us to discuss the polarization in the u.s., which she discusses in her america." broken good morning and welcome to washington journal. weekend of 2019, some americans are looking forward to a bigger paycheck. a minimum wage will have gone up in 21 states, adding an estimated $8.2 million into the pockets of 6.8 million workers. some places will go as high as $15 an hour, including seattle and new york city, but there are some people not immediately on board with this, including the federal government, with his miss owners saying it will force them to raise prices and cut job -- with his miss owners -- willess owners saying it

force them to raise prices and cut jobs. if you earn minimum wage, whether you are in the 21 states that are raising the minimum wage or not, we want to hear from you at (202) 748-8000. if you are a business owner, we want to know what you think about the minimum wage going up. your number, (202) 748-8001. if you do not fit into either one of those categories but still have something to say, we still want to hear from you at (202) 748-8002. keep in mind, you can always text us your opinion at (202) 748-8003, and we are always reading on social media. on twitter at @cspanwj, and facebook at facebook.com/cspan. let's start this conversation bit oftting a basic information about what is going on. a record numbers of states, cities, and counties are

boosting their minimum wage in 2020. on or around january 1, the minimum weight will increase in 21 states, while another 26 cities and counties are also boosting their baseline pay at your start. year, an additional four states and 23 cities and counties will hike their minimum wages, according to the national employment law project. is the greatest number of states and look allergies ever to raise their wage floors, both in january and for the year as a policy -- set a policy analyst in a blog post about the increases. the record number of pay hikes will benefit about 6.8 million theers, according to analysis from the left-leaning economic policy institute, which estimates the pay gains could asge from $150 to as high $1700 for full-time, year-round

workers, depending on the wage hikes in their regions. minimum wagesgher comes after years of lobbying and demonstrations for labor groups, like the fight for $15, which sprang up in 2012 to advocate for a living wage of $15 per hour. its goalse, struck some critics as far-fetched, but widening income housingty and spiraling costs are placing pressure on lawmakers to pass higher minimum wages. record low from employment -- unemployment has also played a role, forcing employers to raise wages to attract qualified employees. the house voted to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 and hours over the next six years, but that vote is waiting action in the senate. here is some of the floor republicanrting with

congressman lloyd smucker from pennsylvania, who voted against the bill. here is what he said. [video clip] >> at a teenager at 14 years old, one of my first jobs was serving as a dishwasher at smoke town family restaurant. i had no previous work experience, but the owner took a chance on me. certainly did not receive a great wage, but it was a starting point. and the lessons that i learned in that job where lessons that i used during my entire career. to aon after high school construction company, operated it for 25 years, creating family sustaining jobs for hundreds of individuals. servesmy 16-year-old son food in a skilled nursing center after school at a wage of nine dollars an hour. he is very thrilled with that. again, learning the skills, the people skills needed, learning to show up for work on time, inrning to work hard --

fact, one of the best indicators of success in a career is whether or not you had a job during high school. bill, unfortunately, would rob many of the opportunity to hold that first job. cbo specifically said 3.7 million jobs lost as a result of this bill. host: democratic congresswoman stephanie murphy of florida was for this bill, and she invoked her family struggled to make it in america after fleeing vietnam when she was a child. here is what she had to say. [video clip] >> although we were internally grateful to be here, life wasn't always easy. my mom worked as a seamstress and my dad at a power plant, and together they cleaned office buildings at night, often bringing my brother and i along. my parents did not speak english well or have a community of close friends, but what they did have, like so many immigrants,

was a strong work ethic. my dad also had a labor union in his corner, and the unions spoke for him and they fought for him. my parents worked hard to make ends meet so that their children would have opportunities that they themselves never had. and that is the american dream, which brings me back to the question of what it means to be a patriot. for me, it starts with gratitude for this country and an appreciation for its exceptional quality. this country save my family's life. it gave us refuge and opportunity, as it has done for so many across generations. but i think patriotism goes beyond love of country. it is also about striving to make this country even stronger. it is about trying to make life a little bit easier for americans who work hard and play by the rules. folks like my parents and so many of my constituents.

i support this bill for a simple reason -- in the greatest country on earth, nobody with the dignity of a full-time job ofuld suffer the indignity not being able to provide for themselves or their loved ones. [applause] now, let's get a little information about the federal minimum wage. the federal minimum wage has been raised nine times since it was enacted in 1938. here are some of the last increases. you can see on your screen in 1979, it was $2.90. in $1993.80, again in 1997 to $5.15, and the last in 1990 -- it went up to$3.80, again in 1997 $5.15, and again in 2009 to

$7.25. if you make the minimum wage we want to hear from you at (202) 748-8000. if you are a business owner, we want to hear from you at (202) 748-8001. everyone else, we want to know what you think about the minimum wage going up in 2020. your number will be (202) 748-8002. let's start by talking to mike, calling from mount sterling, kentucky. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you today? host: i'm fine. go ahead, mike. caller: there is some concern about raising the minimum wage. it needs to be raised a little, but my concern is that the overtime pay, when you work overtime, they need to take less out of your overtime pay so you can bring that money home. that is where people are getting hurt out here too.

they should do just that and it should appease a lot of people. host: tell us what you mean by that. what do you mean by overtime pay? tell us what you are talking about? they will take -- like, my job, i will start making, oh, probably about $35 an hour, and they take almost every bit of it out through the federal government. they take out $400 from my check. host: what do you do for a living, mike? caller: i just work in the factory. just straight labor, you know? it is a nonskilled job, a good paying job, but when you work make $15, $20 an hour, they take so much out of your overtime, you can't take money home. that is where they need to step in and help people out out here.

a lot of people are going to lose a lot of jobs when they raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour. they will start cutting back and losing jobs. brings it up,ke there will actually be a change in overtime pay for 2020 as well. this comes from marketwatch. i want to read this to you. the feds are expending a rule to allow more people to get overtime pay. it's beginning in january. workers making up to $684 a week can get paid time and a half pay for work over 40 hours. for the rules change, workers became eligible for overtime pay if they made $455 or less, brought in rules will benefit and it -- broadened rules will benefit an additional 1.3 million workers and generate

298 $.8 million in extra pay. let's talk to dale in washington. good morning. right?id i get that yes.r: $15 is not even enough, as far as i am concerned. say,ld also like to yesterday we lost one of the finest human beings -- host: let's go to richard, calling from nashville, tennessee. richard, good morning. caller: good morning. i have worked for minimum wage, even up in the mountain, about a year from retirement, and i have been a business owner, a small

business owner. most people don't realize it, but your employer pays half of your social security, the social security need when you get over? is 15%. you pay 7.5%. if you are a business, a small business, a big business, you pay it all. there are a lot of things businesses do for you. they pay for my health insurance -- that does not count deductibles and co-pays, but at the end of the day, my brother has the same insurance i do and he is a business owner, he is on a single-payer plan, i am on a group plan. -$12 a week. he pays almost $1500 a month for his health insurance and in good health, never uses it. even minimum wage -- the gentleman who called earlier, if you are not making a minimum of $20 an hour with some kind of benefit packages -- and god help the ones in the rural areas where the business has gone overseas or shut up and went

home, they can't travel. you go to texas, texas and alaska, and you have to travel for work? you are already out of it. owners, yes. they need to step up a little. i have seen the profits that small business owners make. was told, we will give you a 10% raise. the taxes and everything else, i would have been better off if i stayed where i was. if you want to make it in america, you can make it, but you've got to quit spending. spending will kill you. you see people driving a $20,000, $30,000 car that are walking in paying with food stamps. host: you said you are a business owner. raising the minimum wage, did that affect the prices you had to charge people for the goods? caller: yes, because everything is priced up -- i do not care if ge org. or -- if you are

an appliance business out here. the more that you can keep, the more that you are going to spend. i was always raised as a christian man. if you ever become successful in this world, you need to be a conduit to help others along the way. i think what has happened in america is we've gotten greedy. me, me, me. it is not about you. it is about everyone in this country. we allis country falls, fall. we need to pick up each other. i do not believe in taxing a businessman to death. givingt believe in somebody something for nothing, but it is up to each individual to go out and say, i am going to go out and make a difference in my life, my children's lives, and my family's life. me, god, and country. host: let's go to our social media followers and see what they think about minimum wage 2020.up in one of our facebook followers says you realize when they do

this, hours or employees will be prices will go up. the same people that wanted to increase are going to be the same people complaining that the prices have gone up in a cannot get any service. you put low prices and great service or high prices and awful service. when you increase the wages you cannot have both. another says minimum wage is a beginning wage. it is never a living wage. another text that says, it is a solution to the plight of the working poor is two -- to raise the minimum wage, why stop there? why not $30 or $40 an hour? how high is too high ? are not a concern in kentucky. it is all about jobs, jobs, jobs. people keep electing mitch mcconnell and people like trump he is only in it for the big business, but these people are not real educated.

callinglk to cecil, from minneapolis, minnesota, who makes minimum wage. good morning. caller: yes. host: good morning, cecil. od morning. out of all the hours that i worked, it is if you lose in the taxes that they take from you, so i don't understand why people the minimuming that wage is, you know, this is all they are going to give us. why are they complaining it is not enough? host: what type of work do you do? thisr: i was working for company at the airport, and all the hours that you put in, you hours and yet 50

all the overtime -- that is a lot of overtime pay -- but they take it all in taxes. nobody gets anything. host: let's go to joe, calling from honolulu, hawaii. joe, good morning. caller: hey sir, how are you doing today? host: just fine. go ahead, joe. guy,r: i am a retired army so i might have a bit of a different outlook on life. if it goes to $15, who pays for that? that would be a question i have. and then, you know, america offers the chance to everybody to improve themselves. you can go to trade school, you can go to college, you can get a job and work your way up. my story -- i joined the army and was in there for 25 years, got a college degree, went out

and got a government job, and then i would tell a young person , if $15 per hour is your goal, then you need to reevaluate your goals. were joe, you said you lifelong military? caller: i was 25 years in the army. t as ared from i command sergeant major. i went into the army with nothing, did my 25 years, came out with a pension and got a government job. i learned work ethic, so, you know, in america, nobody gives you anything. but you have the ability to go and get what you want if you want to. nick, calling to from alton, illinois. nick makes minimum wage. good morning. caller: good morning, merry christmas to you and everyone an watching.d everyone

happy new year. like i was telling the lady who patched me on, i work for mr. doughnut. it is the last one in all of america and i got off the shift a few years -- view hours few hours ago. i think this is one of the places where $15 per hour is going to be fully implemented. .anuary is $10 per hour i make nine dollars per hour right now. personally, i think the reason why the democrats are doing this two, one, get votes, and to raise their taxes, because that is what all this is about. it has nothing to do with helping me out, because it is not about raising the minimum wage with cost-of-living. taxes, and then they raise the minimum wage. and it makes no sense. like i was telling my dad. caesar, he is acumen immigrant

-- a cuban immigrant, he came here when he was three. he supports donald trump. everyone around here has to ,aise their prices to 2022 2023, and it is already affecting everybody. host: nick, i'm looking at information from the employment policy institute, and it says that in january, the minimum wage in illinois, where you live, will go up to $9.25. are you saying you do not think you will see that extra money because of taxes, or what are you saying there? caller: that is exactly what it is, because the democrats in illinois have raised the taxes in one year in illinois, based on their new measures. take a look at that. if you want to do a trade in car , taxes for that went up after next year. they put taxes on trading in

cars. fixing to put taxes on how many miles we drive. so yeah, they can raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour, but when you are taxing the people so much already, when half of my paycheck goes out already. payment and0 car insurance for full coverage, because here in illinois, you have to have full coverage if you finance a vehicle. replace yournt to windshield, that is $200. if you want to buy gas in alton, it is $2.57. isyou want to buy milk, it $3.69. so you tell me what $9.25 can do. you tell me. i am 25 and live at home. home? live at i hope my generation raises kids that make more than mine, but this is crap. host: let's go to donald, calling from pontiac, michigan.

donald is a business owner. good morning. caller: yes, hello? host: you are on, go ahead. ok, now i am a small business owner and i run a small construction company. been doing it for almost 20 years now. earlier on, my profit margins were tight but my overhead was high. what i could pay my employees was just on the margins. but as i have gotten on down the road where i have learned to manage my business better, kept my overhead lower, i have been able to pay my workers a little bit more. whenever i hear the argument about minimum wage is too high -- listen. i don't know that anything goes down. everything goes up. do you expect the price of a car to go down and not pay the workers more?

i don't understand that thinking. if you look at anything you do, it is set as it moves. it just does. it doesn't stay the same. i don't know why people don't understand that. a biged was not such issue, you can always pay your workers a little bit more, if you manage your business a little bit better, and keep your overhead low. that is all i am saying. republican congressman rick allen, the owner of a construction company in georgia, spoke out against the rays of e of the -- the rais federal minimum wage on the floor of the house. here is what he had to say. [video clip] >> it is laughable for anybody in this house to say the government is going to raise your wages. government does not raise wages. what the government does is provide an environment for businesses to ways wages -- to raise wages, and that is where

the decision should be. it is laughable to me that members of congress actually believe they are going to ways the rages of people in this country by this legislation. the congressional budget office released a report saying 4 million jobs could be lost if this was implemented. i remind my colleagues that we have an eight year world business. guess what -- eight year war business. guess what, that war is over, we are opening up to do business again. reversing this mandate would done tothe work we have get jobs. i do not want maryland to determine what george is going to do or seattle to determine what georgia is going to do. i know that our economy is all about supply and demand and more job openings and with job seeker wages, they are going to go up. talents,to keep more

supply and demand, folks. salary saw the largest increase in more than a decade thanks to the economic environment led by andblican congress president trump, which has spurred growth and prosperity. host: let's look at what some of our social media followers think about the conversation. , there should not be a mandated minimum wage. workers should be paid what the business owners believe they are worth. if it isn't enough, the worker should move on to better pas tures. let the market sorted out. minimum wage should be adjusted the same as social security wages, a 1.6% increase. another says 2% of hourly wage earners are minimum wagers. wet is a left-wing dream that hurts the unskilled. prices should be set by markets, not government.

facebookast post from that says, the people who make $700 an hour have convinced the people making $25 an hour that the people who make seven dollars an hour are the problem. aboutgain, we are talking 21 states raising the minimum wage in 2020, and we want to know what you think about this. if you make minimum wage, we want to hear from you at (202) 748-8000. if you are a business owner, we want to hear from you at (202) 748-8001. everyone else, your lines (202) 748-8002. calling fromynn, gary, indiana. lynn makes the minimum wage. caller: good morning, how are you? host: good, go ahead. caller: in the state of indiana, hour if to make $20 per not more to be able to provide for your family and to give them

a place to stay, food and everything. even that is not enough. secondly, the ones left [inaudible] nationana and across the are restaurant workers. [inaudible] waitresses, waiters, most of the people in the restaurant industry were left out. waitresses in indiana make under three dollars an hour. they must live on tips, and even these tips are being taxed right out of the box so that many times, they have to rely on food stamps or whatever else, and it is what the republicans are cutting away. these people, some of them have to live at home or in substandard housing. when we talk about the minimum wage, i think this

government needs to step in. they need to look at all the those innot just manufacturing or other places like that, but they also need to include the restaurant workers. host: lynn, are you waitressing or do you work another job? caller: my son worked in the food industry. i amateur train chef -- i am a trained chef, so i know what is going on. whenever i am hiring people, i pay my waitstaff $10 per more -- or more per hour. i pay myself a straight salary so that i am able to pay my , mores who work for me than what they would get if they went to a regular nine to five job in the restaurant industry. i see in indiana, they pay

the federal minimum wage, which means that most workers who make the minimum wage in indiana are making $7.25 an hour, you pay your employees more than that. turnover, orhave do you have employees that stay longer with you because you are paying them more? caller: one of the things that i do is on a catering consignment. [inaudible] if i get a job, you want to host a party and you come to me, we settle on the price. out howprice, i give much i am paying my people. the waitresses here in this area make less than three dollars an hour. $10 an hour is a lot to them, and i make sure that my money [inaudible]

and i have no problem with people coming to work. host: let's go to bill, calling from middle bill, michigan. good morning. caller: good morning. theof my concerns is make tens oft millions of dollars per year, upper executives getting reimbursed, and then their employees get paid enough that they have to go on stamps now or other government services. to me, that is a giveaway to them and they should possibly either have to be taxed on that or something worked out. over the years, i have seen people go from one person being able to support a family to now two people having to have two jobs are more to support a to support amore family and still be on government assistance.

the government should take care of that. i have seen several smaller companies, and they have run the board. some of them do their best to pay their employees as much as they can and give them benefits, and others, it is like they will stick it to them every chance they get. that's my comment. before i let you go, in michigan, i see the new minimum wage on january 1 is going to be $9.65. that is a $.20 increase. do you think the minimum wage is high enough in michigan? caller: overall, no. that is another thing that is missing and some of the conversation, about the minimum wage. to me, it should depend on where you live. detroit is more expensive to live in where i live. chicago is more expensive than other places also. i think that should be taken into consideration. let's go to brian, calling

from maryland. brian is a business owner. good morning. caller: good morning. i am brian, i own a laundromat right across the street from andrews air force base. laundromat, we are a , and somebody said earlier that only 2% of hourly workers make minimum wage, and that is probably true. but many people, including us, based our salaries on the minimum wage. we will pay one dollar or two dollars or three dollars, depending on the job and how business is going, on the minimum wage. we may pay a dollar above minimum wage. so when minimum wage goes up, our wages go up. 98% of the people who don't make minimum wage but our hourly, i'm sure it is still somehow based on hourly. --our case, we try to also

,ther things like water bills and in this county, the minimum wage is $11.50 per hour, not $10 like the rest of the state. [inaudible] have electronics, we have quarters. we raise our prices, we have to increase it by one quarter. and some of our competitors do not have attendance. there is no one in there, so they do not have the same price pressures that we do. host: let me ask you a quick question. i see here in maryland the minimum wage will go up to $11 of $.90. an increase you said you are infringed george's county -- in prince

george's county, which is $.50 more than the statewide minimum wage? caller: correct. host: and you are paying a dollar more than that. caller: we pay a dollar above minimum wage. often times minimum wage gets a minimum employee. you do not need an attendant to help you wash your clothes, you just need somebody who is personable, to go out of your way to help you, speak to you and wife everything down -- and wipe everything down. it is an easy job, but a frustrating job. host: knowing the minimum wage is going up a dollar in january, are you raising your prices to make back that dollar? caller: no. i am trying to increase services. we are trying to get more people to do drop-off services, trying to increase our pickup and delivery service, wash your clothes and give them back to you, that will pay for, that will help pay for the attendant.

poundsow, there is 90 of laundry at one dollar per pound sitting in the laundromat. that $90 is going to offset some of that salary that we are paying our employee. host: i also heard that you are saying you pay above the minimum wage because you think it will get you a better employee. is that true? do you think you get a better employee when you pay more, or do you get the same services if you pay just the state of the county minimum wage? right now i pay more and my employees come to work on time, they will stay late, we close our doors, we take our last load at 9:00, but if they see somebody they know, they will let them in at 9:15. i think you have an employee that is getting that minimum wage, they are going to not let anybody in because they are not

as concerned. [inaudible] yeah, i do believe you get a better employee, i do. i may try to do it. if we have turnover, maybe i will replace them with somebody minimum wage and see how it turns out. host: let's look at some of the statistics about the workers who were paid the federal minimum wage in 2018. about half of the people who were paid the federal minimum wage in 2019 were under 25 years old. men, 2%women, 2% were did not have a high school most of them worked in the service, leisure, and hospitality industries. one of the places in the united states that is going up to $15 -- isr is the seattle, washington.

here is the congresswoman who represents a seattle on the impact of raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour and the impact it has had on that city. here is what she had to say. [video clip] >> it has been four years since seattle raised the wage, and i want to tell you what the effect of the increase has been. seattle is flourishing. today, we have one of the lowest in employment rates in the country and jobs are growing steadily. last year, forbes ranked seattle the number one best place for .usiness and careers in 2018 despite the doom and gloom predictions from the national restaurant association when we passed the bill, what we have seen is what the seattle times has called a crazy restaurant boom -- that is a quote, with new jobs created every year. the most incredible research wages forhat seattle's low-wage workers went out without any negative impact on employment and food prices remained constant so families can better afford to buy healthy

food. when we increase the minimum wage in seattle, mr. chairman, we got strong businesses, healthy families, and flourishing community. raise the wage today. host: let's look at some of our social media followers again and what they think about the minimum wage going up in 2020. one post from facebook that says, can't argue with success. areas that have done it prospered. --e's another that says minimum wage is a starting wage. increases public time on the job. that says, from mike do not be a minimum wage worker, get an education or skill. minimum wage is just that -- minimum. another said it is a quagmire. wages should be raised, it is long past due, but corporations will do the inevitable and end up automating more. what are you going to do? the rich get richer, the regular people get poorer.

let's stop to harry, calling from georgia. harry, good morning. thank you, sir. very good blessings to everybody out there, very happy to be on and actually be allowed to talk on the radio. folks, want to tell minimum wage is kind of a myth. when i started working -- and i am 68 years old now -- i am still working. inimum wage was $1.90, ok? got paid that $1.90, but no one -- enters the working market what is it -- nine dollars an hour? i made nine dollars an hour in 1980. i worked 60 hours a week and

made over $30,000 that year. that lived better on 30,000 and i lived today on 60,000 or 70,000 or 80,000, whatever it turns out to be this year. the trick, people, learn a skill. i know math. machinist.-- i am a i figured out how to do work that someone will pay me for. i have not accepted a job for less than $24 an hour in the last 10 years. i am always looking for 30. i have not had 29, but i have had 30. the government has no business in this. i mean, if you want to put a floor on it, that is fine, but the only thing putting a floor on it does is allow companies to

lay down on that floor. you know? for a company three years ago, $26 an hour, it was a contract employee. i am always a contract employee, since 2011. but they, you know, they passed bill.x bill, trump's tax the company's taxes went down by 40%. what is called the corporate income tax went down for than 40%. what did they do? they cut forybody's pay, working nine to $10 per hour.

they went out and cut their pay. should figure that out. you will know who the devil is. let's go to larry, calling from vermont. larry makes minimum wage. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to start with a little history. in 1943, minimum wage was $.40 per hour. when kennedy got elected, he got it up to a dollar per hour. this, like your last caller said, if you get better pay, you get a harder paying job. but if i die tonight, that minimum wage will not die with you. that minimum wage is forever. you hear a lot of numbers, but you never talk about how many

.eople are on minimum wage where does all that money go? host: the people who make minimum wage, where does that money go? bushr: back when george w. was president, he cut taxes for the wealthy. they went out and bought expensive cars, expensive yachts and fine jewelry. those are the only stores that made a lot of money. obama tax --en the they started raising the tax on the wealthy, said it was a job killer. cut the taxes on the middle , and something you hardly ever hear is how many people in that middle class. 100 50 million people. that is a lot of paychecks every seven days. and they go out and spend money,

i imagine a lot of it goes to but that ismart, how the economy works. money have to move. host: let's go to lewis, calling from new jersey. lewis, good morning. morning, sir, how are you? host: did i pronounce that correctly? caller: yes you did, and it is the only other town in the world named that. democrats know what they are doing with the raising the minimum wage. it is going to kill jobs. peopleis funny how the who espouse this -- sanders, pelosi, they do not pay their people $15 per hour. last time the federal minimum wage was raised, they had to go to pelosi's plantations and forced her to raise wages to the proper

rate. they go to the podiums, someone should ask policy, what do you pay your plantation worker? host: what plantation do you think the speaker of the house had? caller: she has plantations out in the pacific. she owns them in several different territories. i do not know exactly where, but look it up. i am not telling you alive. -- a lie. the congresswoman from seattle , and see howube the minimum wage has affected seattle. it doesn't create jobs. these restaurants, they lay people off because they cannot afford it. thank you, sir. let's go to charles, calling from jessup, georgia. good morning. caller: how are you doing this morning? host: just fine, go ahead.

caller: i love the way the republicans come on here with the talking points. will you please tell me what state, what planet do [inaudible] raised the minimum wages for no mcdonald's employee with a [inaudible] for every year. these talking points by the republicans, they don't cut out jobs. now,up here in new york staying in a hotel. i retired from a union job. my wife just retired. hawaii,th we were in this month we are in new york. you would not have done that on no minimum wage. though,been fortunate, and the people come on here talking about raising the minimum wage to cut jobs -- i

, wherefriend in jessup both the same age, 66 years old. he built a $600,000 house in the over and never paid minimum wage. i love how these republicans come on here with these talking points. bonnie,t's talk to calling from west palm beach florida. bonnie is a business owner. what do you think about the minimum wage going up? caller: it is a matter of everyone needing to know that we are all responsible for each other. corporations need to stop paying people insane amounts of money and they need to redistribute it for the people that actually work and make the company work and make the company money. host: what type of business do you run? caller: we are electrical

contractors. host: so i assume you are not paying minimum wage. you are probably paying higher than that, aren't you? we pay our employees very well. if someone wants to learn the trade, we start them out, 8:56 one in -- we start them out the minimum wage, eight dollars $.56 here in florida. if they do a year and are trying to develop and learn the trade, we give them another dollar. we pay half of their and medical we don't havech to. we give them vacation time and we get out eight holidays a year. if i do notuse treat them well, they do not treat me well. i make sure they know this is something they can do forever. this is a lifelong trade. you can teach other people.

we need to know that we need to be responsible for everybody, because if we are not, that is where crime and murder comes in. host: in florida, the minimum wage is tied to the inflationary adjustments, meaning the minimum wage could go up every year. you charge more when you see the minimum wage go up for your company services? caller: no, we don't. we base our certain percentage profit based on our expenses, and that is why we get good jobs. we work for fortune 500 companies. we work for toll brothers. we work for a very prestigious people. and we all work as a family. we are joined together. we help each other. we do free stuff for them -- we are in this together. ,ann let's go to

calling from des moines, iowa, who is also a business owner. what do you think about the minimum wage going up? should the minimum wage go up, and here i think it is going up to $9.25 an hour. i see here, it is not going to be going up at all for you this year. you will be using the minimum wage of $7.25. yes.r: ok, so i am a massage therapist. where -- a company now, as a massage therapist i did make minimum wage, of course , because it is a hands-on job, but our people who work at the front make minimum wage. we can't keep anybody there for longer than three or four months. the turnover is just outrageous. andave high school students

they can't come in at certain hours, and then we have adults who work and they will be like, i cannot work this job. i need a big person's job and be able to pay my bills. minimum wage people lose pride in themselves. if you are working a job for 40 hours a week, you should be able to pay your bills, put food on your table and maybe even be able to take your kids or your family out to dinner or to the movies or something. ridiculous that you work a 40 hour job and you still cannot take care of your household as a parent or as a man or as a woman. you lose pride in who you are when you cannot pay your bill. i say minimum wage needs to be -- to meet the inflation, if you are making $7.25 an hour, you are making $320 a week.

$640 every two weeks. that is before taxes. i do not know a rent that is a week unless you are staying in an efficiency or something, and what family can do that? host: republican congressman dan mueller of pennsylvania argued against the rays of the federal raisem wage bill -- the of the federal minimum wage bill. he argued that it would hurt small business owners. here is what he had to say. [video clip] for two thirds of net new jobs. 99.9 percent of u.s. businesses are small. we know small businesses and their employees are traditionally the most vulnerable to the radical increase in the federal minimum wage. the national federation of independent business estimates that businesses with fewer than 500 employees will account for

57% of jobs lost to this bill, and businesses with fewer than 100 employees who account for 43% of jobs lost, yet my democratic colleagues have done nothing to protect these job creators roam a hundred 7% minimum wage hike. instead, this legislation treats big and small businesses exactly the same. without the financial resilience needed to absorb the increase of bottom-line costs, this legislation will bring about small businesses in towns in every congressional district will be forced to make very tough choices. replacelay off workers, workers with robotics, or shut their doors completely? congress should not force our nation's smallest and most vital job creators to make those kinds of decisions. host: let's go back to our phone lines and close this hour out. let's go to patrick, calling

from st. louis, missouri. patrick makes minimum wage. caller: good morning, jesse. 100%e on disability, disabled. makee 100 -- i'm sorry, i $1115 a month, ok? $36.e that by 31, i make $36 a day/ . if you take that $36 and divide that by 12, it goes down to, i believe, two dollars and something. that is what i make a day. there are poor waitress is there making three dollars, making nothing, working on tips. there are people out there that at a seventagnated

dollar minimum wage for i don't know how long, jesse, probably 20 years now? because when i was minimum wage, that is where i was working. i see hereck, what says in missouri, the new minimum wage as of january 1 will be nine dollars and 45 -- $9.45, and $.85 increase, and that was put in place by the voters of missouri. caller: fantastic. we did a great job. hopefully the rest of the nation will turn around and help out the poor, because other times we are keeping people poor, hungry, and why do we have opioid problems and all of that? if you don't feel good, if you are poor, something has to make you feel good. thank you, jesse. have a wonderful new year. host: let's go to lionel, calling from baltimore, maryland.

mi financing your name correctly? pronouncing your -- am i pronouncing your name correctly? caller: yes. in 1951, and what i see is, it was a time when you could get 10 loaves of bread for a dollar. 50 pounds of potatoes for a dollar. i do not understand, how come right now five dollars, seven dollars an ounce could not work? if you take it back to the price of 1960. they say we are the richest country in the world, right? we are the bread basket of the world. people? we have hungry how come we have to beg for a next for two dollars an hour? twooes not -- for an extra dollars an hour?

it does not make sense to me. a chicken now cost you $10. what is going on? you have companies that here that are willing to step up a little bit, but something is pushing the benefits for the people down. my father bought a house for $12,000 -- it took a little long, but he bought a house for $12,000. he never made over nine dollars an hour. what is going on. let's go to patrick, calling from iron sin, ohio -- from ironson, ohio. patrick makes minimum wage. taking myank you for call. i wanted to say, i do live in southern ohio but i do work in kentucky, and the way things are shaping up, until i can't work, i will be working until i can't work. you say youtrick,

live in ohio but you work in kentucky? ohio,: i live in southern and i am 15 minutes away from my convenience store job in kentucky. host: i see that in kentucky, the minimum wage is at the federal rate, $7.25. minimum wage will go up to $8.70. a lot of people say if you are not happy with what you are making, go find a new job. what do you say to them? caller: i would say yes, you can go find another job, but chances up still be end unless you get yourself into debt, go to school, and get a trade or get a new age job. surviving how are you

off your minimum wage job, patrick? caller: i'm not. i'm not. i have to pick and choose which bills i pay. i am not even making household expenses. and when property tax comes, i have to put that on a credit card and pay that over the year i used to be able to afford. up -- property ares were $800 and now they $2200. the same piece of property. host: we would caller like to thank all of our -- we would like to thank all of our caller s. oning up, our series washington journal continues. after the break, we will talk to

author and columnist jackie gingrich cushman about her book "our broken america". later, we will be joined by brent cohen to talk about impeachment, campaign 2020 and the youth vote. we will be right back. ♪ >> a university of washington history professor discusses her book. silicon valley and the remaking of america. >> it is a space race. labeled what eisenhower the military-industrial complex. it becomes the foundation for an entrepreneurial flywheel of innovation and private wealth creation. the industry that is considered an industry that built itself on its own, the government has become almost invisible to many of the people who are in silicon

valley, the creators of these companies. part of the magic. it is out of sight. >> sunday night at end :00 p.m. eastern on c-span q&a. on american history tv on c-span3, at 8:00 eastern on lectures in history, a clemson university professor examines the declaration of independence. make alls not say to men equal or the same, it says the purpose is to protect rights. what rights does it mean? the rights contained in the second self-evident truth, the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. >> at 10:00 p.m. on reel america, the panama deception. >> it is an example of

destroying a country to save it. exercised states has a doctrine among smaller countries in the third world. it has long been u.s. practice to invade these countries, get what we want and leave the people who live there to rot. >> living history enthusiasts reenact george washington's crossing of the delaware river. at 8:00, professors talk about impeachment, including the current proceedings against president trump. >> one of the things that strengthened the case against --on and legitimized it there are many republicans who studied the evidence. they looked at the reports. they listened to the tapes when they were finally released. they looked at the transcripts released in advance and they

came to the conclusion that nixon had done something wrong. >> this weekend, explore our nation's past on american history tv on c-span3. washington journal continues. seven of ouray series on washington journal where we feature authors from all side of the spectrum on issues of the day. joining us today to talk about her book, "our broken america" is author and columnist jackie gingrich cushman. guest: thank you for having me on. host: "our broken america". what prompted you to write this book? guest: i started writing "our broken america" about how both sides need to stop ranting and start listening. my husband and i have two anddren, they are 20 and 18

i am concerned about the environment they are growing up in. it is important to disagree agreeably. we need to speak about important issues in a way that makes progress and not screaming at each other. the daughter of former house speaker newt gingrich. what was that childhood like? tell me about what you want people to take away from this book. newt's youngest daughter. people often ask me what it was like to be his daughter. the truth is it is all i have ever known. he began in politics when i was very young. we lived in a rural town in georgia. he was a college professor. ranfirst two times that he for congress, he lost. this is in the 1970's, a different world than we are in today. no social media, internet.

we could not afford any tv out of atlanta. most of the campaigning was done in the car on the roads, with the family and the toe. tow.mily in -- irned what it meant talk about it in the book. a school administer came to me and said he was glad my father lost. i am not sure what he told an elementary school child that but i learned a lot from the lessons. it has in so many ways frames the way i think about life and politics. host: your life experience comes out in this book. what do you want people to take away after they finish reading "our broken america"? guest: we have a chance to move forward in this country and we have to do it thoughtfully. atlanta, my it in

husband and i live in atlanta, georgia, we do a couple things. we focus on problems in our community that we care about. for our family, it is homelessness, early education, the environment and church. we spend time working on those issues with people from anywhere on the political spectrum, we don't care if you are republican or democrat, and we make progress together. you can have your own political identity but it does not need to be all you are. out and getget active in the community. host: i want to read a little bit from your book, "our broken america", here's what you wrote. people from all political stripes are worried about the high level of folder isaiah chin and you have probably noticed -- high level of polarization. steered conversations

away from politics. it has become so prevalent that it has silenced people and stop them from engaging with each other. situation where you have had to steer things away from politics because it has gotten to polarized? guest: my father is newt gingrich, so i went through a program 1.5 years ago called leadership atlanta. i did not tell anyone who my dad was because i knew once they knew who he was, it would change their opinion of me. i was very careful not to let people know. over,fter the program was many people were surprised that i was newt's daughter. both sides, it is interesting, almost half of republicans and democrats dislike the other side

without knowing who they are. in addition to that, 64% of democrats and 55% of republicans have few or no friends on the opposite side. havehas happened is we separated ourselves by party. we begin to hate each other without knowing what another and that is a real problem. host: what is a quick solution you see for that? what is one thing you could tell us really quickly that will get us past this? guest: find someone of the opposite party and go to lunch with them and learn about them as a person. who lives inomeone new england, is a democrat and watches msnbc, you have a republican who lives in the south and watches fox news, they have two worldviews the don't intersect at all. if they can get out of that, meet each other and have a discussion over lunch, it makes

a difference as you begin to see people as people instead of someone labeled as another party. host: i want to bring up a public agenda paul is the ask people the best way to understand people from the opposite political party. and 21% ofblicans democrats said the best way to understand the opposite political party is knowing someone who is a republican or democrat. 25% ofrepublicans and democrats say the best way is through the news media. way tosaid the best understand someone of the opposite political party is through social media. 31% of republicans and 23% of democrats say they don't have a good way. where does that leave america? guest: i think it is sad. havee a country where we

free speech, the ability to elect our officials and believe what we want to believe. we need to use that. we need to be able to engage in hard discussions and not take it personally. unfortunately, i think a few things have happened and i talk about them and "our broken america" and they have played an unhealthy environment. we have political parties that are labeled as colors instead of ideology. themselves asf belonging to a team, blue team, red team, rather than the belief system underneath it. we have gone through a transitional phase and we need to step out of it and learn how to talk and listen to each other. host: let's let our viewers join in the conversation. we are going to open up regular lines for this. if you are a republican and you want to talk about "our broken america" with our guest, you can

call in at (202) 748-8001. if you are a democrat, we want to hear from you at (202) 748-8000. independents, your line is (202) 748-8002. you can always text us at (202) 748-8003 and we are always reading on social media, twitter and facebook. places you point out in your book that is a problem is the media. i want to read a little bit from your book where you say gone are the days of unbiased fact-based news. opinionw dominated by labeled as news. it is sad that people truly don't know the difference between news and opinion. the media are partly to blame for the devolution of news into

infotainment. we need to understand the difference. guest: if you think about it, when i was growing up, there was a short newshour where they deliver the news. here is what happened today. then we talk about it the next day. now what you get is 24 hour shows, the air more about opinion. they don't talk about what has happened but they talk about their opinion about what has happened. there is nothing wrong with that as long as people who are watching understand it is opinion and not fact-based. for me, i watch a variety of news channels, a variety of ways to get information so i understand the different biases. the challenge is when people look at those shows and they don't understand the bias in the show itself. host: that means i have to ask you, where'd you get your news?

me, i tell them i read a bunch of different newspapers. guest: i read anything from the new york times, the washington times, the washington post, the atlanta journal-constitution. i do watch some tv but not much. fox, msnbc. i watch very little tv. i write a column every week. when i am researching for my column, i try to find as many source documents as i can. the transcript of the speech, the call, the actual document of whatever happened. maybe the bill that was passed. i think it is important when people talk about things to get down to the original document of what happened. from here is another bit the public agenda paul that i want to bring up, when they asked americans who promotes

mostly destructive debates, national political leaders came in at 78%. social media was number two at 74%. news media was that 59%. how do we change the conversation among political leaders who are looking to get elected and reelected? guest: i think it is a real challenge. you make a great point. when someone is trying to get reelected, part of what they talk about is partisan politics. i talk about this in "our broken america", in the end, what people want from leaders is they wanted optimistic view of the future. we need to think about our country and what it means and have someone articulate the future for all americans. i will give you an example, one of my favorite quotes is from margaret thatcher, first you need to win the argument and then you need to win the vote. all too often today, we have

politicians that try to win the vote without winning the argument. to win the argument, it does not mean screaming at the other side and telling them how terrible they are. it does not win an argument, it shuts them down. you really have to listen to the other side, to understand what they care about and then to articulate your position in such a way that they understand where you are going and they want to join you. it is a very different model. host: let's let some of our viewers join in the conversation. let's start with mitchell in new jersey on the democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning to you. cushman.ing ms. --nderstand getting to needing to get along with people from different local parties. my mother-in-law is an avid republican. i spent christmas eve with a bunch of trump supporters and i

work with people who are republicans. under no circumstances in my make a falset to that allcy argument the political positions are equally based. mind, andot, in my probably not in the mind of republicans, either. i am saying politically, now, i think they need to be shut down. can to ensure i that that happens in the next election. i think the whole impeachment process that we are engaged in fall ofto set up the the republicans because they will not remove trump. that is a very real thing. you are talking about shutting people down in debate.

i used to coach debate in high school. i had my kids learn both sides of an argument. we are seeing a chance of locking people up. even your father, when he was running for office, had a very stern tone toward the other side, he was yelling at moderators of different talkshows. you are right, we need to get along as people. i accept what you say about that. yes, we need to understand arguments better and we need to filter out the news sources better. but at the end of the day, not everything is absolutely equal. there side says this, our side says this and then there is a perfect middle. host: go ahead and respond. guest: i am trying to find out what the question was.

maybe you can help me with that. yes, we have different opinions and people have their own perspectives and that is part of the process we have in our country. countryant to go to a where everyone has the same opinion and they believe the same thing, go to a country where they make you do that. go to cuba or russia. that is not our country. that has never been our country. i am not saying you have to agree with my side or i have to agree with your side, that is the whole point of "our broken america", we need to have these discussions and understand these are policy discussions and not personal discussions. i think that is where it gets hard. host: a lot of us have just finished the holidays with our families and those discussions not only go on in the news media, they went on during the dinner table at the holidays. if you can't have a civil discussion at home, how can you have it in public? guest: let me tell you that my

husband and i -- i will call it a mix marriage from a political standpoint. my father is former speaker of the house newt gingrich, he is republican. as mitchell mentioned, he was outspoken and continues to be outspoken. i am republican, as well. clearly in a different tone. my husband's family, his grandfather was the ambassador to australia under president jimmy carter. the supporters when carter ran for governor of georgia. a very long democratic family that is very involved in politics. when we began dating and got serious and became engaged, we were quite nervous about having my father meet his family, in particular his grandmother, who was still alive then.

she was the matriarch at that time of the family. and they gotgether along famously. they did not agree on politics or policy all the time, but they got along so well that my father told my grandmother in law before he made the public announcement that he would run for president, and she assured him that even know he was a republican, she would support him. your question about conversations at the dinner table, my suggestion is to be quiet and listen to the other side. you might not agree with them but you might understand why they believe what they do. host: i want to read you from the gallup poll on polarized nation. this surprised me because the author said there is a good part two polarized nation.

an ideological reference group can have positive effects for individuals who gain meaning and purpose in life from social solidarity with a group while railing against threatening enemies. perspective isem easier for many individuals to handle cognitively rather than complex approaches that take into effect multiple pluses and minuses. there are benefits for businesses that can take advantage and monetize behavior of emotionally driven partisans. there are some good things to --tisan guest: that is fascinating. i talk about this in "our broken america". one of the things that happened in the last few decades is we

have become less religious as a nation. while we are spiritual and we believe in god, there are fewer of us that belong to a religion and go every week. if you look at people who believe god can help our nation, over half of us believe god can help our nation but there are fewer of us that belong to religion. if you look at democrats and republicans and what brings meaning to their lives, for republicans, the number one category is religion. someone who believes in god. for democrats, the number one area is either arts, culture, and under that is social organizations and groups. one of the things i discuss in is thereen america" is shifting of how we identify ourselves from organized religion to a political cause?

i think there is. i talk about that in the book. the other thing i found interesting is, we talked about companies taking advantage of the emotional attachment of both parties. that helps the company's but it makes me wonder how much are they fueling it and making it worse along the way? host: let's go back to the phones and see if we can get a question from ralph who is calling from washington, d.c. on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. it is a relevant topic. thank you for bringing it up. i am strictly independent. andbscribe to the hard left hard right. they are crazy. there was a conversation about immigration and i keep bringing

up facts and pretty soon he terms thating about people are being indoctrinated with. i look at the media and what they are doing is they are fanning the flames of this. if you go back and look at the covington kids, or you go back and look at some of the other things that have led to violence, the media portrays a half-truth, a story, for example rodney king. everyone hates the idea of a cop beating someone but they did not show the guy on the ground attacking the police. i come from a rough neighborhood in chicago. if you attack a police officer, you are going to get beat down. the only portrayed a small

diedt of it and 67 people because of it. usbe they are trying to keep looking at something other than the war or the confiscation of wealth, look at the media. comments,d on his what you tell people about their news consumption? how will that help solve this problem? guest: i think he raised a great point. first of all, in a rush to break news, there is a lack of making sure it is accurate. we even saw this with the recent ll.ie out about richard jewe it was an old case in atlanta and it was a rush to judgment and the media and it ruined his life. if you look at the covington

kids, there is an attorney in atlanta, he has been representing the gentleman in that case and they have recovered some damages and made progress. you can watch the process of him on twitter talking about what is truth and what is not truth. we have to be very conscious of news to make sure what we are seeing is truth and not partial information, and not bad information. i think that as attorneys track this down and make sure the damages are paid and the truth comes out, i think organizations will become more careful with what they give out to the public. host: we have talked about the political ramifications of partisan polarization and partisan political division, but i want to talk about what this paul says about the personal

impact on political division. said 11%c agenda poll of people experience depression, anxiety or sadness because of political division. 10% of the people in the poll lost friends or had serious fights. 9% said they got less involved in civic and political life because of polarization. 5% of people said political division caused them to get more involved. those numbers of people experiencing depression, losing fights with family, getting less involved in political life, that is exactly what we don't want as americans, correct? guest: you are exactly right. a couple things i talk about in "our broken america", the first thing i talk about is we need to reframe it. thinkd to reframe how we

about discussing politics. we are currently in a position where we have to win, we have to win, we have to win an argument. my theory is we need to reframe it that we need to be grateful we can have this debate. we live in a country where we can have opinions. when you begin to understand that, it gives you a different perspective. years ago i went to harvard with my dad, he was giving a speech at the law school. a student came up and said the reason he went to harvard was he knew if he could debate well at harvard, which has a liberal bias from his perspective, that he would do great in the world. he deliberately chose a place where he had to get better and what he did to be able to do better later on. going back to my initial discussion about margaret thatcher, first you win the argument and then you win the

vote, i think especially for politicians, they should look at this debate as a chance to hone their argument and get better at articulating it. as opposed to looking at a way to scream at the other side. host: let's go back to the phone lines and talk to william who is coming from texas on the republican line. good morning. texas butam living in i am from missouri. i am tired of hearing about broken america, america is not broken. america had a revolutionary war and a civil war. we are a united independent country. america is strong and we will stay strong and there is nothing nobody will do about that, except for the people who are causing these problems. they need to stop. thank you. host: go ahead and respond. guest: i agree that the structure of america is not broken. the majority of americans think

our political system is broken and that is what i address in "our broken america", that we need to understand where we have a government where we discuss policies and to not take it personally. i totally agree with them, i don't think our government framework is broken, i think our political process could use a lot of work. host: is it more a matter of perception -- is it more that americans think that this polarization is equal to broken government, or is it that actually there is a process somewhere we need to change? guest: i think it is a little bit of both. let me explain. have pulled apart from an ideology standpoint in the parties. there used to be a 22 point overlap in terms of ideology. you would have moderate democrats, moderate republicans and they would be close in terms of systems. now there is only a 2% overlap.

we are broken in some ways. the other thing that has happened is, before social media, before cable tv, something would happen in politics and we would hear about it later. now, we can hold our phones and look at twitter and hear things immediately. the speed of information has changed. a lot of it is the infrastructure around the process. if you look at how information is reported on the major news channels, it is more about things that don't work then things that do work. host: one thing we have talked about a lot is the television medium. how has social media played a role in this? has social media played a role in this? guest: social media absolutely has played a role. in some ways that is good, because people did not have a natural outlet now have a way to speak up. but in a lot of ways it is bad. if you are having a discussion

with someone, if you have two people sitting across the table and discussing a topic, because they are personally next to each other, they can see each other, it is less likely to get heated rather than if they are on their phone at 3:00 a.m., tweeting at each other. some accounts, you don't even know who they are. people can troll each other easily. i do use twitter. i don't look at it as a place to get all of my information and certainly, if someone is going to tweet something nasty at me and they don't have a real account, am i going seriously? no. host: kevin is calling from colorado on the democratic line. caller: i have a comment and a question. this is a fascinating conversation. very good. i don't think the politics are

divided, it is the values. it, very well. she was talking about religious thing. that is the number one thing for republicans you know. evangelical. majority ofvast americans, there is a rural-urban divide. this starts and 1972 with -- that is when the war on media started. negativity. there has been a score to settle with the media since nixon resigned because the washington

post put him down. of fox news,reamed he could not do it though. he knew to get rid of something, that was the fairest doctrine. was part of the agenda following up on roger ailes and nixon. fairness doctrine went away, conservative talk radio, rush limbaugh, mark levine, michael savage, took over a radio band used by blue-collar workers. truckers listen to a lot of talk radio. host: please get your question. -- caller: the threat is the media. can you say all the media is equivalent?

conservative or progressive media? we do have objective media and it is really great. host: go ahead. he view asdoes objective media? i talked about this in "our broken america", i think there are biases on both sides. is, yest with the media there is bias on both sides. you mentioned while you look at different sources to get the full picture. i believe it is a variety of things. society,nges in changes in religion, demographics, media, technology, a variety of reasons for why we are where we are today. what i try to communicate in "our broken america" is how we can move forward. we have to learn how to listen to each other. even if you are a politician, my

theory is if you can't listen to someone, understand where they come from and what they want, and then articulate your solution that draws americans toward what you want to do, you need to rethink where you are. host: you talked about how political parties don't share common space anymore, for there is moderate anyone in the middle. do you think politicians reflect the polarization of the electorate or are they causing the polarization of the electorate? guest: that is a great question. reflected more than they have created it. if you think about how we are set up as a system, the people get to elect their officials and go to washington. 'sck to the earlier caller point, we have had some good

bipartisan bills since president trump was elected. there was the v.a. bill, the criminal justice reform bill and a variety of bipartisan, really big bills that have been passed with almost no media coverage. we are human. we look about what is in the news and what happened. i think if there was better coverage of what was done on a bipartisan basis, we might have more of that happening again. host: let's go to dan in massachusetts on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. i would just like to make a comment that there is received polarization, there is money to be made in polarizing and the media seems to respond. conservative,

liberal, democrat or republican, they tended to inspire polarization and try to inspire indignation and anger to get clicks and additional viewership. until the media on any side begins to become more objective and neutral and not try to add their emotions to the news broadcast, the problem won't be solved. there needs to be some control on the outrage that the media tries to inspire and until that happens, you will not solve the problem. host: go ahead. guest: i think and has a great point. i talk about in "our broken america", one of the things we can do is we can stop watching programs that fuel outrage. this is a great program. people can call in, they can talk about issues, perspectives, there is no ranting and raving.

in georgia, i am on a political show where it is very respectful and we talk about the issues and don't scream at each other. part of what we can do is pay attention to those shows that are good and more in-depth and don't reflect the ongoing outrage. the challenge we have is the theory of, wouldn't it be nice to have someone control that? that, someonetrol can control everything in terms of information flow. i think the citizens have to step up and take action. host: you preempted by next question because i was going to ask you, we understand the media has a role to play in reducing polarization, what role does the news consumer have to play in reducing what the intake from media that might be pushing

polarization? guest: dan had a good point. it is a cycle where you have outrage on a station that drives the clicks, advertisers, money and outrage. the only thing that can stop it is for someone to decide to stop. it is hard to get a company that makes money fueling outrage to stop. we have to do it ourselves. that is true with many hard things in life. nobody can choose what to eat but me. no one else can determine how i spend my time or what news channels i can watch. it fits in the republican model of personal responsibility and you have to do it yourself and can't rely on the government to do it for you. host: let's go to thomas in texas on the republican line. good morning. caller: i am another texan. enacted tos law was

stop propaganda. once we removed it, we got propaganda. is, i would like to say thank trump for his integration program. if china is going to buy 5 million pigs or chicken, someone else gets to process them. guess who? we might be broke but we are not broken. thank you. host: go ahead and respond. think it is great we have two texans coming in. i am a big fan of the state of texas. i am glad we have people interested in -- we believe our country is not broken. andink the political system what is happening in the political system is broken and i believe we can do better and we can actually learn to listen to

one another as opposed to screaming at one another. host: we are going into the 2020 presidential election. that seems to be where our country gets more polarized than ever. society to do as a become less polarized, knowing we have a presidential election coming up in a few months? fatherin january -- my ran -- as i am sure you remember -- in 2012 for president. i can remember in january getting on the plane to go to iowa to campaign for him. it is a very polarizing time. my recommendation is a couple of things. first, focus on policy and issues. it takes a lot more work and digging. focus on that. secondly, don't watch shows where they talk about the numbers but forget about the policy.

that feeds upon itself and in the end, views don't mean a lot. in thelook at the polls elections, they were all over the place and provided no meaning. me, themory serves polls said trump would not win. it requires more work. it is important to understand what the policies are of the candidates rather than listening to opinions from other people. host: washington, independent line. david, good morning. caller: hello? host: go ahead, david, you are on the line. caller: someone else called. host: i think we lost david. let's go to east chicago, indiana on the democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for washington journal, c-span, i love it. i have been watching you for

decades, longer than i care to mention. mediat think it is the that is causing the divide. the media is reporting mostly. what i put it on is mitch mcconnell. two weeks after obama was elected, mitch mcconnell came out and said we will do nothing to help this president succeed. i thought it was kind of odd because we were in two wars at the time, the great recession was there, people were losing jobs and homes and it was a golden opportunity for the democrats and republicans to work together to set america back on course. but mitch mcconnell and the conservatives decided to become the party of no and for eight years they were the party of no. obama went to the house and spoke to republicans and said,

if you don't like what i am putting out, give me something, work with me, give me ideas. john boehner said the president will not tell us how to do our job. they refused to work with them and i think that created a divide that is even going on today. mitch mcconnell is not willing to work with democrats at all. that opened the door for the tea party, who were radical, and that gave way to donald trump. he is a symptom, he is not the problem, he is a symptom but he is making it more divided by calling people names, his arrogance, just the way he is talking. host: is there any way for us to get past polarization when we are all worried about the current political situation? guest: i think it is hard.

i will be honest with you. the caller had a good point, when people are throwing out names of people, it becomes hard. time we passed a balanced budget was when my dad was the speaker and bill clinton was president. you had a republican house speaker and a democratic president. we were able to sit down and get things done. as you know, the government did shut down a few times and it was end,d process part in the they were able to pass a balanced budget and make a difference. we have always had partisan politics in our country. -- my husband jimmy and i, one of the things we tell our children is it is not about fixing blame but figuring out who is responsible to get things done and fix things.

sit here helpful to and blame everybody. the question becomes, how can we make it better? we can make it better by meeting people from the opposite side, working on real problems in our community together and learning how to make a difference in our daily lives. host: i want to read to you from the public agenda poll because it dovetails exactly what you are saying. think ourricans country deals with disagreements in a destructive way. for the most part, americans don't think our nation has too many irreconcilable differences. americansmore about not knowing how to talk about their disagreements and conflicts in constructive ways. only 10% worry fundamental disagreements and conflicting values are a more pressing issue. 38% worry equally about both of those problems. it seems like americans

understand we are not disagreeing correctly. that we don't seem -- we have a fundamental flaw with our democracy. is that what you are seeing as well? guest: that is a fascinating poll. i think that is exactly right. ar country is designed to be place where people can have different ideas and gather support for the ideas and pass them into law or make progress. part of that also means we have a country where it is ok to disagree. part of the challenge is we have come into a time or if you disagree with someone and you don't like them as a person or you call them bad names or say something terrible. we need to back up and say, if you disagree with someone, you disagree with someone. it is not about who they are as a person or that they are a terrible person. i talk a lot about this in "our broken america", what guides me is my belief system.

i am an episcopal, my husband and i go to st. luke's church. part of what i talk about in "our broken america", when you are having these discussions remember toeople, have respect for the other side, listen to their side and even if you don't believe in them, be respectful of them. host: let's see if we can get a few more questions from our callers. let's go to sylvia in virginia on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. i want to say we dearly love her family. we have always respected them so much. i live in a very republican county and our church is very open about discussing republican politics and we have made the democrats very miserable and that concerns me sometimes. what concerns me is our state

has become blue and i am wondering if we have become too soft because i don't know if we can switch our house here in virginia to red again. are we becoming too complacent is what i am wondering? guest: thank you for your call. that is a great question. side, republican or democrat, if you are surrounded by everyone who thinks the way you do, it becomes easy to not think about how to articulate what your position is better. that is part of the value of our political system. of one doneave more the other, my recommendation would be to go out and try to articulate those. people say, why do you talk about listening, why should people listen to your side? think about in your own personal arguments part if you don't understand where the other person comes from, you don't

understand their belief system, what they care about, what their fears are, then you can't really communicate with them. i talk about listening as opposed to ranting, that is what i am talking about. you have to understand the other side to begin to figure out, how do you frame the argument in a way in which you get people to agree with you? new jersey on to the independent line. good morning. happy holidays to you -- i am an veteran of vietnam. i used to be a republican. the reason i stopped being a republican is because my party does not listen to me. i don't want this president in office.

man, he doesulous mccain, who i honored, and ronald reagan is no more. system in my belief the republican party. if somebody wants to listen to somebody rant and rave, listen to the president. he is ranting and raving every day of his life. mitch mcconnell is not passing bills. where is he getting his money from? from the united states people. if he has an outside income that is paying him to not pass bills, i wish you would just quit. host: go ahead and respond. guest: i want to thank john for his service to our country in vietnam. family haveand's

people who served as did my grandfather. my dad was an army brat. there were questions about leaving the republican party, that is part of the process. when i think of the republican this isy vision -- and the thing about parties in america, you could talk about what it means to you and why you are a part of that party. i am a part of the republican party because i believe in limited government. i am very concerned about homelessness and i have been involved with a homeless shelter in atlanta for about 20 years. i believe forecast to be done in the community with some government help but primarily with volunteers, individuals and donations. you can't have a federal government that decides to make

huge national changes. it has to be done in the community. that is the core of my belief system. i am very much in the reagan tradition of the republican party and i think republicans would be wise to think about that and include and listen to anyone was to be part of the republican party. host: let's see if we can get two more quick comments in. let's go to cincinnati, ohio on the democratic line. good morning. first of all, there are evangelicals out here to and i think you should give them a platform. of the civilbasis rights movement. evangelicals but they are not the only game in town.

osundly, i am a graduate of . when the republican party, mr. candidacyounced his in 1979, i was 28. the republican party did that. [indiscernible] the media did not do that. the republican party did that. host: if i am not mistaken, he was from south carolina but i could be mistaken. does atlanta claim him? up on myam not historical trivia, sorry. host: let's see if we can get

one last caller in. let's try hot springs, arkansas on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. my concern is ica broken america. a -- we are having our legislators oversee the vote. we had a special election last july and the voters won, that we wanted to keep our district the way it was on a voluntary basis and not on our taxes. it would have been placed on our taxes and have been mandatory, and it would have changed the whole situation. springsslators in hot did not like the way the people voted so they said we are going to do it anyway. they negated everyone who voted

in the special election. i have seen this over and over. the people did not want to be annexed into the city so they went around and took the vote away from the people because that was the only way that action could be taken, as if it was voluntary or voted in. the people always voted no, so we are not going to let them vote anymore. we will just take their property and incorporate it in the city with other vote. i am seeing more of this in the country. the people are not ruling anymore. it is our government and that is communism and socialism. how do people protest these types of things without falling into the polarization that no one wants? guest: it sounds like there are some legislators that might need

to be voted out of office. the need to think about having somebody else run against them. clearly, the way we are set up is for legislators to reflect the will of the people they represent. if they don't represent the will of the people they represent, they can be replaced. host: what is the take away from your book, "our broken america"? what do you want people to say when they finish reading it? guest: i want them to understand we live in the greatest country on earth. we should be grateful we have a political system in which we can argue our views. take advantage of that to listen to the other side and learn how to move forward together. host: we would like to think our guest, author jackie gingrich cushman and her book "our broken america" for spending this hour with us. thank you so much. guest: thank you for having me

on. i appreciate it. host: coming up, we will be joined by brent cohen and he will talk about impeachment, campaign 2020 and the youth vote. we will be right back. ♪ campaign 2020ve coverage continues. today at 4:00 with hawaii and congressman woman -- hawaiian congresswoman tulsi gabbard. monday at 2:00 eastern, andrew yang in nashua, new hampshire eastern,ay at 11:00 senator elizabeth warren in boston. watch the presidential candidates live on c-span, online at c-span.org, or listen

--e on the free c-span app radio app. this weekend, book tv features three new nonfiction books. about hisg weed talks latest book, inside trump's white house. run him forans have president and elected him against all odds. he is a russian spy. think about that for a minute. that is like landing a man on the moon. that is like the assassination of julius caesar. that is one of the greatest events of world history, if they were actually able to achieve that. >> in their latest book the elf the coal -- the ethical algorithm, michael kearns and aaron roth discuss algorithm design. >> philosophers have been thinking for time immemorial. lots of people thought about things like privacy and the like.

have never had to think about these things in such a precise way that you could actually write them into a computer program, or into an algorithm. night at nine :00, new york magazine contribute to -- contributor with his latest book, self portrait in black and white. that theized experience was much more diverse than i had ever known. i started to read all of these other letters more seriously. started to look at black art. i began to wonder why i and my friends had such a narrow conception of this very rich tradition.n -- and why i thought my father was outside of that cultural tradition when he was actually in second -- exemplifying it. washington journal continues.

brentwe are back with cohen, executive director of generation progress action to talk about election 2020 and the youth vote. guest: good morning, thanks for having -- having me. host: tell us what -- generation progress is. -- we work with 18 to 35-year-olds. we move progressive solutions to the most pressing problems facing our generation. host: where do you guys get your funding? guest: our funding comes from individual donors, the tap action fund. that is how we do our business there. host: how do you expect the youth of america to vote in the upcoming election? do you expect it to go up or down?

or even stay flat? guest: it is going through the roof. there is no question. this was or shadowed in the 2018 midterms where voter turnout had the highest mark in 20 years, particularly pronounced between voters 18 to 35. you're seeing engagement from young adults now. that will shoot through the roof in 2020. host: why are more young people getting involved in voting and civil action? guest: young people have led civic and social justice actions throughout history. you are now seeing that turned vote. need for -- need to people are realizing that 16 votes can be the difference in an election and the difference in terms of having people working alongside social justice movements. from aet me read to you current poll. turnout --th

generation z, millennials, and generation x accounted for a narrow majority of voters. the three younger generations, those age 18 to 53 in 2018 votes 26 point 2 million compared with 60.1 million votes cast by baby boomers and older generations. it is not the first times -- time that the younger generations out devoted to their elders. oted their -- out-v elders. host: -- happening things are -- there are systemic barriers to young people getting to the votes. to the polls.

young people are finding ways to jump over those barriers. they say we are going to run over these structural barriers and make sure our voices are heard at the polls. the other thing that is happening is that the share of young people who are eligible to vote continues to rise. we are seeing candidates say that i need to speak to this pivotal demographi early on. i need to make sure i'm speaking about the issues that young people care about. that engagement starts not in october of an election year, but well before. wherecre there places there are barriers--- where there are barriers to young people going out and voting? guest: there are intentional barriers. you saw with hr one senate majority leader mitch mcconnell's response was that it was a power grab.

it was a power grab because it let young people in disenfranchised communities vote. these barriers are in place whether it is registration requirements or other things that say you cannot vote. when i was in college, i moved three times in three years. every time i moved, that meant i needed to read register to vote. --re-register to vote. that is just one aspect of what butter suppression looks like for this group. host: let's talk about the impeachment vote. i want to read a story to you from usa today. this story says that by a nearly 2-1 margin, more young voters support then oppose the impeachment of president trump and his removal from office according to a poll from the school of economics at harvard. -- pulled voters

pole isolated voters ages 18 to 29. they found 52% of all eligible youth voters and 58% of likely youth voters in the 20 presidential general election leave that trump should be impeached. and 28all youth voters percent of likely general election voters disagreed that he should be impeached and removed. guest: -- debt -- guest: young people will inherit this democracy. taxpayerng federal dollars to bribing foreign government to investigate a political rival, that flies in the face of everything that we

were taught our country stands -- you seeknow that young people being invested in ensuring that we have a government that actually works, that does not just espouse ideals, stands by them. this is just one example with ukraine. we are seeing young people who have been floored and appalled by the abuses of power of this administration on a whole host of issues, and administration that has one of the lowest approval ratings in history with young people for human rights abuses. join let's let our viewers in on this conversation. we will open our regular lines for this. that means republicans, your line will be (202) 748-8001. democrats, your line is (202) 748-8000. , you can call (202)

748-8002. and keep in mind, you can always (202) 748-8003. and we are already -- always reading social media. where do younger voters get their information about the impeachment process? what are their sources? does it matter where they get their information from? guest: yes and yes. we are seeing a generation z and millennials getting their information from slightly different places, but both are reaching for their cell phones. on facebook, you see what your friends are talking about. to whater, you listen your timeline is saying. that is where you're seeing

generation z and millennials turning to their cell phones. sometimes turning directly to a new source and other times turning to social media. most of the older generations are going to tv first. host: when we talk about younger voters, are we talking about a younger group that skews more democratic? guest: let's take a look at the 2018 results for voting. that is self identification of party, or whether it is actual voting outcomes, what you are seeing is that when push comes to shove, people are showing up at historic margins and they are voting for the progressive candidate over the has -- the conservative candidate. host: we will not do our regular lines, because we want to hear specifically from the people we want to hear about. we will change up the lines on you here.

that means if you are ages 18 to 35 -- you are a new vote or you are generation z or a millennial, we want to hear from you at (202) 748-8000. -- if are middle-age or you are middle-aged like me, between the ages of 36 and 60, you have a special line --(202) 748-8001. older, the60 and baby boomers, the silent generation, your number is (202) 748-8002. over 60, (202) 748-8002. let's start with mark who is calling from north oak, virginia. mark, good morning. nororth oak virginia --

folk, virginia. mark, good morning. caller: i am middle-aged and i am so ready for the millennials to take their seat at the table. the younger generations have the anefit of being able to see long enough of you from a lot of the past and yet have been able to assimilate long enough to know what it is supposed to look like. to be your is going generation that will have to take this upon your such -- your shoulders. no input, no say so -- at this point you guys have all of the input, because we have left a serious mess for you guys to try to pick up and carry. the last thing i say to the middle-agers is

to start mentoring in a serious way to put these kids in place. because the whole thing is going to collapse. guest: i could not agree more. the only piece i would add is that we have had the long view of the ills of this country. we have a longer view of social justice movements, including the civil rights movement. we have the benefit of learning from those who came before, whether it is the free speech movement. we have learned from those movements and see how the country responded, how the power structure responded. toget the benefit of getting look back and take those lessons learned as we move forward. we need input and we need a say so, because at the end of the day, we are 38% of the working age population in this country, more than a third of the u.s.

adult population. things are happening in our name and it is our time to take our seat at the table and we have been taking our seat at the table. we are making sure we are not on the menu. host: what role will the youth vote play in the democratic presidential primary? are the youth progressive and liberals lining up behind any particular candidate or is it still a free-for-all? guest: it depends on how much you trust to the polling. people are doing will different levels of calculations. some people are saying who is most likely to win and it is all about the electability argument. what the younger people are saying is who is most tuned into our issues, and how do we get someone into office will take us era,to a pre-donald trump but will take us into a post donald trump era. i think any candidate would be

wise to take notice of this younger generation of voters and make sure that they are both speaking to the issues that young people care about and entrusting them with real policy solutions. barbara whotalk to is calling from oklahoma city, oklahoma. barbara, good morning. caller: i am so happy to see the youth -- wow. i am so proud of all of you. everyone of you. i'm so thankful we can believe you, what you say. someone who is not lying. i am just really proud of all of you. said wean before that are all equal -- i am sorry. morelicans, you may be christian or something, i do not know. i am not calling people names.

i do not see democrats doing that. every morning, the president calls people names. say a democrat, and he will something about hating those democrats. i just hope our youth can get rid of this and see this for what it is. a man toot normal for get up every morning and get us to hating each other. i think that is ridiculous. i do not hate republicans. i enjoy that woman, newt gingrich's daughter. i truly want us to stop this. quit running after what donald trump says every morning. stop this hatred. you cannot put this on us every single day. guest: thank you, barbara. young people cannot do this work without the help and ally ship

of others. thank you for the work that you are doing in oklahoma. one of the things that young people stand to benefit from is we are the most diverse generation in history. the millennial generation was the most diverse generation in and nowion's history, gen z and younger are even more diverse than we are. that brings a different set of experiences, which means -- we talked about the hate and divisiveness. we have grown up with family members and neighbors who looked different than us. may come from different backgrounds than us. are just more diverse. we really stand to benefit from that into see-through hatred that is being -- host: let's talk about the

generational divide in the democratic party. i want to read to you from the week.com. oldest candidate in the race is senator bernie sanders, who is more than twice peter buttigieg's age is the preferred candidate for under 30 voters. this fact that a 78-year-old who recently suffered a health scare is far more popular with millennials than the 37 euros candidate tells a lot about -- tells us a candidate lot about the generational divide that has consumed the democratic party in recent years. up boomers are not lining behind the boomer candidate. guest: there is an oversimplification of how events and other researchers assume about how people will vote based on age or race. the same things were being said

about black voters not rallying behind kamala harris and cory booker. there are reasons that manifest about how -- generation z and millennials are looking at candidates who they feel are most speaking to the issues that they care most about. representation also really matters, whether it is the chosen candidate for millennials or not. having pete buttigieg on that stage is significant. it is significant whether young people rally around their candidacy or not. host: do you see the free college tuition proposal gaining traction? is that because of the youth vote? guest: yes. it is getting traction and it is because of the youth vote. motioneration progress is logic a campaign to raise -- launching a campaign to raise awareness to the fact that

college is unaffordable. americans with $1.6 college debt -- we have to address the current crisis of student loan debt today. we are seeing various plans come out, but nearly every presidential candidate has had to address the affordability of college in some fashion. it is getting traction, and the reason is because one in six americans of all ages has a student loan debt of some form. one in the three young adults do. they understand the importance of accessibility of college education. who iset's talk to rob calling from independence, missouri. rob is one of those younger voters that we were just talking about. caller: i would like to know which candidate, in his opinion,

is going to be most helpful in addressing the opioid crisis, the drug crisis in america. of hisaking away people age. i had a nephew recently who died of overdose. which party is, more supportive and is that going to be part of the health care issue, which is actually mental health is actually -- also part of health care. i understand that health care is going to be a major issue in 2020, but i wanted to know what candidate and his opinion supports the opioid crisis in this country and will help bring down the number of deaths that are happening in this country every year. guest: first of all, my condolences to you and your family. far too many people have lost their lives to the opioid epidemic. far too many families are reeling from it. have come along way as a nation,

in terms of looking at what drug use is and the impact that it has from a clearly crime and climate and --ly drug problem.nd we should see this as a public health crisis, the way we should have seen the crack epidemic as well. we have come to that realization and every candidate needs a plan forward to address the opioid ambit -- epidemic. one of the questions you asked is which party would actually address this. the trump administration has made some comments about it, but they have made more steps on the vaping than they have on opioids. there has been a level of an action here that has resulted in families not getting the support that they need. you're absolutely right -- it drug use, opioids in particular

are part of the health conversation. point --in acute we cannot take this away from them. we need to make sure that opioids are not being misused by the general public and particularly by younger people who are disproportionately impacted. we need to make sure that both are addressed simultaneously. candidates will bring a nuanced approach. we are not seeing that today from the trump administration. host: what impact do youth voters have on down ballot races? is it just presidential elections that bring youth voters to the polls or are they getting more engaged all up into down the civil -- civic ladder? are lookingnk folks at a 2020 presidential election college -- that

can be disillusioning sometimes for voters. what you're seeing is a real impact in district attorney races, real impact in the kentucky gubernatorial race, where there are tangible and -- impacts that come at the city and state level. hisgovernor of kentucky on first day re-enfranchised over a thousand people for voting rights. that is something that young people care about. think you will see folks driven to the polls, not just because of donald trump and the presidential election or the democratic candidate however -- but more so because of what is possible in the criminal justice reform conversation in a district attorney race. state, the

legislature just passed laws that allow undocumented immigrants access to driver's licenses. if you care about immigration, it is not just to is in congress that matters -- certainly that is where we will find the comprehensive reform that we need, but it matters who is in your state legislature. they are the ones who can provide things like drivers licenses. these things are connected. young people and young voters see this so it might be an up a ballot situation where people are coming out to vote for local races. is andur next caller from vincent in lancaster, pennsylvania. vincent is a middle-aged collar. middle-ageds a caller. just like told

comment -- first of all, the younger generation came off of eight years of president obama, where it was free phones, free this, everyone is entitled to have this. i'm sorry about that. we have an old-fashioned president now who wants to give you everything you need to go to work, earn a living, and live a good life. stamps,o not need food you should not be getting them. , it goes on and goes on. we talk about free college for --rybody and student death debt. what happened to investing in yourself? there is night school, community college, whatever you can afford, you go for it. blame folks for this stuff? we now have people running for president saying billion errors

-- billionaires are wrong people. you should not be that way. where thata country is supposed to be the drive of everybody. the opiate crisis -- if you do your history, i think the civil war was the first opiate crisis. folks are not paying attention to their history. our president can be rude at times, but there is no one who can touch his economy. it is good to feel respected again as a country. if you want to give people that sneak into our country, drivers licenses. host: good response. guest: let me touch on a couple of points. one of the really interesting things about the trump administration is polling among people who think that the economy is doing well but is

negative toward donald trump. feeleality is, some folks like the economy is doing well and are still very unfavorable toward donald trump. two, this idea about president obama and handouts -- i do not to get very far into it. i will just say that that is not accurate. the color referenced history and really knowing our history. as we think about the history of the united states, founded the bloodshed of native americans and indigenous people who were here first, followed by the enslavement of people of african dissent, if we talk about the history of this nation, we have to recognize the inherent, structural racism that was built into the fabric of this country. we need to take direct action to

combat that, if we are being honest with ourselves, we are going to live up to the values of equality for all, then we need to get there. part of what that means is making sure that people have access to things like higher education, that we address the racial wealth gap, that we do not kick children who need access to food off of public assistance. those things go hand in hand. we should know our history. we should be honest about what that history says. host: let's take two more calls. victoriacaller is from in merlino, oregon. over 60, am well politically active, and we just had a 19-year-old grandson move in with us from oklahoma. i took him to get his drivers motor-, and we have voter.

and said i have registered to vote. he said he registered unaffiliated. "bu i knowt i wouldn't vote for trump." motor-voter for a while. ony're going to put postage vote by mail envelopes. --t: guest: you talked about motor-voter or automatic voter registration. oregon has been a leader on this. to thet that you can go dmv and both get your voter -- driver's license and simultaneously registered to

vote, that becomes a solution that should be enacted in all 50 states. that was also included in the hr-one bill that mitch mcconnell blocked. 16 and 17-year-olds can also vote inre-registered to oregon. one of the things that we know about voting is that it is habitual. if you vote at 18, you are likely to vote two years later in four years later. those are critical reforms that are easy to implement and should be done across the nation. host: let's get one last call from patricia in arkansas. caller: hello. thank you so much for taking my call. i have a quick question because the previous guest was talking about polarized media. i was wondering how much that affects the use voters today. are they actually as informed as

we would like them to be? i think you're seeing two generations of young people who are very well-informed with what is happening, specifically on the issues we care most about. you're seeing young people lead on criminal justice reform, gun violence, and student debt issues. part of that is because of the information that we have. i do agree and i think the media has a huge role in this, making sure that the media becomes last polarized -- less polarized is important. part of the benefit of the younger generation is how diverse they are. thankwe would like to brent cohen from generation progress action for being with us this morning and talking about the youth vote. coming up, we will return to our question from the beginning of raising the minimum

wage in 2020, what do you think? you will see the numbers on your screen. but first, this week's newsmakers interviewed the president of the order patrol union. he commented on the role of mexican crime cartels at the u.s. mexico border. few can see the entire interview this saturday at 10:00 on c-span. you can also hear it on c-span radio and online at c-span.org. >> just how bad of a problem is that? how widespread are these cartels along the border? >> nothing crosses the border illegally. that does not matter if it is individuals who are coming across claiming asylum, it does not matter if it is under fit goods, nothing crosses the southwest border illegally without the say-so of criminal cartels. aey control every facet of

legal crime along the border. these cartels operate in every single town along the southwest border and they are very violent. they are very dangerous. all you have to do is look at the murder rate in mexico to understand just how bad it is. the united states intelligence community has estimated that criminal cartels control somewhere around 80% of the country in mexico right now. that again is on the high-end. there are lower estimates. even if you go lower, the fact that criminal cartels are controlling any part of mexico should be concerning and it makes everything very, very dangerous. that is one of the reason that border control agents get so frustrated with politicians that say it is ok for people to cross the border illegally. --y are encouraging politicians are encouraging a very vulnerable segment of

population in south america to put themselves in the hands of criminal cartels. these individuals at times are raped, enslaved, even murdered by the criminal can turn -- cartels and it is because we do not enforce our laws the way they are written. we glamorize illegal activity vilify our -- and we border patrol agents rather than propping up our border patrol agents and going after the cartels. >> washington journal continues. host: we are back and we are going to go back to our original question -- 21 states are raising the minimum wage in 2020. want to know what you thing about it. you have seen the phone numbers. first we are going to talk about a little other news that has been going around the nation's capital. north dakota's first female senator has died at age 97.

she was the first woman from north dakota to serve in the u.s. senate, though she never ran from office. she was 97. , leslie, is a producer here at c-span and we wanted to say that our thoughts and prayers are with leslie and her family as they celebrate the life of her mother jocelyn burdick. be talking we will about the minimum wage going up in 21 states in different localities around the nation. we want to remind you that we have special lines, so if you are making minimum wage, we want to hear from you at (202) 748-8000. if you are a business owner, we want to hear from you about the raising of the minimum-wage at (202) 748-8001.

if you do not fit into both -- categories, we want to hear from you at (202) keep in mind that at (202)lways text us 748-8003. we let's go to the phones -- let's go to the phones. joe is calling from las cruces, new mexico. -- buyby low, sell low, sell low. i think minimum-wage it should be $10 an hour. host: why $10? caller: it is all we can afford to pay. it would help a lot of people. host: the federal minimum wage,

out a long time ago $2.90.9 .25.as gone up to $7 do you think it should go up to $10 an hour? caller: yes. host: a lot of people are advocating for $15 an hour. is that too much? caller: yes. we cannot afford to pay that. host: let's go to karen in tulsa, oklahoma. karen is a business owner. you there, karen? caller: good morning, yes i am. i do not believe that the wage should be across the country. i believe that it should be more of a state-by-state. even $15o $10 or

across the country. hawaii ort enough for california or new york, but it is way more than the cost of living requires for the state of oklahoma or even mid states throughout oklahoma. host: what type of business do you own? caller: i have an administrative services business. host: are you paying oklahoma's minimum wage or do you pay on top of that? more as well as many of the people that i associate with. $7.45.nimum wage here is we pay eight dollars. it is different in restaurants, but we are paying above the minimum wage. host: do you see a difference in the type of employee you get when you pay lower versus higher wages? caller: i do not think so, now.

host: will you have to raise the cost of the services you provide if they raise the minimum wage? onler: that would be passed for the services we provide. host: let's go to patricia who is calling from michigan. patricia makes minimum wage. patricia, good morning. caller: good morning. up inm-wage has to go order -- our children, our neighbors, i mean everyone should be able to make a wage to be able to live. it is not happening. my heart breaks because i have four children, three grandchildren. i am desperately afraid of where our world is going.

i have worked since i was 11 years old and i am now going to be 62. we have got to help people. we have to help our children so that they can make a wage to be their ownve -- businesses. schoolldren are going to with textbooks that the school cannot buy. they have to photocopy. it is so bad -- sad. i do not know what to say. it makes me cry with what our president is doing. the house back in july voted to raise the federal to $15 an hour over the next six years. that bella still awaiting action in the senate. that bill is still

awaiting action in the senate. >> it is an affront to basic fairness and an intolerable condition for families working hard yet falling further and further behind. they live on a razors edge, facing impossible chit -- choices. buying diapers and formula for their children are medication for themselves, cutting a check for a student loan debt payment or the doctor's visit. today a single mother with two children working full time at living wellr is below the federal poverty line. we can do -- host: let's go back to the phones and talk to david who is calling from bloomington, indiana. david is a business owner. caller: i understand.

hell, i am a poor man myself. host: david, go ahead. i think i lost david. calling to carl who is from virginia. carl works for minimum wage. caller: i want to talk about your previous guest about giving license to immigrants. have you been out to long island? it is pretty bad. -- for peopleh with an education, then talking about giving them licenses. host: let's go to oscar who is calling from orlando, florida. oscar, good morning. what do you have to say about minimum, oscar? caller: if you adjusted the for's era minimum wage

inflation, it would be $50 today. productivityed the of those workers, it would be $20 a day. a lot of corporate employers here in florida will get tax breaks for hiring people off of and employment. what happens is they will only hire those workers -- people off of unemployment. what happens is they will only hire those workers off of unemployment and those who are qualified are pushed to the back of the line. those who are on unemployment who need those jobs remain on unemployment. basicallyorations are using extremely low minimum wage offset their overhead and they are putting that onto the taxpayers. of ouret's look at some social media followers to see what they think about our

conversation about the minimum wage. here's one post that says companies will just adjust by cutting hours or not giving jobs to more experienced workers. reliance on government to raise minimum wage will not be needed. here's one post that says do not be mad when your burger costs as much as a steak dinner if you support this. there is a text that says my issue is i worked to get an associates degree. my wage is $18 an hour. wages go up for an unskilled worker, will my wages go up? no. that is my issue. host: before we go back to the phone lines, there was debate in the house in july over raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next six years. here is republican congressman from pennsylvania who voted against the bill talking about his opposition.

teenager at 14 years old, one of my first jobs was serving as a server. i had no previous work experience, but the owner took a chance on me. he did -- i did not receive a great wage, but it was a starting point into the lessons i learned in that job or lessons that i used during my whole career. were lessons that i used during my whole career. my 16-year-old son serves center a skilled nursing after school at a wage of nine dollars an hour. he is very thrilled with that. skills, theing the people skills needed, learning to show up for work on time, learning to work hard. one of the best indicators of

success in a career is whether or not you had a job during high school. this bill unfortunately would rob many of the opportunity to hold that first job. -- said 3ically set million jobs lost because of this bill. host: campaign 2020 is kicking into high gear as we start the new year. keep it right here on c-span for live, unfiltered coverage of the democratic and republican presidential election coming up. i want to tell you about a few events that c-span will be covering. hawaiian representative tulsi gabbard will speak to voters in a town hell in hudson, new hampshire. you can watch that life today at 4:00 eastern on c-span, online at c-span.org, or listen live on

the free c-span radio app. on sunday, 2020 presidential candidate joe biden will hold a town hall with voters in peters borough, new hampshire. you can watch that here live at .:00 on monday, 20 presidential candidate andrew yang will hold a town hall at the public library in new hampshire. watch that live at 2:00 p.m. c-span.org,-span, and the c-span radio app. senator elizabeth warren will deliver a new year's eve speech in boston. that one will be live here on c-span at 11:00 eastern, online at c-span.org, and you can always listen to a love this live on c-span's radio app. let's go back and get a few more calls to close the show out.

we are talking about minimum-wage. let's talk to andy who is calling from owensboro, kentucky . india makes minimum-wage. caller: good morning -- makes minimum-wage. caller: merry christmas and happy new year. i feel like minimum-wage should go up. when they do raise it up, i think they ought to provide tax services, tax cuts for businesses to help businesses, that way you will not hurt businesses. if you would cut the right way, es forxes -- tax businesses, that way that minimum pay raise would not hurt them. host: let's go to alex. caller: can i make a couple

statements before i answer your question? host: go ahead. caller: we are concerned about money. the american people realize every time air force one goes to marijuana go, it costs $3.6 million -- air force one goes to it costs $3.6 million. i think we should change the conversation from minimum-wage to a living wage. let me repeat that -- living wage. if you are able to go to war and fight for your country, you should be able to get a living wage. thank you. pete who istalk to calling from hebron, new hampshire. that hebron or heparin? and you own a business pete,

what kind of business do you out? caller: i am a mechanical contractor. host: do you pay minimum-wage or do you pay higher? caller: higher. it is a skilled trade. thetruth of them it -- truth of it is the minimum-wage business could have been addressed years ago, but like everything else they do in government, they sit back on their hunches and spend or spending bills. and passunches more spending bills. if you look at that spending bill, it makes no sense at all. that money was not directed to where it should have been. we are taking care of other countries. here we go again. we are the nanny state. this could have been taking care

of years ago. people cannot live today even on 15 dollars an hour. i wish the politicians would get this. it is a shame that in this day and age, going into 2020, that they have not addressed this problem, just like so many other problems such as immigration. we could go on and on. thatve so many politicians are too busy showboating in front of a camera. if they cannot do the job, we need to get them out of washington. to carol in new york. good morning. caller: i agree with new hampshire completely. we have a problem. forve lived in kentucky eight years, so i know what the wages are in kentucky. i came back to new york. i am a registered nurse. in 1990, and came back to new

york. i made $30,000 as an rn in kentucky. the day i took one step into new york and got a job, i made 60,000. obviously, the rate of income in new -- in newin york is not the rate of income in kentucky. the biggest problem we have with passing these bills is that we do not pass a bill. we milk a bill. one side or the other in order to get it in, we get this credit . we do not go on and do the bill. we have to do a rate of income situation because i know my nephew is going for a job. he is going to make $20 an hour. and pet vet. if you pass a $15 an hour wage, then he is not making good

money. $20 becomes nothing. rutha who isalk to calling from bedford, texas. caller: good morning. i'm calling about the minimum-wage. ok. 19 50, 19 60, 1970, the price of working hard -- you could go to the store with a dollar and get i don't know how much baloney. everything is so expensive now. i do not understand why people do not want minimum-wage to go up. it is ridiculous. host: let's talk to jaclyn who is calling from troy, alabama. caller: hi, how are you? whoree with the woman called from oklahoma. it needs to be a separate wage

for separate states because of living in alabama -- cost of living in alabama is really low. hello? host: we are still here. keep going. atler: $15 in alabama is $30,000 a year. college graduates are making that here in alabama. if you raise the minimum wage to that, college dropouts will be making that. then you do not have to raise the wage of everyone else. it will change the whole state of alabama. it is a big difference in alabama than in new york. have these people on fixed income, when everyone else's wages go up, they are now in the poverty level unless the government is going to do something about raising the .eople on fixed income goods and services will go up.

you're making more money, but your status quo is basically the same because the lost of -- cost of living has gone up. i think that people should be out of poverty and make a decent salary, but it varies from state to state. it should not be in -- there should not be a national wage. that would be very unfair for states like alabama. host: let's go to charles who is calling from albini, oregon. wanted to comment on -- in 1973 in oregon, the 2.25 an hour.was $ that is what i was making. i lived in a single room house and could afford to live comfortably. up cost of living has gone twofold or 11 fold here in oregon.

if i was making the same type minimum-wage, i would be making over $20 an hour. that is all i wanted to say. to lois who isk calling from new york city, new york. lois is a business owner. it is ridiculous not to raise the minimum wage. it is cruel. it is inhuman. it is impossible to live in this city or anywhere else for $15 an hour. and mom wage should go up to $20, $25 an hour. --t: what type of bows this a business do you run in new york city? caller: i am a jewelry designer and seller. pay minimum-wage? no, i pay $30 an hour

minimum. there are no americans learning this trade. it is pathetic. it is rotted from the core. we have to change the design of almost everything. we have to look at the cruelty from our congressmen and our senators on this subject matter. we have to talk about it. we have to talk about it loud and clear. host: let's take one last call. noel, wrap us up for today. caller: here is what we have got -- we have people who have no income to live. i work for the cobra ration corporationabout -- utility for about $38 an hour. $14.75 an hour for my retirement. i do not see how people are living. i live because i have lived on a sailboat for 31 years.

quite been able to live beautifully, but in california, it is very difficult for anyone to live here. it is a good life that i have, and i feel sorry for everybody out there that does not have the right income to live. host: we would like to thank all of our callers and guests on washington journal this morning. i will see all of you again in 2020. we would like to thank everyone for watching. make sure you join us for another washington journal tomorrow at 7:00. have a great saturday, everyone. ♪ ♪

♪ >> the house will be in order. c-span has been providing america unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events from washington, d.c. and around the country so you can make up your own mind. 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. the impeachment of president -- continue to follow the process on c-span leading to a senate trial. live, unfiltered coverage on c-span, on c-span.org/impeachment, and listen on the free c-span radio app. coming up today on c-span,

next, supreme court justice neil gorsuch discusses the judiciary branch and his new book, "a republic, if you can keep it." the, elena kagan discusses supreme court and how it is viewed in today's political climate. then, a discussion into how the reduce the cost of raising a family. and welcome to, the theater at the national archives. i am pleased you could join us for tonight's program whether you're here in the theater or joining us through facebook or youtube. and a special welcome to the c-span audience this evening. constitution day, september 17, commemorating that day in 1787 when the delicates of the constitutional