and we need to address it. >> m: have a wonderful holiday. this should be an let's try and do that you can. [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] >> campaign 2020 -- watch our live coverage of the presidential candidates on the campaign trail and make up your own mind. 2020, yourmpaign unfiltered view of politics. coming up in one hour, a look at faith and politics with the sojourners founder talking about

at book "christ in crisis." nine a clock a.m., the heritage foundation on the trump administration's economic record and how it could impact the 2020 election. trump's economic record and how it could impact the election. ♪ host: good morning. it is tuesday, december 24. a3 hour "washington journal" is ahead. we will begin by getting your view on the legacy of the affordable care act. it was 10 years ago today the senate passed legislation some dub obamacare. we want to know what the impact has been on your family and your community, phone lines are on your screen. republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. .ndependents, 202-748-8002 you can also send us a text message this morning. that number, 202-748-8003.

onerwise, catch up with us social media. on twitter it is @cspanwj. on facebook it is facebook.com/cspan. morning, youuesday can start calling in now as we take you back to 10 years ago, this was president barack obama at the white house the evening after the senate held that vote, a partyline vote to passed its version of what became the affordable care act, these are president barack obama's remarks. [video clip] >> in a historic vote that took place this morning, members of the senate join their colleagues in the house of representatives to pass a landmark health insurance reform package, legislation that brings us toward the end of a nearly century long struggle to reform america's health care system. ever since teddy roosevelt called for reform in 1912, 7 presidents, democrats, and republicans alike have taken up

the cause of reform. it time and time again, such efforts have been blocked by special interest lobby it's -- lobbyists who perpetuated the status quo that works better for the insurance company than the american people. with passage in bills in the house and senate, we are poised to deliver on the promise of real, meaningful, health that will bring security and stability to the american people. toughestes the measures ever taken to hold the insurance industry accountable. insurance companies will no longer be able to deny you coverage on the basis of a pre-existing condition or drug coverage when you get sick. appeall be able to unfair decisions by insurance companies to an independent

party. if this becomes law, workers will not have to worry about losing coverage if they lose or change jobs. families will save on premiums. businesses that would see their cost rise if we do not act will save money now and they will save money in the future. this bill will strengthen medicare and expand the life of the program. it will make coverage affordable for 30 million americans who do not have it. 30 million americans. because it is paid for and curbs the waste and inefficiency in our system, this bill will help reduce our deficit by as much as $1.3 trillion in the coming decades, making it the largest deficit reduction plan in over a decade. these are not small reforms, these are big reforms. host: president obama from 10 years ago. some history after he made those

remarks, the affordable care act would not be signed into law for another three months. in the intervening months, senate democrats lost the vetoproof majority in the senate in a january special election and the members of the house, democrats had to move a budget reconciliation bill to get the affordable care act across the finish line. it was signed by the president into law march 23 of 2010. we are talking about the aca asking how it impacted you. republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002. before we get to your calls, this headline from the wall street journal on this topic, the affordable care act's legacy 10 years later, this is what the wall street journal had to say, most americans, particularly those with workplace coverage or medicare felt limited impact despite predictions it might lead many employers to drop

insurance or hurt medicare. employer insurance began covering preventative care while young adults up to 26 were added to their families coverage. private medicare plans have flourished despite cutbacks, the aca's biggest transformation has been in the individual insurance market where consumers buy their own plans. before the law, insurers could refuse to sell plans to people with pre-existing health conditions or, -- charge them more than healthier people. those protections have become so popular even republican critics of the law say they want to retain them. we want to hear from you in this first hour of the washington journal. bill is up first out of brooklyn. what has been the impact of the afford will care act? caller: ensuring millions of people that were uninsured

previously. single-payer with even more left-wing options -- more centrist option, but the affordable care act was started by and affordable -- a conservative think tank. they don't want government having price control of prescription drugs, but having price control no way impinges on my individual freedom. host: do you think you talk about single-payer, the affordable care act will be seen as a step towards a single-payer system in this country?

caller: absolutely. i have lived in canada and public health insurance was way better, more comprehensive than now.ivate health insurance a single-payer is simple. i think doctors would like single-payer, it is more simple. it is the humane way to go. to think that people could die just because they don't have insurance, we think it is collateral damage. host: this is maria out of virginia, good morning. maria, are you with us, this morning? caller: yes. host: go ahead, ma'am.

caller: i would to the white page -- webpage of the white --se he doesn't know what he is talking about. a democrat, what has been the leg race -- legacy of the aca? caller: good morning and merry christmas to everyone. bothl like after 10 years, parties, democrats and republicans have eroded something that was good. i also think that the affordable care act did come from republicans and they are beating up them up -- themselves.

i am a disabled veteran. health care comes from the v.a., which is a single-payer system. i feel like something that is good can be better if congress works together. they are not working together. an americans people, we need to tell them they need to work together. don't do away with it, fix it. host: do you think the affordable care act will be around 10 years from now? caller: i would like to think it would, if not that particular one, something similar and it needs to be improved, of course. it has its problems. have been inns charge for a long time. they have not done anything, but they don't want -- they are the ones making the most noise.

we need to look at them and say if you all want to do something, fix it. that is all i have got to say. know well,n viewers there are ongoing threats to the affordable care act and the biggest one having a moment last week in court, this is the story from kaiser health news, a federal appeals court in new orleans dealt another blow to the affordable care act last week agreeing with a lower court judge a portion of the health law is unconstitutional now that congress eliminated the tax penalty intended to enforce it. it is sending the case back down to lower courts to decide how much of the rest of the law can stand in light of that ruling. that means the fate of the affordable care act will not be settled before the 2020 election, the stakes could not be higher, the case is expected to wind up in the supreme court.

leading a coalition of states defending the health law announced wednesday night he would appeal the decision and if the high court, which upheld the aca twice since its original passage, agrees with the appeals court, the decision could end the nation -- up and the entire's health care system. that is from kaiser help news. we have been talking about it since the ruling last week. we are asking what do you think the legacy of the aca has been? dolly in texas, good morning. caller: good morning. i have very little to say about this because it is very complicated and the truth of the matter is as far as i can tell, theaffordable care act is foundation on which we all can build and everything about our lives goes that way. we have to establish foundations

under whatever it is we are doing and the affordable care act has done that. the one thing that is the most -- i will think -- i do think it will be around because it is a good thing, but all good things can be improved on and here we just thesehere is labels put on everybody, you are a socialist if you think we should have affordable care -- health care for everyone, guaranteed and i cannot believe that this -- i have a lot of complicated thoughts about this because the religious people against the affordable care act, it makes me wonder what their spirituality really is because that is a huge part of being thinking about god and how god affects our lives. anyone involved in that has to know taking care of each other

is prime and important. the number one thing it seems to me that has polluted our thinking about health care, not insurance, when i say health 83. -- i am i am interested in health care and for everyone. here is what has to happen, we cannot think about money and health care at the same time, we have to think about profit is not necessarily the way to go. we can do it, but we have to decide what it is that we are going to focus on and profit should not be it. host: president trump has had plenty of criticism of the affordable care act since he took over the white house and had plenty to say about the appeals port -- appeals court case. [video clip] onwe are doing tremendously

health care. we won yesterday in the supreme court, you saw that in the appellate division. individual mandate is now gone, that is tremendous savings, that was the worst part of obamacare. we take care of pre-existing conditions, they are not going to be able to do that, we are doing things nobody has ever done before. key: more to come on that federal case, but we are asking you this morning about the legacy of the aca. carolina,outh republican, you are next. caller: eric christmas, john. you are familiar with the weather system we have been going through down here, we just had our 85th coastal flooding events of the year. the closest to that was 1958. something is wrong. to the nice lady who called and

i know she was sincere, i honestly don't think there is anything godly or spiritual about requiring a citizen that may -- they may not want and penalizing them if they don't buy it and exposing that citizen along withh premiums having to meet enormous deductibles before they can use a plan. thought out.not the problem was making it a part of the tax code. small business owners were strangled by the aca. it was not worth all of that and most people who even think we need a plan like this, they would have to agree. host: you think it will be around 10 years from now? caller: not in its present form. i honestly think and i don't agree that we may go to medicare

for all. before callers call and complaining that people in have these nice health care plans, one of the provisions of the plan was all members of congress and their staff would have to buy an aca plan. they used to be able to enjoy the federal employee health benefits plan where they had their own choices. if a congressman had a wife in the federal service or spouse, they could ride on their plan or lindsey graham, he is retired military. other than that, they hated it because they knew they had to buy a plan. february in 2014, they gave themselves a break by enacting a law that would make the government pay part of the premiums, i will leave it at that. host: thanks for heading off those comments at the pass. from north charleston, south

carolina, comments from facebook this morning, fran writing the aca crushed our family, our cost more than tripled. chris saying it might not have been the best, but it was an attempt at reform. hopefully we can put our party team mindedness aside and work towards reform, deborah saying it saved my life at the time, glad i had it. luckily our state provided subsidies and martha saying it is the most expensive thing the government has forced me to purchase for 10 years straight. asking for your thoughts, what you think the legacy of the aca has been since that key vote on christmas eve of 2000 nine, took place in the senate with a partyline vote on the senate health care plan that would affordable -- that would become the affordable care act. . ,his is kevin in florida

republican, good morning. good morning. merry christmas and happy hanukkah to everybody. within 100% disagreement the wall street journal. they have cherry picked some things about the plan, it is totally -- has totally destroyed our family financially. my wife makes 30,000 a year. her health insurance premiums, $798 a month. that is a third of her income on a $6,000re plus deductible. she had a hysterectomy and we had to pay the whole 6000. veteran, to go to the v.a. and started using them or i would have paid $700 a month in premiums. i am a republican.

the one thing republicans have done is majorly dropped the ball. they keep telling us they were going to repeal and replace. they don't even have a plan on this iseplace it, talking to republican congressmen and senators saying you lied to us just like obama lie to us. both of you guys are at fault for what is happening in america . if you are low income and you get subsidies, you are perfect, you are happy. if you are middle-class, they are stealing from us like -- it is unbelievable. i don't know how we can keep paying the premiums, it is more than the mortgage. health insurance premium more than the mortgage. mentioned the wall street journal story, this is the lead saying nearly a decade after its passage along party lines under president obama, the affordable care act is deeply ingrained in the u.s. health

care system influencing everything from senior drug cost to calorie disclosure on restaurant menus, it added 20 million people to the ranks of the insured. there is a chart that goes with that story showing the percentage of people without health insurance in this country over the years starting in 2010 at 16%. .4%.18, 9 this is julie in pennsylvania, republican, good morning. i am calling from my personal experience. when this started, my premiums went up at work, so i had more deductions taking out of my paycheck. they call this affordable, and that is not what i have experienced. my deductibles were higher and paying for procedures

that would have been covered in the past. then i became unemployed and because of the salary i had been making, my plans were very expensive and the ones i did me being were based on unemployed, the amount of money i was getting for unemployment, back when i was employed because my salary went back up, i had to pay the higher premium, so they were subsidizing me when i was gainedyed, but because i employment, i owed them money. eligible for medicare thei predicted before affordable care act took place refusedt was people who to go and get on medicare

because they were either too whenor year responsible, the affordable care act was instituted, people ran and registered for medicare. that is exactly what happened, i predicted that. -- my plans thing are very expensive to be on this adultdo have three children and my one daughter at the time was 21 and she was having -- her tuition for expensive andry she was working for an employer not offering medical and i had to put her on my plan and i feel like employers shifted the responsibility of what they used to give as a benefit to parents. then i had health-care costs for my children who normally would be on their own as an

independent. i think i agree with the other collars, if they are going to keep it, it really needs to be it really should be income between medicare and a certain middle-class income. having this conversation today because it is the 10 year anniversary of that key senate vote that took place on christmas eve, and unusual vote on christmas eve in the senate when the then senate health care plan, the democratic health care plan passed on a partyline vote. i want to show viewers the opening comments by then majority leader harry reid the morning of that vote. [video clip] >> like so many endeavors that

benefited so many americans, making health insurance more affordable is a process, one that required us to find common ground, as we should. that is why we have a piece of legislation that will reduce the billion.y $132 over the next decade, as much as one point $2 trillion. everyone knows we have had middle of the night and christmas eve because republicans would not allow us to have votes at any other our. it is true when we go home, we are going to hear and earful. i will hear and earful from a boy who was born with legs that stopped right above his knees who has needed a set of new prosthetic devices because the rest of his body is growing. the insurance company says no because he had a pre-existing

disability. i will get an earful from him and his parents. and earful of joy and happiness ,ecause from this day forward insurance companies will not be able to deny coverage because of pre-existing disability. people like caleb and parents with children with diabetes and other problems, it is over with. earful of an wonderment and happiness peopl long time. -- people have waited for for a long time. host: mitch mcconnell, these were his opening remarks that morning. [video clip] >> the most obvious problem with the bill before us is it doesn't do what it was supposed to do. the one test for any bill was whether it would lower cost. this bill fails that test. it is also clear that even many

of the people on this side are going to support this bill don't .ike it otherwise, democratic leaders would not have had such a tough time rounding up the votes. otherwise, democratic leaders would not have had to have votes in the middle of the night or at thecrack of dawn or over weekend or even during a blizzard. otherwise, they would not be rushing it through congress on christmas eve. the first time this body had a vote on the day before christmas in more than a century. this debate was supposed to produce a bill that reform health care in america. instead, we are left with partyline votes in the middle of the night, a couple of sweetheart deals to get it over and a trulyine

outraged public. a problem they were told would be fixed wasn't. i guarantee you people voting for this bill will get an earful when they finally get home for the first time since thanksgiving. they know there is widespread monstrosityo this and i want to assure you this fight is not over. his long -- this fight .s long from over we will continue to fight on their behalf. host: then minority leader now majority leader mitch mcconnell on the senate floor. we are getting your thoughts about how the affordable care

act impacted you. out of chicago, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning, john. host: go ahead. take timewas able to gold hmo offsed a the market and it allowed me to spend a year taking care of my grandparents, a year enjoying my family and going back to school. it has been good to me personally because i wasn't obligated to be employed in order to pay my health insurance . i do want to say there are problems with it, but i want to address the gentleman in florida. one of the reasons why florida premiums are so high is because they failed to implement medicaid expansion. the anger should be on that. publicans have done that

intentionally to make it difficult for everyone so you .an keep on hating obamacare in illinois, we are lucky to have some of the country lowest premiums. silver plan, hmo is probably 400 something dollars. last year was about $500 for gold hmo's. it is very expensive in other places like california. it is over $1200. there are many problems with it, --

ensure everyone at a reasonable price we can pay. of -- is anout independent, good morning. caller: happy holidays, forybody my wife's premium gold policy goes by state. like that lady said, it goes state to state. wisconsin seems to be generous. from $393 from obamacare. she starts collecting her pension january 1 in a goes up to 1013 dollars. same plan, $900 deductible. it does go state-by-state and it does help, thank you, c-span. carolinan out of north

-- caller: obamacare impacted me i struggled financially and it was an additional burden i was forced to purchase. i purchased the bronze plan and when i went to use the bronze plan, it was not as effective as i was hoping it would be and thank goodness i did not have any major medical problems. service --that the the coverage was very limited under the bronze plan and for me at that moment in my life, the financial burden was impactful and was definitely a stress. host: you don't get your insurance through the aca marketplace anymore, how do you get your insurance or are you uninsured? caller: i am not presently insured.

i pay my medical bills with cash, i do not have insurance. that is how i am covered at present. host: do you think that is something you will continue to do? do you want to continue to do that? caller: probably not. in january. 60 host: 37 states have expanded medicaid at this point. utah willfully expand its medicaid next year after the

turbid ministration and health officials approve the plan to -- impose work requirements, state officials said the approval 120,000 people will be eligible january 1. the partial expansion would have partial48,000 people expansion planned earlier, but utah fully expanding its program. utah joins south carolina as the second state to gain such approval from the obama administration. if you want to see a map on medicaid expansion from the kaiser family foundation, the dark states on this map, the states that have adopted and implemented full medicaid expansion, idaho, utah, nebraska, the states in a lighter blue as the states that have adopted, but not implemented an expansion and the

states in orange on that map, the states that have not adopted . want to get your thoughts asking you about the affordable care act, the entire act, all the aspects of it. how has it impacted you? vinny, independent, you are next. caller: hello? host: go ahead. -- fromfor the last 2008 up to last year, we were paying around $20,000 a year for a family of 4 and that was a huge dent out of an income of two working people. i think what they are doing is jacking up the prices so people of integrity that want to work and do things with their lives have to carry the brunt of the

like theit is gasoline. right now, gasoline is really low because an outsider comes in, breaks away all these regulations with all these backdoor dealings and it has made it so now the price of fuel is down, people have money in their pocket, people are able to save money and i just feel washington has been doing all these backdoor dealings and ripping people off and americans are not stupid anymore. you can say what you want about trump, but at the end of the day, you want someone that is not greedy or is not going to get five houses or a lot of money in their back pocket or their kids will be set for life and we know what is going on in washington. as an american, if they can charge $20 for a gallon of milk and get away with it, they would say -- out ofhis is doris

georgia, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. the red states, the republican states is where the .ca is most expensive that is because republicans have been fighting health care for years and mitch mcconnell a few he wantedo just said 10 years ago to make obama a one term senator and fight against the affordable care act. they have no replacement, no intention of offering health care to the people of this country. if they had, all the time trump has been in office and had control of the house and the senate, something should have been done to either replace

obamacare or improve it. republicans do not want to improve health care. they are there for whatever reason, apparently they are there to fill their pocket. right now, you can see their concern is not for the american people. host: the affordable care act survived a couple of supreme court challenges, are you confident with it looking like it could end up before the supreme court again in this latest case? are you confident it will survive another? because ifear for it fear republicans are going to nor it down and we will have health care. right now, because i am a veteran, i can use the veterans system. i am also working and i use

kaiser permanente and i tend to be rather healthy and i can use an hmo. i believe we should have a choice and that is why i agree with some of the democratic candidates, biden, for example, that even though you may have a government option and the government should have an option, you should also have the ation to choose if you want cadillac plan if you want to and you can afford it. latest challenge to the affordable care act having to do with the individual mandate, whether it is constitutional and if not, whether the entire law can stand. law,licans looking to that republicans looking to that case and it is likely going to end up at the supreme court. earlier this summer, democrat

members of the house and senate met on the steps of the senate to talk about this case during one of the key oral arguments of this case working its way through federal courts, this is chuck schumer from the steps of the senate talking about ongoing republican efforts to undo the affordable care act. [video clip] >> publican attorneys general supported by president trump and his department of justice will argue in court that millions of americans should lose their health care and all protections included in the aca, the stakes cannot be higher. imagine you are a parent and your child has cancer, a deadly form, there is a treatment available, but the insurance company says no, you cannot have that treatment or we are cutting you off. is donald trump or our republican friends telling that family? that you cannot get health care

and we have nothing to put in its place? shame on them. the stakes cannot be higher. the faces behind us our faces of americans, millions of americans who will suffer if republicans succeed in dismantling our health care law. millions of people's lives, nothing less, are on the line. if the right wing wins the lawsuit, families from one end of america to the other will their health care, lose important pre-existing condition protections and lose their piece of mind that there might be something there to make them well. host: chuck schumer earlier this year on the case working its way through federal courts. we are asking about the affordable care act. at 10:00, how has it impacted you. michelle saying huge premiums,

high deductibles, a little lower on my deductible this year, premium went up for no extra coverage. i have insurance i cannot use if i want to provide groceries and a roof over my family's head. good thing i am healthy and have no major medical conditions. carol saying it was an attempt getting people on insured insured. i have uninsured family members i pray for daly. brandon saying it was a half measure and it seems like it is working as intended by those who designed it. getting your thoughts on phone lines as usual, republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002. this is al in california, republican, good morning. caller: good morning. 2013, so weled in had to get on aca because we made over $54,000 a month in

california and we did not qualify for subsidies. we started at almost 14,000 a 19 --nd it went up to eight went up to $24,000 a year and i am paying 1059 for my wife joke.now and it is a all these callers -- all you have to do is ask them do you get subsidies or get them free, they will say yes. the guys that want to pay for it cannot stand it. got on medicare because i am 65 now, thank god, but it almost destroyed us. host: how close to you -- were you to getting any of those subsidies? caller: not close. my wife worked, too. you have to make under 54 for a couple and everything is based

on income. when pelosi says let's pass it and see what is in it, i live in the most corrupt state you can live in, california. host: this is crystal in pennsylvania, democrat, good morning. and thankod morning you for taking my call. i have listened for years how about theomplained emergency rooms being crowded, people going to the emergency as primary care physicians, i listen to all of that so they came up with a bill called the aca or obamacare, whatever you want to call it to help those people get out of the emergency rooms for primary care and then the ones making all of this money are complaining about

their premiums and deductibles and they did not realize all of those people that went to the emergency rooms, we all had to pay for them. we had to pay for their care one way or the other, so the people who are poor or low class, they they'd care and we should be happy about that. we should not say this did not work or it just worked for the lower class and not the upper class making all kinds of money. people ie most whiny hear every morning whining about something. give people medical care, give them away to cover for pre-existing conditions. i listen to republicans for years say we have a replacement plan and they never came up with anything but yet, they are still

trying to destroy those people health care,ord not have any health care, so the emergency rooms can be packed again and all of us, every last one of us will pay for those people to go to those hospitals. host: it is about 20 million people who have been added to sincenks of the insured the implementation of the affordable care act although it has been implemented over the course of the past decade signed into law on march 23 of 2010. it was that key senate vote that happened 10 years ago today that set the stage for that bill being signed into law. donald in west virginia, independent, you are next. voter: i am independent, i personal party and i wanted to

address the person who talked about his young kid with cancer. that is terrible and i hate it, but i watched many people years, a girlama from iowa that was denied treatment because it was self-inflicted, i have seen many of those cases and i think that gentleman. in the obama years, i worked for a major car dealer. they did not have to provide insurance, so i could not afford $1500 toen i got find pay because i could not afford to pay insurance. luckily, that is no longer in effect and i think it is really stupid. people need to open their eyes to what is really going on and not listen to the news. virginia.ld in west a few tweets from members of congress over the past week when it comes to the affordable care act or obamacare, this is jodey thatgton talking about

fifth circuit case that toublicans are looking to undo the affordable care act saying the fifth circuit delivered a major win for americans declaring the individual mandate in obamacare unconstitutional, the burdens of this law have left rural americans in the icu and must continue working to reverse its disastrous effects. another tweet from the republican saying obamacare has failed to live up to its promises, this ruling highlights the need to modernize and personalize health care for every american, republicans are focused on protecting people with pre-existing conditions and lowering the cost of care and one more from democratic congressman out of new jersey saying despite republican efforts in congress and the federal courts to eliminate the health insurance mandate, americans continue to sign up for obamacare plans.

he points to this story in the washington post from last week from friday, the story noting the number of consumers signing up for health coverage under the affordable care act held almost steady from last year to this year even though the government is no longer enforcing the requirement most americans have health insurance. about 8.3 million people chose aca health plans for 2020 in the 38 states that rely on the enrollmentthcare.gov . that reflects a dip of less than 3% from a year ago. a marginal increase in newcomers buying insurance through the federal marketplace, over 2 million people. that story in the washington post. amy goldstein on that story. out of florida, what has been the legacy of the aca over 10 years. caller: i have a lot of problems with the aca and the whole idea

that the fruits of my labor should be for somebody else. were $175 per month and they went up to $790 per month. when you are married and paying separately, you already entitled to a subsidy. that is part of the whole problem, in my opinion. you are promoting subsidies and dependence on the government. to thehat would you say last caller that said it is a good thing 20 million more people are insured that were not insured before? that people are not using the hospital for their health care? they are starting to go to the

doctor and get treatment before it gets to that point? caller: that is great, but everybody needs to pull their weight. the wealthy are not paying their fair share. we ought to be looking at things like fair share. i think the expectation of our country is dangerously low. what does it cost to run this country divided by the able-bodied people and that should be your fair share. if you are paying less than that, you are not paying your fair share. host: this is michael out of new jersey, republican, good morning. us?ael, are you with caller: yes, sir. can you hear me? i have allennial and different angle on this. i think it is good they want to cover pre-existing conditions, i

respect that element of the law. if you look at the little sisters of the poor case as everyone remembers out in colorado, we have washington, d.c. mandating to other people what they need in their insurance policy. my family, we don't use birth control, we use natural family planning. i still have to pay in my plan for birth control although i am never, ever, ever going to use itbecause washington says should be "free for all americans. another thing that doesn't make any sense as everyone talks about health care and i am all for helping people, trust me, but health care plans do not cover dental, do not cover vision as far as i know, we pick and choose the things we think are important and it is not the people, it is washington. another thing that doesn't make any sense, the 26-year-old number. suddenly when you are 26, you

are supposed to be able to get insurance. 24-25-year-olds that have jobs, many of them do not go -- go on their employer plan. those young people need to pay into the system to lower costs for everyone else. host: can i ask a question on that? what do you think the age limit should be? when should people start paying for their own plans? should it be 18? caller: if you have a job and your boss offers you insurance, you should be forced to take it as long as it meets certain guidelines, you should not be allowed to choose i will choose on mom -- stay on my mom and dad's plan because it is better for me. host: what would those guidelines be? what would you mandate employers provide? caller: those things should cover things everyone is susceptible to, cancer, diabetes, there are certain things i understand as a man, i have to pay for women's

services. i am never going to have, for instance, breast cancer. my wife has it covered, they have to pay for prostate cancer, these things do not make any sense. the local states should decide what should be in the plans, not washington telling the whole country people who live for thousand, 5000 miles away in hawaii what they need in their health plan. host: do you think women should pay more for health insurance because it costs a lot of money to have children? caller: i think it should be equitable. i am not saying that at all. what i am saying is we should have choices like with life insurance. when you buy life insurance, you can decide what kind you want, whole life, term insurance, what things you want covered. with health insurance, we basically have two or three choices because it was run down from washington and washington decided what we need and

whenever you have it centralized like that in the hands of a few and in this case, just the democratic party, sadly, what happened is we got democratic values and forced on all people and that is why birth control is "free" when that is some thing i don't want to pay for and i am forced to pay for it and it is against my religion. there is a lot of regular folks who have to pay for things we did -- we don't believe in and we are never going to buy. host: jack in delaware, good morning. thatr: after listening to last guy and some of your other collars today, if i was a standup comedian, i could have done a heart out on what i heard. people are so ignorant about the way the universe works. our problem is people do not have any sense of community or feel connection to each other

and that is why people can say silly things like that last caller that says why should i pay for something i am never going to use? i am never going to use an army tank, ever. my taxes have to help pay for it to defend our country, that is called democracy. we share the burden with everyone. i might not need something right and 10t you do need years down the road, our positions could be reversed. the only way this can all work out when we are talking about the subject of health care, we need medicare for all and people that have the extra money to purchase extra private insurance. it should be every citizen's right that they are born to receive health care. thank you. host: jack in delaware. it just about five minutes left in this segment, asking you about the legacy of the affordable care act at 10 years

old, jasmine in new york city, democrat, what do you think? caller: good morning, everybody, merry christmas, happy new year. i am calling to tell you all .bamacare is working right now, i am on 12 different .ypes of medication -- ibody on obamacare don't want to pay for nothing. host: this is jeff in michigan, good morning. caller: how are you doing today? host: doing all right, go ahead.

caller: i have numbers for you. the silver plan, $450 a month. i was paying just for my $65.riptions, i was paying i get this blue cross, blue shield, my prescriptions go up. they are supposed to be the best price on my subscriptions. now i have goodrx, i am getting them for $35. another thing, i had to get ultrasounds for an abdominal aneurysm and i found that out when i went to the emergency

room. everybody keeps saying everybody pays -- i am still paying for my emergency bills. now i have to get this ultrasound. on -- acare, $450 and month, they want $900. i got one done last week, i paid $107 for it. host: brett is next out of nevada. independent, good morning. brett, are you with us? we will go to peter out of pittsburgh, illinois, democrat, go ahead. this isi tell you what all about, the republican party wants to destroy. they pay $1.6 billion to get rid went to the

republican -- the judge part and they wrote away where you are making everybody pay so much or something, you have to pay that away and that is what is wrong with obamacare, it keeps going up. now ande $2 billion medicare, 46 -- $144 a month now -- me and my wife, 200 $28 two hunter $28 a month. $1200 to go in the hospital and if you have to go back more than one time in a year, you go back five times, it is $6,000. medicare is not worth having. everybody has to quit taking medicare because they have it so high, they cannot afford to go

to the hospital. host: wendy out of maine, i democrat. go ahead. caller: i find the whole argument health care is quite ridiculous on both parts because if we follow the european model, especially germany, we would be able to have health insurance. you pay so much out of your paycheck, and then everybody is covered. covered, this helps you to be covered because everyone does this. it does not make sense that people do not get health care coverage. the problem in our country is that we do not want to wait to get medical treatment for certain things. in germany, that is what you do. according to priority, you wait and then you get a procedure done. if we did that, everyone could have health care insurance. and they should. it is not difficult for republicans and democrats and independents. host: what is your view on how

this has played out in the primaries? it has come up -- the health care debate -- some of these issues you talk about, coverage in the united states and whether everyone should get coverage has been a topic of every presidential debate so far. go ahead, wendy. caller: people don't realize that you can do that. if you follow a european model, which no president wants to do, it is very simple. i went to germany under my husband's plan and i got covered. i needed medical treatment and i got up and covered. , -- everything. host: i want to show viewers some of the latest back-and-forth over health care in this country from the latest presidential debate. this is one of those exchanges

from bernie sanders and joe biden. >> i think when we go out to the people and tell them that right thewe have got to take on greed and corruption of the pharmaceutical industry, which in some cases charges us 10 times more for the same drug, when the american people understand that medicare for all expands medicare to cover will -- to cover vision, dental and hearing aids, and does it for far lower than my opponents are talking about, we are going to have the american people behind us. we will have congress behind us. >> vice president biden, you spent an awful lot of time to try to pass a bill far less ambitious than what senator sanders is talking about. is he being realistic? >> i don't think it is

realistic. i introduced the plan to build on obamacare. 20 million people got insurance that didn't have it before. all people with pre-existing conditions. we didn't get all the we wanted, but now it has been exposed that taking it away has dire consequences, i have added the biden initiative, which is a public option for medicare if you want medicare. reducing significantly the price of drugs, deductibles, at sonora -- etc. to the tune of about 750 -- seven at a $50 billion in making sure we are able to cover everyone who is able to be covered. put your hand down for a second, bernie. [laughter] >> i'm just waving, here joe. >> it lets you choose what you want. here, you have 160 million

people who negotiated their health care plans with their employer. you may or may not like it. if you don't like it, you can move into the public option. if you like it, you should not have washington dictating you you cannot keep the plan you have. [applause] >> senator sanders, 45 seconds. we maintain's plan, the status quo. >> that is not true. >> thank you. by the way, joe under your plan, you asked me how we are going to pay for it, under your plan we pay for it -- the average worker in america makes $60,000 a year. that family is now paying all thousand dollars a year for health care, 20% of their income. under medicare for all, that family will be paying full hundred dollars a year because we are eliminating the profiteering of the drug companies and insurance

thisnies and ending byzantine and complex administration of thousands of separate health care plans. >> the exchange from last week's politico pbs -- newshour. we are talking about the howrdable care act, asking it has impacted you. what you thickets legacy has been. do you think it is still going to be around 10 years from now? shelton from shreveport, louisiana. it has beenink that a useful tool, but it has not gone far enough. all industrialized countries of the world have some form of universal health care. who, that ranks the health coverage for people in the world

-- they don't even rank the united states in the top 10. same thing that was debated in 1935 in terms of --ing to get social security -- coverageerybody for everyone after you finish your working years. this, we stop having should do it we need to do in coverageproviding which means that every person in the world. -- in the country. every person should have this. one that hasbe no to lose their home, go into debt because of greed from an insurance company or drug

company. there has been a lot of talking plants noterms of good for everybody. we know that universal health care is a good thing for everybody. -- thisis is brandy at is brenda out of indiana, pets of any. caller: good morning. i want to say that i am pleased with the affordable care act. i got divorced when i was 60 years old. i had to get insurance coverage. the policy that i got through thanca was actually better the medical insurance coverage i had through my spouse's employer. i want to clear up a couple of confusions -- host: before you do that. can i ask, on the plane you got -- there was a caller earlier who was upset going through the

aca, one of the reasons why is the cost of it. he said those who are happy with it are happy because they receive subsidies as part of their effort to get coverage appeared when you signed up, did you receive subsidies? caller: that is what i was going to address. yes i did. , so a single person according to the federal income if i gross less than --,000 a year -- which i do you do get a tax credit for that. underd people can gross $104,000 a year and still get a tax credit. when people say me and my wife make too much money, that means

you are grossing more than $104,000 a year. thing, my policy -- the premiums -- everybody's have been going up, but the last two years i have seen the lowest monthly premium increases. this policy that i signed up for policy0, the actual premium only went up $40 a month. $10.at $40, i have to pay the increases have -- even though they are still going up -- are going up slower. thing about the individual mandate. the individual mandate was put into place because americans were complaining that the -- werewere playing

paying for health care for the uninsured. that is why the mandate was put in place. doing amp said he was good thing by doing away with the individual mandate, but still keeping the pre-existing condition clause, he didn't do us any favors because you could literally be diagnosed with cancer in the morning and get medical insurance that afternoon. with individual mandate, but keeping the pre-existing condition clause would be like opting out of , butg into social security still collecting social security when you have retired. people argue about buying across state lines. i have a good policy here in pennsylvania. it is affordable for me. what if everybody in new york city that has cancer searches

the internet and sees i have a really good plan. cityverybody in new york that has cancer buys into my pennsylvania plan. that is not going to make anybody's premium go down here, for the policy i have. cancer treatment in new york is probably more expensive than cancer treatment here in indiana. would make your premium go up more. buying across state lines is not the answer either. host: thanks for bringing up several topics. alex in erie, pennsylvania. caller: i have worked my whole life so i paid into the health care system but there is only one thing -- host: what?

knowr: i would like to from any republican what plan they have. situation,plicated and if i had a plan that was so great like trump had suggested when he was running for president, as soon as i became -- i would let the whole country know what it is. if you look on the internet, my senator, pat toomey after trump got elected, they interviewed him and he said we never really came up with a plan because we didn't think trump was going to win. they have no plan. the 10e're talking about .ear anniversary of the aca officially signed into law in march 2010. you think the ford were characters going to be around 10 years from now? -- do you think the affordable care act is going to be around

10 years from now? caller: i don't think the courts are going to do that. let them kick 20 million people off the plan and that would guarantee a different president to the white house. host: alex in pennsylvania. of maine,an out republican, good morning. caller: i am not sure i should have called in because i do not have any real answers. the only thing i want to say is we in thisink country are geared for this. we had socialized medicine with medicare. we have a socialized service with social security. these are social programs. paying ourused to own way. what has happened to us as we are trying to have the best of both worlds. medicine, socialized

you have to expect not everything to be covered and you have to expect to wait. americans are not happy with that they want a cadillac plan for nothing. some people call it greed, but i think it is too much opportunity . in some areas, regulation is needed. you have middlemen who are eating up all of this money. we can't even afford the medicare program we have got now. let alone this phenomenal plan of having everybody have insurance for everything from cap teeth to abortions, even breast implants i bet. think that is where the country is moving? towards some sort of system like that?

10 years ago, do you think this was even part of the conversation? -- whatwhat i think is happens with the population? once a program is put in place, the politicians will not go back to a better thing. they want to go forward to something that is ridiculous. either have socialized medicine completely with all of its problems, and there would be multiple problems. should either go to that or go back to the private competitive idea of health care. one of the things i remember -- i was a nurse a long time ago. is of the things i remember when someone in the family got sick, you could rent a hospital bed for $40 a month. you could have that person at home and take care of them yourself if you were able.

as soon as medicare started , they for hospital beds paid for the hospital bed and you still had to pay $40-$60 on top of what they paid to have that hospital bed. that is the way it always works with the government. the worst thing that happened to our health care system was plan .he -- pland as soon as the insurance companies gotten to the government's pockets, it exploded. we have in our house two young men, one is uninsured. the other is diabetic and he was in a terrible situation because his insulin is hundreds of dollars and he had to work in order to pay for his insulin. take daysuld have to off because of his health, his hours went down and they took

his insurance away. so you have multiple problems. i do not think the government can really solve it. host: jean in maine. this is a story from the wall street journal that referred to -- line one of the reasons we are doing this story, this came out last week. the affordable care act's agassi 10 years later, it is still a political all. the aca has made a lasting impact on everything from health-care coverage to pre-existing conditions. taking a look at the legacy of the affordable care act. reporter on that story. if you want to read it, having the conversation 10 years to the day since the key senate vote to move their version of the affordable care act. jeremy is next in tulsa, oklahoma. caller: good morning.

i seeggest problem that is that everybody is conflating or confusing the cost of health care with the cost of health insurance. they are two different things. electricre to have an motor that keeps blowing the barons, so you just continue to throw grease and it to keep it running, or you can do an alignment. the solution is to go for the root cause. you don't go for the health insurance. you go for the cost of health care. that is my big thing with this. host: jeremy in oklahoma. this is dave in erie, pennsylvania. caller: good morning. my wife is -- works with the insurance companies here in pennsylvania. when the affordable care act first came around, there was a lot of other things that were meant to follow, that were stopped.

then never follow through with a few things. was thehe things individual mandate. there was a lot of money. the reason they did that was to have a bigger pole for the insurance companies. that aey stopped that, insurance people off that can afford it. that was the whole thing, if you can afford it you had to buy it. if you didn't, you got penalize. all of these insurance companies actually lose money because of that. they don't have the pole anymore. that, there is millions of dollars lost. i think there is difference between necessity and luxury here. paying people that are $10,000-$15,000 for insurance that are all the -- that are already making nationally people who are making 300,000 or

$400,000 a year, it seems like they're the ones that are complaining about the insurance. i do not understand why. that does not affect them as much as it does people with a medium -- median income to low income. things, my wife had mentioned this. obamacare did get rid of these cheap insurance policies that these people were selling. these insurance companies were selling, that had a norma's amounts of reduction balls. -- deductibles. it didn't hardly -- line caller: i think we are -- dog eat dog. i think we're getting to the

point for we are not looking out for everybody. it is a shame. host: mark on twitter asking who benefited the most from the affordable care act? the insurance companies. the aca added $20 million to the insurance rules. costis a report saying the of cosmetic surgery and laser eye surgery keeps falling because they are not covered by insurance and function in a free will payere patients out-of-pocket. he is saying we should build on the aca. lined value -- caller: when my youngest son went on the aca plan, they paid more in the doctor's office would not let himself pay. asking for your thoughts 10

years on. this is stephen galesburg, illinois. -- it hasthink it is affected people differently. situation, i used to have insurance. i have not had insurance for 10 years. luckily, i am healthy. did you ever have to pay that penalty >> host: did you ever have to pay that penalty >> no. the plansi off -- they offered were unaffordable. i am healthy. payingplans, i would be an exorbitant amount in premiums. if i did need to use it, i would have an -- i would have

deductibles on top of that. for -- nearmaking making $50,000 a year between two of you and you have to pay $15,000, $20,000 in premiums, it takes away from your quality of life. is governmentg should not be in people's personal business. i understand there are folks in this world who do not have it as good as others. but until you're able to change that, there is no way to go forward. costerstand sharing the with your fellow man, but there's ways to do that. there are churches, there is other community groups. and other things that will support those who don't have enough income to take care of

themselves when the chips are down. host: hate -- hazel, north carolina. caller: i was a registered nurse for 20 years. i want to tell the people calling and saying we should have a health care system like germany or europe, they do not understand. it wasn't germany that came up with the pharmaceutical regimen that saved millions of children from leukemia. 30 years ago, that was a death sentence. it wasn't germany that came up with the hiv cocktail that is saving the lives of people with hiv. the same with ebola. if we took the money out of the markets that is developing research and development -- that is in saying we couldn't strike a better

paynce that the exorbitant the ceos receive, that is something we could work on or pharmaceutical companies who wine and dine people in the hospital to get them to buy their product. that is something we could work on. private insurance, that would get research and development. that would be a terrible mistake for all of us. i believe you're asking if the aca is going to be around 10 years from now. i think there is only one democratic candidate running for president that even wants to continue with the aca. the republican so wanted in the democrats don't want it either. host: 40 think happens in the future? think happens in the future? caller: i hope not medicare for all because that is going to destroy medicare. a betterike to strike

deal. president trump is in florida to buy their pharmaceuticals from out of the country. buying up pharmaceuticals from other countries would greatly lower the price of drugs. we've got to get a handle on for hospitals are charging theyr by four gauze pad, may charge $15 paired there are common sense things. there are common sense things we can do that would not good money for research and development. would people want to find the cheapest option overseas, i go back to your original concern whether it is going to gut research. caller: that is good point.

i don't have an answer to that. i think that there is a happy medium in there somewhere. i believe that if the pharmaceutical companies had competition, they would lower their prices with a little competition. that is karen in north carolina. this is leonard, new york. caller: john, your topic today is about the 10th year anniversary of aca, correct? host: yes sir. 10 years since the key senate vote. caller: do you know the year it actually was enacted? model --age foundation as your earlier callers said it was a conservative model. the heritage foundation started in the 80's, commissioned by george herbert walker bush. rickirst enactment was by in massachusetts, which preceded the obama

presidency by quite a few years. any knowledge of what you're actually started? care act.affordable the federal law was signed into law in march of 2010. what was the timing on the massachusetts and mitt romney's efforts? it sounds like you are knowledgeable on that. caller: george h w bush. it was first used by mitt romney in massachusetts. it was not created by the obama administration. get the first year it was actually enacted. if you could look that up. the model was not -- that gruber guy from one of the ivy league schools did not create this model. he overrated. he read the model and knew that it wasn't going to work. host: i got your point. we are talking about the federal law. the national law. the affordable care act, also

known as obamacare. adding your thoughts on it here. we are talking about your -- talking about the future of that laws well. this is law -- rob in springville, oregon. caller: good morning. i am a republican, but i voted for obama twice. trump. for i think this is a political issue. what theok back at states had to do to get federal money for their highway programs , they had to comply with raising the drinking age to 21. and they were willing to do that because they wanted federal dollars. i think we should block grant money to the states and set requirements for those states to get money from the federal government. that way it would give us a 50 atte pool of options to look

to find out which works the best. and, i enjoyed the phone call from maine. we need more common sense ideas like that. host: dorothy out of milwaukee, wisconsin. caller: i am." thank you. i am on medicare now. at 62 due toly medical conditions. i have had two hip replacements at a cancer diagnosis. went on cobra between early retirement and medicare. i'm telling you, you're talking about the aca but if medicare for all is -- for all the people calling in, i do not know what type of policies they have but i'm thinking medicare for all is the best thing that could ever happen to anyone.

they take it directly out of my social security payments. i am paying may be less than $300 a month for nicole insurance. -- for medical insurance. i have had chemo. anyone out there with cancer can tell you how expensive chemo is. i have add radiation. i can't imagine anybody complaining about medicare. i don't know about the aca act itself, because i -- i had insurance through my employer. programn the cobra where basically, the insurance for my employer followed me in that interim. i actually paid more for that than i do now for medicare.

host: can i ask you your concerns about medicare for all? obviously a big issue in the primary -- have you picked a candidate? i am leaning between sanders and warren. host: what will make the difference for you? what is coming down to? caller: i am not sure. ofrever they land in terms whether they are going to be selected as the candidate. the donations for sanders -- and i am being bombarded by emails for future donations. but is a bit of a turnoff, i think it would depend on where they land in the polling. doing thehoever is best, by the time it gets to wisconsin? caller: yes. that is dorothy in wisconsin.

her out of moscow, mississippi. caller: yes. i think the whole thing -- please start the way you finish. it is designed to keep this going on. sanders and warren both are coming out saying exactly what is going on here. we have a country where we have the haves and have-nots. it was only the -- when white man could vote and then we had slaves. it was designed from keeping lack people to be able to have all the things that white people have. we allow people from other countries to come here and they have stuff that black people have fought for, and a lot of poor people have fought for. you give me-- can specific examples? caller: you have seen the democratic party when they say for illegalyou immigrants?

everyone one of them raise their hand. we are ready to give away something instead of giving it to people here. we have water messed up. the food ain't no good come of the water ain't no good end you're living in any type of environment. horse beforeg the the card. we need to think about america, that's why voted for donald trump era he said make america great again. this is deteriorating right here. you have that in michigan with the water. the company had destroyed our water. everybody in our little town got counter. host: nicholas out of pikesville, maryland. go ahead. caller: good morning. just think observation, i know that neither party is talking about a big money saver in the medical environment.

namely, torch reform and medical malpractice reform. it is surprising that not even the democrats are talking about. are they in the pockets of the trial lawyers? nicholas, you're calling in on our line for republicans. how do you think the health care issue plays out in 2020? caller: i am not sure. host: ok. we will all find out together. brenda in florida, you are republican. caller: i am calling from panama city, florida. say i was a republican until mr. trump came into office. onlyng out this man is with white supremacy, working with steve bannon, everybody should see that. host: bring it to our health

care discussion. would go for bernie sanders. i believe in the hundred dollar a year medicare. people who don't know what medicare is, it is blue cross. everybody will have blue cross. we should all have that. if other countries can have it, so can we. issue, from hurricane michael, there was $5 million taken from the government. excuse me, the government took $5 million here in panama city. i believe that republicans are behind all of this. we will stick to health care just because we are running out of time here. talking about the affordable care act. asking folks how it is impacted them. here's a democrat, ron. caller: good morning. i love this show.

number one, the republicans health care plan is sadistic and you can't afford a doctor then died. that seems to be there health care plan. the aca could have worked if it had been implemented correctly and everybody follow the rules. i think it might could have worked. host: do you think it's not working now? caller: i don't know. i don't have it. i can't afford it. i can't infer -- i can't afford insurance right now with my situation. i just lost my job and i'm going to be getting another one next --k, but health care for all i cannot believe that giving our people -- the general masses a little bit of health care the little bit of education was going to destroy our democracy. i don't believe that.

it will give us a smarter, healthier country. bare minimum. i am voting for bernie sanders. both my wife and i. i know we will be. host: what kind of job are you starting? liker: working for walmart i did with knives 20 years old. that was close to 40 years ago. host: are you going to get health care as part of that? caller: that is in negotiations at this point. host: good luck to you. color from new hampshire -- that is going to do it for this first segment of washington journal. coming out, it is day three of our authors week. we will be joined by jim wallace talking about his book "christ in crisis: why we need to reclaim parliamentary jesus." and the heritage foundation's steve moore will be here to discuss president trump's record.

we will be back. ♪ my name is adam cook and i am a 2008 c-span studentcam winner. i'm going to encourage you to wrap up this competition, but you will still have time. check out on the time i started selling my documentary the first year that i entered. i am in ddc offices right now and i'm going to tell you that this came with an incredible opportunity for me to express my thoughts and feelings about the political climate, as well as connect with state and local leaders in political office. i am excited that you all are interested in this and are pursuing this because it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. i am excited you all are taking it. >> there is still time for you to enter c-span's video

competition. you have until january 22 create a 5-6 minute documentary that explores and ensure you want the presidential candidates to address. over $100,000away and cap prizes with a grand prize of $5,000. for more information, go to our website. announcer: university of washington history professor discusses her book, the code: >> -- nine >> that becomes the foundation for this entrepreneurial flywheel of incredible creation and intimation and private wealth creation. in fact, an industry that is considered -- that considers -- that built itself on its own. actually government has become

almost invisible to many of the people who are in silicon valley , the creators of these companies. they think there is no role but there is. that is part of the magic. that it is a government out of sight. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern. announcer: "washington journal" continues. host: and to stay three of our series. we have been featuring authors from across the spectrum on key public policy issues of the day. joining us today to talk about his book while he took the -- jim wallace, good morning two. . i want to start with christianity today. an editorial calling for president trump's removal from office. your reaction. euros in your editorial that

this might be a watershed moment for 2020, why? guest: i came back from a 27 city book tour. right in the middle of advent. which, in our tradition is a season of waiting and during and longing for christ. what iting for christ is was thinking coming home. all of a sudden cover this editorial appears from christianity today, a very established evangelical credible , mark galli, who i know, says there are moral issues at stake in the selection . not just political, but deeper. the reality of a president trump is what he is raising. me, -- what did jesus say? what did he mean? did he mean it? here's this person today saying

these trade-offs, these transactional deals -- we like what donald trump is doing on some issues therefore we will ignore the rest. he says this is a gross in rowdy -- aaracter we are seeing gross immorality of character we are seeing. this is a powerful statement of morality in the middle of politics. host: dusek it will have a lot of impact? guest: it happens. it is a crack in the wall of the white evangelical support for donald trump. the medialear, when says evangelical, they normally mean white evangelical because and asianhispanic evangelicals have not been supportive of trump. white event -- flight evangelicals have, in a great majority and yet that is changing. the crack was already there. i was on the road and i saw

this. i was at evangelical colleges, churches and mega churches. white evangelical women have been really moving away from donald trump. white evangelical young people because of climate, and those issues have moved away. now we have this watershed moment, a crack in the wall. all of a sudden white evangelical support is asking the deeper questions. not just political ones, but moral ones. jesus questions. we talked about jesus everywhere. even the evangelical schools i have said, what -- wouldn't it be amazing if -- line host: we do have a line for evangelical voters. is that number. on the wrist can call in to (202) 748-8001. we talk about evangelical

voters, can you define the term. where does that term come from? host: great question. it comes from jesus' first sermon. his first mission statement at nazareth when he is announcing his mission he says -- quoting isaiah -- "the spirit of the lord is upon me because that has anointed me to bring good news to the poor." the word good news there in greek is evangel, that is where thewe get the word from contacts i call at his manifesto. if the spirit of the lord is upon me because he is asked to bring good news to the poor. which means if your gospel -- whatever it does to your life, if it isn't good news to the poor it is the gospel of jesus. in this season, i think of --

put down the mighty from their thrones. of jesushe mother exalted those of low degree filled the hungry with good things. comeent the rich, empty away. that is's's the heart of mary prayer. evangelical is supposed to poor. people say in this reaction is why do we ignore what the president has said and done about immigrants and minorities? and the racialized policies and language and words. thehow we treat the poor as most vulnerable, is a test of the gospel. isre evangelical comes from a powerful thing and get our in americaals known for being good news to the poor immigrants, hungry, homeless. we are not. that is a gospel issue. for me.

host: coming back to that editorial, some of the concern is that that editorial is ignoring the president accomplishments. said,in grant on facebook the list of accomplishments for president trump's long, but the fact that he is the most pro-life president in modern history is extremely important. christianity today wants us to ignore that and say that it doesn't count. the president has been a defender of religious freedom around the world then christianity today wants us to ignore that. the president has appointed conservative judges and a record number. christianity today how wants us to ignore that. christianity today believes you should be removed from office because of false accusations. what we used to say to that? -- what would you say to that? i think franklin is wrong.

caller: it doesn't ignore any of those things, but we have this transactional politics. people like fred -- give us these things and we will ignore the rest. he used the word ignore. theas been ignoring president's treatment of immigrants at the border. the president plus using race the vice of and all of his politics. i understand what mark allie is saying. yes, there are policies the president has done that we support, but modern -- mark galli supports it. caller: i can no longer ignore the grocery morality -- the gruesome reality. whoe are evangelical women

are not supporting donald trump anymore. when people say why are you ignoring life -- pro-life? life at we care about the border as well as life in the womb. a consistent ethic of life is necessary to take care of all of life, not just on the issue of abortion. host: you see there is an opening here. why are to be hearing more from democratic candidates on the campaign trail about some of these issues you bring up? at the debate last week, according to the transcript, god came up only once and it was joe biden saying at the end, god bless you all as he ended his final statement. caller: that's a great question. when you think about the democratic party's core base, they would say it is african-american women. who are the most religious

population in the country. to are democrats reluctant talk about faith? it makes no sense at all. republicans can say that they own religion in an election season. i have done several podcasts with them credit candidates asking them -- tell us about your faith and values. i have done cory booker, julian castro, pete buttigieg, senator warren is coming up. reluctant.sh to be host: to think it doesn't poll well in a democratic primary? caller: i talked to a number of democrats who feel like their party in recent times has ignored the issue of faith. many other christians say why are they ignoring my faith? the good news is that cory

booker does not ignore faith at all. he is deeply rooted in black churches. julian castro's catholic, that is coming back for him. pete buttigieg is the only candidate who talks about god even when he hasn't -- even when he isn't asked a religious question. climate change as well. losses,n, in his deep it has made him more deeply catholic. elizabeth warren has her bible underlined around matthew 25 or jesus says as you have done to the least of these, you have done to me. we know that a number of them have a deep faith but they are, as devon -- as democrats, reluctant to speak. they would say we believe in the separation of church and state, and i agree but here's the key thing, the separation of church and state -- which i agree with -- does not mean the segregation

of moral values from public life. the democrats need to get over that. not impose their religion, like people want to do. no, we need to be pluralistic. respect every faith. religious liberty is an important value. not just our own. i was driven here this morning by a muslim uber driver. he had ours on in the car. i was coming in for christmas even this old muscleman having his prayers. wonderful man. are we as christians committed to his religious liberty too? or, just our own. host: that brings us to your book. why is christ in crisis? what does your book have to offer for non-christians? i started here on this set with this book several months ago.

i went all across the country. my answer to your question, now having been to all of these 27 cities -- here is the good news, jesus has somehow survived all of us christians. there is a hunger out there to talk about jesus among people of different faiths, or no faith at all. a number of my rabbi or imam friends say they feel safer when christians talk about jesus then other things. young people all of the country would tell me they are formally something -- formerly catholic, formerly this material. yet, this jesus -- this brown -- he isewish rabbi talking about a whole new way of living. turning the world upside down, turning power upside down. blessed are the poor, blessed are those who are hungry for justice, blessed are the meek,

the humble. downturns the world upside and the young people and talking to, even those who left religion are still -- it is a time to stay -- it is a time to say we have to reclaim jesus. he has been politicized, he has beenotaged maybe marketed and sold. i think people have sold jesus out. i want to go back to jesus. the book is, what are his questions? what did he say? who is my neighbor? that is important right now. who is my neighbor is a question jesus prompted. that is critical of all of our policies. jesus said you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. .hat is so critical right now

jesus says the servant is the leader, not the ones who the gentiles want to just lorded over the people. leadership for us includes serving. it includes the one who is serving. this turns the world upside down , and i feel hopeful out there that the conversation sinks. today there was just another conversation. this is all changing now. caller: the reverend jim -- guest: the reverend jim wallace is our guest. four evangelical voters, (202) 748-8001 for all others. this is catherine out of ohio. caller: merry christmas. i am a born-again christian. i have a few bones to pick with trump. grabs women by the

you who. he is a hormone group. he is an adulterer. he is a liar. he imprisons brown babies only because they are brown. woman, these are things that christians are supposed to stand against. is, how doesor you trump -- who has had many people around them who have been of great character -- how does he totally corrupt everybody that comes around? he is a man that does not believe in constitutional law. he does not believe in rule of law int does not believe in a higher moral standard. this is the question that i hear on the road all the time. how can these evangelical christians support donald trump

when he does all of that --. . guest: this is where the crack in the wall is occurring. the curtain is being torn here because christians -- were born-again, evangelical, are saying we know longer can accept this behavior toward women, toward immigrants, the racialized language. using racial bigotry and division for his political purposes. so, we are asking not just a political question because we are on different sides of the spectrum. that is a good thing. christians can have different views about politics, but it is behavior.p's moral his lack of attention to all the things jesus said. donald trump's policies are

antithetical to the policies and -- thes of jesus i politics of jesus are antithetical to that of donald trump. host: instead of simply indicting evangelicals for their inconsistent moral weathervane, democrats may consider to host: in 1982, we insisted that mr. clinton's behavior was not relevant to his potential as a president. sure, we considered his marriage and fidelity, but the important thing was his vision for the future. guest: i think he's right.

days, our magazine spoke out against bill clinton's immoral behavior. we said, your character does count. moral character is important. is in those days evangelicals, 70% said character counts. behavior, clinton's was relevant. for 30%, it didn't count. that has now been totally switch. now evangelicals about trump, about 70% say it is a matter. only 30% say it does. this is a fundamental moral switch among evangelicals. of the few publications, faith-based that spoke out against bill clinton's behavior. and the liberal left said, we should in fact move on, and that is how moveon was formed.

we should move on. i said, no. these are moral, character issues that have to be addressed. consistent? clinton's out against moral character and now donald trump's moral character, so consistency is what people are looking for from people of faith. host: the magazine you founded can be found on sojo.net or @jimwallis if you would like to follow him. votery is an evangelical in texas. caller: good morning. merry christmas. i wanted to say reverend so appreciate you and respected you for years and all you have done to elevate the conversation around christianity and what it means to be a christ follower.

i am grateful for the "christianity today" article. i am not sure what franklin graham has happened, but i think he has vowed to the altar of power, and i would ask that you flesh out the point you made about evangelical white voters as opposed to african-american christians, which i am. thieves being in the temple, which i believe is very much the case, because i believe the gop has co-opted the evangelical church for political gain using issues constructed around righteous topics with unrighteous pretense. sister, ibe honest, boy, i was teenage pushed out of my white evangelical church in detroit

over the issues of race and war, and the black church took me in. i was saying, why do we live the way we do in white detroit, and what i am hearing and reading in that inrs, i was a kid, black church, life was so different. i could not get white christians to deal with that. this is racial bigotry. it is a gospel dealbreaker. it is a dealbreaker for the gospel. for these white evangelicals who support donald trump? your question is my question. democrats who are reluctant to speak about faith, it does not make sense when you have voters with african-american women like our sister her, who are the most religious population in the country, and democrats have been reluctant to speak about faith.

i hope that changes. i do not to create a religious left like there is a religious right. i do not want to -- i want do not want to my politics to be wrapped around my face. faith should shape our politics not the other way around. faith should hold us accountable. it should not be politicized or ist for access to power, think that is what has happened. transactional politics for the sake of power. king said, the churches should not be the master of the state, the servant of the state, but be the conscience of the state. consciencee the

, and that is what i think we need in the 2020 election season. host: 10 minutes or so left with the reverend jim wallis, taking your calls. phone lines put up by evangelical voters and all others. barry is on the phone line for all others from new jersey. caller: good morning and merry christmas, c-span. my concern is that the evangelicals had traded christian values for religious power. goy wave their hands and into a religious experience very solemn, but when donald trump is mentioned, they stand up, they wave their hands, and they cheer. donald trump has become the evangelicals golden calf that they have created, given that they have walked away from the teachings of jesus. thank you. caller: the teachings of jesus are the most important question, whether we will be followers of

jesus or not. i think it is a question of power. let me put it this way, i believe for some time that the religious right, the franklin junior, irry falwell believe the religious right will rise and fall with donald trump. they have risen with donald trump. he has given them tremendous access to power. that is what they seem to be most wanting, and yet, i think they will fall with donald trump. because of not listening to what the brother says -- the teachings of jesus. if i am a christian, that means i am a follower of jesus. didwhat jesus said, what he has to be foundational for me. this book is just all about what are his questions. whatdid he ask of us, and did he prompt others to ask, and

how do we follow him in 2020 is the most important question. right,ot political left, and i am saying, don't go left, don't go right, go deeper into what jesus said and did. that is what this debate is all about. host: justin is an evangelical voter. caller: merry christmas. guest: to you too. caller: say merry christmas, i have not heard you say that. christmas, it is my favorite season every year. caller: you are telling me that if i vote for trump, i am going to hell. guest: no, no, no. i trust your integrity, your faith. i am saying we have to bring our allh into our politics so of us have to look at what we believe. voting for imperfect candidates -- we cannot vote for the

kingdom of god. the kingdom of god is not running this election. we have to make choices. what are values, what is our faith, and what does that mean? for example, i think when jesus says, how you treat the immigrants, how do you treat that stranger is how you treat me. a candidate's policies towards immigrants are a christian question. how we apply our faith -- i am going to apply mine, you will apply yours, and i would never say how you apply your faith will take you to hell. host: staying in texas, this is lynn, an evangelical voter. caller: good morning and merry christmas you. -- to you. i am a veteran going back to the vietnam war in the middle 1960's. i have something to say and ask you.

do you remember the 10 commandments? who would be our moses today? that is all i have to say, merry christmas to you. you and i are from the same era, my brother. the black churches talked about ands and people rising up finding their liberation and freedom. i will go back to him calledoment -- when he the church to be not the servant or master of the state but to be the conscience. to me, that is raising the moral issues. i do not look for a moses in our politics. i look for people trying to do their own policies and values

and i try to say, here are my christian values, here is what jesus requires me to do, and i look at their policies, and i try to make an imperfect decision about which candidate i will vote for for whatever office in the country. faith to come first and not politics first that wraps around faith and controls it. say as theyople to are saying that the only vote you can make is for donald trump. that is foolish. i don't want to say that on the other, either. ands apply jesus'teachings, this book, "christ in crisis" will be used around pastors around the country -- and i went black-and-white pastors to come together and say, who is jesus here? seeuld love to black-and-white churches together studying what does it mean to follow jesus in 2020. host: where are you headed next

on your book tour? is to a lotood news of places, it is the flyover country. the midwest, the south, rural areas who want to have this conversation. do a pastors conference in nebraska, missouri, kansas, and they will say, thanks for not flying over. [laughter] ,uest: i go to lots of cities about 40 in the next year, and try to have a conversation and are generationally -- enter lookationally -- but let's at what jesus said. past the get politicizing of religion and how our faith can reshape our politics. i believe democracy is at state. i think the rule of law is at stake.

the separation of powers is at stake. mostly, the poor and vulnerable are at stake. how do we become people of faith and not just politics first? faith first, not politics, first. i will be doing it all over the country. host: come back and talk to us again. the book "christ in crisis: why we need to reclaim jesus," the reverend jim wallis the author. peace and blessings. guest: and blessings to all of you. will be joined by stephen moore of president trump's economic record. we will be right back. >> university of washington history professor discusses her book "the code: silicon valley and the remaking of america." >> you have the biggest of big

government programs, right, and you have the military industrial complex. that becomes the foundation of ofs entrepreneurial flywheel private wealth creation, and an industry that considers itself an industry that built itself on its own that the government has become almost invisible to many of the people who are in slocum valley -- silicon valley, who are the creators. that is part of the magic, actually. it is a government out of sight. >> sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span's q&a. week, book tv is on c-span two every day with holiday features every night. justice supreme court

neil gorsuch and his book "a republic, if you can keep it." wednesday, naomi klein's latest book "on fire." thursday discussing presidents in the book "the problem with democracy." ronan farrow and his book "catch and kill." watch the special airing a book tv this holiday week and every weekend on c-span2. ♪ >> the house will be in order. has been years, c-span providing america unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and fromc policy events washington dc, and around the country, so you can make up your own mind. c-span is brought to you by your local cable or satellite provider. c-span, your unfiltered view of

government. >> "washington journal" continues. host: c-span viewers know stephen moore, a fellow at the heritage foundation, economic advisor of the trump campaign manager 2016, and author of the mics."trumpeno how would you describe the state of the economy right now? guest: merry christmas. i love c-span and i love what you guys do. this is a great time to talk about the economy. . this is the best economy, arguably, we have seen in your and i's lifetimes. we have the lowest unemployment black americans and hispanic americans and asian americans. , middlerising wages

incomes are up $5,000 in the last three years. we are seeing a real rising tide that lifts all boats. the lowest interest rate and inflation rate. it is hard to see much to complain about in this economy and i was with the president on er,sday with arthur laff and we were talking about the economy. and i said, this stuff is working better than i thought. it is a great time to be american, it is a great time to be looking for a job. let's hope we can keep it going. host: do you and the president have concerns looking at the economy heading at the 2020? guest: you always have to worry about what happens in the economy and i think we are at a nice rise right now, but people are asking what the economy is going to look like nine months from now or a year from now, but it is impossible to predict. i am bullish right now and i think all of the dials are

turned in the right direction in terms of growth. the big deal was what happened last week when the president had two big trade deals. one was the extension and the renewal of the u.s. canada mexico trade agreement. that was a big victory for the country and its administration for our economy. we estimate that this will estimate almost 10,000 new jobs for the economy. the big one is that china trade deal and this is what donald trump is describing as phase one. it is not a great deal, but a good one. says if larry kudlow china abides by the deal, and that is the key point because the chinese, you have to trust but verify the beijing government -- but if they do abide by the deal, and the next couple of years, we will double our exports to china by $100

billion. that is i gigantic increase in our gdp and the number of jobs we will create in the united states. host: stephen moore with us until 10:00 a.m. eastern this morning. ,epublicans, (202) 748-8001 democrats, (202) 748-8000, .ndependents, (202) 748-8002 i want to play joe biden from the democratic presidential debate last week of why he thinks average american are less excited about the economy. [video clip] biden: theresident middle class is getting killed. the middle class is getting crushed and the working class has no way up as a consequent of that. you have farmers in the midwest, 40% of them could not pay their bills last year. you have most americans, if they receive a bill for $400 or more, they would have to sell something or borrow the money.

the middle class is behind the eight ball. we have to make sure they haven't even shot. we have to eliminate a significant number of these tax cuts that were given to the wealthy. we have to invest in education. we have to invest in health care. we have to invest in those things that make a difference in the lives of middle-class people so they can maintain their standard of living. that is not being done. the idea that we are growing -- we are not growing. growing,wealthy are the ordinary people are not growing. that is why we must change this presidency now. host: stephen moore, what would you say to the former vice president? guest: that is a pretty tough sell to say the middle class is not doing well. i got a piece in "the wall street journal" that show the census bureau data, and what it showed is that since donald trump was elected, entering the oval office in january 2017 through october of this year,

middle -- median family income, the people right in the middle, not people like warren buffett or donald trump or bill gates or tom brady. i am talking about people in the middle of income. $5,250ncomes have risen since trump entered office. that compares to a $1000 increase under obama in eight years. they have more job opportunities, more in common, more salaries, and all you have to do is go in the stores and malls and seeing people spending money. they are spinning money because they have more money. this has been truly a rising tide of the economy that has lifted, not every boat, but almost all boats. one other thing, even the lowest income people. my buddy larry kudlow likes to talk about the fact that the on the line, blue-collar workers, their wages and salaries in

percentage terms have gone up more in the last two years than the managers who manage them or the people who necessarily own the company. it is a really strong the economy. one other data point that would substantiate what i am saying. acknowledge,would cnn is not a network that is friendly to donald trump, they had a poll that came out that 75%, three out of four americans today rate the economy at pretty good or great. so there huge number has been a substantial improvement. not everybody is doing great. inre is a lot of hard ship this country, people are in a lot better condition. when donald trump runs for president next year, he will simply make the case that ronald reagan made in 1984. you remember this one.

are you better off than you were four years ago? for three quarters of americans, the answer is yes. host: this is kate davidson writing about a week ago in "the wall street journal." a strong economy typically leads to narrower deficits as boosting tax collections while spending on safety net programs tends to decline. u.s. deficits has been rising in recent years prompting the treasury to ramp up borrowing. in fiscal 2019, the official ,udget deficit was $954 billion $200 billion more than the shortfall recorded in 2018. guest: there are a couple of data points i would point out. it is a disgrace what is happening with our out-of-control spending in washington. i do not think there is anyone that would deny that. i hear some of the democrats, you mentioned joe biden -- i hear bernie sanders and elizabeth warren saying the

reason we have these big budget deficits is because of tax cuts. that is false. if you look at the revenues that came into the federal treasury in 2019 -- we just ended the fiscal year september 30, so we have official numbers. to the unitedes states treasury were higher in 2019 adjusted for inflation, than any other year in american history. we do not have a revenue problem. tax revenues are fine. the problem is we do spend too much, and on c-span, you are talking about this omnibus spending bill that was passed before christmas. that was a disgrace. spending went up for everything, there is almost no fiscal discipline. guest: -- host: should the president have not signed it? guest: i wish he had not signed it. more money for

defense and the military, and i understand that, so if you were on your show, i think he would say, i have to spend more on the social programs so i can get the money i want for the military, and the problem is, the democrats want more social spending programs, the republicans want more military programs, so what we are getting is more both. host: this is melvin out of fort lauderdale, florida. democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. please let me get through a couple of these things because listening to this information is giving me a headache. number one, he said reagan said, what -- were you better off? however, when he came in to office, led to the world's largest debtor because of his

programs. you are still below obama's averages when he left office and everything. as far as the stock markets and everything else, so that is still worse. it was reagan left office, he never did anything for the middle class and the poor. they never got any boosts out of anything he did. host: let's take those points. ronald reagan did run on 'arelatform in 1984 of you better off than you were four years ago'? , so americans by felt better about the direction of the country. we will see. i would never predict what is going to happen in the election, but it is very rare in the

history of american politics for americans to vote against prosperity. we have prosperity today. i am not saying everything is wonderful for everyone. we have major problems in this country that need to be resolved. -- of your previous callers or the joe biden quote saying, our schools. my gosh. the prices in our school system is out of control. we need way more choice for parents so they can send their kids to really good schools. we do have a health care problem, and health care is still too expensive. yeah, there is a lot of challenges for this country, but i think we are in a better place today that we were three or four years ago. host: chat with an independent name to bernie from new england, howard beach, new york. caller: good morning. moore?question, mr. host: -- guest: yes.

a 74-year-olduld president of the united states for bid and threaten colleges if they released his sat scores, thank you? i am not sure what he is referring to. host: i don't, and not exactly a part of our topic of economic discussion. we can move on to shirley in north carolina. republican. caller: good morning. i have several things i would like to say. i am an 82-year-old living on social security, and no, everything has not helped to me that much, but look what it has done for other people. i think what trump has done is wonderful. -- them doubting him him for his life, i want to ask

all of these people that are criticizing that are doing so bad towards him, let the one of them that is not a sinner, who has never stolen anything, they anyway,t sinned in throw the first stone. i think trump is doing the best he knows how and trying to help our country. guest: merry christmas to her and all of the callers. i would simply say, this is just about the two-year anniversary cut that tooktax place in december 2016. i remember because we were fighting to get those last votes we needed in the senate to pass that historic legislation. here we are almost two years later and all of the criticisms of the tax bill have been proven wrong. people said it would not improve

the economy, it would drain treasury revenues, and we would not see job growth, but we are seeing it. when i would talk to president trump about the tax bill, he always says -- it annoys me when people say trump does this for rich people. trump says, i am rich, rich people can take care of themselves. he says i want a tax plan that will help blue-collar workers and the middle class around the country have more opportunities. we are seeing that today with the rising wages. tightou have a really labor markets, people have more opportunities to move from one job to another. that is by design and we are very happy about the tax cut. host: you have called for a second major tax bill. why and what would you include in it? guest: i think we still need to be looking at our tax code. i am a flat tax guy. i am with most americans, let's

get rid of all of the crab in the tax bill. we passed what was called the tax extender's bill and has all of these favors for the solar industry, the wind industry, all of the special favors. nascar has a tax break. why not get rid of all of those tax breaks for the special andrests and lobbyists, lower tax rate for everybody and get rid19% -- of all the special interests and lobbies, and think of how fast our economy would grow if we had a tax system that was 19% tax rate, the lowest in the world. you just see capital and jobs from all over the world flowing into the united states. there is a lot of work to do to improve our tax system. host: our next collar in pittsburgh, democrat line. she is claiming she is a

catholic. i am, too. when you are a catholic on your deathbed, forgive me of my sins. god is not want to forgive somebody who is killing babies. jim cramer is a financial expert on another channel, and he said, this is the best economy has ever seen. if this is the worst to her, what is good to her? 20% unemployment, food lines? thing, democrats call in, and i am a democrat, but i voted for trump last time. in, world are they living because my neighbors are all doing better and so am i. guest: great point. you mention food lines. throw out, this is the time of year where we all need to be charitable and make donations to charities that really make a difference. i want to throw out something to one of my favorite charities which is the salvation army.

the left is attacking the salvation army today because they say they are not for gay rights or one issue or another. every time i walk home from my office in downtown d.c., the bad areas, i see the salvation army truck out there providing food and nutrition for people who really need it. if you have some extra money this christmas, give to the salvation army. host: some of the numbers in the latest "wall street journal"/nbc news poll. findstest survey broad satisfaction with the economy. when asked what the most important story for 2019 was for them personally, american said the economy more than anything else. 2019 is called one of the best highestr the u.s., 34%, reading on that question in the past three decades. americans see fewer clouds on the horizon. nearly 4 in 10 think the u.s.

will get better while 23% say it will get worse. any normal environment, that kind of satisfaction should translate into a job approval 40%, yet mr.ver trump's approval rating stands at just at 44%. that is a fascinating pole and it tracks with a lot of the poles we have seen over the last few months and years. it is really coming down to, and my opinion, performance versus personality. by the way, i love donald trump, i worked for him now for four there is sothink much admirable about this man, but a lot people do not like donald trump. african-americans really do not like some of the things he says in his behavior. sometimes, i cringe when i hear some of the things he says.

looking at his actual performance and what has happened and his presidency, it is hard to vote against that. what happened in 2016 is a lot of people were uneasy about some of the things he was saying, but they went and ultimately and voted for trump because they do care about jobs, they care about the money that they are earning, and the future for their children. we will see. i will never make productions about what will happen in the election. if people do -- i think it was james carville who said, it is and economy stupid, if it is, then trouble when in the election. host: a comment from the debate,tial democratic and this is south bend's mayor pete buttigieg. where i live,g: folks are not measuring the economy of how doug jones is doing -- how the dow jones is doing, but they measure that even if your wages have gone up,

it is not nearly going up as fast as the cost of health. in the house, this economy is not working for most. for the middle class and -- you are not supposed to say poor in politics, but we have to talk about poverty in this country. there is not one county in the united states of the america, where someone working full-time at a minimum wage can afford a two bedroom apartment. in most places, not even a one bedroom apartment. the biggest problem in our economy is simple. people are not getting paid enough. that is not the result of some mysterious cosmic force. it is the result of that policy and we have to change it by raising wages and empowering workers. guest: mayor pete does not have his facts quite straight. if you look at the latest census bureau data, this is one of the data sets that we used to poverty --

poverty is not higher today, it is lower. that is not to say we have alleviated poverty. there is still poverty. it is a diminishing problem because we have a booming economy and people can go out and find jobs. i have always argued, the best social program is to get people into jobs so they can earn an income, and rise to economic lather, and there are more opportunities to do that. host: richard and out cookie, independent. inler: -- host: richard albuquerque, and independence. caller: you and president trump are doing a great job. guest: thank you. caller: i went to the mall and you are right, it is packed-packed. people are spending money. i wish that president trump would announce an executive nancy and all these

other ones for treason. indict them for this and freeze all of their accounts. because, they will not stop for nothing. they are on this role, but there needs to be a way to stop them. if you would freeze their accounts, indict them for treason, and stop them, i think that we will be able to go on with the economy and continue. host: stephen moore, what do you make of that? guest: i had a little trouble hearing him at the end, can you paraphrase what he is proposing an terms of the executive order he wanted? host: freezing accounts of some of the president's critics so the president can move on with his plan and move on with his outlook and vision for the economy. guest: that is why we have

elections, and we will see what the american people decide. i was listening to your previous conversation with the gentleman, i could not see him, but i was listening to him, and he was talking about cultural, moral, and religious issues, and i would not say it is only the economy. there are so many other issues that people care about. do go looking at the pocketbook issue, i think we will see big gains for trump over 2016. what is really interesting, i have talked to the campaign, we really think we can do a lot better. a big focus this year for republicans will be to do better with the minority communities and blackspanics americans have done really well under this president. i cannot tell you how many times i have walked down the street, someone will recognize me, and they will say, i love what this president is doing, i just got a bonus for my employer.

i would love to see republicans when half of the hispanic vote this year and maybe 20, 20 5% of the black vote. and republicans are greater for doing that, and if they go to detroit, go to cleveland, go to chicago where i am right now, and show people what he has done for minorities in terms of jobs and wages. dwayne in mississippi is a republican, good morning. thank you for allowing me to be on the phone call, and thank you stephen moore for being here. once again, we see the bias of c-span. they like to have trump bashers all on tv. do you think that stephen moore is bashing president trump? caller: no, but 90% of the people you have on there that

even the comments you made, you should people that are negative towards trump. why don't you put the real numbers up there? show the numbers, let the numbers speak for themselves. you don't have to show people like joe biden, 'the economy is bad.' show some numbers, don't show what joe biden said. joe biden is a fool. host: what is your question for steve moore? giver: i wanted to know, us the opportunity to either write you or someone who is a thatis -- is a liason, we can kind of make these suggestions that we feel would help. we want to get involved. i am a black american, middle-class, trump has helped me. you know what i'm saying. these people get on the news and they talk about the religious

people and the christians -- is it christian to be homosexual? is it religious to be a baby k iller? what is going on? guest: let me ask you a question as a black american, what does donald trump have to do to persuade more african-americans to vote for him in 2020? host: i believe he hung up, but go ahead and give your thoughts. lot ofi do talk to a middle-class hispanic and black americans who speak just as this man does. they like what is going on with their own lives and right now, they like what is got -- happening with their paychecks. poorly withdid very minorities in the 2018 midterm elections, and they have to turn it back. , he used to say

that people do not care what you know until they know that you care. republicans need to do a better job going into those areas and talking to people in the communities and the churches and the playgrounds and saying, we do care about you. is the unemployment rates from the november report, three point 5%, 266,000 jobs added in this country in november. your thoughts on the outlook for joblessness in this country in 2020. guest: the big problem that we have in the u.s. which is a good problem. we have 7 million job openings in the united states. that is more than the entire population in the state of indiana. there is about 6 million people in the united states that are officially unemployed. people who say they are looking for a job and cannot find one. ,f you have 7 million people

surplus jobs, and 6 million people looking for jobs, that means if we every single unemployed american in a job, you still have one million jobs left over. that is an incredible job market. my advice for young people, get a scale. if you know how to become a nurse or electrician or construction worker, do anything of value, if you know how to be scale, yount, any are going to be able to find a job and 24 hours in this country. we are graduating a lot of kids from college that do not know how to do anything and that means it puts a burden on the employers to get them the skills they need to do these jobs. in rosedale, maryland. caller: good morning. why did president trump give the tax-cut to the rich people that is permanent, but gave the

tax-cut to the lesser people that expires in five years? the second one is, you said that trump has a great health plan. i don't want to hear it is coming. tell me, what is his great health plan, sir? guest: on the tax cuts, everybody got a tax cut. everybody who paid taxes got a tax-cut under this. people in the middle class got figure tax-cuts in percentage terms. what we try to do with the tax we cut taxes for the 27 million men and women who run , spinal cord,es and we wanted to create more job opportunities in the united states. united states,

we are competing against germany, mexico, all of these asian countries, and we are seeing a lot of money flowing back into the country to create these jobs from pittsburgh, pennsylvania, ohio, maine, oregon. if you look at how it has worked, it has been pretty effective. presidentcare, trump wants more transparency so when you go to the hospital or doctor, you know what things cost. we can drive down prices if people knew what things cost. want to givee people way more opportunities to choose their own health plan. all, theicare for democrats are saying we will force you into a plan that you do not like. that plan will be coming soon and i think it is very substantially driving down prices of health care without

taking away your doctor or your hospital or your health care provider. host: just about 10 minutes left with stephen moore on the washington journal. republicans, (202) 748-8001, democrats (202) 748-8000, independents (202) 748-8002. on the line, our caller. good morning. caller: good morning. you did ask the question about hispanics and hopefully we will vote for president trump read a good place to start is quit insulting our people. i take extreme offense to anyone who would speak that way and to hear people on your side talk about and chuckle about it, it is not funny. guest: sir, what were you referring to? caller: you wanting to get more hispanics to see trump's vision, get on board. i am telling you that when you

,nsult people like he has done my parents, people in mexico, i am not going to accept that. by the way, this issue of the economy. i started working in law enforcement in 1981. i have never been in debt or had credit card debt, never bounced a check, never been late on a payment, lived incomplete comfort -- lived in complete comfort, and the poor people who are poor now are going to be poor after president trump leaves. he did not cause the problem, he is not going to fix it. when you can ask plane to me that people can be and so much credit card debt, and fill the malls and spend money, and and statistics show that people who are suffering the most already staters. 10 lead this country in every negative category. host: i am going to let steve

more jump in. guest: the best way to reduce debts of this, the families, it is their incomes. if people have more incomes, then they can pay back their debts and that is one of our major strategies. the average family now has $5,000 more income. that may not sound like a lot to a rich person for nancy pelosi s." called our tax-cut "crumb but it means that they can buy more. this denim makes a great point. it gets back to what -- this gentleman makes a great point. if people do not know that you care, they do not care what you know. republicans need to do a better job of not insulting hispanics. some of the language that the republicans have used about hate it., i

i am the most pro-immigration person you will have on the show. i do approve of what trump's friend to do with the immigrants. america without the incredible talent and skills of the immigrants who come into this country. income americans have come up in the past couple of calls. there is a bipartisan effort to rein in the short term lending industry, the system that is used by many low income americans. you have been critical, why? still half ofre americans living paycheck-to-paycheck, and people still struggle. often times, people may not be able to make their payments. go to the grocery store, if they cannot get an advance on their paychecks, or they go to online lenders, or payday lending stores where you can get an

advance on your paycheck so you can pay your bills over the weekend, and then you pay back the $250 plus a $20 fee. it is like going to the atm machine. a lot of liberals and congress want to shut that down, and i think that would be tragic because it would put low income americans not being able to make their payments they have to do over the weekend are put food on their table, or pay an important bill. it is important that some people have some sense of financial security. i think it would be a wrong thing to do to shut down those lending programs. in a lot of low income neighborhoods, you look at people who line up on a friday afternoon to get that loan so they can enjoy their weekend, and i do not understand why liberals want to shut it down. host: silver spring, danny is a republican. caller: good morning. i think the big problem is the debt. off we cannot start paying our interest rates, we are going

to get a 50% cut in social security benefits and one day. all of the democrats, all the republicans, we will all be affected by that. if you have president trump's ear, mr. moore, it would be good to nudge him toward reclaiming entitlements and everything like that. guest: a great point. i know we are coming to the and, so i want to say that one of your previous callers said c bias one way or another. one of the reasons i love doing c-span is because you are right down the middle, you provide everybody with an opportunity to come forward with your views, and i love doing your show because i like listening to what people have to say what is going on in this country. host: thank you. a goodbrian lamb is friend, i have known them for 30 years, and he deserves a nobel prize. i love the guy.

i wish more media was like that, by the way. i wish it was down the middle and you did not have this political persuasion of all these networks. that is a problem. we believe that one of the best way to get our debt to down is to grow our economy. get more people into jobs, get people earning more money. when people earn more money, they pay more taxes, and you get more revenues and. this gentleman is right. what do we do about keeping the economy growing and doing something about this and norma -- this enormous debt. the economy has been growing and you have been talking about that. why have we not been able to lower those numbers in the past couple of years? guest: when trump came into office, we had the demographic crisis in this country and we have known that. retiringboomers are

with 10,000 people a day that are retiring and moving into paying taxes and collecting these benefits. and we have to do something about encouraging more work. we need more immigrants, and i'm immigrants come in when they are young. is not thehe key and only thing but a precondition to bringing down the status, and we need the assets growing like crazy. is net worth of the country now $100 trillion. yes, we have a lot of debt, but we have a lot of assets as well. host: a couple more calls before we ended today. bradley. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call.

need for steve to answer my question if you do not cut me off. you talk about the economy. the economy and other countries is booming. our factoriesthat and our people has moved to these foreign countries. you take background, i'll -- akron, ohio used to be your car place. now you get a phone, it is junk. you throw it in the garbage and buy another and it is from japan. all of our factories has moved away from your. general motors, ford, chevrolet, shut one place down the other day and the chevy cruzes are made in mexico now. you wonder why the american economy is bad and finances is so bad is because all of these foreign countries is expanding and everything, and our country

is going to the dogs for this reason. i just bought a pair of house shoes, and i did not look and i brought them home and they was made in vietnam. answer my question, why are these legislators, not the president -- the president is trying to stop this, why can't our legislators get together, both sides, and stop this from coming in and flipping our country? guest: we just passed a trade deal with canada and mexico that is very good for the united iffses, and some of the tar that mexico and canada were putting on the united states, and one of the things, that is a big bonus for trump, you are not seeing the factories moving out of the united states nearly like they were for this president and what was so interesting is that

we are now seeing for the first time in 30 years, factories coming back to the united states. it is a beautiful thing to see and there was an auto plant that moved back in mexico because now we have the lowest taxes, lighter regulation. people say, why do we cut taxes? we cut taxes to make america a better place or businesses to settle. i think we are and very nice chase, and listen to what joe biden said. if you listen to what the democrats say, they are saying that they want to shut down and gass shale oil industry in united states. that industry employs eight to 10 billion people, and these radical greens want to shut down our oil and gas industry in ohio, west virginia, pennsylvania, texas, north dakota, oklahoma. that would destroy the american economy.

trump is all in on american energy. let's produce oil and gas in the united states. let's not import it from russia or saudi arabia. how crazy is that? last call from minnesota, this is steve. steve: hi steve, this is from centerville. i have been listening for years talking abouts, the economy and everything, and and not ever really here honest discussion about our banking systems, specifically the federal reserve. inneed serious reform this country and the whole world. runcentral bankers the whole world. that is what we need to find out. we complain about our taxes going out, and it is all because of the federal reserve. host: we will give you the final

60 seconds. guest: i was nominated by the president to be on the federal reserve board, and there were a lot of people who did not want me on the federal reserve board. there is way to much power we put into the hand of the federal reserve board. we have seen the deep state and the state department in the impeachment trial. there is also a deep state over at the federal reserve. they are way too powerful, and they need to be more accountable. we need more transparency of what the fed is doing because it is one of the most powerful agencies of government. on a positive note, the fed is on a much better shape today on the interest rates than they were a year ago. they were raising rates, and they cut rates, and this is a great, great time to be an american with this economy, and let's pray and 2020 we keep the economy going. read more,u want to

"trumponomics." stephen moore is co-author of that book. thank you for joining us from chicago. guest: merry christmas, everyone. host: same to you. that will do it for our program today but we will be back here tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern, and have a great christmas eve. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2019] >> coming up today on c-span, our campaign 2020 coverage continues. three events featuring democratic presidential candidates, first, joe biden was former governor and agriculture secretary in perry, iowa. then former massachusetts

governor deval patrick speaks at a town hall in new hampshire. and later, bernie sanders campaigns with new york representative oak osseo cortez in venice, california -- representative ocasio-cortez in venice, california. >> tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern, the veil symposium on religious freedom. 9:30, the festivity surrounding the white house christmas tree. on christmas day at 10:00 a.m., viewed this year's white house decorations with the first lady. plus a look back at the previous hillaryecorations with clinton, laura bush, and michelle obama. hey discussion about the global technology issues at the manhattan institute. journalismastern, director on the history of journalism and "fake news" at the liberty forum.

5:45 p.m., at joint economic committee hearing on the high cost of raising a family. at nine: 10:00 p.m., constitutional litigator talks about occupational licensing requirements at the federal society. + >> for 40 years, c-span has providing america unfiltered coke -- coverage of congress. public policy events from washington dc and around the country. created by cable in 1979. c-span is brought to you by your local cable or satellite provider. c-span. your unfiltered view of government. >> former vice p