try to kill them. ms. freeman's latest book is the field of blood. her other titles include the essential hamilton and affairs of honor. conversation. then at 9:00 p.m. eastern, and his latest book, ben how examines whether evangelicals are choosing political power over christian values. >> i think the argument is tempting, but dangerous. thateps a system in place takes accountability and i think it also is an easy way to bring in something and then use that as a way to get votes which seems about the worst possible way.

>> watch book tv every week and on c-span2 for it as we continue our discussion of environmental issues and campaign 2020. 15 month before election day, where does climate policy rank in the minds of 2020 voters? guest: there was a place where drinks and the might of democratic voters, and then the broader public. for democratic voters, communication is showing that liberal voters rank it as the third most important issue. when you see the democratic candidates up there, they are jockeying for the primary voter. the broader electorate is a little lower on the pole, 17 out of 29 issues. but we are seeing is a little bit of emphasis on climate change because of who is being spoken to. see where it comes out in the general election.

host: what are the major differences focusing on the primary candidates when it comes to environment the policy? where are we seeing the risks? guest: we are seeing quite a bit of agreement and that's a credit to the activism on the issue. and a lot of the natural events fueled by climate change. a lot of studies have come out that say we need to be more drastic in our action. we are seeing a lot of public investment calls. billions of dollars to address climate change. bringing in a bunch of different groups -- groups underrepresented in the political process to address these issues that hit people differently but hit all people. differences some are whether someone comes -- calls for a carbon tax or want to allow for more coal, oil and gas with some technology to make sure the emissions don't get pulled into the atmosphere.

they are not being talked about in great detail right now. host: you are the folks with the most aggressive climate policies? guest: bernie sanders came up with the most aggressive policy. jay inslee made it his soul issue or signature issue and he left the campaign. bernie called for a $16.3 trillion plan over 15 years which dwarfs most other people's plans. everybody has called for something big. elizabeth warren called for trillions, joe biden, kirsten gillibrand. host: if you want to talk about your favorite candidate's environment of policies, democrat or president trump's actions on climate and energy, you can do that in the last 25 minutes of the washington journal. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002.

zack colman covers energy and it for mental issues for politico. you mentioned jay inslee out. what has been his impact as a candidate running solely on the environment till issue? guest: he made everybody address it. he was challenging joe biden, having a soliloquy with him. that got biden flustered. has anxtent what it effect on his joe biden having to come out with a detailed plan. jay inslee and so many other people were asking people for more details. whiteslee put out several papers on what he wanted to do on climate change, every little aspect showing it touches every part of life in the economy. everybody else had to measure up to that. host: what are some details joe biden put out? guest: getting to net zero carbon emissions by 2050. deadlines.or earlier

net zero carbon emissions technology like carbon capture, which is when you allow gas and coal to be burned but you trap the emissions to make sure they don't affect the climate and you store it underground. he called her 500,000 more electric vehicle charging stations to help get people to a charger. we don't have enough in this country. he has tried to bring back some the obama regulations he worked on and wants to plus up what he was doing there. host: what is the president's pitch heading into 2020 on energy and the environment? guest: he is trying to find his best way to talk about this. you see him up on the debate stage saying competing with the others who have put out aggressive plans. we need to work on this and work

on phasing out coal and oil and gas and have a conversation about it. he said he would eliminate fracking that there is not clear way to do that. host: president trump? guest: no, joe biden. host: what is president trump's pitch? host: he wants to do more the same -- guest: he wants to do more of the same. he said the wealth of the nation's centers feet. we will not see a change from him. he will not matter who the democratic candidate is. host: does he want to run against the green new deal? guest: his advisors love that democrats are talking about this. he and his advisors think it is insane. it is too ambitious and people not supported. host: let's chat with a few callers. david out of alabama, republican. caller: thank you for c-span. my concerns are with the

environment itself and our natural scrubbers which are greenery and trees that are not high enough to get to some of these things. -- we have so many vehicles around the united states right now. almost every driver could have a brand-new car coming off the line. there will come a point in time where fossil fuel cars will have to be downgraded to the point where they not even being sold. i am a car buff. sometimes we have to take into consideration what the environment needs and what it does not need. host: the think president trump does that enough? doesn't.ell, no he need scrubbers in those

factories to help scrub some of this stuff. we can't keep planting stuff in soilround that is going to our earth. what do you do with all the toxic waste that comes out of everything you try to revert? host: zack colman? guest: i think david brought up good points. one of the 2020 candidates, cory reforestation is one of his signature aims. i think there is definitely a point about transportation here. we don't have the ability to get a handle on climate change if we are not using editions from transportation. people are beholden to their cars at this point. it is a big challenge. that is where most emissions

come from, not the power sector or electricity. that is something all candidates are wrestling with. host: you mentioned reforestation. president trump is looking to boost logging in alaska. that we need sense more trees to capture more carbon, any tree lost is going to be negative for the climate. guest: the story in the washington post looking at president trump the perley asking sonny perdue to exempt million acres that was imposed 20 years ago. something that may be in the works. bridget out of austin, texas. caller: how are you? thank you for both of your work. i wanted to mention john robbins work.

out about food revolution. watere 5000 gallons of with the production of one pound of beef. he researched it and found it was true. cows are so massive and their waste dropping of the planet, it traps heat in our environment. what is happening in brazil, we are losing the rain forests. those of the planet. he said we need our trees to breathe. host: that is bridget in texas. our democratic candidates talking about cows? guest: there is a recognition agriculture brings a lot of omissions. there needs to be some sort of way to reduce those admissions. we are talking about soil, sequestering carbon in the soil. we are talking about having more responsible grazing policies.

i don't think that is been nearly as fleshed out his energy policies writ large. there is not enough brought to bear on that. guest: why aren't we going to have a specific democratic debate about climate change? the national committee said they will not have a single issue debate about anything. it will be too late to include that. we have never seen that, but to the activist point, climate change touches all aspects of life. it affects the economy, your health, the home you live in. they feel this is an issue not getting enough attention and touches every single thing and it needs to be brought to lightfoot candidates are going to do and make sure it is a first-order priority of whoever the democratic nominee is. there is not enough time left. c talked about not

having that specific debate. cnn holding a seven hour climate change town hall next week with 10 democratic candidates expected to show up. stephen st. louis, missouri. caller: hi. i would love to talk about or have a long discussion about different ideas on what can be done to help in this issue of climate change. as i listen on these conversations -- i love the fact the u.s. has. a wide variety of opinions that is great. whenever i hear republicans referring to the democrats as dirty socialist and communist, saying things like why do people talk about cell phones, is because they are not the major contributor to global warming. people say what about the boats? yes, they are a part of the problem but they are not the main contributor to global warming. fuelsagriculture and the

burning, and boats are a part of that, but agriculture and fuel are the two contributors. host: you are interested in the topic has a democratic caller. talks your candidate and about this issue the best on the campaign trail? caller: i agree with what some of you guys have said on the air. sanders veryernie close to my heart. the fact that jay inslee is gone -- i was supporting bernie anyway, but now he has taken a strong stance. if you are going to have an opinion, that is great. issue beforeon an you start getting out there and voicing your opinion to the rest of the world like it is fact. host: stephen missouri. do you want to dive into bernie sanders's plan?

guest: he put meat on the bones of the green new deal. at this point the green new deal has been an action plan, a mission statement. he actually decided i will put some meat on the bones. he's talking about 16 point $3 trillion of spending over 15 half carbonng in emissions by 2030 and eliminating them a couple of years after that. talking about getting zero emissions from transportation, from power, from everything. talking about reducing military spending. making fossil fuel companies pay more. eliminating subsidies. there is some stock in trade that this is bernie sanders type platform. he has always been railing against corporate interests and always try to make the fossil fuel companies pay for what they have done to the climate. here we have some paper. it is something that will raise

the bar for a lot of candidates. people have been waiting for this climate plan from bernie sanders? they thought it was interesting he has not come out with one. here it is. host: usa today at with their latest polling of the democratic primary field. here is where it sits according to the usa today poll that just came out. vice president joe biden retained a wide lead of 32%, 2% higher from the polling back in june. elizabeth warren moved up four point 2 second place at 14%. bernie sanders dropping three points down to third place with 12%. only three other candidates received support about 2%. and california senator kamala harris, andrew yang at 3%. 'rourke and cory booker. let's focus on pete buttigieg.

in fourth place. what his climate plans? guest: he has not put out as much details. he has called for a carbon tax, which was kind of the policy a few years de jour ago. bernie sanders used to promote a carbon tax. his plan that he released, he did not even mention it. pete buttigieg said we will tax carbon emissions that will make burning fossil fuels more expensive. the revenue you would get from those taxes would be given back to people in the form of a rebate. it would not have an actual cost on individuals. this is what economists say is the best solution for directly addressing emissions. a lot of candidates have backed off as the green new deal call from urgency and bigger spending plans. host: frank in california,

democrat. caller: what you presented this morning is indicative of what i considered to be the problem. he split time between actual climate scientist and a climate denier. we have in our country one of two clinical parties that actively denies climate change. that does not happen anywhere else in the world. it is why i think we are doomed on the subject and i find it depressing. host: zack colman on how democrats will frame the climate debate, the averments of the bait heading into the general election regardless of who the candidate might be. host: the caller is correct -- guest: the united states is unique in being the only one that largely uniformly rejects climate science. i think that is what democrats are leaning into.

they have done that in the past but it did not resonate with voters with as much as it has now. changes -- what changes? guest: a lot of scientists came out and said we are falling behind on this. there was a personal interaction with climate change and people are connecting the dots. people that i talked to in places that are conservative acknowledge something is different. you talk to farmers and people in conservative hotbeds. it might be low lands like the carolinas and they know something is changing. it does not mean they like the democratic policy platforms, but there is a recognition it's affecting everybody. host: plano, texas is next. patti. caller: how many billions of years old is this planet? climate changes constantly and in major ways at times. i agree with that.

i wanted tow concentrate on solar products. i have solar panels on the house. i love them. here in texas it can get hot. i have not paid anything except about a hundred $50 in the last $150 in the past 12 months. host: why did you decide to go solar? guest: my neighbors -- caller: my neighbors got one and they said how great it was. i figured i can help contribute alth of the he planet by doing that. yourr what is good for climate. that is what i'm doing. stuff, whyate change did president obama and michelle go by $15 million estate -- 29

acres in fact at martha's vineyard on the seashore? if climate change is that eminent, don't you think this man is in big trouble? host: zack colman? guest: that's a good point. sea level rising is affecting a lot of communities. you want to have a big seashore property because it is nice to be on the water, but this is threatening people's homes. bc people moving back their homes and putting them on stilts. the insurance markets don't want to play in these areas because they know there is major risk. yang productdrew that we need to do the higher ground. it is not a comfortable thing to think about. president obama's administration through hundreds of millions of dollars to relocate communities in louisiana and alaska.

host: how does andrew yang make that pitch? guest: it went over kind of poorly in the debate when he made it for the first time. it is seems you have a level of wealth a lot of -- that allows you to do that. not everyone that lives in flood prone areas are wealthy. that is the definition of land-use planning. they put people who could not afford better land in areas that would flood out a lot. addressing wehe's need to come to grips with this reality that things are not the same, i think that was appreciated. host: this is andrew yang's climate action plan,'s proposals for energy and the environment from his website. he begins by saying our planet is a mess. we need to bring the full force of america to bear on this problem or we will fail and the world will suffer. his website if you want to see

more on that. less than 10 minutes left. we had to alexandria, virginia. richard is an independent. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. sentiments echo the of the settlement from alabama. just to say you can't keep polluting at the rate we are doing now. it's important to keep in mind we need to keep abreast of what the arguments actually are. naturerly skeptical by but i feel like there is something happening. my question is this. can you recommend a book or a movie that can bring us up to speed with what some of the arguments are today? i will take my question off the

air. thank you. host: what are you reading right now? honestly there are any number of good reporters i can recommend. elizabeth culbert has documented what's happening right now. her book is about climate change. that's an essential read for people to understand was happening to our planet. host: how long it even covering climate energy issues? guest: eight years. host: do you have a specific beat at politico on this topic? is it everything that falls under that? guest: i think every thing does fall under that. the choices made in the energy environment are obviously going to have an effect on the climate and vice versa. host: zack colman with us for about five more minutes. harrison, democrat. caller: i want to see if i can get zack to expound on the idea andorn and ethanol,

especially in our primary politics. it is just my opinion that the ethanol mandate in our gasoline is a bad idea. i think it is getting proven out. my brother and i were discussing this yesterday. i looked up corn production and how much of it goes to ethanol. these are not exact numbers but it was about 20 billion bushels of corn and a little over 5 billion that was ethanol production. in general we know that social security is the third rail of politics. i wondering if this bad policy of use of corn with ethanol is the third rail of primary politics. ethanol has been entered honestly divisive topic.

when we talk about agriculture, climate and agriculture. the groups have shown amount of corn used for ethanol has led to land-use change to the fact we have fewer trees and have to clear it corn for ethanol. and for fee for livestock. and this is something that is a huge environmental issue. there are people on both sides that think that displacing oil with ethanol is worth the cost. i think the democratic party and activist on the entire mental side have turned a corner on. and they're not pushing back in corn ethanol. host: they going around to iowa and of the caucuses. guest: it is a huge part of the economy there. agriculture is politically

powerful in every state. if there is something is exempt from, it is environment allows. host: matt, democrat. caller: thank you for the conversation. in your eight years of reporting and bringing this up with democratic candidates, who has a plan for actual carbon sequestration technology? there are a few systems that pull carbon of the atmosphere and turn it into liquid fuel. maybe you could touch a little bit on that. host: explain sequestration. guest: carbon capture sequestration is a technology that traps the admissions from whatever fossil fuel you are burning and it does something else with it. whether it is to pump it underground to bring up more oil, or just rapid underground. those are two things you can do with it. big part ofeen a any climate plans.

people would rather be silent on what they plan to do with it then directly address it. there are a lot of people in the environmental community who think it is a license to continue burning coal and oil. people have called for direct air capture which is another form of carbon sequestration. it is taking the air and making sure it does not get anywhere in the atmosphere. it has not been a detailed part of anyone possible and. host: what part of any candidate upon environmental policy have we not talked about that is of interest to you? how you paydea of for all the things people want to do. we are talking about trillions of dollars. i don't want to talk about it because i don't think anyone has put out enough information on it. you cannot just get rid of fossil fuel subsidies and pay

for everything that these candidates want to do. they have not been explicit about carbon taxes. i want to see where the math is. host: covering this issue for politico, politico.com if you >> c-span's washington journal live everyday with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up thursday, we will look at how health care is playing out in the 2020 campaign. watch c-span's washington journal live at 7:00 a.m. eastern. going to discussion. washington journal mugs are available on c-span's new online tour. go to c-span store.org. see all of the c-span roddick's.

-- products. wednesday, kiersten gillibrand became the latest presidential candidate to exit 2020- enter the presidential race. she made the announcement via social media. -- i know this is not the result you wanted. it is important to know when it is not your time and how you can best serve your community and country. i believe i can best served by helping unitas to defeat donald trump. during this campaign, i met some of the most inspiring, brave people all across the country from iowa to new hampshire, georgia and michigan.

your voiceake sure is heard. thank you. >> first and foremost, i want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. thank you for donating. thank you for sharing your stories, thank you for opening up your living room and inspiring me and joining me in fighting for our future. >> you stay true to your ideas, values. all they are talking about is that he might get a second chance. next together, we cannot afford

lose the entire yield with us. put civil rights for women front and center and never back down. bringing issues like paid family burner. the back take on greed and solve some of the biggest problems of the future. of course, we've had a lot of fun along the way. our work is not done. defeat president trump up and down the ballot. together, we will make it better

for no matter who you are and i know that together, we will win this fight. thank you for everything and i will see you soon. campaign 2020 watch our live coverage of the presidential candidates as you make up your own mind. your unfiltered view of politics. >> in the wake of the recent shootings in el paso, texas in dayton, ohio, the house judiciary committee will return early. it includes banning high-capacity ammunition magazines, restricting firearms from those who might be a risk to themselves and preventing individuals from purchasing a mess -- individuals with the

purchasing arom gun. if you are on the go, listen to our live coverage using the free c-span radio app. >> coming up next, we hear from mark esper and general joseph dunford. >> they held a news conference wednesday to discuss national defense strategy and other issues, including operations in afghanistan and tensions with iran. on the pentagon, this is 45 minutes.