country continue to make covid-19 about the southern border. covid-19 didn't come through the southern border. it didn't come from mexico. quite the opposite. mexico had much smaller, very small number of cases and was concerned that americans were bringing it over by going south. what do we have now? the e.u., the european union won't even allow americans to go there because of how poorly this administration has handled the coronavirus. and how we continue not to have a national strategy. we have to all do our part. in the community we all need to do our part. this is going to be up to every single one of us whether we help stop the straight ahead and flatten in curve. let's do our part and start by wearing a mask. start by doing a social distancing. and being mindful of our fellow americans. host: representative in a net

barragan of california who serves the 44th district. >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us is former representative from indiana, david mcintosh. he served from 1995 to 2001. he is now the president of club for growth. thanks for joining us. guest: great to be with you. host: remind the viewers about the mission of club for growth. guest: we are the leading advocacy group for limited government and free market economic policies. we push for those in congress. we also have two political action committees that support candidates for congress and for senate who are champions for those issues. and we have been very active this year in the republican primaries in supporting candidates that we think will be great future leaders and strong supporters of pro-growth, free market economic policies. host: what kind of spending have you done in previous cycles? what do you plan to do for this one? guest: in the last cycles we averaged probably around $15

million to $20 million. this cycle i think we are -- our budget will be over $35 million. we have already spent $15 million in the primaries behind some great candidates. people like nick, nancy mace. we just had a good result a few weeks ago with rich mccormack in georgia. and so i'm very happy that as these elections have started back up we are seeing some really wonderful, tremendous future leaders emerge and we are able to support them and they are able to win their primaries to get ready for the fall. host: what's the reasoning behind the higher bump this cycle? guest: i think people are looking at the problems we are facing today. the economic shutdown created enormous unemployment. and job dislocation. i was delighted with the job numbers today that showed both in may and june we are starting to recover. people are rehiring. i think they are looking for

members of congress to be attuned to that so that we can see a return to a really strong, robust economy. host: does it connect to any concern that you have about losing the senate? guest: we also have very active in senate races. we are supporting tommy tuberville in alabama who, i think, will be a great challenger for doug jones. be able to let republicans take back a seat there. we are also supporting steve danes in montana, who drew a really strong challenge from governor bullet. i think it is important that majority be maintained. my sense is we are going to have some strong candidates there. it's going to be hard fought in about six different races. i think republicans should be able to keep that majority. host: is that only from the races that you mentioned or overall the mood as far as keeping it in republican hands after november? guest: i think keeping it in republican hands. people see what's at stake on

the economic issues, supreme court appointments. if there is a vacancy there. and they are looking at the differences. the democrats have enormous pressure to move far to the left to embrace the new green deal. to support government takeover of health care. i think that's hurting their candidates down ticket where the republicans can lay out a vision that let lets people see they are going to once again be building back the economy and let it

and crisis in terms of what we need to do to address policing to make sure that it's strong and robust, but also fair and ust. and i think what you're seeing is joe biden's been able to avoid most of those issues for the last three or four months.

essentially what we see in polling is when you ask a question, are you for a candidate, donald trump or generic democrat? generally the generic democrat does better than any named candidate. it's just a phenomena everybody reads into generic democrat. their ideal version of a candidate. joe biden's kind of been able to take that status. he's not defined. he's been out of the public eye. and i think what needs to happen next is the president and his team have to start to define the difference between the two. the president will lay out his agenda for the next four years. i think he's road testing that ith some of the rallies.

and then he'll define the contrast between biden and him. then you'll see the polls start to narrow. and i think in the end the president's message will be successful. host: let's go to some calls for you. this starts off with allen in wisconsin. independent line with dave mcintosh of club for growth. you're on. caller: good morning. yes. speaking of big government. the worst big government problem that we have in this country right now. and this is the wild west of politics. is student loans. the $2 trillion is own. the government owns 930% of the debt. we need fiscal stimulus right now. the president could cancel these loans by executive order without one dime of cash money needed. without one penny added to the national debt. that's $55 million voters. what does david think about that? is he a true conservative or fake conservative? part of the swamp or for the people? that's what i want to know. host: mr. mcintosh. guest: thank you for that question. i think it would be a terrible idea to cancel those loans because it sends a message for everybody in the future i can borrow money and not have to pay it back.

that, frankly, doesn't work in a free market economy. i think when people have taken these loans, the government, you're right, has taken them over, which has been a disaster. it used to be when they were in private hands the lenders would work with people so they could each them how to repay those loans. and these students as they left college and started their careers had that assistance of these private lenders, helping them work it out and be able to take responsibility for that. and frankly build up a credit record that when they borrow money they repay it. if you start having on your credit record that you don't repay your loans, then you can't get insurance. you can't get a mortgage on a house. it would be a total disaster to the financial system and, frankly, be a total disservice to those 55 million borrowers to suddenly say we are going to forgive them all and can you borrow money and you don't have to pay it back. plus, think about the fairness factor of this.

what about all the people who actually have paid back their student loans and now they are being asked to pay more taxes so that these loans can be forgiven? terrible idea. host: cameron in nevada, issouri. independent line. cameron in missouri, hello? we'll try one more time. cameron, hello? i believe -- let's try this one. cameron, are you there? caller: yes, i'm here. host: go ahead. caller: hi. mr. mcintosh, i would just like to get your opinion on some things here. do you think that this whole coronavirus thing is -- do you think that we are opening up too soon? our economy, especially since ow we have the biggest stock

market crash since the great depression? because for the life of me i can't seem to understand why we are continuing to open everything up when obviously there's a surge in cases. i believe this country needs to come together and we need to really -- all of us should come together and pray and unify itself so that we at least asked god to help us get through this. what do you think about that? guest: cameron, i'm also a big believer personally in a god who will look out for our country and to pray and ask him for that. thank you for that. yes, we need to do that. that's my personal opinion. club for growth doesn't take a position on issues like that. let me talk about a little bit on that tradeoff with the coronavirus versus the economy. what we are seeing in a lot of areas of the country is that the virus continues to remain very low incident rates. we should encourage those areas to stay open and reopen in their economic activity so people can go back to work and get their jobs. but in some very concentrated, urban areas it was like, i think miami-dade county in florida. los angeles county in california, they are seeing a

second spike in the incidents in coronavirus. there what the medical experts ave said for a long time is we have to keep the curve flattened. what they are telling us is, this virus is going to spread. i think angela merkel was the one politician who was honest about it and said, look, half of germany's going to get it. it's going to spread. but what we need to do is make sure our hospital system can treat the patients when they get it. because if we can treat them and treat them early, almost everybody can survive and then o back to life and healthy person. there are individuals that don't and that's always really sad. ut what we need to do is let the counties and cities make those tradeoffs between opening the economy and protecting people from the virus.

and the key metrics, the ones that - like the governor of texas i heard him articulate this very well, when the hospitalization reached 80%, he said that's getting close to capacity. i think it's time we reverse a little bit. step back and see if we can, again, flatten the curve. then let people go back to full activities after we have been able to do that. it's a hard, hard decision for people to make. the virus, we didn't know much about it when it started. they know more now. they recommend people wear masks. which is a way of cutting down the personal risk for everybody. but in the end you're right, our hands -- our fate is not in our hands. it's in a loving god and we should also ask him for his help and peace and protection in this time. host: do you think the trump administration is doing enough to provide enough certainty to give those businesses, to give those states something to go on when it decides to pull back on certain things or open up certain things? guest: i think they have given tremendous leeway to the state

and local officials. and support for them in terms of the expertise. although like florida has an excellent health officer that gives guidance to the governor there. some states need that from the c.d.c. and the n.i.h. but also the resources. we didn't have enough ventilators when this started. and they have turned around on the dime. they have been able to work with companies that didn't make ventilators to switch their production line to that. now those are made available whenever a state says we are running low, we need more. pushing really hard for a vaccine. in the end a vaccine will help tremendously when you have a ood one that works because

people can protect themselves ahead of time from the virus and feel comfortable going out in public again and even if they are exposed being safe. so, yes, i think the administration has done a phenomenal job when you look at t we started in january and february. we didn't know much about this virus. frankly the whole health care system was a little bit asleep at the switch on it. and in a matter of two months they turned it around, focused on it daily. there were ups and downs. it was messy but it worked and we were able to mobilize and take that death rate from an estimated couple million people down to less than 200,000. it worked and it had a good effect at protecting people. now mistakes were made. governor cuomo sent people back into the nursing homes. that we recognize was a mistake. it sadly caused more deaths in that state. now we are learning more and people are adjusting and figuring out how to respond to the coronavirus. yet still keep the economy going. host: dave, in asheville, north carolina. independent line. caller: good morning. host: you're on, go ahead. caller: thank you. linda bennett ran to replace mark meadows here in this area.

she had a very strong ad. she really stressed she was totally endorsed by president trump. she got trounced by a young man, 24, 25 years old. i think that was the referendum against the president. just wanted to know about your comment on that. think it's a sign of things to come. one more point if i could make t and get your opinion on it in today's "wall street journal. an investment firm semper capital management was awarded a forgivable paycheck protection loan from mr. mnuchin, $726,000. other business is to invest moneys so rich people can get icher. host: keep it there. we are running a little short on time. mr. mcintosh, go ahead. guest: let me address the question about president trump

and the north carolina ace. we followed that race carefully at the club for growth. our pack didn't endorse either candidate. they were too good conservatives running. i think what the decision on that race, as i understand it, following it, was that linda bennett, who had the president's endorsement, made the mistake in one of other ads and appeared to be attacking her opponent who was in a wheelchair and making fun of him. and the voters always react badly to that. and so all of these races inherently have these local issues that affect them and address the outcome. we poll in dozens of congressional he senate races around the country. when a candidate has on the republican side, has the president's endorsement, in a republican primary, that usually gives them a 15 to 20

point lift in the support. and the reason is republican voters want to send members of congress to that will work with the president. and not be attacking him or criticizing him from within the republican party. we are still seeing that today. don't think there's been a shift. i think that you have seen some races where people actually think the challenger to a sitting congressman, we saw this in colorado on tuesday, will be more supportive of the president than the sitting member, even though the president had endorsed the sitting member. so the voters, they look at the individuals. they take a lot into account. some of it is the president's endorsement. some of it is what they see the two candidates presenting. and who they want to represent them. host: the club for growth decides who to support financially, what's the litmus test? guest: for us the litmus test is are you for limited constitutional government and

free market policies on economics? those are the things we talked about. we interview every candidate. we have done about 300 interviews so far this cycle. endorsed almost 30 candidates out of that will 300. litmus test is probably a good way to say it because if somebody is not going to be a supporter of free markets, if they are a republican but yes sometimes i want to raise taxes or republican says, well, sometimes we just have to spend money, then we are very skeptical of them and look to one of their opponents to see if we can support them. host: kay is in katie, texas, republican line. caller: yes, sir. mr. mcintosh, i didn't vote in 2016, but i voted for mitt romney. i wanted to ask you a question. the tax cut that the president, the g.o.p. passed, a couple years ago, just a couple of