to cohen's hearing last week, what did he say? whatever he comes back with, you will accept that? >> i want to see mueller's report. i'm not setting a framework that i'm not going to support it. they are setting a whole new

course because there's no collusion so they want to build something else, they want to persuade some other place. he said he had proof ahead of said he had evidence long before the investigation happened. he has never produced that. clearly, -- the comments of kevin mccarthy -- guest: a lot of people within the white house especially trump will look at what kevin mccarthy did as championing the same talking points they have. this is exactly something we have seen the president say from day one after winning the election. this is a witchhunt against him and his administration. calls for impeachment really a lot of people in his base and his supporters to say the same thing. what we've been discussing, and a lot of democrats recognize from a political standpoint that this could backfire. growing the field more,

how does the white house look at these potential candidates and are they just waiting to see if joe biden comes to the race and they will go from there? isst: a candidate joe biden definitely more dangerous politically for the white house, that's definitely what i've been hearing from sources. we are starting to see a lot more. more on, we saw a lot of diverse, progressive candidates through their names into the ring fairly early. now, we are starting to see, quite frankly, white males starting to consider putting their names and as well. governor inslee -- governor endsley said that he was running, mike bloomberg, of course, former vice president joe biden. again, someone like joe biden who can appeal to both blue and red states and also had

universal name recognition after being in the white house for eight years is definitely more dangerous politically. there's aded, lot of weight behind every vote. know that there's a lot of primary voters who have an eye on them and want to know where they are going. i want to go back to what you're saying. i think they are enjoying that a lot of these early voices have been so liberal because they are going to use that to paint the entire democratic feel the same way. he wants to try to present a more moderate image. the white house is going to do all they can to say they are all bernie sanders, they are all elizabeth warren. host: when it comes to the white how is therations,

white house preparing fundraising or gearing up for what happened in 2020? guest: a lot of was going on, it's very separate from the people working in the administration. they have the 2020 campaign team side inn on the digital the 2016 campaign manager. they have come out strong with a lot of early fundraising numbers and i think they are looking to continue the momentum they had in 2016 with small donor fundraising and looking ahead, i think that they are enjoying all these early people. so many credit and the race, because that does pull a lot of fundraising. there's not really looking like is going to be some formidable republican challenger. caller: i have two questions. gentleman of the

national. answer, does he know was going on in philadelphia? the same kind of politics going on in washington, only it's the democrats robbing the taxpayers blind, stealing property, passing laws, taking bribes. are you aware of that, can you compare that with washington, d.c.? the same thing is happening where you work right now, is as the the same level republicans are doing in washington? saying they members same thing is going on in philadelphia. now all three judges running for counselor at large. host: we got you. since you work for the philadelphia inquirer, why not. guest: there are some things reported this past week, philadelphia has a long history

of problems with corruption. i don't think it has gone away. it still exists. host: let's hear from tonya in louisiana. caller: high. hi. i'm calling because i noticed people are avoiding the elephant hate. room, eight -- there is no way you can look at all of the things that donald trump has done it a that you are going to vote for him area i know he will probably win again because of hatred. they are going to have to earn my vote. they are going to really have to earn my vote on the democratic side, but i truly believe that to get the vote, he is going to win again because of hate. it's not the economy, it's not the middle of america going left out.

he basically came into this thing off of hate speech. to speak to her point, i think that's a point that a lot of people make. ofy say that there are a lot -- since he won the election, there has been an uptick in racism and things like that. you can't put that on this president, but it is a valid point that a lot of people think that there's a lot of hate because of this president and we have seen polarization, politics these days are more divisive than ever. again, i don't think that we can put that on the president himself. host: we hear that every political season, this is the worst political season. guest: the most polarized. guest: it will certainly be significantly polarized. i think one of the major be, we have seen several candidates running on a

message of needing to be less is, some kind of unity. a lot of people want someone is more combative to stand up for their side but there are people in the middle, we are offering that message. senator cory booker from new jersey, he has spoken to the race issues very directly on the campaign trail and has been talking about rising racism in the country. he has not call the president racist, but saying that his words resonate and give license to people. south carolina, and a lot of people felt that way, that his words and his attitude encouraged people who are racist to be more open about it. host: eddie is from north carolina. go ahead. caller: you know, you could give the perception that donald trump is a racist. i'm not calling him one, but my

callswas whenever someone another criminal rat, that means the other criminal is telling the truth. and trump told the american people that you tell the truth when he called a man a rat. ofody has to believe cohen, the other phrases what he called him a rat, he told the people he was telling the truth about what was going on. a point from last week, the president said the white house was concerned about the southern district of new york. that topic came up several times. guest: for a while, i think that all eyes have been on the special counsel investigation. but looks going on in the southern district of new york could potentially be far more damaging and if the been a lot of people in the white house actually have more concerns in many ways about that investigation, especially as it

plays into trying to china a light on the president's finances and his businesses. we saw a lot of this come from michael cohen. the president and people at the white house are making sure they can make a point that he's going to prison for lying, including before congress and they will continue to run with that message. district isouthern think has a significant issue that goes beyond what mueller's team -- because more into the business practices of trump. we heard more from this caller about race, a lot of voters do blame the president for some of these rings. his defenders will say no, he's talking about security, but that adds to this whole polarized atmosphere. liz: to pennsylvania from our republican line. diane, you're next. caller: good morning. i guess my main point would be

that i am less concerned about whatever donald trump did to obtain his wealth than i am concerned about how maxine waters, harry reid, and nancy pelosi came about their wealth because they ascended through the ranks of public service, which is not necessarily supposed to be a source of personal wealth, so. for me, my concern is not all these investigations about donald trump, it is entrenched characters within the government who enriched themselves and for some reason, that just seems to be covered in the shadows. there's never an investigation into that. host: you want to start? calleri think what that is speaking to speaks to one of the major appeals of the president, that he was an outsider who explicitly ran against folks like hillary

clinton and others who have been in government for their entire lives. i think that's part of his appeal. i don't know that there has been any kind of allegations or smoke around some of these other bolts and also the fact is, whoever is the president is always going to be subject to more scrutiny than any member of congress. guest: i totally agree with jonathan's point. this is exactly the kind of campaign we have seen the president use himself. with all this attention on him and the allegations against him, we have seen on twitter and the media, trying to say hey, look at hillary was in, why aren't we investigating other members of congress? andn, he is the president he is subject to a lot more scrutiny than the other elected officials. host: since both of you have experience reporting on congress, i wanted to reach you from an editorial in the washington examiner. the headline, here are some of the thoughts. representative cortez is now

pushing the democratic agenda in both houses of congress. to enjoy herms ignorant talk, six democratic senators -- the white house, they committed to her insane deal proposal and will soon be forced to vote for a proposal supporting it. know that she's actually running things but she does have significant influence particularly for a freshman. i do think this is an example of that and an example of where there are some reasons for democrats to risk angering their liberal base. there are a lot of democratic voters excited about this, progressive voters, and there's a lot of wolves who think that some of these moderate states like ohio, pennsylvania, michigan, this idea is going to be politically terrible. and it's probably not something politically achievable immediately, either. so they are going to vote for something that may or may not go

anywhere, could anger some of the moderate voters, could anger some liberal voters. it creates a. love for them and probably an uncomfortable situation. host: the current speaker of the house, nancy pelosi. guest: it's pretty remarkable speaking to that editorial piece. alexandria cortez, we did a story recently that showed right behind speaker pelosi, she is or most following person member of congress on twitter and she had a lot of star power. for messages shared and clear. i think it's actually creating some issues for leadership because she is a little more progressive than the rest of the party and that's where a lot of the media attention is going. host: this idea of unity within the democratic party itself, is it still there? there are, again, some of

the more outspoken voices of the freshman class in addition to some of these other more progress voices. it is creating from an outside perspective, it does seem like the party is shifting to the left were really it's just a few individuals who are more progressive than the rest. seen -- in you had don't think it's quite to the same extent, but when republicans took power through the tea party and you had a number of really conservative voices, along with folks who won more moderate districts, chicago, philadelphia, now it's the reverse. the majority,won people who ran on pretty moderate platform clean government, infrastructure. olitica issues. l and now you have this new class this energy, let's push

for bold, liberal ideas. so there are conflicting motivations,itical and is a question of, do you go for the biggest, strongest policy you can get, or do you go with something that can keep you moderate, give you the ability to hold hearings and passed some bills? those who have been in house for a while, what do you think is the attitude toward the freshman? guest: i think they are still finding their way. the first couple of months of the year or so defined by the shutdown and there was just blanket democratic unity, that it's only in the past couple of have started to confront differences on policies and voting strategy. i think there are still feeling it out, honestly. host: jeremy joins us in washington, d.c. hello, it's a blessing

that you have a demonstration of speech in such a dark era. there has been lots of news going on in the past about the trump-kim summit and michael cohen's testimony with over 15 million viewers, forcing trump to work on the recovery from the committee hearing. news ofs some other high significant the united states. that's the incoming indictment -- what interesting, is the coverage. i have not seen a single post on this, on commentary, the news about the indictment of israel's prime minister. is one of the most corrupt leaders of all time but because he claims to be a jew. you will be shut down, censored, and fired. leader, hean african

would have been in front of the world court a long time ago for his heinous acts against palestinians. host: we did see the president revert to that, go ahead. guest: i would actually pushed back on that. has been lot of media paying a lot of attention to work on real with the prime minister being indicted. who is basedorter out of israel who covers a lot of that for us. i think it's more than several other foreign leaders. there are huge ties between this administration and israel. we have seen this great connection between the president and the prime minister. it is calling into question that a lot of people of the white house had not spoken much about it, trying to quiet those ties as much. i would push back and say it's getting covered pretty heavily. especially on the congress side. guest: there has been covered, i know i have read it.

a several step process that has to go through before these charges are actually brought. in a situation where he's going to face a trial or something like that. there is an allegation of corruption, but it's also early in the process. might be still ways he able to respond and effectively escape this before it reaches that level. it's not as clear as it might be here if a politician had been indicted and we are going to trial for a plea deal. texas.ext up, gary, caller: good morning, how are you doing? mi on? -- am i on? host: you are, go ahead. caller: in the past two years beginning in the 2016 primary about making america great again, the implication is that america is not great now. and there was a time when it was

great. saydy has challenged -- you you want to have a substantial conversation on race? why not pose the question -- what do you think america was great, and what made it great? then you would get pros and cons from the population at large because one it was great for some, it was not great for others. i have not heard any reporter or anybody at large pose this question. when was it great, and what was making it great? host: we will let our guests respond. guest: it's a good question. i have not thought of putting it that way, but i think it's a good question. could be something that is asked of the president if he is going to be on another campaign trail. he will face in a lot of questions, we presume he will go beyond rallies and those things. i think a lot of it is that

since the election, there has been so much news every time a president does appear in public, so many things that gets you. but we talk about a person's philosophy, i think it's a fair one. guest: i agree with that. i've spoken with some people working on the trump campaign for 2020, and they are going to keep the same slogan, maga. i think some people did pick up part of this "make america great again" slogan and i think it speaks to the president and the way he operates, a 1950's man. he is nostalgic of the past and those messages he carried throughout this administration and i think we will see that again in 2020. host: from louisiana, republican line, go ahead. caller: hello? good morning. the question i have for your panel is, are the democrats ever going to address health care?

midterm,ver since the they have not said anything about health care, it has all been about impeaching trump. a kind of bothers me that they don't have any interest in our country, just to impeach trump. do you think they will ever get back on that train? guest: there have been some proposals already. the number of democrats running for president talking about expanding medicare to everybody in the country, so that is one way they are speaking to it. others are talking about expanding medicare to people maybe 55 and up, programs for people to choose medicare instead of choosing private insurance. for folks who have brought up prescription drug bills, that they think will allow importation from canada, possibly lower costs. there are several tracks the

democrats are talking about this on. probablyfor all being the most prominent and one that even the president has highlighted as sending that he wants knocked out. guest: i totally agree. after it really has , there has been less hype over this after, of course, the failed efforts by republicans to repeal and replace the affordable care act. democrats are in a difficult spot right now to get anything like that done from a legislative perspective. standpoint,saging we seeing some of these 2020 candidates, they are calling on medicare for all and trying to highlight what they could do in drug pricing and prescription drugs. host: we see all those be introduced as legislation, we've talked about a lot of things, but what are we missing, was going on in congress? those are some of the

main things right now in the senate. nominations, showing you the power that a president has even if they have lost the house, don't have the ability to move legislation, it's still a significant way for the president to shape the federal government, the rules of the government operates under. there's not a lot of legislation getting through both chambers. this is messaging and the democrats said they are going to bring up that ethics ill that is going to be a significant part of their platform. host: what does that mean for the president's agenda before the election? guest: i know a lot of of people in the white house don't expect to get a lot done in the legislative perspective just because of the majority in the senate. there's not a lot that will come together. rolling backlation some of those and again, they might try to introduce and infrastructure bill --

introduced an infrastructure bill. but we have seen over a number -- apart from that, i don't think anyone on the hill in the white house -- i don't think there will be any massive bills they will be able to pass. host: from north carolina, independent line. caller: yes, the question i have yourself. repeating and i have another question for moeller or whoever is doing the investigation. i think his time would be better investigating the violation of constitutional laws that is currently violating the but we are all distracted by nothing getting done. the only reason i want to trump

in the lastns -- three decades. host: a lot of supporters call this program saying aside from the things he says or does, that the president does getting things done that they wanted to get done. howt: i think it's about the president made a lot of promises, a lot of which he has not been able to fulfill. but in other ways with these regulations, as soon as he came into office, he did roll back a series of financial regulations on businesses. huge, thet bill was a biggest compliment in his first year, i would even say to this point. he has done a lot of things that i think, especially voters in his base have really wanted him to do. but there is so much he has not been able to get done, and that's the reality of any

president. host: is he doing a good job selling those things particularly? guest: i think he's doing a good job selling economy to his base. trump out, you talk to voters, you hear a lot of what you mentioned. a lot of people say i don't like what he tweets, i wish he would not say some of the things he says, but the economy is doing great so we are behind him. there's a lot of that, and i think he promotes the economy much more than president obama did, promotes the numbers, the success that has been happening. that is probably the biggest selling point i think he has going into 2020 is that the economy has been strong. the question of what happens if the economy slows down. about itoint, he talks relentlessly, and it is his number one selling point and it resonates with his supporters. host: one more call from west virginia, go ahead. theer: i'm calling about

guy that just called about making america great again. i think america has been great several times, when we had the revolutionary war for democracy in this country. i think we were great in world warthe one thing i do want to tk about is when we fought the civil war and abolished slavery. right now, the dialogue seems to be america is a slave culture. the blacks were oppressed. that is true. we were one of the only nations to abolish slavery. slavery has been around since the beginning of time with the egyptians and romans. the word slavery came from slavs , which were people in eastern europe. america abolished that. host: rob, thank you. for as faru watching as things you are paying it --

paying attention to? candidates take themselves. we saw hickenlooper jump in. we are still watching vice president biden. do these candidates start distinct in themselves? senator cory booker last week reintroduced his bill to legalize marijuana. it spoke to things he has focusing on. racial and social justice. how these candidates distinct themselves. guest: i agree. i think 2020 watch is definitely on the agenda this week. going back to the democrats' investigation, i think we are going to be getting a list of names today. 60 names who will be called on to testify before the committees. we will have michael cohen again on wednesday on the hill. just watching what the democrats

have planned. treene is the white house reporter for actio's. -- and for the philadelphia inquirer, jonathan tamari. a recent house hearing look at the practices of credit rating agency. that is the topic of your money segment. joining us from the national consumer law center is chi chi wu. stay with us. >> tonight on the communicators, we are on capitol hill with south dakota senator john soon. an ohio republican congressman bob latta, ranking member on the

energy committee to discuss high-speed broadband service, privacy laws, 5g, and net neutrality. >> very much interested in 5g and spectrum ability. very much interested in autonomous vehicles and privacy. bipartisanig accomplishment of this congress. both sides of the house and senate realize we have to have some kind of national data privacy standard or law that will protect people's personal information. >> we had a wonderful meeting. one of the big issues out there, we cannot have states going out and doing their own thing. it just will not work. we have to have a national standard. communicators tonight at 8:00 eastern on

c-span two. >> the c-span bus recently traveled to texas, asking folks, what does it mean to be american? >> i believe that being american means you can be anyone and anything. you have the freedom to express yourself. you have the freedom to embrace your culture and to show off your culture because america truly is a melting pot. community.art of the it is so nice to share values and respect for one another. we have freedoms we share. we are just lucky. education in the states is just amazing. you see when foreign-exchange students come here because we are so fortunate. even health care we are very fortunate people. >> for myself, i would say being

an american is on the one hand, being a free person. as far as being an american citizen, i would say taking an active part in trying to better your country and not think of it as a perfect nation. always go on a mission and try to make it even better. >> voices from the road on c-span. washington journal continues. host: every monday at this time, we do a your money segment that takes a look at an aspect of your money and how it is used in washington. we are going to talk about the consumer credit rating agencies. this was the topic of a hearing last week on capitol hill. one of the participants in that hearing was chi chi wu of the national consumer law center. she joins us to talk about it. good morning to you. guest: thank you for having me on. host: talk about the hearing and

your role in it. guest: the hearing was quite informative and useful. the house financial service committee had the three ceos of the credit bureaus up there for four hours, asking them questions. everything from why are there so many inaccuracies on credit reports to questioning them about the equifax data breach, which as you know, nearly three years ago exposed information of one under 48 million americans. my role in it is, we were on the second panel of consumer advocates to talk about what is wrong with the system and what are the reforms needed to make sure that credit reporting is fair to consumers? host: when you talked about the topic of accuracy when it comes to the credit reports, why do you think there are inaccuracies as you describe the? -- as you describe them? guest: the federal could trade

-- the federal trade commission found that one in five credit reports have something wrong with them. haven 20 credit reports something so wrong that a consumer would either be denied credit or would have to pay more for credit. those are pretty serious error rates. this is a financial report card. this is something that is really critical to the financial lives of americans. you cannot get affordable credit. in some cases, you might be denied a job or an apartment if you have bad credit. an error on there is really problematic. if we had one in five cars with a defect and one in 20 cars explode spontaneously, we would not accept that as a society. we should not accept the error rates in credit reports. host: your own center found

these errors. one would be credit files that were mixed with the wrong person. another would be negative information remained after a court judgment. the after effects of identity theft is another one. being labeled when dead -- being labeled as dead when actually live. can you explain on some of those -- can you explain some of those? guest: those are the common types of errors. file where the identity of two different consumers get mixed up. one has bad credit. that hurts the other consumer. the reason that happens if when you think about it, you and i may have unique names, but there are a lot of people named john smith, richard williams. identifier for americans is the social security number. how do you tell one john smith from another? this is john smith 123456789. what the credit bureaus do is

they use seven out of nine digits of the social security number. there is a close match with a social security number. that can result in a mixed file. they like to be overinclusive because their creditors would rather see negative information that might be erroneous rather missed negative information. mixed files can hurt consumers. another problem is what we call reaging. negative information is supposed to come off after seven years. 10 years for bankruptcy. in order to make sure that seven years is proper, you need to start the clock at some point. there is a critical date to start the clock. sometimes debt collectors who provide information to the credit bureaus failed to provide that date and the information illegally stays on too long. one of the most bizarre errors

in credit reporting is being declared deceased. this is still happening to consumers. i talked about a woman named peggy b who started getting notices that she was being denied credit because she was reported as being deceased. she was alive. the credit bureaus should have known she was still alive. host: our guest with us to talk about consumer credit rating agencies. if you want to ask her a question, it is (202) 748-8000 for those of you in eastern central time zones. (202) 748-8001 for central and pacific time zones. what is the level of difficulty in resolving these problems? guest: another problem with the credit reporting system is under the law that governs credit bureaus, you are supposed to be able to dispute credit errors in your credit report. you get the report and see an

error, you are supposed to be able to get that fixed by filing a dispute. the whole dispute system for years was this travesty where consumers might spend hours writing a letter and photocopying documents to show that there was an error. they send it off to the credit bureau. all the credit bureau would do is turn it into a two or three digit code and send the code with a line of text to the creditor or the debt collector that provided the information. what we call in information furniture. -- information furnisher. whatever the furnisher responded, they would accept. even if it was plainly contradicted by the evidence. a good example is when consumers actually had court judgments saying they did not owe a debt. that the debt cannot be collected against them. there is an example about a woman who had a judgment from a court saying that toyota could

not come after her for a debt. the case was dismissed with prejudice, which means that toyota would never sue her again. toyota said no, she owes it. -- thedit bureau said credit bureau took toyota's word. the credit bureau always accepts what the information furnisher response. it is like a judge that always rules for the defendant. it is very hard if the furnisher does not change the information. some have to end up suing to get their information fixed. host: the president and ceo of trans union talked about this were changingcies to improve the experience. we will get your response. [video clip] >> our culture is very much shifted towards the consumer.

no one wins when there is an inaccurate report. we have tried especially over the last four or five years to put in processes in place that are easy for the consumer to do. for example, right on their credit report, we have a button that if you are disputing this, press this button. what are you disputing? not only our own service but on karma.s like credit we believe that has driven up the disputes that we have had. host: are you seeing that kind of experience among the agencies themselves in taking those steps to resolve these issues? guest: there have been very modest changes that have been helpful. they are not enough. for example, this idea of a button. havingnsumers instead of to mail in documents like a judgment or a canceled check,

they can upload the documents as part of the dispute. that is helpful. the issue iblem is talked about before. if the information furnisher does not look at the documentation and be a testimony showing that some do not look at the documentation. either they do not look at it or despite the documentation, they say the consumer still owes the debt. that has not gone away. that is the fundamental problem. maybe it is easier to do this shift, but if you do not the fundamental problem with always taking the creditor and debt collector's side, consumers are still not going to be able to get justice. you can see with the complaints filed with the consumer protections bureau that consumers are still very frustrated trying to fix errors. it is the number one source of

complaints to the consumer financial protection bureau in 2017 and 2018. when you -- you know something is wrong when you get 380,000 complaints since 2011 filed with the financial protection bureau on credit and consumer reporting. three quarters of those evolved -- of those involved with facts and trans union -- involved equifax and trans union. i wanted to address this idea that an error does not benefit anyone. debt collectors represent 40% of the disputes to the credit bureaus. even though they only provide 13% of the account information. it is a disproportionate amount. collector, their big incentive is to get paid. even if the consumer does not of the money. it does benefit them. host: this is chi chi wu of the national consumer law center.

live in eastern and central time zones, it is (202) 748-8000. mountain and pacific time zones, (202) 748-8001. debbie starts us off in maryland. caller: what do you think about the credit repair agencies like westminster law? should we quit -- should we trust those agencies to repair errors? they say they can help you with getting that done. host: before you answer, can you tell us how these agencies work? , they credit agencies sometimes say we can make your credit better. they charge you for that. credit repair organizations are regulated under a statute called the credit repair organizations act. it has strict requirements.

the reason there are strict requirements is because there have been abuses. it is very important to negatived that if information on your credit report is accurate, if you really did miss a payment or default on a debt, nobody can get that off legally. law.is the state of the it is only errors you have a right to get off. getting errors off, you can do that yourself. the fair credit reporting act dispute system is supposed to be something that consumers do themselves. if you dispute leak -- dispute repeatedly and you have a legitimate dispute and it does not come off, you may want to check with an attorney that can actually provide legal advice. if it is bad enough, file a lawsuit. for your callers, i am happy to give general information. i cannot give specific legal

advice. host: wayne is next in pennsylvania. go ahead. caller: this is wayne from pennsylvania. on your credit rep -- on your credit report, when you have my $30, why did, $50, they put that on your credit report? is it to make you look bad? assumeso, i am going to that the type of bill you're talking about is a debt collection item for a small amount. those certainly show up on credit reports. the reason they show up is because credit reports have been called a powerful tool for collection. debt collectors often put debts on credit reports so that there is an incentive for the consumer to pay it. to try to get that debt marked as paid so it does not hurt them when they are trying to

refinance their house or by a car. or buy a car. because a 50 or $100 debt may not be worth it for the debt collector to call and send letters, they just put the debt on the credit report and leave it there. they leave it there until the consumer needs clean credit to be able to refinance or get a mortgage. at that point, they need to deal with it quickly. it. just end up paying that is something we think is wrong. we think fa debt -- we think if a debt shows up on a credit report, there should be noticed that this is on your credit report. host: just to clarify, that practice is legal? now, they have not been required so far to include a notice. we have been asking regulators

to require debt collectors to provide that notice. host: from washington state, stuart. good morning. caller: yes, i was wondering why it is that if a newspaper prints something about me that is libelous, i can see them, why cannot -- why can't i sue a credit reporting agency? why are they immune? guest: that is a great question. it goes into the history of the fair credit reporting act. it is true that with respect to credit reports, it is very hard to sue for defamation or libel. that is because the reporting act shows you have to show actual malice. when the rep -- when the act was passed, the bargain was that credit reporting agencies got a

lot of protections against defamation and libel. in exchange, they were subject to the fair credit reporting act. the act does require credit reporting agencies to have reasonable procedures to ensure maximum accuracy. they are subject to liability for violating that standard. in return, they get a lot of protection from what we call like libel and defamation. at one point, consumer advocates were upset when the act passed because of this protection of defamation and libel. host: there is a viewer that describes some of what you were talking about any the beginning. i discovered my id was confused with someone of the same name. i discovered that when trying to

get a car loan. yeah, that scenario is a mixed file. that same scenario showed up in our recent report about errors. there was a woman in north brown, she was mixed up with a tammy brown in another state, indiana. we across the country. that tammy brown had filed for bankruptcy. the exact same scenario. what they can do is file disputes under the fair credit reporting act. in this particular case, she filed the suit. she had to go to a lawyer. the lawyer had to sue to get her credit report fixed. host: what is the average length of time?

a disputeou do file and you win? guest: under the act, the credit reporting agency has 30 days to resolve the dispute. that 30 days does not necessarily mean it is going to get fixed. one of the biggest problems is that actual errors do not get fixed. if they do fix it, it should be fixed within 30 days. another problem we see is a consumer disputes, they get the error fixed, six month later, the error reappears. it is something we call re-insertion. that is because the information furnisher, they report on a monthly basis. theyeir monthly reporting, send the bad information, and it overrides the fix.

that is another problem. host: frank is next in west virginia. caller: pedro, how are you doing this morning? host: find thank you. go ahead. caller: there are a couple things i would like to know. in the united states, i have known people who have filed bankruptcy, and they foreclosed on their house because of medical bills. that?evalent is in a catastrophic medical situation, it seems to me that is a little bit crazy. it does happen. i will listen to the answer off the air. thank you. host: thank you, color. guest: that is a great point. problembills are a huge with the credit report. the consumer financial protection bureau did a study looking at all the items on

credit reports that were debt collection items. involved medical debt. there have been studies out there that medical debt or medical issues factor in half of bankruptcies. it is a huge problem. it causes huge credit reporting damage. it causes damage from debt collection items. if someone gets sick and cannot go to work, bills pile up. they start being able to -- being unable to pay their other bills. there is this -- that if someone does not pay their bills, they are responsible -- there are irresponsible. we do not think that is true. we think a lot of people have bad credit because they got unlucky. they lost their job, they got

recently, hundreds of thousands of employees of federal contractors and federal workers missed payments because of the government shutdown. , are is a survey out there quarter of employees missed a mortgage or car payment. people's credit reports end up with negative information sometimes because they got unlucky. then what happens is that information keeps you down. now you have that information, and you cannot recover. you cannot get affordable credit to recover. that bad credit report might stop you from getting a job. half of employers use credit reports in some capacity or another to screen job applicants. now you have maybe trouble getting a job. insurance companies, auto

insurance, home insurance, use credit reports. that credit report that has negative information not because you are a bad person but because you are our unlucky, it is keeping you down. host: you are saying that insurance companies use these reports, that means that if you have a poor score, you can pay a higher rate echo -- higher rate? guest: that is right. your credit report can be used against you in auto and homeowners insurance. there are a few states that have outlawed this. in most states, your credit report cost you hundreds of dollars in higher insurance premiums. host: can you tell our folks a bit about the national consumer law center? guest: thank you so much. the national consumer law center, we are a nonprofit. we focus on consumer law issues with a focus on low income and elder issues. for the most part, we do not

handle cases. we do not have the resources to answer individual questions. legal manuals and engaged a lot with federal regulators. state and federal legislatures to try to improve the situation for consumers. we are a nonprofit. we are funded by donations and foundations. host: the head of the financial services committee, maxine waters, she has a piece of legislation known as the comprehensive consumer credit reporting act. if this would come into place, what would change? is this a legislative vehicle that could resolve some of these issues? has a maxine waters has -- has a act reform act that addresses some of these problems. we are rightful for her for introducing it.

she has introduced it several times actually. she has a passion for fixing the system. it would do things like give consumers the right to appeal when they try to fix an error and they get denied by the credit bureau and the information furnishers. it would cut the amount of time that information could be on credit reports from seven to four years. way, there is nothing magical about the seven years. there are other countries with shorter time limits. sweden, i think it is four years. it is doing fine as a country. there are a whole bunch of reforms. they would really help consumers. host: california is next. that is where ray is. caller: good morning. hello? host: you are on. caller: thank you.

there are a couple things i think are pertinent. one is the seven year statute of limitations. that is from the date of lacks -- of last action. you are thousand dollars and you pay 50. the day you pay the $50 is the day of last action. not the day that you had the root canal or whatever it is. another problem we are experiencing is the way that media is so rampant. a collection agency is barred from putting -- it is about collecting a debt. likewise, they are barred from saying anything on an answering machine message that it is any reference to a debt. you have to speak to a person individually. folks see junk mail every day. calls on a cell phone.

the id cannot say anything about collections. people look at it and say, i do not know this person. i do not know this organization. they just bypass it. it is the consumers fault that they do not get action with us. payment.rrange . we will do anything in our power to make this go away. this deal right now is the credit report -- [indiscernible] throw it against the wall look a plate of spaghetti. host: i would leave it there because you are breaking up. what you think about the comments that he made? guest: i would like to address the issue about the date. seven years does not run from last activity. that is the statute of limitations. veryeven years runs with a specific date called first delinquency. that is when the debt goes to

first delay quincy. it is when the bill goes out and the consumer does not pay it when it is due. that is when the clock ticks. if three years later, they make a $50 payment, but does not restart the clock. that is super important. --arding the consumer financial protection bureau has documented it does exist. some of the things the color talked about about not putting your name on the envelope or leaving a voicemail, those are protections that stem from a law called the fair debt collection practices act. it gives consumers strong rights. law ins passed that light of a lot of abuses being caused by debt collectors. if they do not want to hear from a debt collector, you have the right to send acs communication

letter saying do not contact -- saying -- the right to send a cease communication letter saying do not contact me. it is the consumer's choice whether they receive these communications. consumers should know that. host: from iowa, kim is next. i have a question. good morning. theseall us customers equifax, trans union. we never purchase anything from these consumer protection agencies. how did we get involved in that? how do they find out the information of what we purchased? we are not their customers. we never purchased anything from equifax or trans union. none of these creditor agencies. bring ourhy they can

credit scores to the minimum. strong that is very abuse. host: thanks, color. -- thanks, caller. guest: that is an excellent point. that is a point a lot of people came to realize during the equifax data breach. consumers are not the customers of the credit reporting agencies. creditors, debt collectors, employers, landlords, an entity that provides the information, they are the customers. we have no choice about this. that is why we get abused. the credit reporting agencies respond to their customers. we cannot leave the system. our information is in there. it will be in there for seven years.

if you do not like yourself own ,ompany or your cable company you have the option of never dealing with them again and going to a competitor. that is not the case with the credit bureau. we are there commodity. our information is what they own and sell. today, a year and a half, most two years after the equifax data breach, you can be as angry as heck for equifax losing your data. if you want credit and maybe a job or apartment, you still have to deal with equifax. that makes it a very dysfunctional market. that is why strong regulations are needed on this industry. we do not have a choice. our information is set into the system by the information furnishers.

you get a credit card. you get an auto loan. that lender starts reporting right away. if someone refers a debt of yours to a debt collector, that information gets reported to the debt collector. d.c. if that regulation -- some type of agent -- do you see some type of agency taking their place and what are the liabilities and benefits to that? clarify, are you talking about regulation -- host: if there was a federal agency that operated similar to how these rating agencies work. guest: that is one of the things we have talked about as a possible solution. the idea of a public alternative or public option for credit reporting. as i said earlier, competition does not work because we cannot walk with our feet.

if there were competition in the form of a publicly run credit bureau, that could improve the situation. i feel that government is not perfect. they make steak -- they make mistakes. if they make mistakes, they are accountable to the voters and the public in a way that these companies that are privately held and publicly traded -- their number one goal is to make money for their shareholders. not the public good. bureaucly owned credit would operate for the public good. that is something i think congress should consider. host: chi chi wu with the national consumer law center joining us from boston to talk about the work of consumer credit rating agencies. thank you for joining us today. guest: thank you, pedro.

host: there are three things of note going on in washington, d.c. the first, the house judiciary committee expanding their work when it comes to probing the white house in light of russia. four gop senators say they're going to block the emergency declaration on the boardwalk. the house this week is set to vote on election reform bill. comment on these today. democrats, (202) 748-8000, republicans, (202) 748-8001, independents, (202) 748-8002. we will be right back. the c-span bus easily traveled to texas, asking folks, what is it mean to be american? -- what does it mean to be american? >> i believe that being american means you can be anyone and anything. you have the freedom to express yourself. you have the freedom to embrace her culture and to show off your culture because america truly is a melting pot.

community,art of a it is so nice to share values like respect for one another. we have freedoms we share. i think we are just lucky. education in the states is amazing. you see foreign-exchange student come here because we are forced because -- because we are so fortunate. go usa. >> for myself, i would say being an american is on the one hand, bree -- on the one hand, being a free person. as far as being an american citizen, i would say taking an active part in trying to better your country and not think of it as a perfect nation. always go on a mission and try to make it better. >> voices from the road on c-span.

>> c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television company. 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.on journal host: several things taking place over the last couple of days. this is senator rand paul in an op-ed he posted yesterday saying, i would literally use my -- literally lose my political soul if i decided to treat president trump differently then president obama -- differently than president obama. i support president trump. i support his fight to get funding for a wall for republicans and democrats alike. i share his view we need better

water security. however, i cannot support the use of emergency powers to get more funding. i will be voting to disapprove of the declaration and before the senate. everything a republican i know has decried president obama's use of executive power to legislate. we were right then. the only way to be an honest officeholder is to stand up for the same principles no matter who is in power. that is just one event taking place in washington when it comes to the president's use of executive power. senator rand paul joining three other republican senators to push against the desire for in emergency declaration. you can comment on that, you can comment on the house judiciary -- the house dished -- the house to do chari committee looking to -- you can comment on the electoral reform bill. those three comments up for discussion in the remaining moments of our program.

democrats, (202) 748-8000, republicans, (202) 748-8001, independents, (202) 748-8002. when it comes to the house judiciary committee, the chairman talking about his interest in extending the probe. [video clip] >> this investigation goes far beyond conclusion. we have seen all the democratic norms we depend on attacked i the administration -- attacked by the administration. we have seen attacks on the department of justice and the fbi. attacks on judges. all of these are very corrosive to liberty and the flock -- and the proper functioning of the constitutional system. all of this has to be looked at and the facts laid out. >> do think the president obstructed justice? >> yes, i do. it is very clear the president obstructed justice. 1100 times, he referred to the molar investigation as a witchhunt. fromied to protect flynn

being investigated by the fbi. he tried to fire call me in order to stop the investigation. intimidated witnesses in public. >> at that is the case, is the decision not to pursue impeachment simply political? no, we have to do the investigation to get all of this. evidence now have the all sorted out to do an impeachment. before you impeach somebody, you have to persuade the american public it ought to happen. you have to persuade it enough to the opposition voters, the trunk voters. -- the trump voters. we may not get there. is protecte to do the rule of law. host: on the other front, this

is from the hill this morning. house democrats are poised to pass a sweeping electoral reform bill. they are scheduled to vote on the legislation on wednesday. the legislation is spearheaded by johnson of maryland -- john sarbanes of merit -- of maryland. increase election security by pushing back on foreign threats and making election day a national holiday for federal workers. david is first up. david from ohio. go ahead. caller: how are you doing this morning? it is a hard time getting in touch with you all. it is ok. i want to talk about the wall. americans, we keep talking to stop mexico from

coming in. we have a national crisis in flint, michigan with the water being messed up. i do not understand it. host: when you hear that republican senators are pushing back against this idea of emergency powers, what do you think? caller: it still really don't matter. we always keep talking about this -- keeping mexicans out of the country. but then we have a border up north, which is canada. that don't have nothing. people can still just walk over into that united states of america -- into the united state of america. host: let's hear from glenn in georgia. caller: good morning. i am calling about the republican senators who will be president'sst the

wall. host: go ahead. we heard that part. keep on with your thought. the senators -- senator rand paul claimed he is for the president. i am a democrat, but i support them shoring up the order. -- the border. talking about how many billions of dollars is going to the children of illegal immigrants in the billions of dollars going to fund people. i know people who have to borrow money to pay taxes. they never talk about the tax money that is going when these people come in. host: when it comes to the senate republicans, are you supporting or opposing what they are doing? caller: i am a democrat, but i

support the president building a wall. -- it sounds to me like he is a traitor. host: ok, let's go to monty in spring, texas. caller: hello. say i caught a lot of the cpac conference. i would like to make a note that the conservative movement in this country is really destroying themselves with this entire obsession with the clintons and conspiracy theories. i do not know how familiar you are with some of the comic book ideas these people take as fact. we areo on the things talking about, what would you like to pick? caller: inside the cpac conference, you are finding sprinklings of the movement. you are finding people claiming

that the investigation into donald trump was based off of the steele dossier. they were dealing with people who were already under surveillance. host: what you think about the house to do chari expanding their -- what do you think about the house judiciary expanding their investigation? caller: everything should be open and transparent. as much as the conservatives, the republicans are calling for transparency. they are continuously -- host: i apologize, caller. i did not mean to push that button. for the remainder of our time, the three things you can talk about. you heard the chairman of the house to shary committee -- the house judiciary committee talking about the probe. a number of senators saying they are going to block the emergency

declaration. -- andre as this -- that there is this vote on the election reform bill. heard the comments of jared mettler. now hear the comments of the house minority leader talking about the investigation and the expansion. [video clip] >> i think congressman nadler decided to impeach the president the day the president won the election. he talks about impeachment before he even became chairman. there is nothing the president did wrong. >> nothing? >> in this process to be impeached. show me where anything -- show me where the president did anything to be impeached. frameworksetting the for the democrats do not believe the molar report. -- tore now -- to believe not believe the robert mueller report.

even if you listen to the hearing last week, what did michael cohen say? he never went to prague. i am not setting a framework that i'm not going to support it. . they are setting a whole new course because there is no collusion. they want to persuade it to go some other place. nadler says he wants impeachment. he said he had proof ahead of time. hadhad shift who said he evidence long before the investigation. he has never produced that. host: here is pam from davenport, iowa. caller: i just want to say that if you talk to people in general, they are sick of this whole thing wasting time. mostly time and money on going after this. i am an independent.

disgusted with what this is doing to our country and ripping us apart even friend against friend. it is absolutely ridiculous. enough is enough. it is over. make it done. go on with it. be, is strictly getting to and i am an independent, this is strictly getting to be they lost the election fair and square. now, they are just going to keep this up for the next however many years. if trump gets the second term, they are going to keep it up through that too. host: we will go to steve in illinois. caller: good morning. what general mccarthy was saying was total nonsense. saying is adler was that impeachment is very traumatizing for this country. i believe we should continue on with the fact -- with the

finding facts. he will get out of office. not when hopefully in 2020. hopefully he will be indicted and we will see him walking around in the yellow jumpsuit soon enough. we should let the impeachment talk calm down and find the facts for now. host: michael turner ascii rights about the investigation. he writes since nadler's jurisdiction is the constitution, i expect it to also be the violation of the emoluments clause. this is another one of these in broad daylight things that should've been a huge scandal the day that the president took office. this changes today. last week, it was not a bad week for the president. it was a key million week for the united states of america. more of those thoughts on the daily beast website.

lonnie in north carolina. democrat line. caller: good morning to c-span. i am talking about the thing going on with the democrats and the investigation on trump. a lot of people are trying to say the democrats is jumping on trump. if the republicans would not have been cowards, this would have been resolved two years ago. since the democrats got it, we put the democrats in there to put a check on the president. this man is so crazy that he has a lot of other people acting crazy. this white man don't know nothing concerning american people. all he is is a neo-nazi -- host: we will go to jim in pennsylvania. caller: hi. trumppublicans against

voted for obama and pelosi when they gave all that's money to -- all the money to iran in cash. nobody is talking about that. i have been a democrat all my life. trump open my eyes. i am going to change my party. i wish there was a movement in this country that if you are a democrat, go republican. that is all i have to say. host: walter is in ohio. caller: good morning. going back, from the russia probe to last week's house oversight hearing with legal -- with michael cohen, it is easy for me to believe that all the democrats who question him believe that the investigation ought to continue. it is difficult for me to believe that all those republicans on the house oversight committee, not one of them could believe that it ought to keep going.

they are just on the trump gravy train. they are carried -- they carried him through 2016. it is difficult for me to believe not one of them or any of them could believe that michael cohen was truthful in what he was saying. host: that is walter in ohio. just to show you one more story on the hill website. this is michael burke writing that a plan to circumvent the electoral college is gaining momentum among blue states after democrats suffered two defeats over the past two decades. it is getting new evidence after the colorado governor said he would sign the bill become the 12 state along with the district of columbia join the national popular vote interstate compact. it goes on to say that the states making up the compact that already include new york, illinois, and doing when states

except for new hampshire would so far, with the state s -- you can find that on the hill website. larry is next. caller: i was just wondering your thoughts on if they impeach trump, d think they will go after vice president pence -- do you think they will go after vice president pence until they destroy everything that is close to mr. trump? host: you think that is the case? caller: i believe that is what the plan is of the democratic party. i believe they will not be happy until they see president trump, his wife, his grandchildren, his brothers, sisters, mothers, everyone related to him in jail. and the children or babies be taken away from him because they are in jail. they want to totally destroy the man's life and family matter

what. i believe they will try to do the same to vice president pence. host: cleveland, ohio, we will hear from joe on our independent line. joe from cleveland. yes, i am not sure if i am in favor of trump declaring an emergency, but nothing has to be done about the southern border. anybody coming into the country illegally and expecting the through people to pay education or whatever is an immoral person because that is theft. host: are you surprised by this republican pushback against the emergency declaration? caller: i am. i think the publican party should support him -- the republican party should support

him. i have always been in favor of usa jobs for usa citizens. breach hasn border got to be stopped. host: ok, we will hear from robert in new mexico. the democrat line. caller: good morning. hey, you know what? we should be able to vote on whether or not we spend the money on the wall. come on, america. quit contending with each other. everyone be nice to each other. let's live. host: you are saying you did not support the president using an emergency declaration? [indiscernible] rob is in kansas city, missouri. nixon'si think that if watergate would have happened

today, and this is what i am comparing to the three topics today. there is no way nixon would have been impeached or removed from office. i think the right-wing media would've called everything fake news. the people who were in the tank for trump from his republican referred --would be they would've said it is all fake news and stayed the course and things are the way they are. thank goodness that fox news in the right-wing media cannot exist back in the watergate days because nixon would have served two terms. host: this is marian in new york. good morning. caller: good morning. i just wanted to say, a lot of people are angry about what is going on. i have noticed a difference in the way people of been treated since donald trump has become president. racism is going up. host: go ahead. caller: i just wanted to say

there have been differences in the way people of been treated since donald trump became president. people think it is ok to hate on people. believe hep, i do should be impeached because we have seen hatred going on since he has been in office. i pray >> this is the last call for the show, another addition of this program comes your way at seven :00 tomorrow morning. see you then. ♪

announcer: later today, the investor to the u.s. will be speaking in washington, d.c. from russia. we will have that lie at 3:00 p.m. here. later in the week, homeland testifiesensor -- before the house committee wednesday morning. i've on c-span3. you can watch that online at c-span.org or listen live on the c-span radio app. ♪ >> the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. >> ask not what your country can do for you. ask what you can do for your country. the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon. >> the newest book, the presidents, historians