pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1, the journal stands approved. the chair will lead the house in the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. without objection, the house stands adjourned until noon on monday, october 28, 2019, for morning hour debate.

guest: we know that will it's happening because of variety of factors. one of which has to do with the trump administration authorizing a lot of what's called reinsurance in states, which funnels federal funds to state so they can use those dollars to help them lower premiums. that really helped to lower the premiums across the board. host: yesterday on capitol hill a hearing about the --

obamacare, the affordable care act, the tightal sabotage the trump administration's add tack on health care. can you explain what the democrats who are in charge of that hearing were pointing to as sabotage? guest: the democrats have been very focused heading into 2020 to really bring forth obamacare, the affordable care act, to say that they are defenders of the law. particularly its really popular parts, including rules protecting people with pre-existing conditions, allowances for young people to stay on o their parents' health insurance until the age of 26. they wanted to point out that the trump administration has a lawsuit that they sided on with republican states to say the entire law should be invalidated, and that's a lawsuit we are expected to hear about any day now. and they also point to different actions the trump administration has taken. they note that the administration reduced the

amount of time that people are allowed to sign up for plans. the trump administration also stopped authorizing different payments that go to insurers. they reduced marketing for the health care loss. they reduced the budget around that. they reduced the budget around what are called navigators who help people sign up for coverage. they have this long list of complaints that they wanted to put forward. it's definitely a very political hearing and opportunity for them to say to the american people and to voters, here's what the trump administration's doing. host: one of the biggest complaints a year ago at this time that we are hearing about was the elimination of the individual mandate as part of the republican tax bill. concern that that was going to be a deathblow to the affordable care act. how has that turned out? guest: it doesn't seem like those predictions have turned out just because the number of people on these affordable care act plans has remained about the same. one of the things to remember

about these a.c.a. plans is that there are millions of people who do get subsidies to pay for them. so even if premiums go up or down, there's a large portion of people that are really shielded from increases or decreases just because the federal government takes in so much money for them to pay for their premiums. it doesn't apply to everyone. this is something the trump administration likes to point out. if you are an individual making more than say $50,000 a year, you are looking at probably paying full price for these premiums. for some people that ends up being a third of their income or even half. and it's important to remember that how much people pay for these plans depends on a lot of different factors. where they live, how much their income is, whether they smoke, and their age. all of those different pieces play into their ultimate premium prices. host: health care is our topic for the next 25 minutes for the "washington journal." if you have questions on that very broad topic we'll take your questions on phone lines for republicans, 202-748-8001.

democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002. start calling in now. kimberly leonard. i want to come back to that court case moving forward seeking to invalidate the affordable care act. explain the argument that the administration and those who have signed on to that case are making there. guest: what they are doing is they are actually using the tax law you were talking about earlier that zeroed out the fine on people who are uninsured, known as the individual mandate. and what they are doing is they are saying, the obama administration once argued that the fine was essential to making the rest of the law work. now that it's been zeroed out they say at that means the rest of the law can't function. there were republican attorney attorney generals who sued to invalidate the law. and the trump administration sided eventually with the states to say that they believed the entire law should be thrown out.

that affects a lot more than 209 million people who have been -- who has gained health insurance under the law. it also would undo protections for pre-existing conditions. t would affect different prescription drug pricing pieces. it really would reverberate across the health care system if the law were to be struck down. guest: hoip that case moving through the judicial system. if the affordable care act is invalidated, republicans this week have come up with a new health care plan, this from the conservative republican study committee. explain who they are and why they put out a health plan this week. guest: they have 147 members. it was a little bit surprising they were releasing a health care plan. a lot of the strategy for the trump administration and frankly for a lot of republicans on the hill has been not to provide an alternative for health care but really to point out the flaws that they see within what

democrats on the far left are proposing in terms of medicare for all. what they have done is they have introduced a plan that recycles a lot of the same ideas they had during the previous repeal and replace actions, but they have also kind of used it as a way to say, well, if the courts were to invalidate the a.c.a. or heading into 2020 here is our conservative vision for health care in this country. host: a few of the provisions in that, your screen now for our viewers. the proposal to establish federally funded state administered guaranteed coverage pools. repackaging some existing funding for a.c.a. premium subsidies and medicaid expansion to fund state administrative programs. health savings accounts, tending legislation that provided protections to americans with job-based insurance to people in the individual market. just some of the points put out by the republican study committee on that plan. taking your phone calls on the health care issue with kimberly

leonard of the washington examiner this morning. chat with loni out of washington, a republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i was curious what kimberly carries for insurance out of curiousity. i'm a vet and i have to use vet care. it's not that great. host: i don't know if you want to talk about your own insurance. guest: i have an employer plan like a lot of people in this country. about 160 million people. employer plans are very popular across the u.s. they do have a broad range of benefits, particularly for large companies. that's the kind of health insurance i have. host: some democratic candidates wanting to make changes to the ability to have employer-based plans. can you talk about the democratic pryry field and the universe of plans being proposed right now? guest: there is a pretty broad range of proposals that have

but really do question what the role of private health insurance should continue to be as he look at the next area of health care reform. you have candidates like joe biden who would like to boost the affordable care act, but also give people the option to buy into a government plan if that's something they choose. then you have elizabeth warren and bernie sanders who say, no. that would not be adequate. we need medicare for all. what they mean by that is that private health insurance would cease to exist and that everyone would be enrolled in a single government funded plan. and all hospitals and doctors would continue to operate privately. those are the different measures that are on the table. host: new york is nefpblgts gary, a democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. i have a comment and a question for miss leonard. the comment is that we have heard the myth for years that the canadians and the british, for example, hate their

national health care system, but many of us for years have asked c-span, since those countries speak english, why don't we have a simple hookup and find out what the truth is? but over the years c-span has always refused. so that kind of tells me about the so-called -- host: i'm not sure what you are referring to. you are saying we should open the phones to canadian residents only and get their thoughts? caller: absolutely. absolutely. host: it's an idea. i'll bring it up. caller: not only canadian citizens, but talk to people up in canada such as miss leonard that represents the press up there and find out what the truth is. host: let you explain what the washington examiner is so the caller knows about your publication. guest: we mostly cover domestic policy, but i have done stories

looking at what other countries are doing. one thing that's important to point out is that the single payer systems in some of these other countries are very different than what bernie sanders and elizabeth warren are proposing for medicare for aufment they are looking at a much more again benefits package where people would not have to pay anything out of pocket for their health insurance. other countries that's not necessarily true. other countries there is also still a role for private health insurance. i agree, i think it's important to hear from people who reside in these other contrifments host: an interesting idea. dave out of michigan. independent. good morning. caller: good morning. kimberly, i have a question the other former caller had it spoke a little bit about it. it seems to me like this country is having a problem getting everybody onboard if i'm not wrong.

canadian people seem to be -- they are all in. y that i mean if you have an address, shouldn't be be accountable for certain amount of health care? if you have a student loan, part of the on to loan that's -- for your student loan? the canadians are on the right track it seems like, but it seems like we got to get rid of these co-pays. host: could he pays. guest: one of the things about co-pays is some of these other countries do have them. they are smaller and don't have the big problems about out of pocket medical expenses. we report here. but they do -- economists see them as a way to make sure people aren't seeking unneeded health care in certain cases.

people argue about what that means. certainly there is a problem with people delaying health care because they are concerned about how much it will cost. then when they do seek care, it's much more expensive because they are in an emergency situation. host: on medical expenses let's talk drug pricing and efforts by this congress to lower drug pricing. guest: there is a bill in the house now that was introduced by house speaker nancy pelosi that would allow the government to negotiate up to 250 drugs. it has a floor of 35 drugs. what they would do they would essentially use the price that is other countries pay to try to set that price. it has been moving through committees. we have an initial c.b.o. score on it, but we are still waiting on a final score. that was going to get a vote next week, but i learned just this morning with my reporting that it's actually going to get a vote probably in november. that's been pushed back a little bit. host: why the delay? guest: there's obviously a lot

happening on the hill right now. i do think that there has been sort of a tug of war with progressives in the house who would like to see the democrats become perhaps a little bit more aggressive on drug pricing than the current bill on the table. host: for all of kimberly leonard's scoops and reporting, it's washington examiner.com is the website. on twitter she's@lendardkl. if you want to follow her on twitter. that drug pricing bill named after the late elijah cummings, renamed that bill. it is now the elijah cummings lower drug costs now act. guest: correct. all that is because during his time in congress he really pushed to allow the government to step in and negotiate drugs. so that's why they ended up naming it after him. he brought in pharmaceutical companies. he opened inquiries into their practices. it's supposed to be a nod to his legacy on drug pricing.

host: elijah cummings, his casket will lie in state in stat warry hall coming up in just over an hour, about 70 minutes this morning is when those -- that ceremony is supposed to begin honoring the delight congressman from maryland. his funeral taking place -- honoring the late congressman from maryland. his funeral taking place tomorrow starget at 10:00 a.m. our coverage here today on capitol hill starting at 10:30 a.m. all eastern time. ohio, republican, good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i thank you for having this subject on c-span. my concern is with the drug issues that we have going on. i have been trying to get to change my drug insurance. the current one i have doesn't charge me the same thing twice for a prescription. i would like to get one that's consistent. to me it seems we have spent millions and millions of our

taxpayer dollars trying to straighten this out and it needs to be insurance company reform not health care reform. if i have one drug that i get and i took a chart on it. the first time i got it was $169. second time was $30. third time i got it it was $69. now i just recently picked it up it was $129. my question is, why isn't it the same thing all the way through? that seems to be the case with all the drugs. with this particular subscription program i have. host: thanks for the question. tell us about your situation. guest: so true. that's something that we hear a lot. the drug industry has a very complicated of not just pricing but also doing rebates. what you pay at the pharmacy will be different every time depending on your insurance, whether you are covered by a government plan. what the drug industry has tried to do is point people to places where they can get coupons to lower what they would pay at the drug counter.

there have been more efforts by lawmakers to say, ok, pharmacists need to be telling people when they go to the pharmacy, look, you don't have to pay this for drugs, go to this website and get a coupon. that's how they tried to negotiate the way down what patients ultimately are paying for drugs. host: columbus, mississippi, next. jeffrey a democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead, sir. caller: yes. the problem isn't the affordable care act. the problem when trump came into office and the problem's and he governors republican-led senate in the states they came in and changed the way that states impose and took out the mandates out of the affordable care act. they gutted the affordable care act that made it unfair to people that had the affordable care act. and now you see how trump is trying to change the affordable care act into his care act.

and i don't think that that's fair to american people that he would take something that president obama made and try to make it into something that he want to organize and said that's something that he orchestrated and made. host: kimberly. guest: we mentioned a little bit earlier some of the changes the trump administration had made to the affordable care act. another thing that i didn't bring up was how they have provided these plans that are retrothan the a.c.a. plans, known as short-term health insurance. they don't cover pre-existing conditions. so they can say to sick people we won't cover you. they can say we are going to charge you xa more than what we would charge someone healthy. the trump administration has argued the people who go on these plans would otherwise be uninsured. because the affordable care act does leave out millions of people who are middle class who do not get subsidies, and for them a lot of the pre-existing

conditions protections, because they can't afford these a.c.a. plans, are out of reach. that's the position that the trump administration has taken. democrats on the hill say that what should be done instead is that more people should be allowed to have subdies so that everyone would be able to have moreau bust coverage. host: insured in america, stats from the u.s. census bureau. the uni shured rate rose by 1.9 million from 2017 to 2018. the total number of ininsured was 27.5 million, 8.5% of the u.s. population. 5.5% of children under the age of 19 were uninsured. that's 4.3 million total. what should folks know about those numbers? guest: the uninsurance rates have risen under president trump. there are a loft different reasons for that. one of the things we know about dirn children is a lot were previously on medicaid. which is funded by the government. what appears to have happened

is that states have become a lot more strict about how they are checking who is eligible for medicaid and who isn't. they'll check it several times a year instead of just once. that has led families to be disenrolled from the program, which obviously also causes their children to be disenrolled. the trump administration notes as well, because there are different pieces of this, because the economy is doing well, people who might have qualified for medicaid before and in most states that's about $17,000 a year in income, now make too much money to qualify. so they are not necessarily getting out of medicaid and buying health insurance. they might instead just join the ranks of the uninsured. host: mapleton, illinois. independent. good morning. caller: good morning. i first wanted to tell you i have had insurance my whole life. i'm 66. i retired at 50 from state police union. california. and so when i sit back and i look -- first of all i think everyone should have insurance

because we are all going to get sick. i always thought that way. and there is no alternative that anybody is offering because what you just showed in that statistic is glaring because people don't know what it's like when they get sick nd you don't have insurance. i have never been without. these folks want to see it means you can get sick and nothing will help you. i don't consider that freedom. i don't believe what system we have, if you don't 25euk care of people now, like the old commercial used to say, take care of me now, take care of me later. you have a choice. comment object that if you will. -- comment on that if you will. guest: one of the big vision behind the affordable care act was to make sure people would be covered so they wouldn't delay their care in order to go ahead and wait until they get sick to go to the emergency room and have expensive medical bills. one of the complications with

health insurance is the fact that most people are pretty well most of the time. so they tend to think not that they are invincible but they won't necessarily face these massive medical bills that, frankly, a small proportion of the population faces. but they make up such a big amount of health care spending. so, that's one of -- in looking at the ways you approach universal health care coverage, there are a lot of different ways that could come about. so it's not necessarily -- we could go in a single payer direction. we could go in the direction of giving people options. there are a lot of ways that could -- universal health care could be achieved if that's what the democratic candidates are able to persuade voters to move toward. host: san diego, larry, a republican. good morning. caller: good morning. three issues. like a comment on increasing

competition, selling overstate lines. lowering costs by tort reform. and a menu of options versus plans forcing folks to buy things they don't need causing a trifecta of increases in co-pays, deductibilities,ibles, and premiums. ail take my answer offline. host: a lot there. guest: that is one of the complaints that some people have about a.c.a. plans is they feel like they can't use it for the coverage they might need regularly but then all the other things that are hard to cover they wouldn't necessarily tap into. again with health insurance it's really hard to predict what might happen to you. you don't know whether you might come up with a devastating illness that takes away everything in your lifmente where -- in your life.

where you have to quit your job to take care of it. tort reform hasn't gotten very much attention on the hill lately but it's something folks argue would help to reduce some of the health care costs. third item? host: selling plans over state lines. guest: the trump administration has worked on this. they have what's called association health plans. what those do is they allow people to group together who are within similar fields. let's say veterinarians all want to be on a big health insurance plan together. they would then be able to sign up for these association health plans, regardless which state they are in, to band together to get health insurance. what that does is it helps smaller businesses or self-employed people to be able to negotiate health insurance rates that are more similar to large employers. host: florida, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? host: well. caller: i'm calling because i personally have gone through my

job, 18 years ago, i covered seven people in my family for $25 a week. which was great. seven people all had medical insurance. as our kids grew, i had kids that turned out to have adhd and a.d.d. now i had to quit my job to homeschool one of our children. my husband's job covers him and our kids for free, which is great. but for him to cover me would cost 3/4 of his weekly paycheck. i have even looked in the a.c.a. and just to cover me is $800. how are we supposed to afford costs like that? , myself, have to go to a free

clinic just so i can get my asthma meds because my asthma's getting out of control as i get older. this isn't what america should be about. america should be about protecting its citizens in all ways, including health care. host: thanks for sharing your story. guest: this is the kinds of story that we hear all the time with the a.c.a. what she's talking about is something called the family glitch in the affordable care act. it's something that both sides acknowledge is a problem. democrats and republicans have different ways that they want to overhaul the system so that this kind of thing doesn't happen where you have really expensive premiums. democrats would like someone in this situation to get government subsidies so that health insurance would cost her a lot less. republicans would prefer to give her the option to buy a plan that might be less robust

but address perhaps the menus she might have that are specific to her. host: mark stone on twitter asks you to get into the cost of medicare for all. estimates, he says $35 trillion over 10 years. can you talk about those. want to know how candidates talk about it being free. even those that paid into medicare for 40 years pay $135 for part b supplemental prescription drugs, dental, and vision for $400 or more. guest: that's right. we do have a new analysis out about what medicare for all would cost. it comes from the urban institute. the 34 trillion is only the additional federal government spending that would be necessary. this is according to their calculations. overall, that's over 10 years. over all everything taken together would cost closer to $59 trillion over 10 years.

those figures obviously have they different. they would include taking what states pay, taking what individuals pay, taking what businesses pay, and putting it all under the federal government. candidates haven't really talked about how they would go about funding such a system. we doll know from the urban institute study that the $59 trillion is actually $7 trillion above what it would cost under the current health insurance system. it would be more expensive to cover more people and offer them more generous health insurance. a lot of the arguments from candidates we are hearing happen about how medicare for all would save money haven't been borne out in the studies we have seen. however they may start to argue some of those points less in commerms of economics but in terms of reality and why as a country we have a responsibility to give people health care. i'll watch for that. host: a few minutes left with kimberly leonard of the washington examiner, their senior health policy reporter. all her stories available

washingtonexaminer.com. alex in florida, pensacola. independent, good morning. caller: good morning. a little earlier about how some other plans and-n other countries also have -- host: alex, are you still with us? i think we lost him. elinwood, georgia. democrat, go ahead. caller: yes. 9 -plus years old. retired from the state of illinois. got a full plan, full medical, dental, optical, and health care. but here in georgia i observed since they cut out the people that was ban, the local house bills, they are loaded with people walking into the emergency room. how much cost is that to the local taxpayers? guest: this goes back to what we were saying earlier about some of the vision behind the affordable care act and why they wanted coverage to begin for people earlier so you can

watch medical conditions early as opposed to when they get much more expensive. we do know from data that it actually is more costly to insure more people earlier. however r however democrats -- however, democrats would argue that's not the reason to do t going back to the moral argument over health insurance, the studies we have seen about is it actually less costly? it might be less costly to the individual but the overall health care system it ends up being more expensive. there are those that argue that's an investment worth making. host: senior health policy reporter from the washington examiner, appreciate your time especially on a day you folks in the news this morning. come back again. next, in our last 25 minutes or so on the "washington journal" this morning, opening the phones for your calls on your top public policy issue. phone lines for republicans, democrats, and independents are on your screen. you can start calling in now. we'll be right back.

>> live, friday night, two candidates challenging president trump for the republican nomination. c-span hosts a conversation with former massachusetts governor bill weld and former south carolina governor and congressman mark sanford to talk about their plans, strategies, and why they are running against the president. they'll also take your calls, tweets, and facebook comments. part of c-span's campaign 2020 coverage, live friday at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. watch any time on c-span.org and listen wherever you are using the free c-span radio app. >> book tv has live weekend coverage of the texas book festival from austin. starting saturday at 11:00 eastern. with author discussions on the trump administration's immigration policies, with "new york times" washington

correspondentant julie her shall felled davis. the life and career of former u.n. ambassador samantha power. and impact of disinformation with former undersecretary of state, richard stengel. our live coverage from the texas book festival continues sunday at noon eastern with surgeon and johns hopkins university professor dr. marty mccarey, offering his thoughts on health care. and lewis cox recounts her time as a c.i.a. operative. be sure to watch our live weekend coverage of the texas book festival starting at 11:00 a.m. eastern saturday and at noon on sunday. and be sure to catch the miami book fair next month on book v, on c-span2. >> "washington journal" continues. host: about 25 minutes left in our program this morning. asking you simply for your top public policy issue.

what would you like to see congress and the trump administration address. phone lines are open. republicans it's 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. -8002. dents, 202-748 we'll take this conversation until we end as usual at 10:00 a.m. eastern. bob out of new york. republican. go ahead. caller: my question is, veterans prescription drugses. when i have to go to the veterans hospital to get prescriptions, they don't have them. and their excuse is that they are not generic and that they are too expensive. and then when i do get prescriptions to a plan through my wife, i'm in a doughnut hole. i don't know if people know what a doughnut hole is. with medicare pays and what i $3,200 a goes over

year, you go into a doughnut hole and pay three or four times the amount. right now i'm paying $200-plus for a prescription for three months. when you have two or three pills like that and you go to renew it it's $600. host: the access to prescriptions on your veterans health care plan, is that a recent problem? or is that something -- caller: this is a problem that's been going on for a lot of years. a lot of veterans do have other plans. but the veterans that don't have other plans have to depend .n inadequate prescriptions when i bought one pill to them asked them if they could rerue knew t. they gave me three different pills that haven't been used in general public for 10 years. my card yolgist laughed. he says this is the pills they are giving veterans? yeah. this is what they can afford. i don't understand why -- when you go to a hospital and you are sick, they give you pills in the hospital.

they don't -- they do not give you pills when you leave. you have to get that through prescription. the veterans hospitals give you medication. why is the hospital dragging down to have to give hundreds of thousands of veterans that are out here in long island prescriptions they can't get? host: thanks for raising the issue this morning. hazel's next out of friendship, maryland. democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. good to talk to you. caller: good to talk to you. i'm calling because i'd like to know if a lot of the republicans, if the reporters would please ask them did they receive funds from the camp ian g.o.p. contributions. it sounds like to me -- i have a lot of former friends that are republicans and they are completely different people

than i used to know because they are behind the president and they are not using common sense. but it seems like all these republicans -- host: hazel, donations in federal campaigns are illegal. you think there is more of that happening than we know about? caller: yes. cently igor, kabul yani's -- giuliani's partner and client, have found the ukrainians made illegal g.o.p. campaign donations. and i'm wondering -- if money is why the republicans are being so close-minded and trying to stand behind the president because they are getting illegal funds. host: that's hazel in maryland. joel out of eagle, idaho. independent. good morning. caller: good morning, john. several months ago you had a surgeon from johns hopkins on, dr. mccarthy. he highlighted a number of

things that should be done. the first is transparency on hospital billing. and he contrasted a hospital in roswell, new mexico with one down in -- i forget what it was. started with a c. there is a big disparity in hospital billing. one of his points was that there's a disconnect between the administrative and clinical side of medicine. nobody's talking about that. the other thing is nobody brings up the pharmacy benefit manager problem. these are drug salesmen that negotiate with the drug companies and largely get their salaries from drug companies by packaging drugs and selling them to conglomerate health services. the third thing that you should i'm going is --

blank. host: that's ok. the first topic you brought up the interview we had with dr. marty, september 14 of this year. if you want to go back and watch it. it's mccurdy with two c's. type that in the search box and you can watch it your sefment jim, brandon, florida, a democrat, good morning. caller: yes. i think one thing the government should get involved in as far as bringing down costs and keeping the citizens it healthy is get involved in restaurants, giving people an option to eat healthy. most of the food is loaded with sodium which contributes to high blood pressure, heart disease. prevention is the key. food producers that producers

cereal is loaded with sodium. another contributor to sodium -- i mean to high blood pressure. that's my comment that the government should get involved sugar, in ng sodium, our foods. host: that's jim in florida this morning. time here tend of our program today for a bit of open phones asking for your top public policy issue. some of the topics that we have covered so far this morning. making the headlines in today's paper, from the front page of the "washington times," president trump ends u.s. military battle on bloodstained sand. his announcement yesterday about the withdrawal from syria. we spent the first hour of our program today talking about facebook in the wake of facebook c.e.o. mark zuckerberg's grilling as "the washington post" calls it on capitol hill yesterday before the house financial services

committee. two topics we covered so far this morning. one other topic to keep you updated on, this a new house ethics committee investigation that's been launched against democratic congresswoman, freshman democratic congresswoman, katie hill following allegation that is she engaged in an improper sexual relationship with a male congressional staffer. that's reporting from john bresnahan from last night from "politico." the california democrat denied the allegation in a statement to "politico" earlier this week. she claimed the catastrophe on an abusive husband who she is in the midst of diversion. however in a letter sent to her constituents before the announcement yesterday admitted to having an inappropriate relationship with a female campaign staffer during her run for congress in 2018. hill apologized for the relationship which the freshman lawmaker said occurred "despite my better judgment."

one of congresswoman hill's colleagues on the armed services committee, republican matt gaetz, tweeting about this this morning. matt gaetz from florida saying, i serve on the armed services committee with katie. while we frequently disagree on substance, she is always well prepared and focused and thoughtful. he tweeted that this is just absurd, this story we read you. the only person who seems to have a gripe is the congresswoman's soon-to-be ex-husband. matt gaetz saying who among us would look perfect if every ex-leaked every photo or text. katie isn't being investigated by ethics or maligned because she hurt anyone. it's because she is different. the congressman there talking about the 32-year-old freshman congresswoman who identifies as bisexual complaining about the release of some of the pictures and text messages this week. she's actually sent some of those complaints to the capitol

police as well looking into how some of those photos -- how they were released. back to your phone calls. carol is in los angeles, california. republican. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you. i love the show. i just -- my topic is the impeachment inquiry. host: what about it? ller: i don't understand why it's being held behind closed doors. and why president trump is not allowed to have an attorney -- legal counsel. and i think the whole thing is a sham. i think this is totally unfair. totally unethical the way the democrats are going about it. just behind this ukrainian

phone call, this is ridiculous. i'm so upset. matt gaetz he's doing a good job. i'm in california. when i call my congresswoman's office, the local office, they don't want to hear -- she's a democrat. it's just terrible in california. all these super leftist people they don't want to answer questions. they don't know i'm a republican. it they don't want to give you any information. i just feel that the public is being cut out of this deal number one. number two, trump did not do anything -- he did not commit a crime that's impeachable. he didn't commit any crime. i'm very upset about this. he was duel elected. -- duly elected. host: maple shade, new jersey. independent. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. first of all i just want to commend the woman that just

called from california about the impeachment. right on republicans for storming that room yesterday. but i want to talk about health care, john. i mainly want to address my comments to people that are on medicare right now. seniors, disabled veterans. i myself am a senior. one man called earlier and was asking questions about what goes on in other countries like britain and canada on single payer. what a lot of people don't understand, first of all a lot of people from other countries come to our country for good health care because those countries are on single payer. and when you need testing done, sometimes it can take months just to get a test done. if you have a serious illness like cancer or something worse, by the time you get in to see a doctor you could be on your way out. this is a problem. people that go to vote next year need to seriously think

about what is going on with our health care. democrats are not even taking into account that we are losing a lot of medical professionals. we have more physician assistants and nurse practitioners coming in. it's almost like saying we are going to give medicare for all, but what good is it if you don't have the doctors to treat these people? it's like having a bus ticket for a bus that's never going to run. people need to wake up and understand that medicare for all is not the answer. in my state, a lot of our hospitals have been taken over by bureaucrats, john. and i already noticed a change in the way health care is being administered. so a final comment to seniors, please when you go to vote in 2020, watch what lever you pull because if you pull a lever for a democrat, you probably will not only get substandard care, you may get no care at all.

host: before you go, you are calling in on the line for independents. why not be a republican if that's how you feel about voting for democrats? caller: well, john, there are some things i do disagree with the republicans on because there is that part of the party that are called rhinos. i prefer being in the middle so i can judge the person and not the party before i vote. host: thanks for the call. caller: thank you, john. host: arnold, in smyrna, tennessee. democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? host: well. caller: my main issue is the environment. a lot of scientists are saying we have to leave 2/3 of the oil that is still in the ground in the ground. that's the only way to avoid extinction of life on this planet. nobody seems to be taking that real serious.

but that is the number one issue. there are many, many other issues, too. the last lady said that if you pull a lever for a democrat -- actually what's going to happen if you pull a lever for a democrat you might wind up voting republican. electronic voting machines are easily rigged. they are easily hacked. would say the -- trying to keep democracy solvent, trying to keep it alive, and keep the anet alive on the global warming climate change issues, we have to quit burning fossil fuels. we have to start loving one another. we have to start being honest with each other. those republicans that stormed that hearing yesterday, that hearing was being held the way

normal hearings are held. that hearing -- i saw something last night on the news they said that that hearing is the -- is about like a grand jury hearing. they always hold grand jury hearings in secret to protect folks from information that might be inaccurate. host: that's arnold intown tfpblet one of the topics you brought up was election security. want to show viewers some of the floor debate that took place yesterday on house democrats' election interference legislation. this is congresswoman abigail spanberger, democrat from virginia and rodney davis, republican of illinois.

disslow sure sheds light on corruption, it inmasks influence, and stops our democracy from becoming vulnerable to foreign governments, nonstate actors, and shadowy influence groups. constantly working to distract and mislead the american people. my amendment would strengthen this disclosure. my amendment would add that online platforms need to include a statement when the person purchases a political advertisement is acting as the agent of a foreign principal. not only would it include language making it clear that they are acting on behalf of a foreign entity, but it would require the online platform to identify the foreign principal involved. that could be a foreign government, political party, or nonstate actor. fundamentally my amendment to the shield act would put the power back in the hands of the american people. it would help address the critical underlying question, who is in charge of deciding american elections? is it those abroad working to divide and influence the american people, or is it the american people themselves? >> this amendment shares the

same flaw at main text of the bill. putting media platforms in charge of enforcing our nation's laws. they are not doing a good job right now. i don't know if mr. zuckerberg is still across the street testifying in front of the financial services committee, but if they were doing a good job he wouldn't have been here so long. rather, we need to strengthier fara and help the department of justice do its job. i do not understand why the democrats want the social media companies to have more responsibilities when they failed miserably in 2016. i strongly urge a no vote and i also urge every member both republicans and democrats, to take a look at my bill. it's a nonpartisan bill. i don't want to empower the media platforms or restrict speech by american citizens. i want to give the d.o.j. the resources to do its job. host: rodney davis and abigail spanberger on the house floor yesterday talking about that bill package known as the shield act. would eventually go on to be passed on a party-line vote 227-181. about five minutes left in our program today.

sam's waiting in montana, republican. what's your top public policy issue? caller: last caller brought up the security of electronic voting. that's a big issue in the news today in bolivia where people are really trying to unseat this dictator that's been in office. he's trying to go for a fourth term. i would just suggest all americans look into electronic voting and have a help america vote act that passed in i believe in 2001. it's really undermining our society. they can be rigged. org tells ting dot the story. we are trying to have a conservative revolution throughout the mesh,. there are nine conservative presidents in latin america, by the way, i as an iowa voter have invited them all to iowa ahead of the caucuses because we need to hear from people that have fought socialism. as socialism makes its encroachment in the united

states. it's really wrong. on the migration issue i hope every american sees and understands that right now we have nine conservative presidents that are trying to extricate their countries from the socialist policies of their predecessors. we can turn the americas around. we can defend the hemisphere. this is what donald trump said before latin american pastors just two weeks ago. we can have a hemisphere that is 100% free from socialism for the first time in history. host: quick question before you go. you said you have invited them to iowa. i thought you were from montana. caller: i'm in montana now. i move around with my preaching. we get a lot of things done. truthfully i prefer to be speaking spanish. many of the time i am. i invite everyone to look in on my latin america war report. you will know first what's happening in latin america and with the migrant invasion and how it will affect you. host: tim, what is gospel gunslingers?

caller: i'm the original gospel gunslinger. we are people that believe in the revolutionary ideals of our forefathers, the doctrines uniquely american. the original american patriots and the puritans discovered in the bible. that's how we made america great the first time. by the way every latin nation down to the tip of chile followed our 1776 example and threw out the europeans, threw out of clergy and vice roys, that's the difference between all of us and say hong kong or france. every nation in the americas has tasted freedom at one time. that's what we study on o bscribes star.com/gospel gunslingers. host: vero beach, virginia, independent. good morning. caller: i would like to say when trump has interview with the prime minister of ukraine, the prime minister says there was no pressure. now we are calling him a liar.

through the national news. what does that look like? and the other thing i want to talk about, president trump pulled out troops on syria. well, we have been over the middle east for so long who knows how long we have been over there. most of the time our soldiers are told to stand down. until they get permission from higher up to fire back. trump did the right thing. let them solve their own problems. let's go on with our own lives. keep our military strong. thank you. host: that's john in florida. our last caller in today's "washington journal." we'll be back here tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern. 4:00 a.m. pacific. in the meantime have a great thursday. [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]

>> the casket of the late maryland congressman and elijahht committee chair cummings arrives today at the u.s. capitol for a ceremony with members of congress. cummings family invited guests. he'll lie in mony state on the house side of the capital where the public will be able to pay nair respects. the -- pay their respects. 10:30 remony begins at a.m. funeral services for congressman cummings are tomorrow in baltimore. barack obama nt will speak along with house former nancy pelosi and secretary of state hillary clinton. watch that tomorrow at 10:00 c-span. on both events online at c-span.org nd you can listen live on the free c-span radio app. elijah cummings died last week

after a long illness. he was 68. hisressman cummings started political career in the maryland legislature before being elected 1996.ngress in he served as chair of the congressional black caucus and became head of the house reform committee. one of several house committees conducting the impeachment trump. into president on the day he died last week, the house stopped business to pay tribute to congressman cummings. the speaker pro temport objection. mr. hoyer: today, my colleagues, is a sad day. it is a sad day for us. it's a sad day for this institution. and it is a sad day for america. we have lost a wonderlyful human being. -- wonderful human being. a good and decent human being. a human being who made a differ.