strategic national stockpile and pandemic response and we will also take her calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. "washington journal" is next. host: good morning. on this monday, june 20 ninth, there are calls in congress to investigate orts that say russia paid the bounties to the taliban to kill american troops serving in afghanistan. president trump denied the work and there is plenty of back and forth in the white house now, lawmakers and others, on this issue. your thoughts on this sorry and the white house response and what should happen next. here's how to take part in the conversation. we are talking about a "new york times" story that say russia offered afghan militants a bounty to kill u.s. troops.

tech, (202)n send a text,03 is that number -- (202) 748-8003 is that number. is day number four of "new york times" adding on that story. here's the focus on today's lead in the publication, cash discovery tipping off spies. special operations officers in afghanistan alerted superiors as early as january 2 a suspected russian plot to pay bounties to the taliban to kill american troops in afghanistan --

host: here is the headline from "usa today." the president says in this piece that facing strong criticism from democrats, trump on twitter said that neither he nor the vice president had been briefed on the assessment." so, early in the day on sunday the president tweeted this --

distinctse are two tweets from the president at opposite ends of the day, yesterday. reaction has been swift to this story. here is joe biden, presumed democratic nominee for president. [video clip] >> a truly shocking revelation ist, if the times report

true, i emphasize again, president trump, the commander-in-chief of american troops serving in a dangerous theater of war, has known about this for months and done worse than nothing. not only did he fail to sanction or pose any kind of consequences on russia for this egregious violation, he's continued his embarrassing campaign of deference and debasing himself before vladimir putin. this information according to "the times," yet he offered to host putin in the united states and sought to offer russia to rejoin the g7. his entire presence has unique gift to putin. but this is beyond the pale. it's a betrayal of the most sacred duty that we bear as a nation, to protect and equip our troops as we send them into harm's way. it's a betrayal of every single american family for the loved ones serving in afghanistan or

anywhere overseas and frankly i'm outraged by the report and if i'm elected resident, make no mistake about it, vladimir putin will be confronted and it will impose a serious cause on russia. i don't just think about this as a candidate for president. i think about this as a dad, father, who sent his son to serve in harm's way for years in the middle east, in a rack. i'm disgusted on behalf of those families whose loved ones are serving today. when your child volunteers to serve, putting their life on the line for the country, they take risks, known and unknown for this nation. they should never, ever, ever face a threat like this, with their commander-in-chief turning a blind eye to a foreign power and putting a bounty on their head. host: joe biden, from yesterday. the white house press secretary claimed saturday that mr. trump

that mr. trump had not been briefed, one official told the times that it was briefed to the highest level of the white house and another said it was included in his daily brief. a compendium of foreign-policy policy and national security intelligence compiled for mr. trump to read and back in a didn't challenge the existence of the assessment. a national security council meeting about it in late march, multiple other news wereizations reportedly briefed on the assessment and said that it had been treated as a closely held secret that the administration expanded briefings about it over the last week, including sharing information about it with the british government whose forces were among those said to have been targeted. that is the updated reporting this morning. we go to greg, first from farmington, michigan, democratic line. welcome. caller: good morning.

yeah, it's important for the american to not give up on the mueller report. i read the mueller report. operatives met with the russians in the mueller report over 100 times. 13 russians were indicted. of course, they are in russia, they haven't been convicted or anything, but they were indicted. u.s. federal prosecutors suggested that president trump obstructed justice. in 2016. since then there has been zero evidence that president trump has gone after vladimir putin. anythingever say negative about him. he always takes the side of the

mayor putin over our own u.s. intelligence. something isn't adding up. something is rotten in denmark, i'm sorry to tell the public. we have got to come to grips with this. it's wrong, what's going on. how long is it going to go on before we give to the troops. host: go ahead and finish up. caller: the rumors are that deutsche bank and russia are in together financing the resident earlier. now, that should come out eventually. the supreme court has chased down things like the taxes of the president. host: carl, oxford, massachusetts. democratic line. hello. i can't believe this. the whole thing smells of a false flag. believe me, donald trump turns my stomach, i could never stand him, but this is just a

distraction to take away from something new they came up with to cause trouble so that we will be distracted from the problems going on. we have enough problems in this country with the race situation in the so-called pandemic or whatever. you know, it's a distraction, sorry, i'm too upset. i can't really be coherent right now, but thank you. what do you think the next steps if any should be in terms of congress, carl? caller: i've been a registered democrat all my life. i think it's the democrats that are pushing for this. biden is pushing for -- the democrats want war now. you know, i know it sounds crazy, but they will do anything to smear trump and i can't stand -- i mean he really turns my stomach.

but they are trying to, they are being hawkish and just trying to distract the nation, our country, from focusing on our own problems. we should pull out of there. we should have pulled out of in,r and never gone actually. that's what i think. thanks.rl, william is in orange park, florida. your reaction to the story and all of this by official folks here in washington? caller: why would you have biden on their when he said we had 100 and 23 million people that already died from the virus. as far as that guy wanting to talk about that one thing that they brought up for all them, all them charges, they will never get that guy to go under oath and talk about how he spent

35 million of our dollars. all right, william. rich, on the independent mine. welcome to the program. what's your reaction? caller: when you read something like this in the newspaper, it's almost like a treasonous act. if were given knowledge of it in ofn't act, and his denial him never receiving this information, i mean to me this should be verified and if it is proved to be true, it should be considered an act of treason that he didn't act upon it. to me this is the kind of stuff donald trumpe presidency, the reason he was impeached, the reason, you know, a lot of this stuff comes from his own mouth.

he says the russians should investigate hillary clinton and hack email. that was a treasonous statement from a person running for the presidency. ifs is why these issues, they are true and verified, the charges, these are the things that he saying and why it's going on for as long as it's going on, anybody that would be complicit in not charging or prosecuting this man, you know, is in the same boat with him as far as i'm concerned. host: rich, thank you for calling. the senate today continues to work on the defense authorization bill, a 700 and $40 billion plus bill on defense programs and policy. you can bet that they will be talking about that this week on the senate floor, in addition to briefings and

elsewhere. some of the reaction that has come in, grant wrote yesterday and over the weekend that it is imperative -- it's host: just a little bit of the reaction there. the liz cheney tweet was retweeted by many republican members of congress yesterday. democratic caller now from ohio. your reaction? caller: i called

my congressman -- i call my congressman three or four times a week and i ask him all the time, i want to go by constitutional law and rule of .aw and high moral authority of which the republican has given away to this administration. because we don't go by constitutional law. the man sitting at 1600 and sylvania avenue is the most corrupt person that this old woman has ever seen in her life. and they tolerate it. it's if it would be done by a woman, a black man or a person of color, the republicans wouldn't stand for it. but because he is old, white, and says he has money, which i don't think he does, that's the reason by he doesn't want us to see his taxes. he's totally corrupt and he should be removed from office by

the republican party today if in worldy dad fought war ii. my husband was in the vietnam war. my former son-in-law did three tours in a rack. this is what we have to deal with? corruption at every level? i wasn'tswer is briefed? who believes that? host: we will stay in ohio. west chester. deborah, your thoughts about what you have been hearing and reading about this morning? to go overust want the actual factual in nation regarding the united dates approach to russia during the biden and the obama and what trump has done. wishat the end of the presidency, russia invaded georgia, saying it was just a peacekeeping measure. george bush put sanctions on russia.

in geneva, 2009, some of your callers may remember, hillary clinton gave russia the red reset button. remember that big? she said that bush overreacted. later on, very soon into the presidency, we stop to the missile-defense that we had. that was the bush -- that was the biden obama strategy in europe. to stop the missile-defense going in poland. that was obviously a green light for russia to be able to take more latitude. obama was caught on a hot mike saying to russia by your to the second election, just wait until after the election, i will have more leeway. in 2014 russia invades ukraine. we don't give russia military lethal aid like they want, we

give them humanitarian aid. so there is no doubt. so then trump is elected. when trump is elected he starts missile-defense again in poland vigorously and it is continuing now. we put tremendous sanctions on russia. and then the other thing that we do is we give ukraine lethal military aid. it's people have got to look at factual information. we are in the worst political theater i have ever seen in my life. i'm 68. the news media can report anything, but those, those historical -- they are not historical, but those are the actual facts. biden was a part of being soft. of course russia doesn't want trump. our adversaries do not want trump. he has been tough on them. i am perplexed as to how people

can be so against policies in an soinistration and just be overwhelmed with this man's personality that i don't take it early care for myself rather than looking at policy. host: thank you for your participation in the program. more reaction from congress on either side of the aisle. host: here is a speaker nancy pelosi of the house on one of the talkshows yesterday. [video clip] >> this is as bad as it gets and get the president will not confront the russians on this score. his administration knows, some of our allies worked with us in afghanistan have been briefed and they accept this report.

just as i said to the president, with him all roads lead to vladimir putin. i don't know what they have on the president lytic, personally, financially, whatever it is, but he wants to bring back and displace the annexation of crimea and annexation of ukraine. based on what they yielded to him in syria, despite his intervention into our election, which is well documented by the intelligence community and despite, now, possibly this allegation, which we should have been briefed on. i wanted to ask you about. do you believe the president has been briefed on this and how "new yorkexplain the times," saying he wasn't in the daily brief? >> the president wants to ignore any allegation against russia.

mr. i said, with you, president, all roads lead to vladimir putin. russia is now taking it out on us, our troops. they have never gotten over their embarrassment in afghanistan. you would think the president would want to know more, instead of denying that he knew anything. host: four of your input from social media -- it's host: jeff is calling from muskogee, oklahoma.

your thoughts, your reaction to thanks for caller: my call. host: you're welcome. caller: thank you. pretty simple comment, pretty explanatory, what if president trump and vladimir putin are working together? what if they are a part of a group, you know? you know the group, the illuminati, the panama papers? all the presidents are just in line with them all. the republicans are all bought and paid for, every one of them. you might think that these lobbyists are paying them here or there, but who is the lobbyist working for? they are all part of the mafia, the illuminati area think about who they are. calling.nks for david, democratic caller, michigan. caller: thank you very much for taking my call. i really can't believe that you let these republicans view the

lies that they do, like that woman from ohio. her whole spiel was nothing but lies. typical republican bringing up previous administrations, previous people. president obama was harder on russia than any president in our history. please, you know you ought to push the button when those kinds of lies are spewing out of someone's mouth. what i want to say about this story, i'm sure it's true. all presidents are briefed. it's just more proof that traitor trump will not go against his boss, vladimir putin. you know what i say? lock him up, lock him up, lock him up. thanks. michigan,d from there. "washington post," doing their story,orting on the lead

coalition forces in afghanistan, bounties resulting in the deaths u.s. military members and several people familiar with the matter said it was not clear exactly how many americans or coalition troops from other countries may have been killed or targeted under the program and that forces in afghanistan suffered 10 deaths from hostile fire or improvised bombs in 2018. two were killed this year and in each of those years several servicemembers were killed by what is known by green on blue hostile incidents by members of the afghan security forces that are sometimes believed to have been infiltrated by the taliban. let's hear from john, now, in trenton, new jersey. caller: thanks for having me on, c-span. host: you're welcome. caller: the deal is i'm a

vietnam veteran, my father was in world war ii and my whole family hired to that has been military. if this president had done that, he's guilty of treason and if he's guilty of treason, treason carries a penalty of execution or life in prison. people whoted states are backing this president have got to realize that by supporting him, they are complicit in his debacle, ok? not,er they like it or they are complicit in his debacle. now, mitch mcconnell and all the rest of those in congress have got to own up to this. , they are they don't violating the constitution and they are guilty of treason also. war started with charlie's war during the reagan administration.

the united states interfered their is because afghanistan was looking for its freedom. vladimir putin was, vladimir putin was in the mideast a long time before that. and now he's going to go out and put a bounty on our men and arms? i think that somebody should be counted for and put in prison. we have more here from "the washington post" piece. "these people and others who discuss this, they did so host: we have bruce from mars,

pennsylvania. good morning. cashr: i know where the came from. joe biden and obama gave it to them through the iran deal. plane loads of cash. $97 billion went to the iranian military. they want -- they went to russia and bought ak bombs and missiles and they went to afghanistan. they even bought the rifles to kill our soldiers with in several state in the middle east

and nobody ever brings it up. military, they bought all of them boats to harass us and the missile technology that they are working on and even the military that's working on the atom bomb for them. it was financed by obama and biden. that money was spread for terrorism. we know they are terrorists. is on theright, frank line now from northport, new york. my comment is to the gentleman who just spoke plus the republicans from ohio. stacks onave these how you can blame the media. like to have asked her, where did you get your source from, your fax from?

my point is this, i love c-span, i love the washington journal. first of all, you get these various collins. but the age that we are living in, it's just incredible how you don't know what you are getting. i will admit, i am no fan of trump whatsoever. cnn,l tune into msnbc and but i am fully aware that this is a corporate run entity looking to get viewers and they are going to -- they are going to, you know, report what they want to report. host: would you support congressional hearings on this? caller: certainly i think this should be investigated, but personally, i am worn out on these investigations. we went through impeachment and it just seems like we are at each other's throats, you know?

we are not getting anywhere. i don't blame the republicans -- in other words, i don't fault either party. gentleman who the just wrote the book recently, john bolton, he claims that the wererats were the ones who partisan in those impeachment hearings and had they been less partisan they may have gotten somewhere. maybe he's right. i don't know. i don't think that this leader that we have is fit at all for a variety of reasons, most of which is that he's dividing us. we were probably already divided, but he has given with ourn for us hatred. thank you for letting me speak. host: thanks for calling, frank.

james in memphis, tennessee, good morning to you. caller: good morning. i'm thinking first of all you have to look at the source of the information, you have "the new york times," and the closer we get to the investigation, they are just going to throw everything on the board to see what sticks. what i think you should do is the headline with deep offered this money to kill our troops. that's what happened. when it comes down to the democratic party, you know, as far as all of these investigations? all of the crimes being unveiled, being revealed, they are going to keep pushing, you know, with whatever. the protests, one special event

after the next, because they are desperate at this point. all we need to do is replace russia with deep state and bounties to kill the u.s. troops and we probably have it right. that has always been projection. whenever democrats lame republicans of doing something, they are doing it themselves. host: here is "the wall street " headline on this where the president said he was not briefed on the information because of that inclusion. text message hear from willie.

is what john bolton had to say on "meet the press" yesterday. >> there's a lot we don't know, so we should be cautious, but from what we do know of the president's tweets this morning, looks like another day at the office in the trump white house. i never recall the circumstance where the president himself goes out of his way to say that he wasn't briefed on something. the definition of is is here. does that mean he's never been told anything about it? we don't know the all of the of the intelligence or the extent of it, if it goes back to march. it raises other questions. the key point is if there is any accuracy to it, if the russians have been paying to see americans killed, that's a very serious matter.

>> if there was an intelligence assessment like this, can you imagine a scenario where it is withheld from the president? that part is extraordinarily hard to believe. is it not for you? ofit depends on the level confidence in the intelligence. during my tenure at the white house i tried to read as much intelligence as i could. that doesn't mean i passed it all onto trunk or others. i think it is important to understand their needs to be a filter for any president, maybe particularly for this president. there is obviously more to the story, but it is pretty remarkable the president going out of his way to say he hasn't heard anything about it one would ask why at sea done something like that and the answer might be precisely because active russian aggression like that against american service members is a very, very serious matter and nothing has been done about it,

if true, for these last four or five months. look like he was negligent but he can disown everything if nobody ever told him about it. host: joe from jersey now on the democratic line. good morning. caller: we are constantly in sources. our own intel the bowing acquiescence in helsinki was staggering, southern law seeking a back channel to russia. the mother -- the mueller report, which i read and to many americans including politicians did not read. there is eyebrow raising to jaw-dropping information there. we cannot continue to stick our head in the sand and our hands in our pockets. i love my country. "also just finished reading

the origins of totalitarianism." thank you. host: thank you, joe. eloise, california, independent caller. what?: you know i believe we need an independent investigation regarding this matter. it's not about trump, it's not about obama, the republicans or the democrats. it's about our kids. my grandson went to the marines, happy and proud to protect his country. now i hear this country is not protecting him? i got a problem with that. we need a independent investigation. some people love trump more than their kids. i love no one more than our child. if i had heard about them like this during the obama watch i would be extremely upset because my grandson is out there on the front lines. he could get killed. this is no game.

time for us to quit playing politics and start worrying about our children. host: john, new jersey. how are you? caller: doing well. a couple of things. if this was an intel meeting that was leaked to the new york times, that's treason, that's treason right there. i have a big problem with that. times"y, "the new york and "the washington post" continue to come out the allegations that have no siding. we don't know who said this, where it came from, how it came to them. there are no names. again, they are talking about all of this information, but they are not siding where it's coming from. being said -- well, keep going, sorry to cut you off.

withr: the problem i have all of this, the media is complicit in the fact that because of this, the they are either treasonous because they talkinglicit in, in, and reporting about intel, or they are not siding it. now, we know the media is $.98 far, far to the left. it has been so for years and years. that's obvious, ok? you know what, it's getting absurd now. it's getting ridiculous. and here's the problem. when he keeps talking about this, it's a perfect example. when is the media going to learn? host: all of that said, what should happen next if anything? wants: if the times

credibility, and i haven't read the sunday times and years. i grew up in new york and new jersey, but if they want to have credibility again, they have got to start siding where the sources are coming from. let us know who the people are, who's actually were ordering it. do they have an agenda? are they making this up? this anonymous stop has to stop. the point.stand more from the times piece about republican reaction. mitch mcconnell of kentucky, the majority leader, said he had long warned about the russian work to undermine american interests in the middle east and wrote an amendment last year rebuking the withdrawal from syria and afghanistan --

host: a little bit more therefrom "the new york times." host: we have rachel on the line now from california. i just want to talk to

the last caller. and c-span journal" is one of the most fair media outlets i've ever listened to in my life. second, i would like to say that the gentleman from new jersey and the other lady from california are absolutely right, we need to have an investigation with this. it's ridiculous. i actually agree with john bolton, but if you read his book likeates things that president trump doesn't read his intel reports. they could have tried to brief him several times and the man doesn't like to read or listen to anyone other than his own voice. i would apologize but that's just the facts. take someone who has the audacity to steal from his own charity, his casinos, his college, and you think you have an honorable person? you yourself need to take a good look in the mirror. i'm a military brat.

i have had people serving in my family back all the way from world war ii, vietnam, my husband was in twice. he was not a military person, he's dod. my cousin, daniel, he helps to clear out -- helped to clear out fallujah. it really messed with him. i would hate to think that because of someone's ignorance, they are like -- can't deal with this right now -- that they would allow this bounty to happen to our men and women abroad fighting for our liberty. is of the utmost importance for figure -- for people to figure this out. thank you for calling. dan crenshaw, republican, former u.s. navy seal, responding by twitter to liz cheney's tweet from wyoming, another

republican, agreeing with her, saying that this was exactly right, that we needed answers. we are going to do this for just under 20 more minutes on this monday, 20 ninth of june. want to take a step back, though , to take a look at the coronavirus news out there every we do expect more discussion from congress this week but the house is going to take up some regardingotections those struggling from the pandemic. taking up aouse major health care bill today that pelosi done the floor for three hours of debate starting this morning. we are in at 10:00 for legislative business, 9:00 morning hours. the bill would expand access to the affordable care act in many ways and you can watch the debate in the house today. "usa today," 10 million cases now worldwide with my fun thousand deaths -- 500,000

deaths. "the washington journal," saying that debts may be related to , "in part because a black people's heavier reliance on public transportation for commuting." in "the wall street journal," they have a picture here on barcelona, spain, mask lists patrons enjoying a snack and headline says that mask wearing .till meets resistance from "the washington," "raising doubts, print -- pence promises help for states plagued a new by covid-19." of will notice that both

them are wearing masks during this meeting and the headline just below that says that mike pence urges mask wearing as .ases soar here's a little bit of what the vice president had to say in dallas yesterday. [video clip] >> when we issue the guidelines to open up america again, we had a phased reopening plan. texas took the plan and implemented it in a safe and responsible way but there was guidance throughout that applied to all the phases. chief among them was that people should continue to practice good hygiene, wash your hands, avoid touching your face, and wear a mask wherever indicated. or wherever you are not able to practice a kind of social distancing that would prevent the spread of "-- spread of coronavirus. we would strongly reiterate that today.

i know that roughly half the state is under local ordinances. if your local officials are directing you to wear a mask, we encourage everyone to wear a and in the affected areas where you can't maintain social distancing, wearing a mask is just a good idea. it will, we know from experience, it will slow the spread of coronavirus. host: let's hear from patricia now. what is the name of the place you live? [indiscernible] caller: yes. i would just like to address, when you start requesting forces -- sources to be named from the press, you will bring down the united states. that has been a coveted write for the press. want to attack the media, go ahead. just a couple of quick points.

it is not lost and it should not be lost on any voter going to the polls in november how they are ripping this rush of priorities and stuff, not briefed, come on people. if we start with an independent on this, we won't 2000 29.lection until ok? get over it, people. he has been our president, he is our president. we need to start backing the people we voted for and stop these independent investigations. it's not lost on the voters that this is coming out right before the election in november. please don't let it be lost on the voters. if any voter is listening, don't get sidetracked by this. we have a job to do in november citizens, democrats,

republicans, independent or just don't care and have the right to vote what willo be good for this america and if we keep backbiting the people we put in office, the constitution and everything else is going to fall like a ton of bricks. there was a place and time in this country where we voted, good, bad, our party or not, we stood up for that government. and we have to continue to do that. we are too young of a country not to. patricia, thank you for your thoughts. lizzie, good morning. caller: i disagree with her. i think that right now with the bill barr situation and the president, we have a dictator situation right now.

he's just dictating. he has no oversight. the lady that just called just set it, they don't want any oversight. so they don't want any oversight ever for investigations on anybody? that is what our government is supposed to do with everybody. not just, you know, republicans. not just democrats. everybody needs to be investigated in our government for the things that they do. that's just the way it works. right now we don't have that. so, here we are. we have russians killing our americans. that is awful. i can't even believe we have done nothing, nothing yet for them. finding out that it's true, it's an awful thing for this to happen. and i, i remember at the beginning when president trump

was elected, he was in the white house with all these russians just laughing it up, with no americans, no american reporters. this is just getting, it's pretty out there and when i think something is up, like a lot of other callers have said. you for calling from from twitter -- host: that's the facebook comment from charles. we have chuck, writing on facebook --

host: here is michael. brooklyn, new york. independent caller. caller: thanks for everything you do. you are some of the most patient people on television. host: thank you for calling. caller: i definitely support hearings. i consider this one of the most serious, in an administration where they don't seem to be able inget out of their own way seeing the nefarious this of everything they do, -- nefarious do, of everything they i'm young and i fear the direction the country is going in. sergio is on the line from schenectady, new york.

for taking myyou call. dividedu for allowing in this country. that being said, i would like to say to my fellow citizens, this is not republican versus democrat, not liberal versus conservative, it's a question of right and wrong. donald trump is doing something that is wrong and until we come together as a country and stand up and say that this is wrong, we will continue this back and forth and back and forth. donald trump is unfit for office in bc it every single day how he wants to divide the country and i just don't understand hope you cancel what the man who we know, we know is unfit for this office

. he lies, he lies every single day and as far as this even goes? is it, is he, is he an app to because he doesn't want to be briefed? or is he corrupt because he was in he's lying about it? i want everyone to think about this. i mean, this is serious. this is our country, this is treasonous. you know, once again, please consider right versus wrong. thank you for letting me voice my opinion. host: bill, democratic line, new york, hi there. please stop me if i ramble, i sometimes do. host: ok. caller: things are going as i would expect. russia is not our friend. i don't think anyone thinks russia is our friend. for -- furthermore, trump is acting like he normally does.

if he did get a briefing, and i suspect he got at least some information, or at least i would hope so, he acted in the manner that he thought was proper, don't get into a big fight with russia over this. everything, that, i'm going to vote against trump, i don't like trump, but he's our president and i think sometimes i just have to trust what he does, whether i believe what he does is correct or not. thank you. major news out of mississippi yesterday around the state flag. what we know and what is next for the bill to change the state flag, lawmakers voted to remove the confederate battle and will him from the state flag this weekend and after fierce debate the governor called the flag itself divisive and it passed the senate 37 to 14 and the house approved the bill with a vote of 84 to 35.

they have some takeaways as part of the story, that it isn't the first time lawmakers have attempted to change the flag and then they write about what's next. the governor has indicated that he will sign the bill within the coming days. law set up anto commission to design a new flag coming meaning it would be coming down across the state within the coming days in the new design will include the words in god we trust and no confederate battle emblem, according to the legislation and then voters would get to approve or reject designed in november and if it's rejected it is turned over to the commission to be redesigned. that was from "the clarion ledger" this morning. news out of a place called the villages in central, florida. a big retirement community there in the villages. presidential candidates have

historically gone down there to seek the many votes there. trump reach weeding video with white power shout outs from the villages. o host: this video shows trump supporters driving their carts through town, past anti-trump protesters and 10 seconds into the clip, trump retweeted amanda power, with his and in the air like a fist, the protester called him a racist. presidents later the

down.he tweet the white house says the president didn't hear that part of what the man said on the golf cart. here's what tim scott of south carolina had to say about it on one of the talkshows yesterday. [video clip] [video clip] it shouldn'tn, have been tweeted and he should take it down. >> does it offend you? it offends me, i'm white. ask the entire thing was offensive. certainly the comment about white power was offensive. we can play politics with that, but i'm not going to. it's indefensible, he should take it down. that's what i think. >> it did come down later -- host: the tweet did come down later in the day. alex, silver spring, maryland.

caller: i'm an afghanistan war veteran. you didn't have a channel for that specifically, so i called and where i could. host: glad you caller: caller: did. -- you did. caller: thanks for taking my call. i would like to subtly correct your statement. the legend payments that russian intelligence would pay the u.s.an for for killing soldiers, my experience in afghanistan, i was deployed to hera province in northwest afghanistan. the tail end of 2010, into 2011, under obama. that was under obama. i worked under the battalion level hq on the night shift.

was as a lower enlisted , supervising me to help compile the daily slideshow briefing that would be given to the battalion commander every morning, which would include, if anybody listening in from the army would know this, intelligence briefings that would come in regarding everything happening in rao. let me tell you, i was deployed there for a year and we had zero, zero intelligence relating anything that russia was doing to influence anything happening in our part of the region of the country. now, i will admit, this was in 2010, 2011 and that's not really the topic of conversation right now, but let me point out to everyone why in my opinion, forgive my army language coming out, this story is complete and

utter bull. they wouldnder obama have had, the russians would have had way more incentive to american soldiers. there was no love lost between obama and the russians. yet trump came in with this explicit purpose of wanting to improve relations with russia. there's no logic to this statement. there's no logic to the reasons behind why people are suggesting this would happen. this was ant the fact that this is an anonymous report from who knows where and who knows what capacity in the government is not really inspiring me to believe a whole lot of it is coming out during an election year. so forgive me for taking this with a whole pile full assault. host: thanks for calling -- a

whole pile of salt. host: thanks for calling. we have to finish early, at 9:00 today because the house is coming in for speeches. when we come back, we will talk to isabel soto, labor market policy data analyst for the american action forum, discusses to talk about covid-19's impact on child care in the united states. later, daniel gerstein of the rand corporation will join us to talk about the role of the strategic national stockpile in pandemic response. you are watching "washington journal" on monday, june 29. we will be right back. ♪ on "theht communicators," oklahoma republican congressman frank lucas. >> we have come to appreciate as a nation how absolutely important it is that we maintain our technological edge and that moving forward, we make sure it is accessible to all americans

across the landscape. i can't imagine as a member of congress how we would have functioned in this pandemic without the ability to use a variety of conferencing and communications technology. not just the traditional phone calls we use for our republican house conferences but teams,, , and aumes and webex whole variety of platforms for communication back-and-forth. not just for politics and the legislative process, listening to my friends in the industry, it has been an absolute necessity. >> oklahoma republican congressman frank lucas, tonight at 8 p.m. eastern on "the communicators" on c-span2. ♪ >> c-span has unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events. you can watch all public affairs

programming on television, online, or listen on our free radio app. be part of the national conversation through c-span's "aily "washington journal programs or our social media feeds. c-span, created by america's cable television companies as a public service, and brought to you today by television provider. ♪ host: we are talking now with isabel soto, labor market policy data analyst for the american action forum. thank you for joining us. isabel, can you hear us? lost our guest. we will try to bring her back as soon as you can and check the microphones and see if we can get a connection with isabel

soto, we were bringing her on to talk about the impact of covid-19 on child care here in the united states. our guest is with the american action forum,. she is a labor market policy analyst. we will see if we can get her back and talk to her about the state of child care here in the country, because a lot has been changing. we look forward to getting your calls on this. one of the stories regarding this childcare issue has to do with a potential bailout. elizabeth warren and tina smith are two of the senators who would like to offer money for the childcare industry. here is a bit of detail on what the two senators would like to do. they would like emergency funding to keep childcare available to frontline and essential workers. they would like aid to keep providers in business, and to keep all workers on payroll.

they would like long-term investors to prepare the child market for on when americans get back to work. that is from elizabeth warren and tina smith. we hope we can get our guest back and ask about this a lot ask aboutut also -- this bailout proposal and also the condition of childcare in this country. cnbc followed on the elizabeth warren story, urging them to keep childcare providers afloat. nearly half of daycares, they write, preschools and childcare centers in the country were forced to temporarily close during the pandemic, and many are struggling to reopen. without any federal or state or financial support, that is just part of the story. i think we are getting a couple of calls now on this topic, even the our guest is not here. from clarksville, tennessee, are you on the line? caller: yes, i am here. host: are you calling about

childcare? caller: i am and i want to comment on other things. first and foremost, let me thank the tv stations. and we were back in 1817 -- 1917 when we had the last pandemic, we would not be getting the news that we get. the people in the industry, in a kind of television assistance, we would not have access to all of this knowledge or information. back to childcare. it is difficult for me to see children going back to daycares because we know children don't know anything about social distancing. and the childcare workers would be constantly trying to keep those children apart. it may not be an economic positive for them, because they

would have to limit the numbers of children that may be in their care otherwise. givethink we have to becauseation for them they don't have the capacity to limit their class sizes to 10 or five children. very ok, beulah, thank you much for calling. we have isabel soto back. she is with the american action forum. can you hear us ok? caller: i can hear you now. thanks for having me. host: thank you. we wanted to get your sense -- you are an analyst at the american action forum -- what the condition of childcare in the u.s. was before covid-19 hit, and how you would describe it today. guest: before covid-19, we already had a childcare capacity problem. there weren't enough centers,

there was too many children conditions were not good,. and the quality was not up to par. pandemic wento the were seeing a system that was already broken, only exacerbated by this problem. post ae stand today is whole bunch of state shutdowns and limited capacity, it led to 30% of childcare workers being laid off. now we are in the stage where we are trying to regain some of economic gains we have had over the last year, get people back to work. parents are going to struggle to be a will to find affordable and available childcare as they look to return to work. host: the phone numbers are on the screen for our guest, isabel soto. parents, call 202-748-8000.

, 202-748-8001. everybody else, 202-748-8002. our guest is isabel soto with .he american national forum explain what the american national form -- american action form is, what its mission is. please tell us about your organization. callerguest: we are a center-rit think tank. we focus on rapid response policy piece is to reform the public that inform the public -- policy pieces to inform the public and inform policymakers on the hill. we are a 501(c)(3). i stand by everything that i write. host: let us hear from a senior policy analyst for early childhood policy at the center progress.an

he testified at a hearing this past week on top gear and covid-19 and addressed the impact on covid-19 on childcare facilities. [video clip] >> one third of the childcare workforce lost their jobs in april. those jobs may not come back without public investment. revenues have been submitted due enrollment, while operating costs associated with reopening have increased dramatically. without federal funds to support the physical infrastructure of childcare facilities, we should expect diminished childcare supply, which could inhibit our economic recovery. to this point, the center for american progress yesterday published on open letter, to policy makers signed by 100 prominent economists stating them a quote, "ineffective government response to the childcare crisis will play a vital role in the reopening of workplaces." -- myee and concern

sincere concern is that without investment in our childcare infrastructure, we could lose as much as half of our country's childcare capacity. ultimately, we could be left with our childcare system only accessible for the privileged, limiting access for the children for whom the benefits of childcare are the greatest. we risk economically disastrous outcomes, as women take on more and more unpaid childcare duties and put their careers on hold or reduce their hours worked. host: isabel soto, he is saying that childcare will be greatly reduced available to only a few and lots of economic fallout from this. what is your take on all of this? guest: i think that is absolutely right. a lack ofn is that childcare is going to make it much harder for people to return to work. as much as we would like to see the v-shaped economic recovery, we are looking at about 30 million parents who might face a

challenge and not be able to go straight back to work because of these childcare concerns. the other thing i heard is that we need some federal support. this is an ongoing problem, not new. a lot of people have tried to find solutions, and the pandemic is really just highlighting that something needs to be done. the question is, what should be done? the federal government has already given aid through the c.a.r.e.s. act, provided options through the family first act.avirus response when it comes to policy, we need to be very cautious. publicin a crisis of health as well as of childcare and eight trying to work crisis. related to make sure the policies we put forward don't long-term. worse host: you mentioned what government can do. we have touched a little bit on the bailout proposal by senators warner and smith $50 billion.

-- senators warren and smith, $50 billion. to us what you know about this particular proposal. is a generating a lot of dialogue on the health and -- is it generating a lot of dialogue on the hill and does it have a chance of passing? many. this is one of there are a lot of proposals to increase funding by the millions and billions. we have already done some of this the c.a.r.e.s. act by allocating $3.5 billion to stabilize childcare through a block grant. this is one option, is to put more federal money into childcare. my concern with the specific bailout option as well as with others that are similar is that this is a temporary solution, it is not going to mean long-term stability for childcare. what it is going to mean is continued government funds going to childcare.

the government is going to start seeing a charge of raising children. it will cause a logistical nightmare. and there are no quality control measures on this thing. furthermore, it could have the risk of pushing out civic society options like informal care. why would you you call your trusted neighbor, friend or family member to take care of your child if there is a free government program? my concern is not only does it mean more money being spent on the taxpayer, but also weakening important social bonds and informal childcare networks. host: a lot of talk in this country in recent weeks has been businesses reopening, parents considering going back to work, at least in parts of the country. see childcare looking like in this country post-covid?

what does the physical structure look like? how do these childcare facilities move on and create a business that can be run and provide a service for folks. host guest: the first thing to know, there are a couple of different ways you can choose to do childcare. the one people typically think of is a part of it, formalized -- a private, formalized center where you take your child and drop them off, and there are a number of other children their. the other thing is home-based centers, a lot more informal and a lot more localized. actually at someone's house. then there is in formal care and informal networks. so we have a patchwork of options available to parents. during covid, what has really been affected has been private care centers. that is mainly where we are seeing a lot of the closures. the home-based, more localized centers have seen a decline since 2005, the number of those

started to decline. on the informal side, there is a public health concern as well. dropped the kids off at their grandparents because of concerns around the virus. we are seeing an extremely limited capacity and fewer and fewer options for parents, forcing them to either choose between going back to work and supporting their family, or staying home with their children. it's a very serious problem we are dealing with right now. host: what is your take on the role and responsibilities of employers in a situation like this, somebody who wants to go back to the office and needs the help, what would you say to employees in this country? ,uest: on the employer side that is also difficult because you have small businesses that struggling. that have been hit very, very hard and may not be in a position to offer additional

support for parents. in certain industries, it might not be possible to offer some of the flexibility that parents need. we have seen this huge movement building over the last couple of years of paid family leave. included in that is paid leave for childcare. companies in the private sector have started to follow up on that and give options, make a more flexible work schedule. that will be something really interesting to look at moving forward, especially considering that now, the people who have jobs, a lot of them are working remotely and have been able to do so relatively successfully. it will be interesting looking at what the private sector does in response to this childcare problem, because they certainly don't want to lose employees that they have invested in and they have trained. so they might choose to make the work schedule more flexible, might choose to offer things like paid leave. folks, theinder,

numbers to call if you're a 202-748-8000. --loyers, 20274 202-748-8001 is your number. all others, 202-748-8002. go ahead, please. caller: good morning, paul. host: how are you? caller: doing very well. caller: good morning, isabel, how are you? guest: doing very well. caller: it is an honor. my question to you is this, how would your organization help, especially when a child do get sick and whatnot, how can you all help these children who are in improving their health and so forth, and parents

who want to go back to work, how can you help that situation? sergio.anks, guest: thank you for the question. you bring up an interesting point. with the coronavirus, we still don't know what we're dealing with. we have seen cases of children with the virus. it does seem to affect older populations more. this is another element to the silencing act of work child -- to this balancing act of work, childcare care, and the public safety problem. even if we are able to go back to full supply, can parents feel comfortable bringing their children into a center where there are other children who have been potentially exposed to adults or maybe are carrying the coronavirus, and bring that home with them again? that is a really important

point, with children who are sick. the other side of that is the paid leave question. it can take up to about 12 weeks under the new legislation, under the second coronavirus package to either take care of a child or take care of a sick family member. that is a short-term option you can take as an individual or as a worker. fred,from boise, idaho you are on with isabel soto from the american action forum. caller: hello. is that it can't possibly hurt to pray for these people that have the virus in their families. ok? that can't possibly hurt at all. host: anything about daycare it sells and the future of that service in this country amid covid? caller: i don't have any children, but i think it is there.

a lot of people need help because the cost of daycare is skyrocketing? guest: thanks for calling. host: isabel soto, speaking of costs, would you expect costs to rise further when services are back in place amid the pandemic? guest: yeah. another really important point is the cost side. we have already seen the childcare costs rising and rising even over the last 40 years. it has been rising faster than just about any other consumer good. with the pandemic, we are seeing a lot of regulation. regulations and implementing them and following them cost a lot of money. my childcare situation, you want to make sure childcare workers have masks. children and workers are washing their hands. costs are significantly going to that,not just because of

but now, childcare centers in a lot of states are limiting the actual classroom size to 10 children. so that is going to mean less money coming in that what they would expect, which would mean a costs. that is the other side of the coin, is costs are rising. workers are seeing lost wages, layoffs, furloughs, as well as cut hours. is in reston, virginia. caller: good morning. the problem with dealing with the kids is going to be ongoing. and i know that school teachers will are ready to pull their hair out of their heads. i think what they need to do, they will have to have partial classrooms but still warehouse the kids. they can leave them in the library,to the gym, and cafeteria, and just modify

the area so they are not .reathing each other's air you know, they will just have to reschedule. the building facilities, i think, are functional, they just have to redo the air system so the kids are not breathing each other's air. i don't know what other possibilities there are. host: all right, thanks, let's guest.esponse from our more about the physical structure of what a day care center or day care facility might look like in the future following covid. guest: so, the other element outside formalized there is goals. have said they will definitely be reopened for the fall. college campuses said they will be doing without further what learning. we are a completely different pace than we have seen where we

not only have to restructure day care centers, but schools. a lot of schools not only are experimenting with remote learning, networking for -- but working on how space will be utilized. there is talk of sectioning off the grounds, having children's go in shifts to the playgrounds. so this is going to look very different. from there it class-size, rotating schedules. in louisiana, you can't even visible lunchbox, brown bag lunches will come back in an effort to curtail the virus and making sure the reopening does not cause a huge spike in cases. host: let's go to robert in southern california. caller: thank you very much.

isabel, i hope you are well. thatt wanted to comment things have changed over time here, as i have grown up. , asi wanted to say that time has changed, it is much familiesrtant now for to be able to afford to live. and in that respect, two people need to work to afford to live in our society, which has been created by people that i feel you are. , you must allow for the fact that they need

childcare, or we as a people will cease to exist. we will run out people to survive or continue with life. or taking away childcare disparaging childcare for families that need it in order to survive, is not a way forward, -- host: robert, thanks for calling. let's hear from our guest. guest: that is a good point. for some people, this is not just an inconvenience -- i have my child at home, it is difficult for me to focus when i go to work -- this will really

affect specifically low-wage workers who have to get back to work as soon as possible because of their financial and economic situation. so this problem, while it is affecting everyone, we need to keep in mind, as the caller said, a lot of people, this is a lot more about survival and being able to be self-sufficient and to be able to take care of your family. a quick note on who this is actually affecting, we also want to keep in mind that this is going to disproportionately affect women. especially single-parent households run by a mother. today we saw women taking care of the majority of childcare needs. we want to make sure that we can support those people and be able to safely get back to work, safely get back to some form of childcare as well. host: silas is calling from

vermont. welcome to the program. caller: thank you for taking my call. i have a relative who was in the early childhood development business, who actually had an advanced degree in this area and left the industry, left the job -- because of the challenges pre-covid with opioid addicted parents who were neglecting their children at home and would show up in the day care centers with very disruptive personalities, almost because theu will, parents were thinking of their drugs, not the kids, all the time. this was the challenge already going into covid. menu have covid on top, it is a

hold a situation. you have very qualified individuals leaving the industry pre-covid already. that was just a comment i wanted to make. you throw that into the mix, and it is extremely interesting to see what we can do about all of this going forward. so it is not just one topic that is challenging. host: let's get a response from our guest, isabel soto. guest: that is a great point, bringing up the opioid epidemic, it is actually the issue i care a lot about. with the childcare problem, because there are parents that are addicted to drugs, we have seen actually a shift of the care,ew years to kinship having other relatives, uncles or grandparents taking on the role of caretaker. so that they can actually support the child. so you have this added challenge dealing with the

addiction of a family member and then having to find childcare to be able to just support the rest of the family and enable those people who are taking on that added responsibility of taking care of a child to be able to go back to work. and pay for the childcare that they need. that is a really great point. thank you for bringing that up. host: our guest has been isabel soto the labor market policy data analyst for the american action forum. thank you so much for your time and your insight this morning. guest: thank you so much. host: we will take another short timeout. 30 minutes left of the "washington journal." we will talk about something called the strategic national stockpile and how it relates to the pandemic response. our guest will be daniel gerstein of the rand corporation. we will be right back. ♪

>> tonight on "the communicators ," oklahoma congressman frank lucas. >> we have come to appreciate how important it is we maintain technological edge and that moving forward, we make sure it is accessible to all americans across the landscape. i can't imagine as a member of congress how we would have functioned in this pandemic without the ability to use a variety of conferencing and communications technology, not just the traditional phone calls we use for our republican house conferences, that teams, zoom, webex. not just in politics and in the legislative process, listening to my friends in the industry, it has been an absolute necessity. >> ranking member of the house science committee, oklahoma congressman frank lucas, tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on "the

communicators" on c-span two. ♪ ." from presidents/ public affairs. available now in paperback and e-book. presents biographies of every president organized by ranking by noted historians, from best to worst, and features perspectives into the lives of our nation's chief executives and their leadership styles. visit c-span.org/boughtpresidents to learn more about -- visit c-span.org/thepresidents to learn more about each presidents and their futures. continues. journal" host: our guest now is daniel gerstein of the rand corporation senior policy researcher and also former undersecretary -- acting under secretary of the department of homeland security. and deputy undersecretary at 1.4

the committee on science and biology. thank you for joining us. guest: thank you for having me. host: we asked you on to talk about something called the strategic national stockpile as we continue to go through the pandemic. what is it, and how does it work? guest: it's got a very interesting history. it was formed by president 1999.n back in he had read a book on bioterrorism, and that is where the story starts. we didn't have a stockpile for a bioterrorism event. ,o under his administration intoput about $51 million buying medical countermeasures, medical equipment, the kinds of things that would be useful in a bioterrorism incident. it has been used over the course of history. initially during the anthrax attacks in 2001.

it was renamed in 2003 to be the strategic national stockpile. here is where it gets interesting. over the course of its history, it has continued to pick up new missions including not just bioterrorism, but also b biological, radiological, nuclear-type response as well as responding to all hazards, such as hurricanes and other natural disasters. ?ost: so is it be funded enough who oversees the stockpile? the reason we have you on is, what is the role of the stockpile currently, most currently amid this pandemic? guest: a lot of questions better. is it funded enough -- a lot of questions there. is it funded enough? not for what we are asking it to do. it currently has about $7 billion to $8 billion worth of

supplies in the stockpile, all hazardous supplies. $570 million about a year just for the maintenance of the stockpile. you have to rotate stocks. you have to make sure it stays viable. then you have to pay the bills, if you were. is,hat we have found here not a surprise, because we have known for a long time that in the case of a national emergency, that the stockpile is intended to provide support in the early parts of a pandemic gorsuc, but over time, we expect the supply chains would be activated and decisions would be made so that we could get things like personal protective equipment through other sources. host: phone numbers are on the

bottom of the screen for our guest. live48-8000 if you in the eastern and central time zones. mountain and pacific time zones, 202-748-8001. our guest is daniel gerstein of the rand corporation. he testified at a recent hearing of the homeland security committee. i want to show a small clip of chairman johnson from wisconsin at the hearing, he is getting to the point of the purpose, the role of the stockpile. video clip] >> strategic national stockpile in play have got this massive implies we have got this massive amount of well thought out supplies and we have them adequately stocked to handle pandemics. there is nothing in the mission statement that even talks about the level of supplies we need five massive pandemic like we are going through right now. that's the role we

expect the strategic national stockpile to play, we need to articulate and codify that. from my standpoint, the first step was congress, we have to articulate the mission statement we intend. we need to assign the proper roles between local, state, and federal government. the next step is going to be to lay out that list. host: daniel gerstein, your reaction to the senator. guest: i gave five recommendations, and several of my recommendations are actually embedded in what senator johnson talk about. the definition has to be agreed. we have to decide what we want the stockpile to be, then we have to adequately resource it. it cannot be something we do a pickup game on the day of the event. we have to be ready to go and understand what the expectations are. i have actually come up with something i call the strategic national supply chain approach.

under that, the sns would be a part of that national supply chain, but we would also have things like warm lines for key equipment that we needed, that you don't need to stock on a daily basis, but given a handful of weeks'notice, we could begin to ramp up our distribution systems. also, understanding where we are getting supplies. there are some supplies that come from various parts of the world because they have to come from there. there is something for a vaccine that comes from chile, the only place where it is available. we have to understand how we requirements.our daniel gerstein from the

strategic national stockpile. let's hear from brian in ohio, brian, you're on the air. caller: i retired from fire and rescue in palm beach county. we bring a lot of advanced life-support. we had to go through all of our meds and our iv bags and their activation dates. my question is, if you are going to have a stockpile of masks and things like that, what is the shelf life? would you have to throw them out and restock it? guest: you obviously are an expert, so you understand what the problems are with maintaining a stockpile, it is no good if it is out of date. that is exactly right. about $570 it costs million a year to rotate the stocks, to ensure that the right types of equipment are there. one of the problems is all of this expires on different timelines. so we have the nerve agent

antidotes, for example, that have one shelf life. we have anti-serums for modular nomura talks sing -- bunch of the -- for your toxins that have one shelf life and other equipment that has different shelf life. it is a problem having to maintain the shelf life of all those different equipment and all these hazards which i know you know very well. host: from new york, jeff, good morning to you. caller: thank you for taking my call. mr. gerstein, i have been listening to your comments and i totally agree with your approach about how complete an indigenous supply chain needs to be. it needs to be well-funded. however, there is a point, sustainability. if the pendulum swings politically about how well these things will be funded -- i believe the best solution would

be to have what is the equivalent of the federal reserve, in terms of autonomy, for funding the national stockpile, so that somebody would be approved by congress. that would span more than one presidential term. he could not be fired without cause. his job would be similar to the federal reserve, to make sure the stockpile is maintained, the logistics are in place, there is a contact tracing force ready to be deployed and trained, the whole nine yards. but it would be maintained and funded independently and completely without influence of political problems that we are experiencing now. i would also point out that it is not just the current pandemic. if you go back and look at previous pandemics, that time it ,akes for a political response from the time a public emergency

w.h.o.,red from the basically an emergency of international concern, the time it takes after that for certain countries, including the united states to act, is very, very long. and it costs tremendous amount of lives. especially this pandemic. pandemic have the agency, if you would like to call it that, not do duplicate work, but have the authority to egin contact tracing and tes, because the supply chain will already include all the research needed to do that and it is fast and possible. it would be on autopilot. it would not step over the bounds of what elected officials are, their responsibilities in terms of quarantine. but we can begin to begin contact tracing. look at south korea and taiwan,

how well they have done in this he populated areas, compared to the united states. we are talking in the neighborhood of a few hundred, compared to 135,000 now. host: jeff, thank you for calling. let's hear from mr. gerstein. guest: you bring up some very interesting points. certainly, the transfer of the national stockpile from the centers for disease control and prevention to the estate and secretary for pandemic preparedness and response within health and human services probably was not very useful for what we are encountering now. in the process of doing that, there was more focus put on terrorism and not on pandemics, which, in many respects, are the most difficult threats we will face. certainly, i agree that we need apolitical approach

to pandemic response. we can allow it to be at the whim of any particular administration. this is one of the reasons why i that theor insuring definition of the strategic national stockpile, that is, the expectations for what we want that stockpile to accomplish, needs to be codified in law and not subject to the whims of any particular political administration. i think we are largely in agreement. the details, though, i think we have to be careful about disconnecting areas that perhaps are not working quite as well based on how the current administration handled the response. host: another voice from the hearing that our guest testified

was a ranking member peters from michigan. he said it is a national concern. here is more of what he had to say. [video clip] >> we must provide funding to all of our pandemic response efforts and also ensure our national stockpile is well-maintained and prepared to address a broad range of possible threats. we must improve the communication between states and the federal government regarding available resources, and strengthen the federal government's role in managing supplies in this and other future crises. finally, we must take steps to address our overreliance on foreign, manufacturers of critical drugs and supplies. this is a serious national security vulnerability. the pandemic has only further highlighted just how significant this risk is to the health and people.f the american

host: daniel gerstein, pick up on the point from senator peters about the relationship between the federal government and the states when it comes to something like the national strategic stockpile. as we know during the covid crisis we have been going through, there has been a lot of back and forth between the relationship between the state and the government. apply that to this stockpile. guest: absolutely. we always say in emergency management and disaster response that all response is local. we mean that the states and local authorities in particular have the hands-on, they are the ones doing the response. goingur system is set up, all the way back to 1803, actually, when a major flood hit the northeast. the idea is that when the locals are all the want, then the state steps up and assists. when the states are overwhelmed,

the federal government is intended to come in. in this particular case, what you saw was thought to the federal government was very slow to act. the supply chains were not activated. by the time we started to try to activate the national supply be able to would bring us some of this equipment, the protective equipment that we needed, we were in a global competition and all countries were in search of the same types of equipment -- facemasks, the and 95 respirators -- the n95 respirators, even things like ventilators. it turned into this competition that was very unhelpful. of the shed, the response does needs to be local. very important. -- at the end of the day, the response does need to be local. very important.

played out with testing. there were reports frequently about how testing for antibody testing are very inaccurate. there are many that were not really approved that were on the market, and one of the things that we want the federal government to do is to be able to ensure that the equipment that is being used is operational, that it does work as intended, and the federal government actually dropped the ball on this. the fda did not approve of those tests, did not do the analysis on those tests. in the interest of getting them all quickly, you had tests on the market which were not viable . call is from lowering in california, good morning. caller: good morning. can't exist if you

have newly infected people being brought in because like in texas and florida they opened up in may, and now, five or six weeks later, they are having another spike in infections. the rumor in that area is that they are bringing people from somewhere, maybe china, i don't know, purposely infecting them to restart the pandemic. can any stockpile stand against that kind of stuff? host: daniel gerstein, and the reaction to that? guest: let me first react to this rumor. i would say, there is no evidence that people are being deliberately brought to the country to in fact people. in fact, it is really our failure to communicate with the american people, the political authorities did not communicate well what needed to be done. you are still having problems with people understanding why

wearing a facemask is important not only for you, but also those around you and for those people that you'll come in contact with. so on that account, i would say beenour communication has very poor. with regard to the strategic national stockpile and this new slot of infections -- i will not call it a second way because i don't think we got done with the tost wave -- with respect taking care of those people who are now infected, we are seeing shortages.pes of perhaps not as much as we saw initially with the p.p.e., the personal protective equipment, but suddenly, we are seeing shortages of icu beds and other types of equipment. some of the therapeutics that

could be useful, for example, serum fromescence se those who have been infected and have antibodies that could be used to treat people who actively have the disease. so, yes, we are experiencing shortages. we will likely continue to see those shortages. host: a couple of questions, one of them by of your who sent a text. paul from honolulu. mr. gerstein, would it not be better to have industries currently building p.p.e.s to be on alert and ready to create them at a crisis, versus the p.p.e. dying on the shelf? interesting question. guest: you raise a good point. that is one of the things that in my approach of thinking about having a national strategic supply chain we would have to look at what is the proper mix?

you certainly want to have some on the shelf that would be ready immediately. but, as you suggest, it would be very useful to have vendors that we would have to pay a stipend or subsidy, who are readily available to begin production should it be needed. it probably requires a mix of strategies that starts with the stockpile but then also includes very rapidly being able to spin up the industries to provide those necessary pieces of equipment and medical countermeasures. host: your opinion on this question from wild and wonderful on twitter -- should we ever rely on foreign nations for our supply of p.p.e. and other essential items and equipment? guest: so this is a really interesting question. the reason we have a lot of foreign manufacturers, foreign

vendors for components of the stockpile, to include some of the masks, is that we made and our medical system is based on a just-in-time delivery. many of the manufacturers have been offshore. if we wanted to have u.s. manufacturers, it means it will be more costly. you are already, i am sure, your healtht for care. imagine if you are having to pay 20% or 30% more for masks for the doctors who would be treating you if you needed an usingion because you are u.s. vendors? many of the health management organizations, the people who are delivering the health care delivery for our country, they are making economic decisions. they are running a business in addition to providing a service.

so we would see an increase in costs in all likelihood. somebody would have to bear those additional costs, whether that is the individual, whether that is the health care provider, or whether that is the government in terms of subsidies. it is a difficult question, and we need to look hard and look at how to best provide so that we are not caught flat-footed again. host: a couple of other calls in a moment. once a vaccine has developed for covid-19, for this coronavirus, would the strategic stockpile hold some of that vaccine? how might that work? guest: that is a good question. right now, the stockpile does hold a couple of 300 million or so doses of smallpox vaccine. obviously a very different

disease, very, very, very high mortality, 30% mortality, whereas is this is probably mortality.n the .01% very different in terms of its potential risk. , thereall likelihood would be either a pipeline so that we could rapidly get the vaccine should we need it again, in theould be held stockpile. what i think is interesting that we have not talked about, but i brought up in my testimony, was, i am interested to see as start planning on distribution of a vaccine for covid-19. even though a vaccine is probably six months at best case into the future, we need to be thinking now about how we're going to do the distribution. who is going to pay for it? is this going to be something where we depend on individuals

through their health care providers, or are we going to say the government will pay, and anybody who wants a vaccine will get it? those two strategies will definitely affect who gets a vaccine. if you are trying to think about public health, you want everybody to be vaccinated, that might suggest a different approach. which is the government doing that paying for it. host: shall be is calling from tennessee -- shelby. caller: hi, daniel. stole a lot of my thunder, but i want to say, this past year, i found out that medication i am .n comes from china i was surprised, i did not know. i don't understand why in the world is the united states, our

brilliance, our experience, our capability of stockpiling, starting of pharmaceutical companies, our manufacturing companies back here in the united states. if it all boils down to greed, which is my belief, because of getting things cheaper from other countries, especially the ones that are terrorists -- horrible, horrible people -- there is not excuse. the government has failed us. area wereicals in my taken out publicly a couple of decades ago. we lost all kinds of work. millions were out of work. we are still struggling. i believe itget -- all boils back down to greed and government. there is not excuse. we have got the brightness and

thatbility to do all other countries are doing. host: shelby, thanks for calling. guest: i think, i would rephrase some of that, but i would say is making a very interesting point, and that is we have made decisions made on -- based on economics more so than on our effectiveness. offshored a great deal of the manufacturing in some cases, particularly with respect to pharmaceuticals. it all comes down to cost. drug prescription prices in this country, the maintenance of them, it is a very expensive proposition. there is this desire to save on those kinds of precursors that

go into the pharmaceuticals, the active pharmaceutical ingredients, as we say. unless a decision is made to try to bring some of that back for national security purposes, we are likely to see the supply chains continue to function as they have, and decisions made that cause some of these needed be partiallyo made, manufactured, or completely made overseas. host: a quick call from barber in oklahoma city. caller: sorry, i have two things. said theyt when -- owned our equipment. i thought i knew then. $80, that is just crazy. they are making a fortune off this pandemic.

and,this man coming here we didn't have very many cases. they went up to 10,000. i don't think it was from him. . i think next saturday, watch oklahoma, because it will be spiking up because of him coming here. thank god only 6000 showed up. host: barbera, think you for calling. final comment regarding the national strategic stockpile? guest: i think we are going to need in national strategic stockpile well into the future. i do think we need to think more strategically about where we get supplies from, how do we outfit that stockpile, but also, what are the timelines under which we expect to be able to deliver equipment. part of god is confined, what do we want the sns -- part of that

is to define, what we want the sns to actually do for us. host: daniel gerstein, thank you for your time this morning. guest: thank you. host: and thanks to everybody who called in. here is the morning hour. the house legislative business at 10:00. enjoy your day. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's room, 29, 2020., d.c., june i hereby appoint the honorable to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, nancy pelosi, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: order of thehe house of january 7, 2020, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour debate.