lawyers committee for civil rights under law. talks aboutakabas the congressional debate over extending unemployment benefits during the run of ours pandemic. host: good morning everyone on this tuesday, july 28. a solemn month happening on capitol hill. live in the rotunda as the casket of the late georgia congressman and civil rights leader john lewis lying in state. to paylic will be able their respects continuing today starting at 8:00 a.m. eastern. overnight while the casket was in the rotunda, kimberly -- family members took turns sitting vigil overnight while he lies in state in the rotunda. the attorney general william

barr will be testifying before the house judiciary committee about his job performance. we will begin our conversation with all of you on that. what do you think about mr. as attorneyrmance general? if you agree, (202) 748-8000. if you disagree, (202) 748-8001. you can text us at (202) 748-8003. twitter.s on join us on the phone is todd ruger with cq roll call. remind our viewers why this hearing is taking place. >> good morning. this is basically something that used to happen all the time and does happen all the time. it's an oversight hearing you have the house which is the closest representative to the

people of the united states in the government and they get a chance to bring in a trump administration official and have him sit there and answer questions. it's going to take about four or five hours to go through all the members of this committee. they get about five minutes to ask him. this is something that congress does routinely that allows them to get accountability for the justice department and have explanation for what the trump administration has been doing. this used to happen very frequently, but for our -- barr this is the first time here at he was previously attorney went back and he forth with the democrats for about a year. the democrats have been trying to get him in. a lot of things have happened that the democrats want to ask him about. so it's going to be a very

vigorous hearing today. host: just remind our viewers what are some of the big items that democrats will be asking the attorney general about? intou could drill down each of these for an entire hearing on their own. i think there is basically three areas of questions for democrats. all of them are sort of going to farr on what they say are -- barr's support for trump's reelection. the first bucket are doj actions that are going to have. the doj agents in portland. barr's role in clearing protesters from laughing at park yetteffey at park -- laffa park.

several trump related investigations going on. mail-ins comments about ballots and fraud in the upcoming election. immigration action enforcements that have been taken. the doj stepping in to challenges to covid related closure orders from governors across the state as we deal with the pandemic. i think another bucket is the positions the doj has taken in court. the top one is the obamacare one congress eliminated the penalty for the individual mandate. is justice department arguing that the entire 2010 health care law should fall.

doj is fighting for don mcgahn to testify. the dropped prosecution of michael flynn that barr and the doj sought a reduced sentence four. there's a lot of things that democrats have to talk about stretching all the way back to the mueller report which was released about 18 months ago. host: and william barr's assessment of that mueller report? >> that is one of the things they have wanted to talk to him about in front of the committee for more than a year. in to the job as attorney general when the mueller investigation was

ongoing. attorney general barr put out a summary before the report came out that they said was not an accurate portrayal and that spun the public's understanding of what was actually in the mueller report. since then,happened that might not be a primary focus of this. election going on in the hundred days. theblicans and democrats on committee will be looking to score some political points during this question and answer period. will republicans on the committee focus on? >> the democrats are concerned about politics at the doj. democratss say the

are going after attorney general barr because he came into the justice department and started looking at the russia gate investigation as they call it and is rooting out and uncovering the political actions that happened under the obama administration before trump took over when they launched the investigation into trump, his campaign and pushed that. has assigned a federal prosecutor to look into the origins of that investigation. we don't have any results from that. he has not said whether there may or may not be criminal charges coming out of that probe. they are going to focus on that and barr in his opening theement talked about how democrats are trying to discredit him for conjuring up this narrative that he's doing the president's bidding and

says thereuse -- he was grave abuses in that russia gate investigation. there ready to be combative. i think neither side has much motivation to play nice here. be foreign a to half hours of vigorous questioning. host: todd ruger with cq roll call, thank you for setting up the conversation. we'll have coverage of the house judiciary committee this morning three -- c-span3 at 10:00 eastern time. you can let the committee members and the rest of washington now what you think of the performance of the attorney general. in texas, you agree with the job

he is doing. why? caller: i've been watching the confirmation. i knew he would you trump man. he does anything trump tells him to do. he'shing in portland, sending federal troops into chicago for no reason. prosecutors in. the doj is not doing anything. anything trump tells him to do, he does it. like stone was let out. if it had been me or you or someone who doesn't have, didn't know trump and didn't have millions of dollars, they wouldn't have been let out of prison. and the man on wrong. he broke the law.

-- done wrong. he broke the law. square,est in lafayette i don't understand why he had troops fire on civilians that were peacefully protesting to hold up a bible? he doesn't need to be holding up a bible. he needs to be reading it, studying. host: a national guard officer says police suddenly moved on lafayette square protesters and used excessive force before the president's visit. an army national guard officer the event and is contradicting claims by the trump administration that they did not speed up the clearing to make way for the presidents photo opportunity minutes later. -- demonstrators were

behaving peacefully and teargas was deployed in excessive use of force. he backs up law enforcement officials who told the post they believed the clearing operation would happen after 7:00 p.m. curfew that night but it was dramatically accelerated. he said the fencing materials did not arrive until 9:00 p.m., hours after barr told the park police to expand the perimeter. the account also reveals the details of the visit that chairman of the joint chiefs of staff made to lafayette square

just before the move on protesters in the warning he gave his troops. he warned dimarco to keep officers from going overboard. likely to be brought up at today's hearing. in texas. you agree with the job of mr. barr. caller: good morning. i think the attorney general really has his work cut out for him from the beginning. just every investigation that he's had to feel and especially with the case and we are still with that and that is something you have to take a lot of questions for today. don't envy being in that room with everyone staring you down like that ready to ask you about all these

things that really any attorney general would do and defend because just the mike flynn case is so corrupt and obviously politically influenced. so i think he's doing a great job and does not really get enough respect for what he does. host: her words, scared down by the has judiciary committee members. there are several of them on that panel. the testimony begins at 10:00 a.m. eastern time. also on our website. and if you want to listen on the go, you can download the free c-span radio app. the hill newspaper has this about his opening

statement. expected to blast democrats for efforts to discredit him in upcoming hearing. reporters have been given the attorney general's opening statement from that. going toney general is say ever since i made it clear that i was going to do everything i could to get to the bottom of the grave abuses involved in the bogus russia gate scandal, many democrats have attempted to discredit me by conjuring up a narrative that -- simply the president's paul in connecticut, you disagree with the job the attorney general is doing. caller: good morning. very terrible attorney general. a piece that came out this morning by fred wertheimer outlines three areas of grave

concern. barr havehat the ag taken to politicize the independent position of the the biggesteral, law enforcement officer in the united states. lafayette park i thought was a turning point because trump's , theenchmen esper department of defense that tagged along with the photo op after the protesters were cleared, he came out very forcefully and admitted that he shouldn't have in there. be above supposed to reproach. as ahat we have seen further deterioration of the rule of law set up to protect all people.

outthe written testimony is from barr. the written testimony of the major dimarco from the national guard. and they stood down, and they were there basically to protect the protesters. however, the head of the park about the use of violence and frozen water bottles and such drone at them by the protesters. he lied about using teargas. and when you read dimarco's testimony, it's clear that that happened. if we can't trust law enforcement officials -- these are paramilitaries attached to various departments in the u.s. government. politicized, are it's dangerous. when they lie and they are not

, that isabout policing a symptom of a corrupt system. host: go ahead. finish your thought. caller: it extends into our local policing. the example set by barr is very powerful. last week the president made a reached out to local law enforcement like they would break ranks from civilian intool when the feds go these locales and cities. very dangerous. host: at the same time that william barr is testifying and answering questions about what you just brought up, the house natural resources committee is going to be hearing from the head of the park police about what happened at left the park. we'll have coverage of that live on c-span3 on our website and

radio lab. you will be able to toggle back and forth between this hearing specifically about the park incident with the head of the park police and william barr getting -- testifying about it as well. here's what he had to say last month about defending the clearing of the protesters. the difficulty in getting appropriate forces units into place, by the time they were able to move our primate , a large perimeter up number of protesters had assembled on h street. there were projectiles being the group was becoming increasingly unruly. and they were asked three times if they would move back one

block. they refused. we proceeded to move our perimeter out to i street. it is true that the metropolitan police have a lot of experience in dealing with demonstrations. of -- this islot the federal city. it's the seed of the federal government. many of the buildings as you know and facilities here and the monuments are the responsibility andhe federal government the proceedings and process of the federal government take place here. and so when you have a large-scale civil disturbance that is damaging federal property, threatening federal property, threatening federal law enforcement officers, threatening the officials and

andrnment and their offices our great monuments, it is the responsibility of the federal government to render that protection and we do so in close coordination with the metropolitan police department. host: william barr defending his decision at lafayette square part -- park. the decisions that will be discussed when they gavel in. jerry nadler who heads the has judiciary committee last month talked about the removal of u.s. attorney geoffrey berman and other instances where the attorney general has politicized the department of justice and that is why he's bringing him before the committee today. effort to remove mr. berman as part of a clear and dangerous pattern of conduct. actions have made

clear that the president's allies get special treatment. the presidents enemies real and imagined are targeted for extra scrutiny and the needs of the american people are ignored. his practice of using the department to shield the president and his allies goes back to the beginning of his tenure at the doj. last year when the special counsel had completed his thestigation, when he had report in hand but the public couldn't read it, the attorney general blatantly mischaracterized special counsel's findings on the president's behalf. he pretended that compelling evidence of obstruction of justice including evidence that the president may have lied directly to the special counsel simply did not exist. his deception seems blatant, but don't take my word for it. the special counsel wrote to mr.

barr directly to complain about the inaccuracies. a judge later said that his inconsistencies were so misleading that he questioned mr. barr's credibility. nadleret was chairman last month. wanting to hear from the attorney general today. one some noteworthy event occurs that has legal ramifications such as leaks of classified president hase occasionally and appropriately confirmed that the department is aware of the matter. but the handling of the matter and my decisions on criminal matters have been left to my independent judgment based on the law and fact without any direction or interference from

the white house or anyone outside the department. you like the job the attorney general is doing in pennsylvania. democrats are crying r doing hisney bar they don't say a word about the investigation and the on theat was put president by the fbi. down andindictments, people go to jail, then you democrats might open your eyes and listen and see what's really going on. is the attorney barr best attorney general going and when barack obama had his attorney general, he said he was

obama's wingmen. so you know what, democrats? get a life. host: republicans on the panel according to bloomberg are forcted to press barr details about a criminal investigation into whether intelligence officials illegally spied on trump's 2016 presidential campaign. results may be released before election day. republicans likely to focus their questions on that when you watch today. ricky in reidsville, north carolina. good morning. what's your opinion of the attorney general? >> the attorney general? he's no better than the mande had stepped in -- attorney general. a second.y, pause for

please turn off your television. barr is no better than he is. he acts like he's the president's special attorney. he came in like a snake. thishe was going to do all andf and keep it straight then after he got the attorney general, he turned the whole nine yards on him. beenthing he's done has against what he said he was going to do when he was standing

in front trying to get that attorney general. period.rove of him down and would step stop all this stuff. right. is not ricky in reidsville, north carolina. the latet of congressman john lewis is lying in state inside the rotunda of the capital the the public viewing will begin at 8:00 a.m. eastern this morning. yesterday lawmakers and others were able to pay their respects asthe civil rights leader well as joe and jill biden. to vieww to washington the casket of the congressman

and pay their respects yesterday inside the rotunda. there was a memorial service as well. pence paidand karen their respective john lewis during an outdoor public viewing that went into the evening. the casket then brought inside where it this morning and again the public viewing gets underway at 8:00 a.m. eastern time and goes into the evening until 10:00 on the east coast. in grand junction, colorado. good morning. caller: hey greta. i haven't talked to you in eight years. how are you doing? you look great. william barr, he's kind of slow. it's like he's a bail bondsman. he got him through it. russianim through the thing, all that stuff with

mueller. , i the other guy nadler could fall asleep like it was a barr.y to i was going to say, they were talking about the first amendment rights of the crowd. i was thinking, why can't the first amendment right behind excuse to just go on about our business with no mask and all that? in the bible it says not to live it willrit of fear and be a snare unto you" lean on him not in your own understanding. i was just thinking because i saw video, some people were in the store -- host: i will leave it there. randall. caller: good morning. i'm a veteran of our united states. barr returnedliam to the white house is because his father donald hired jeffrey

epstein at golfing schools. jeffrey epstein went to bear toarns -- if you go willedia on donald barr we see a book he wrote and then jeffrey epstein who was not qualified to teach at schools. chevy chase went there. he went to work for bear stearns and he set up the book that his dad wrote on earth. that's what jeffrey epstein did. the ranch out in new mexico. he lets them go in florida so he won't be a sex offender out in new mexico. host: in bridgeville, delaware. you agree with the job the attorney general is doing. good morning.

caller: that morning. i think he's doing a fantastic job in lieu of what he had to deal with once he became the attorney general with the obama lynch,tration, loretta the former attorney general meeting with clinton on the tarmac. i think with the russian hoax investigation, the fbi being part of that scheme to illuminate the president, farr -- eliminate the president, barr is going to get to the bottom of that. -- part of that to take down a duly look president. and i think very slowly and meticulously the report is going to reveal all of those details and facts. they are going to blindside the

democrats thinking that joe biden is going to scapegoat into the white house. walk out the side door never to be involved in politics again because they have put together one of the most unique coverups and schemes in the history of this great country. host: this is a text from is ada who says barr disgrace, he is a sycophant and act like trump's personal lawyer. catherine kane says i approve of william barr 100%. those are just a couple comments. you can text us at (202) 748-8003 with your first name, city and state. twitteran join us on and facebook as well.

has been says barr criticized and orchestrating the --eral response to continue continuing protests against police abuse and racism including sending federal troops to cities to confront peaceful protesters. his forces have been involved with pitched battles. -- tacitly condone destruction and anarchy to abandon the basic rule of law principles that should unite us even in a politically divisive time. we should all be able to agree that there is no place in this -- or toor armed mobs destroy the property and livelihoods of innocent business owners.

the most basic responsibility of government is to ensure the rule of law. the justice department will continue working to meet that solemn responsibility. the washington post reports that more federal agents are going to be dispatched to portland as protests arise in other cities. general is to examine the law enforcement at portland ndc protests. the are your thoughts on attorney general. caller: i disapprove of barr and his handling of pretty much everything since he's been confirmed.

trump clearly been a enabler. insent out a memorandum recent months ordering prosecutors around the country to ensure close coordination --h the justice department redistricting the fbi from opening investigations into the 2020 political candidates or donors. does that sound like the u.s. attorney general or a private attorney? i believe trump has several private attorneys. general should not be sending memorandums controlling prosecutors whether it has anything to do with the presidential -- that's what makes me feel like what he did

investigationer and basically setting that narrative to where the previous caller called in saying it was a hope or it wasn't legitimate. there were so many legitimate things found within that report that may be 3% of the country read. obstruction of justice is a crime and he had like 10 counts. in and sayle to call that the russian investigation was some hoax or was found out. and also the fact that these especially come to capitol hill and the defiant manner to these duly elected officials, democrat or republican, he should be respectful. those members of the judiciary committee get five minutes of questioning time of the attorney general. 10:00 a.m. eastern

time. you can also watch on our website or on the go. bes unclear if there will several rounds. you agree with the job the attorney general is doing. good morning. caller: yes i do. i am formerly of boca raton, florida. i lived there all my life. i spent years abroad in europe in spain. i'm hanging up because my family lives here. now because my family lives here. he has a wonderful brilliant man. probably the best we've ever had. william barr. think you could get a

man with a higher iq or better credentials to have the office of attorney general. i think that's what makes the democrats mad. truthinding out the real and all the dirt and we are going to get a lot more about that, about how 30 the obama biden administration was -- dirty the obama biden administration was and what they did to try to hurt the newly elected men coming in it was president trump. president trump definitely isn't -- we areccustomed to accustomed to in our presidential office. we are different. i think he has our country's best interest at heart. he's not a politician. he's not slick and smooth and

can get away with what a lot of them have, but those democrats have played very very dirty and they're going to get it all put back right in their face. dave in clarkston, michigan. disapprovetrongly and we will start with mischaracterizing the mueller report. when he did his summary and stood in front of the cameras in one of the most outrageous things i've ever heard from a leader was -- i will paraphrase. he said trump did everything he could to cooperate with mueller. , from what planet is that statement coming? trump did everything he could block that investigation. you could assemble 200 or 300 tweets easily disparaging mueller and the report and the

hoax. it was just an outrageous mischaracterization saying that trump did everything he could. pushbackof course the which kind of went unnoticed was that a thousand current and former u.s. prosecutors endorsed the statement strongly disagree with what barr did. of course he did that running interference for mr. trump the last caller of course was talking about the upcoming room report which of course is going to be the timber october barr'se and you can see playbook moving pieces around like a game of chess by releasing some of these prosecutors in new york so they can get their loyal people in there to try and support this up coming report. i strongly disapprove with mr.

barr. he's acting as trump's personal attorney. but of course is wrong. know mccright will want to prosecutors to reduce their sentencing recommendation for long trump associate roger stone. he was convicted of lying to congress and serving as a conduit between the president and wikileaks during the election. withdrewer prosecutors following his order. questioning nadler aaron zelinski at a june hearing about pressure from the highest levels of the justice department to scale back its sentencing recommendation for roger stone. >> when you ask the department why they wanted a below , weeline sentence or stone

were told it was political and because the u.s. attorney is afforded the president. is that correct? >> that's correct. crocs what did you understand that to mean? what did you understand that to mean? political considerations were waiting in the u.s. attorney's decision and that the concern about the president was driving his decision-making process. to you we could happen if you refused to go along with this recommendation? >> we were told that we could be fired. >> you described clearly that the department treated mr. stone differently than any other defendant. because of his relationship to mr. trump. is this against department policy? >> it is. >> and is it wrong? >> it is. >> is it unethical? >> it is.

>> you wrote in your written test me that it pains you to describe these events. can you explain why it pains you? took an oathan, i when i took this job, as did all of my colleagues across the country. whate immensely proud of we do. we are proud to serve in the department of justice and we are proud that we prosecute without fear or favor. to describe an abdication of responsibility like this and this contradiction of all the reasons that we have taken these jobs is deeply painful to me. host: that was a june hearing with the head of the judiciary committee. you will hear him questioning william barr this morning starting at 10:00 a.m. eastern time. mary in fort washington, maryland. you disapprove of the job william barr is doing as attorney general.

tell us why. caller: i sure as hell do. the president in office right now is not my president and not a president for anybody. he's pushing jim crow and when you are a jim crower, you need more jim crowers to help you. be in 98 days, they will gone and we won't have to worry about anymore of their bile and filth they are putting on this nation. a liar and is cheater. both of these criminals are pilfering this country in front of our eyes. you see the protests everywhere. it's not being accepted. i'm very sorry for the lady in oklahoma if she believes what she put out. all the file and filth is on the republicans. way've always been that since the beginning of our politics. when have republicans ever done anything for the people?

and lindsey graham? oh my god. i have no idea what's going on with this right now, but it's going to end in 97 or 98 days. host: on your point about the justice department's reactions to protests across the country, sending federal agents to chicago, here's the attorney general with the president last week announcing that decision to combat violent crime. at the end of the obama administration, crime started going back up again. for the first two and a half years of this administration we were succeeding and putting it down. less than a year ago will recall that as we saw crime starting to go up in a few cities, you asked me to initiate a surge in those cities to help our state and local partners deal with it. so we did start this program which we called relentless pursuit.

unfortunately, covid intervened and we had to abort that effort. we had that terrible event in minneapolis. then we had this extreme reaction that has demonized police and called for the defunding of police departments. what we have seen then is a significant increase in violent crime in many cities. result ofis a direct the attack on the police forces and the weakening of police forces. in the president's gone through the terrible statistics. in response to that, we have initiated this program, operation legend, to step up the activity of our taskforces in the hard-hit cities by

committing more federal agents and supporting more state and local task force officers. host: the president last month. thisico reporting with headline, mayors are asking congress to ban the deployment of militarized federal agents in cities as the president mulls sending in more. homeland security sending additional 50 customs and border patrol agents to portland. you approve of the attorney general. good morning. caller: good morning. i think he's doing a great job. the democratic party has given us four years of hoaxes, the russian hoax. one of the dirtiest political tricks in the history of this country. they are now attacking police, inciting violence. toy plan to ride crime wayne victory in november. it's a disgrace. defund the police and create

violence. i think the gentleman is doing a great job. the robertemember mueller trip to congress where he embarrassed the democrats. i think they are going to be embarrassed today again because the gentleman is doing a great job. it's a disgrace with the democratic party is doing. host: peggy in new york. caller: that morning. i totally disagree with far -- barr. what'sy disappointed in going on in our country today. trumps family, including his daughter with all these chinese patents that she's getting and making money. money beingmuch pulled into their pockets.

they should all be charged in this rico act. i am so upset. so upset with what is happening to my country. host: ok peggy. tim from rhode island sends us this text. william barr will go down in history as one of the greatest attorney general's in the history of this country. barr hash says betrayed his oath. he is a clear and present danger to our democracy. he has returned ethics and professionalism back to the department and made the department about justice again. gayle in louisburg, north carolina. what do you say?

caller: i think he's doing a great job. you heard the term drain the swamp. theink he's walking through swamp and eventually he's going to get to clearwater and there's a lot of people in power that don't like that. iey like the old guard and think the president has had a lot to deal with. he sent person like we are. he's not shiny. that's why we elected him. because we wanted to clean it up. i think they are both doing a great job and i'm going to sue for them the next term and hopefully the president will have four more years. irr is doing a great job and support him also. host: michael. portland, oregon. you disagree with the job he's doing. what's it like in your city? i wanted to just talk

about -- i live two miles courthouse andhe i started feeling the gas down here. between me and the courthouse there is the hospital and if i can feel it here, i know they feel it there. i went down to the courthouse to walk around. i'm a veteran. i've been through the cs gas chamber before. and understand what it feels like. and is walking around the city, i had a worse reaction than i did coming out of that. so i walked around the courthouse and i know there's a narrative where they are telling people that they are trying to burn it down and destroy it, but if you go to the back the courthouse you will see that there is no graffiti, there's no destruction. so the narrative seems wrong. i haven't been a part of the protests. i have just gone about my life here in portland.

it's a beautiful city. disagree with attorney general barr because i think that he's escalated it to this point and now we are feeling it. if i'm two miles away, there's residential areas closer in that are taking a must worse -- much worse impact from this. i wanted to get on here and let people know that that's what's happening. that's the real effect that this is having. and there's real people's lives that go to work every day through that down in the city. i just wanted to get that out there. host: do you support the protesting? caller: the protesting yes. not the destruction. see how it gets to a place where it needs to be broken up, but the amount of gas if it's reaching me is just astronomical. it's going everywhere.

it's all over the city. host: where did you serve? caller: i was in the army. i served fort polk and that i was deployed -- then i was deployed. seattle, seattle-tacoma. that's where served. in portland, oregon. disagreeing with the job of the attorney general. anthony who approves in south river, new jersey. taking myanks for call. i like william barr. he's one of my heroes along with congressman john lewis. i think if we had more people like them, we would be in a lot better place. just before i get cut off, i haven't called and in a while. i wanted to make that comment. i wanted to make also a prediction and i wanted to offer a solution because i think that's important, too.

downpeople are burning courthouses, when they're burning down the church next to the white house, that's a hate crime. where's the outrage? religionas a different -- it would be -- that's a terrible thing to do. so that's a hate crime. john lewis would never roll like that. he was a fantastic person. he got his skull cracked, ok? he didn't pick up a brick and throw it at the police. he didn't throw mad set the police. that's not the way to get things done. we don't need a mob tearing down the statues. we need the people to go to their representatives who are elected. john lewis did a fantastic job. we got so many people of color into the congress, into the government. ok?

but guess what? they are all just as bad as the white -- we have systematic racism in the country. i think we have systematic nepotism. because it's not what you know, it's who you know. so that is my comment. my production for today, i would like to add all of the time that the democrats in the house used to talk and i believe it will be close or over the time that bill barr would. if you take the time for democrats making their grandstanding speech and you at the time that bill barr will be able to answer questions from the democrats, i believe it's going to be pretty close if not in favor of the democrats. my solution, vote out these people. they have been there for 40, 50 years and they have done nothing. they have made things worse.

next for taking my call and god bless you. host: in the opening statement by the attorney general, he's going to tell those members of the judiciary committee about the police murder of unarmed black man george floyd. statistics compiled by the washington post, the number of unarmed black man killed by police is eight. william barr before the house judiciary committee in about two hours. you can watch that right here on c-span at 10:00 a.m. eastern or on the goebsite with that downloadable free c-span radio app. hunter, you do not approve of the job.

caller: yes. i've had the privilege of meeting a couple of department of justice personnel including loretta lynch. i didn't approve of her handling of racial tensions with police and yet i can't help but citing record under george h terry bush of continuing the war ofdrugs -- h w bush continuing the war on drugs which had disproportionate effect on people of color. we don't protect the health of people of color, we will protect statues in federal courthouse is tooth and nail. i find the comparison between william barr and john lewis to be up for rent as -- abhorrent, as william barr is the architect of these racist policies and john lewis has been the dismantlers of these policies. injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. we can see the use of force is

pervasive in this country and detrimental to our way of life especially considering we don't have the social welfare networks that we should have and that other countries have and focusing on that is a good way to address the kind of crime that i think this administration and previous and future administrations will want to address. think excessive policing is the answer. there are 40 members of the house judiciary committee. 24 democrats and 16 republicans. minutes inet five one round of questioning of the attorney general. in cookeville, tennessee. tell us what you like about the attorney general. caller: i believe he's doing a good job.

country, theof the joe biden, the democrat party and the leftist media in this country will not even cover the violence that's going on. just yesterday nadler said it was a myth and joe biden is hiding in his basement. he won't make no remark. i believe the democrats are going to regret having this hearing because the republicans, all they are going to discuss is and john durham is not going to make a report he's going to come out with a federal indictment. you can bet your last dollar on that. thank you for taking my call. in birmingham, alabama. caller: good morning. i'm calling to let you know that the color from new jersey really associating john

lewis with william barr. that was an insult and a slap in the face to all of us. barr andnybody follow trump with all the vitriol and hate and he's releasing hard-core criminals and giving them pardons and that is absolutely wrong. if you are going to go that route, why doesn't he go ahead and free bill cosby? host: we are going to turn our attention to campaign 2020. we will talk with jenny beth delegate to the republican national committee convention and later, kristen clarke will be discussing democratic efforts to restore and expand voting rights in the

wake of representative john lewis's death. house speaker nancy pelosi spoke about his post [video clip] focused on the future. nexto inspire the generation to join the fight for justice. to get in the way. as one of the youngest leaders , hehe freedom rides understood the power of young people to change the future. when asked what someone can do when they are 19 or 20 years old , the age she was when he set out to desegregate nashville, lewis replied "a young person should be speaking up for what is fair, just, and right. speak out for those who have

been left out and left behind." that is how the movement goes forward. hadine the great joy he traveling the country to share that message of action with young people. no need to imagine, it is my personal privilege that now, for me to yield to our beloved colleague from georgia, congressman john lewis. i grew up 50 miles from montgomery. a little place called troy. my father was a sharecropper. back in 1944, when i was only four years old, my father had saved $300. brought -- he, he bought 110 acres of land. my family is still on that land. what happened to the rest of us?

ago, visitingars the town of troy, tuskegee, birmingham, i saw those signs that said white men, colored men. i would come home and asked my mother, my father, my grandparents why? they said that's the way it is. don't get in the way. don't get in trouble. day in 1950 5, 15 years old in the 10th grade, i heard about rosa parks. i heard the words of martin luther king jr. on the radio. 1957, i met rosa parks. 1958, i met martin luther king

jr.. these two individuals inspired me to get in the way. get in trouble. i have come here to say to you this morning on this beautiful campus, with your great education, you must find a way to get in the way. you must find a way to get in trouble. good trouble, necessary trouble. [applause] user education. you have 1 -- use your education. you have wonderful professors. use what you have. use your learning. country and our world a better place where no one will be left out or left behind. you can do it and you must. it is your time. announcer: "washington journal" continues. host: tea party patriots

cofounder and delegate to the 2020 rnc convention. remind our viewers why you started to tea party patriots? guest: thank you for having me. i am make a walter to rather than a delegate. i want to make sure we are clear. in 2009 because of the out-of-control spending we saw in 2008 and 2009 with bank bailouts and stimulus bills. we were upset with the out-of-control growth of government. instarted doing tea parties february of 2009. on aprile on tax day 15, 2009. we didar in september, the taxpayer march in d.c. we have had wins and losses. when we look at spending right now in washington, we are concerned. we think it is time to stop the spending we are seeing right now.

holidaypayroll tax which i understand is off the table. i think it would be the right thing to do. work to help get americans back to work so that they are able to provide for their families. host: the washington post headline, "u.s. budget deficit shattered one-month record in june as spending outpaced revenue by $864 billion. a huge spending increase led to the deficit. the deficit has breached $2.7 trillion." do you hold the president responsible? guest: what we are seeing now is largely because of the unprecedented pandemic and the response to the pandemic. what has watched happened with the pandemic, i have not been taking a lot of swipes as far as spending goes at democrats or republicans. i think it is too much. i have felt that way from the

beginning as we begin spending so much to respond to the pandemic. the people in washington are doing what they always do. they wring their hands and worry and they spend more money. i'm concerned because the debt is so high. that means our children and grandchildren are going to wind up being responsible for this debt. on top of that come our children and grandchildren are not in school. the education they need. that is going to put them at a disadvantage later in life. we are giving it to our children in a one-two punch. host: when republicans held both the house, senate and white house and the first couple years of the trump administration, did they spend responsibly? guest: even during that time they continued to spend. we sell reductions in government regulation, which is good

because that reigns in some of the size of government, but spending is still very high and has been. one of the things i hope, should president trump be reelected -- and i know we are looking at massive spending right now. i understand that. i think that he needs to find a way to get a balanced budget amendment passed. he needs to find a way to get us toward a balanced budget. winshat be part -- if you a second term, turn that into part of a legacy he can leave. i don't know that he can do that but it is something i very much want. to people within the administration about that. it up so often they get tired of hearing me mention it. host: a group of republicans have formed a group called "project lincoln," opposing the president's reelection bid.

this new ad they put together on the president not being conservative. [video clip] seal turnedx navy emergency room physician. i am an american combat veteran and a conservative. i don't agree with joe biden on many issues, but we agree that we are a nation of laws, and the constitution is sacred. the document type 54 and some of my friends died for. is foring our freedoms the mentally conservative. president trump shows no such respect for the constitution. he has used cronies to disrespect the freedom of assembly, due process and state rates. joe biden will conserve the rule of law. he will conserve the american dream as we promised to our children. trump is weak. trump is not conservative. it is the most easily fixable problem in america today. a vote for joe biden is a vote for our constitution.

host: jenny beth martin, when i listen to that -- guest: i agree that i love the constitution. i want to the rule of law to matter. what we saw at the end of the obama administration and throughout much of president that's presidency is people who hold the levers of power were investigating his campaign, spying on his campaign and doing all they could to ignore the rule of law. they violated what they were supposed to do in proper procedures when they went before the fisa court. they did not respect the rule of law. --t was the robot in height that was the obama-biden ministration. when we look at portland and bidene, i have not seen

speaking out and condemning the violence, the takeover and destruction of private property, and the lack of respect for rule of law. to say that biden respect that, i have yet to see him condemn it. i don't think that meshes. he has not condemned what happened with the improper use of the fisa court to president trump. i think that person is not right. i understand this is going to wind up being a left-right issue and it depends on how you view the world command where you get , ithere you get your news does not add up. i do not think president trump is weak. i think he is strong. he has been a good president and will be a good president if he wins reelection. host: you will be voting for the president? guest: i will be voting for the president. nationalernate to the

convention, had i been a delegate i would have cast a vote for him. host: will you be going to jacksonville? guest: we won't. i don't think there is going to be a jacksonville portion at this point. i am not going to be in jacksonville for that. host: what about north carolina? what have you been told about how this will play out? guest: i don't know exactly what is going to be happening in north carolina. i am not positive about that. often, ie changing so don't know. the republican national convention is trying to figure out what is going on. it was just thursday or friday of last week, not even a week ago, the president said he would not be going down to jacksonville. i think everyone is scrambling to figure out what is going on.

the chairman of the party in georgia, david schaefer, he found out the president would not be in jacksonville when everyone else did during the briefing. is scrambling to make adjustments and to notify everybody. host: let's get to calls. charlotte in tuscaloosa, alabama. before you talk, turn off the television. caller: just did. host: go ahead. caller: my name is charlotte. thatted to ask ms. martin she is talking about spending the nation is going through from the government. there were signs i was looking newscastsan and other that said defund the police.

you need to defund trump and his frivolous activities on his golf courses and resorts down in florida. that is a lot of money being taken away from the people that need it. those in health care, the vaccines he is rushing, i hope we get it because so many of my people -- i am a black woman. a problem with the democrats, but this is ridiculous what we are being led into. authoritarianism. this man wants all power. i did not vote for a king. i voted to be a christian in my heart. host: jenny beth martin? guest: i think there are things we can agree on. i am also a christian. i know we can agree on that. was president obama president, his family took vacations and they went around the world.

speakeraker pelosi was -- not now, but the first time she was speaker, some people were upset because she was taking airplanes -- military airplanes or whatever to go from washington dc -- washington, d.c. to san francisco. people on the right complained about that spending. i have been reluctant to complain about that kind of spending when it happened to democrats my and also have not done that with president trump. i think sometimes when you are the leader or even the speaker of the house, you have got to be able to move around the country. these are the people who are entrusted with power. you didn't vote for trump, i couldn't vote for pelosi, but i would not have. i did not vote for obama. either way, i respect to the will of the voter. as a country we have an obligation to make sure the people who we put in power are

protected and safe and that they are also to have a little bit of downtime. spendingthat kind of is not the kind of spending i focus on. i understand what you are saying. being a lot ofp spending that goes on. i understand that concern. it all adds up. i think i have been very intellectually honest in holding both sides to the same standard. that is not the spending i am focused on as much is larger government spending. i think that all of the spending across the board should be decreased. by at least 1%. that is one thing i have maintained, if you decreased by 1% every year -- i don't know if

it is this way now, but at one point we would have been able to balance the budget within five years. host: we go to kim, cedar park, texas. personal --nothing host: we are listening. caller: i was watching tv. it doesn't matter. we have three different visions. democratssays the used to be the racist party and the republicans used to be the -- the -- the people republicans, the tea party and the democrats. people change. there are three different piles of sheep. the tea party committee y'all are the sheep in 2008 who stood on congress and started yelling as soon as we wanted health care and we wanted gay people free. this is the vision of the

democrats, we want a diverse party and we want to be free. you are the party of rand paul and you are the party of sarah palin. you all are claiming or -- weent -- donald trump are all christians. and then we have republicans that -- the cream of the crop is our team now. i watched you all and started screaming husband, husband, the tea party is moving. i pray they don't come in our party. if my sister is listening, the republican -- all her life has tried to lock her sister up. this is what it is about. each one of us are hurt with our personal issues. don't shake your head. it is about our moral compass. our democrats are good and we have to good republicans. the tea party's good too, but y'all are the whackio party. host: wow.

i am surprised by much of what you just said. -- guest: i am a christian, you're right. i know everyone doesn't share my exact same religion. you kind of mentioned something about that. organization committed tea party patriots really has not weeded into social issues. saying about were gay marriage tries not issues we were focused on. we are focused on fiscal issues and working toward constitutionally limiting government. whether you voted for president trump or not, he is the president of the united states and if you are american, he is our president. united we stand. remember that. when obama was president, he was my president. he was your president, he was everyone's president. there are some things we need to go back to and respect and understand.

youuld say this, whether like the outcome of an election or not -- and there have been plenty of elections i do not like the outcome of and you can say the same thing, you are saying that about president the system that produces those results. i respect my fellow citizens to vote the way they vote. i never go around saying that is not my president or any of that. that is not how we are going to solve things. i think all come americans regardless of party should a brewery -- should agree we should not be judging people based on the color of their skin. that is flat-out wrong. i am from atlanta. i grew up knowing about martin luther king jr.. i have always worked to make sure that i am judging people by the content of their character, not by theior skin color.

host: stanley, morgantown, pennsylvania. republican. caller: america needs president trump to win reelection. ask vice president pence to step aside and be replaced by senator tim scott of south carolina, get the black vote and make a sure win. --, been listening to robert woodson and terrell swain. what you think? host: i do not think that is -- guest: i do not think that is going to happen. know, vice president pence will continue to be the nominee for the vice president. senatorot heard that tim scott even wants to be considered vice president. i do not think that is going to

happen. given what is going on with coronavirus and covid-19, the fact that vice president pence heads up the coronavirus come i think he is in the right place at the right time and need to continue in that position. host: kathy in saint martinville, louisiana. caller: good morning. you are very brave to step up and take the place of the tea party patriots co-founder. i know that initially when you started the organization, you deaby the fbi, the irs, the come every possible organization there was was weaponized against the tea party. i am glad y'all survived. the country does need conservative people worried about how the money is spent. i live in say martinville,

louisiana. 30% poverty level plus. my best sins are black -- my best friends are black. i spend christmas and thanksgiving with these people. they are not just best friends because i say that it helps me look good. i love them. it is not fair what is happening to president trump. he is working very hard for black people. theas not taken his salary entire time he has been president. he plays no more golf than obama did. when obama was in office, i did not vote for him, but the morning after the election i woke up and prayed for him. i realized that god has a plan. he could possibly help the relationship between blacks and whites. that did not happen. things did not improve for black people. cities,all of the black

the cities run by democrats and what the black people are going through. including my state. could happen that to help the money that is being that --d help trump to i bet you anything if he is reelected he will address those issues. he will be the one person that could possibly do something about those issues. guest: thank you. i clarifymake sure something, tea party patriots was targeted by the irs. conflating me just a little bit with catherine engelbrecht from texas. she was the one who was targeted fbi, may bend the other organizations. the fact is, we know what it is like to have a government that abuses its power and uses the

power to weaponize against citizens. i sawone reason why when what happened to george floyd -- i understand the loss-of-life is much different than targeting of the irs, this scene that is similar is when somebody has power and they abuse the power and use it to harm citizens. there is a problem with that. i have been able to understand at a different level than many other people. i think what happened there was wrong. anyoneunderstand that who has power, when they are abusing power against citizens, it is not something that should happen. host: susan in rockville, connecticut. caller: hello good morning. you first, it is nice people are happy trump is

not taking a salary. i know the tea party took too --aries -- took too salaries took two sellers. i wonder why you were against of the puerto rico bankruptcy restructuring and people trying to save people's homes and mortgages into thousand eight when you and your husband rose $500,000 and took -- to restructure your bigness -- your business. this doesn't make sense. i urge people to research who they are supporting. host: -- guest: i have taken a salary and i do take a salary. pac i work for the super versus a 501(c) four, there are legal reasons i have to be sure i am being paid appropriately and from the right organization. that is part of why it seems there reuters -- it seems there

is more than one source of income. there is. happened with my ex-husband and me, we went through financial crisis and we did file bankruptcy. when you say something about people keeping their houses come i am not sure what you said. i will tell you what happened. we filed bankruptcy and we did not take the fannie mae or freddie mac loan that was offered to us to stay in a house we could no longer afford. aftere offered that filing bankruptcy, after the bankruptcy was complete. weehow when the bankruptcy, did not fill out paperwork that would have allowed us to keep our house. we could not afford to reopen the bankruptcy to adjust that paperwork. we realized if we can't reopen that, we can't afford to be in the house. we rented houses. i still rent a house.

we were offered this money and we refused to take it because we did not think it was right for our neighbors to pay for a house we could no longer afford. neighborseaning our homes during that time in order to pay for utilities and to pay for things to get us back on our feet. he had a business that failed. when a business failed or there is a legal structure in place in order to file bankruptcy in this country. that existed when he started the business. it exists for individuals. as far as puerto rico, there is not a structure in place for a state or territory to file bankruptcy. they need to be responsible with their taxpayer dollars. just like i did not think it was right for neighbors to pay for ask -- pay for us come i do not

think it is right for people in other states to pay to bailout one state or territory that cannot longer afford the obligations they have. host: chad in new york. caller: thanks for taking the time. , tryinging some issues to connect the dots between what republicans are saying with how , partupport black people luther king, invoking what he has done to perpetuate this sense of overall well-being with everybody. from the personal twitter account of the president, it is of --eet after another racial wars. --ther it is retreating retreating trump supporters who are white supremacists or -- the list goes on.

i want to know how the party itself is ok when the leader of the nation is basically inciting civil race wars. host: -- guest: i disagree. i do not think he is inciting a civil race war. you're the one judging people based on the color of their skin. i am not. i am not invoking martin luther king. i grew up in dekalb county, georgia. later in floyd county, georgia. martin luther king's county was right next door. it is not something that i invoke. it is something i was taught and that we strive hard in the city to make sure work we are looking beyond the color of somebody's skin.

martin luther king junior was from my home city. it means a lot whether we are white or black -- we understand the sacrifices that man and his family made. can to livet that i up to the vision he had for america. host: mavis in fort lauderdale, florida. independent. caller: i wanted to ask ms. martin in reference to the president, when he was running, -- he criticized mr. obama for going to a golf course. he said when he was running for president he would be so busy he won't have time to go to the golf course. on the golf been course more than 90% of the time he has been in office. taxpayer money pays for those

trips. -- goingoned the obama on holiday, but if she checks back, mr. obama paid for his holiday. mr. trump has five kids. when they travel, that is a lot of money for the taxpayer to have to cover. the secret service to protect all of those children. that is a lot of money. now that it comes to helping those who are out of their jobs because of covid, the republicans can't find money to folks.t regular day but, we can pay for mr. trump and his family to fly around the country. --t happened to the law that what happened to the wall that mexico was supposed to pay for that the taxpayers are now paying for? first, president trump has not spent 90% of his time on

the golf course. that simply is not accurate. i am focused on what he has produced as president. that is where i am focused. we had thepandemic, best economy that i have ever seen in my adult life. we had the lowest unemployment that i have ever seen. it was historic low unemployment across all demographics. that was good for america. i want us to be able to get back to that. it is good for all american families. ton you have the ability have more of what you want in life, whether it is vacation time or things you want to buy, or just more time with her family. you have more opportunity that that point. i think you mentioned something to me you mentioned something again,he secret service,

when the people vote for elected people, we have an obligation to make sure that they are protected and i don't have a problem with that. i did not have a problem with it with president obama. i won't have a problem with it with the future president or speaker pelosi. that is what we need to do. that is not something i'm going to argue. there was one other point, i believe you said something about republicans not caring about the average american who is working hard in this country in the midst of a pandemic, or maybe who lost her job, that is not correct. when we look at the spending bills that have already happened that have passed, republicans and democrats voted for these. they were bipartisan bills. republicans and democrats voted for it. i think there was way too much spending.

understand i think there was too much spending. both parties make sure there was unemployment for people who lost their job. in fact, you get paid more if you're unemployed then you may have gotten when you were working. there is an issue with that. if you want a business, you had the ability to go take a loan out to pay for payroll so you can keep people employed. [indiscernible] guest: that helped average americans. both those of's programs ted. programs did.se the point is, republicans and democrats both, in the midst of the pandemic, the argument is that they were looking out for every american by doing that. host: republicans are proposing

to reduce that enhanced federal unemployment benefit from $600 to around $200. what do you make of that? are going tok they be unintended consequences. people more to stay unemployed then they would have been paid to be employed, it creates an odd incentive that might make people say i think i can just stay where i am without being employed and i'm not going to worry about getting a job. that, it lessens that a little bit. i do think there should be a payroll tax holiday. that means every american and beiness owners also would able to keep more of the money they earned for a short period of time.

if you go back to work and we had a job, you've got this payroll tax holiday and you're getting a bit of a bonus for going back to work while that holiday is going on. they think that that is a good thing to do because that it also -- the consequence is urging people to get back to work and you get a bonus for doing that. host: steve is a republican in webster, massachusetts. caller: good morning. some of the most powerful words i have ever heard from an american president was president 2018 to 25 september the un's general assembly when he said we will never surrender america's sovereignty to an unelected global bureaucracy. if we put this in the context today of what is going with the wuhan virus and the cover-up, which many believe happened by the world health organization, which is led by an ethiopian , from whicheral

country, ethiopia, china gets natural gas and oil as well from east africa, which the globalists say fossil fuels are bad, etc. i would like our guests to put this in context because i do appreciate the president standing up to china trying to create a global alliance, it's utter -- etc. guest: appreciate the fact the president is standing up to china. we have issues there we are going to have to address as a nation whether we do it now in our own terms, or later when it is forced upon us if we don't deal with it now. i appreciate the fact that president trump and pompeo also are both working to bring this to the attention of americans and the fact that there are issues going on we need to

address. what happened with the andn virus, with covid-19 the world health organization, president trump said several --rs ago we are not going to i can't quote it exactly right -- we are not going to be held account by an unelected bureaucratic organization. that is part of the reason why he is withdrawing from the world health organization. it is a bureaucratic unelected organization. host: kevin in texas, republican. caller: i have been 80 party protesters since -- i've been a tea party protesters since 2008. time, we were the kooks, then we were the sellouts

to the cook others -- the coke brothers. trump is yours. no. not really. i don't think trump is a tea party kind of guy. sometimes i wonder whether he is really a republican. he is a populist. part of his populist agenda does appeal to people like you and i. deregulation, corporate tax cuts come of course spending is out of control. demonizing of tea party people, i see the same thing happening within the black lives matter movement. extreme and make them look ridiculous, then they want to say there the democrats. to see the tea party and yourself, not so much

distance themselves from trump, but make a distinction between what we believe and what trump does. also, have support for black lives matter. they are a lot like us. thank you for those comments. here is what i would say. there are people who are going out and protesting with black lives matter, or for that phrase and that movement, and if they are well-meaning people who don't want to see racism in this country. they are in many cases average who can agree judging people by the color of their skin is wrong. that is what they are trying to stand up for. when you delve into the organization, into the founders of black lives matter, the

people running the organization, there are real problems with what they are doing and what they stand for. i don't think the average person who is going out on the street and standing with that movement agrees with everything they stand for. i'm concerned about that. when they say they are trained marxists come that concerns me. that is not sticking to the constitution and respecting the constitution of the united states. sentimentree with the and you can delve in and understand exactly what is going that. stand up against i get the same thing when we watch the resist movement in the women getting up against that. i understood a lot of what they were standing -- maybe not standing for, but i understood their motives. i respected their first moment

rights to do that. when attacks were coming against a lot of them, i said you are attacking average americans. i have been attacked in such a things indered if the was hearing were exactly right or not. i have looked into black of smatter and that concerns me. -- i have looked into black lives matter and it concerns me. in my travels in seattle, washington, semi stand up as --t of occupy wall side occupy wall street said -- we can disagree on a lot, but we can agree we love the first amendment and love our constitution and our country. electives us the ability to disagree peacefully. he said he did not like the first amendment and does not like our country and wanted to completely destroy it. that kind of sentiment is driving antifa.

antifa does not love our country. they have very bad motives. americans to understand that. of things were set about the tea party movement, one thing was not said was that we were destroying property, taking over private property and claiming it as our own, or rioting. it does not matter what political party you are, you should be against rioting. if you are not standing up against that, i think there is a problem. as far as calling people things, we are facing that today. i am in washington, d.c. because i am helping doctors try to explain what they are seeing as they diagnose and treat help -- treat and help people with covid-19. over the last several hours, we had a video for a press

conference, and facebook and all the platforms have taken it down. we are being attacked. it is real doctors who are treating real patients. we continue to be attacked today. host: you can learn more at teapartypatriots.org. guest: thank you for having me. host: happening now on capitol hill, the casket of the late congressman john lewis is lying in state. underwayviewing is with the casket on the east front. pandemic, they are allowing the public to view outside in order to protect that have traveled to pay respects to the congressman. next, turn our conversation to voting rights. we talk with kristen clarke of the lawyers committee for civil rights under law about efforts by democrats to restore voting

rights. -- thewe talk with bipartisan policy center about the senate republicans covid relief proposal unveiled yesterday evening and what it would do for unemployment benefits. we will be right back. announcer: during the summer months, reach out to your elected officials with c-span's congressional directory. it contains the contact information you need to stay in touch with members of congress, agencies and state governors. ater your copy online today c-spanstore.org.

"book tv" on c-span two has top nonfiction books and authors every weekend. , oray afternoon eastern live two hour conversation with u.s. combat veteran and rhodes scholar westmore. oore.s m he will be taking your phone calls, facebook comments and twe ets. founder and president michael shellenberger on what he calls apocalyptic environmentalism. he is interviewed by columbia university's andrew rev kin. watch book tv on c-span2. sunday. ♪ announcer: c-span has unfiltered coverage of congress, the white

house, the supreme court and public policy events. you can watch all of c-span's programming on television, online, or listen on our free radio app. be part of the national conversation through c-span's "washington journal." or, through social media. c-span, brought to you today by your television provider. host: a solemn moment on capitol hill as the public is lining up to view the casket of the late congressman john lewis. rightsall know, civil leader who is pushing for the expansion of voting rights up until his death. joining us this morning is kristen clarke, president and executive director of the lawyers committee for civil rights under law to talk about

that effort. four, what is the aim of this? and, talk about john lewis' royale. guest: john lewis shed blood to bring forth passage of the voting rights act of 1965. he marched over the edmund pettus bridge, he was hit with scars untiland more the day he passed. march --and this across the globe on tv screens, and let congress to passing the voting rights act. states, the united supreme court issued a devastating ruling that cut out , one of its the act most important provisions known

as section five federal preclearance provision. provision was strong medicine in rooting out discrimination in places throughout the south and other parts of the country. , we have beene waiting for congress to act. they did so this past december with passage of hr-four. hr-four is an important bill that would restore the voting rights act. it is responsive to that 2014, andg ruling in would bring back that federal review process which has helped block hundreds of discriminatory voting changes throughout the country when we had protections in place. been named the john lewis voting rights act. it established new criteria in determining which states must

obtain preclearance before changes to voting retake effect. what has happened in the wake of that decision? court since the supreme issued that decision, we have seen a groundswell of voter suppression efforts across the country. things like polling places being shut down in black communities and communities of color, purging of legitimately registered voters from the registration roles, new tough criteria for getting registered kind of these are the changes that had been blocked when we had that section five review process in place. the justice department would look at anything new the state

thist to do and say, will harm minority voters? often they found that some of these changes did have a harmful effect, and blocked them from going into effect. section five, and since the supreme court decision, we have seen a groundswell of voter suppression across the country. from georgia to texas, north carolina to florida. the more critical that congress act. with thesten clarke lawyers committee for civil rights under law. we will take your questions and comments about voting rights and john lewis' efforts. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. , (202) 748-8002. there is also the voter empowerment act that mr. lewis

was pushing for, it required states to offer online voter registration, established automatic voter registration, enacted same-day registration, required paper ballots, required states to allow her leave voting and voting by mail without conditions. why are these changes needed? all abouts is modernizing the way people get registered to vote. it is an important bill that was championed by congressman lewis. it is reflective of the work he did during his 17 terms in congress. he was somebody who fought tooth and nail to push congress to put in place laws that will make voting easier. each champion to the voting rights act at every turn. the voter empowerment act he putting inall about place automatic voter registration. online voter registration, which we now have in 41 states.

taking other steps that would make it easier for people to get registered and move onto the voter registration roles. believed democracy worked when everyone had a voice. career is one where he had a track record of working to do just that, fighting to make sure we have a society free of voting discrimination and fighting to make sure congress was doing its part in putting in place laws that would make it easier for people to vote. -- the walllls street journal editorial, " democrats and president trump should examine new york's primary voting mess and take action. male vote deadlines should be moved earlier. absentee ballots should be counted only if they arrived by election day. otherwise, americans might spend christmas wondering which self

claimed president-elect will prevail in court," what do you think? guest: the pandemic has upended life throughout our country and upended our elections. we saw throughout the primary season many states struggle to get it right. they struggled how to figure out how to strike a balance between providing voting in a way that is safe and secure and also accessible to people, many of whom are quarantined in their homes. a stateork, this is where we have seen a high rate of rejection of absentee ballots. we are concerned about this. we are also deeply concerned about states like texas and tennessee where officials have understandard to stance that fear of covid is not a reason to get access to an absentee ballot. we saw long lines in milwaukee and atlanta that made it clear states have a lot of work to do

,o figure out how to provide how to conduct elections in a safe, secure and effective manner in a pandemic. reasons why mye organization, the lawyers committee for civil rights under law, is pushing the senate to that would.6 billion give states resources they need to get it right. fornow we are bracing historic levels of high turnout and participation. in the 98 days or so that stand between now and the november election, we need states to have the money and resources so they can put in place the changes and reforms that are needed to get this right. otherwise, we are bracing for disaster. jordan --o to georgia. jordan.my name is

my first election i voted in was 2018. so i appliedol, for an absentee ballot. that ballot wound up never coming in the mail. i had to drive back the day of election day eight hours just to be able to vote. abouthow you were talking -- if they are in by election day. if they are delays with getting ballots in, with every problems with that? we talk about voter suppression and barriers for voters. we see significant barriers for black voters, latinos and native americans. college students have often faced challenges and we brought lawsuits to deal with those issues. i think this moment is critical for college students who may be

displaced from their homes or their schools. now is the time to figure out whether you are eligible for an absentee ballot and to request that ballot. throughout the primary season, we have seen delays with mail delivery of ballots. another issue we are concerned about. we hear about the u.s. postal service and the financial woes they face. they too are pushing congress to allocate funding to keep the postal service solvent. they play a critical role in our democracy. they have also been critical to the public in the midst of the pandemic. they help to provide medication and food for people who are unable to leave their homes. in 2020 they also face the new burden of getting ballots to folks like you and tens of thousands of people who need

access to absentee ballots in order to safely vote and be heard in 2020. joseph in albuquerque, new mexico. your question or comment about voting rights? you know that martin luther king was a republican, right? and you all don't have his ways at all. [indiscernible] you guys just turn your backs to your own people. you guys should be banned. the democratic party is the confederacy. you guys need to go out. ain't doing nothing for the people. all you guys are doing is looking out for yourselves. all that clothes that you are wearing, you are putting on yourself to look nice --

host: i will give you a chance to respond. organization, the lawyers committee for civil rights under law is a nonpartisan organization. againstur work to fight oppression and for a fairer criminal justice system, our work to fight for education and fair housing is conducted through a nonpartisan lens. we are about fighting discrimination wherever we encounter it across the country. from onee is a tweet of our viewers who said. in kansas they voted in the primary via the absentee ballot, it must be mailed in by midnight on the date of the primary so they won't get my ballot until three or four days after the election, plus i don't have to sign the ballot. your reaction? kristen: this illustrates one of the challenges with the way that we run elections in our country. it is every state for itself.

rules thatsets of govern how elections are conducted in our country. for morea strong need federal guidelines, more federal standards so that we can have a more uniform picture across the country. we are in court battling a number of states that have what we deem to be restrictive deadlines for returning absentee ballots. we want to make sure that every voter, so long as they are an eligible voter, i could have their voice heard, and no voter should have their ballot discounted because their ballot may have been delayed by the u.s. postal service or mailed out too late by election officials who are unprepared for the volume of people respecting cash requesting absentee ballots. we saw these problems during the primary season and we are fighting to make sure that

states can get it right in time for november and we are hopeful that congress will do its part and allocate the funding that states need in order to get these issues right in time for the november general election. host: we go to new york, jessica, a republican. was streamed on their platform, now with trump being a huge advocate for using social media and apps like twitter and cutting out the middleman of the news outlets, how do you think this is a good or bad thing for reelection purposes? that's an think important question, particularly in the age of misinformation. we are seeing misinformation go viral on online platforms like facebook and twitter, and i believe they have a critical role to play in democracy by

blocking and filtering out misinformation that is spread online. sadly we see president trump often being the purveyor of misinformation when it comes to voting in our country. recently he has made a number of allegations about foreign countries seeking to cast absentee ballots in our election , and there is no evidence any of it is true. we want to make sure the public has accurate information on how they can -- on how they can vote in 2020. our hope is that all voters will have access to three options in 2020. a robust, streamlined absentee ballot system, early voting opportunities, and meaningful opportunities to vote in person on election day. i encourage people who are accessing information online and not through a news source to

make sure that they check the accuracy of that information before they share it, make sure they check the accuracy of information before they themselves act on it. we all have to lift up our voice and really push the facebooks and twitters of the world to do their part and filter out misinformation. ast: from frost, texas democratic caller, good morning. caller: good morning. i have a new kind of fear. i support the agenda that you put on the screen for voters, but with absentee voting, with trump claiming that absentee ballots are bad and so many people taking that up, that falsehood, i am afraid that is hoping to push forces

into democratic cities so they can confiscate absentee votes without them being counted. i wonder if the lawyer is looking at protecting the votes that are cast absentee, to make and that they are protected get counted. thank you. kristen: i appreciate that question. seenvidence that we have suggests that while there are delays, that ballots do make their way to officials, to the hands of election officials and people should feel confident in voting absentee by way of an absentee ballot. talkedve that the caller about the deployment of federal troops, and this is something we are concerned about. filed a lawsuit against the administration regarding the assault on

peaceful demonstrators in lafayette square several weeks ago. this was on assault carried out by federal law enforcement on people who were peacefully assembled to exercise their first amendment right to demonstrate and speak out on the need for policing reform and the need for racial justice. as of late we have started to see the deployment of federal troops to certain areas. there are reports that troops will be deployed to chicago and suits have been filed regarding this. i think this is a sacred issue -- separate issue that we need to keep an eye on as we see demonstrations and protests unfold across the country. in 1963n lewis marched he did so exercising is constitutionally protected right to protest, to assemble, to demonstrate in the quest for civil-rights.

today, the public is doing the same and they should be able to do so without intrusion from our federal government. host: stephen in windham, connecticut. an independent caller. caller: thanks for taking my call. i would like to see more people in positions of power pay their respects to john lewis. i think he lived quite a life and we are not on the earth forever. he was quite remarkable that way. getting outlk about the vote. i agree with stacey abrams. i followed her career. voter suppression i think probably ended her chance at becoming governor. act wasoting rights done in august of 1965, so we

are coming up on the 55th anniversary i think of that. there are two things i wanted to focus on. getting out the vote is probably the most important thing. can you tell me about your organization, i don't know much about it. kristen: thank you for that question. the lawyersion, committee for civil rights under law, was founded in june of 1963, the heyday of the civil rights movement, by john f. kennedy who issued a call to action to lawyers to activate, mobilize, and engage in the civil rights fight. some of the first cases we took on were cases protecting the rights of people who were marching for the right to vote, people who were engaged in citizens. today we stand on the front lines of our nation racial justice movement. fight to beat back

voter suppression, to fight for police reform, equal educational opportunities, and fair housing for vulnerable communities and much more. we are committed to working to overcome racial discrimination and racial injustice across our country. to those first points, i agree that we need to do more than -- do more tofe lift up the life and legacy of john lewis. he is a true icon and he dedicated his entire life to working to fight for stronger democracy and a stronger union. i think one of the best ways that we can carry out his legacy is by doing what you say, working to get out the vote. we also need for congress to do respond toand to

that 2013 decision issued by the supreme court that cut out the heart of the voting rights act. the seven years that decision has been on the book the supreme court has put the ball in congress's court and tasked congress with coming up with a new formula for determining where the section five federal review provision of the voting rights act would apply. one of the best ways that congress could honor his legacy right now is by taking action swiftly to restore the voting rights act. host: brian in michigan, republican. caller: thanks for your time. a couple of things. trump has never spoken out about sayinge ballots, he was he didn't wanted to make it easy to verify. we are a sovereign nation. i have traveled this earth.

you see things when you get around in this world. we can currently have at least a -- 22 billion people that should not be here in our country. whether you like that term or not doesn't matter to me. you have states that allow people to get licenses and such and take that step forward for their illegal. there is a big problem. i don't see the voter suppression you are talking about. if you do anything serious in this life you have to show an id. you have to have an id and be able to do things the right way. -- no oneacting dumb cannot figure this out. we are making this so easy like people can't handle these simple rules. people are smart enough to handle the rules and do things the right way.

it gets back to our sovereignty. "illegality."uch those are not protests, those are riots. i believe the attorney general will speak on that in just a few hours. i hope you avail yourself to what you have to say. host: that will happen in less than one hour at 10:00 eastern time. the attorney general will sit before the house judiciary committee answering their questions. when you compare the united states to other modern democracies across the globe, we have some of the lowest voter participation and turnout rates. because welarge part have posed unnecessary restrictions on people possibility to get registered to vote, in large part because of widespread voter suppression. to their point i can provide

some examples of modern-day voter suppression that we face in so many communities across the country. georgia provides a very powerful and vivid example. in macon bibb county, georgia officials sought to move a polling site from a majority black school to the local sheriff's office, despite opposition from the black community that indicated that this would not be a place where people would feel safe and secure going to vote. ultimately we got the site moved to a majority black church, but evidence of the voter suppression we have been dealing with since the jim crow era. another example comes out of hancock county, georgia where officials purge people from the voter rolls and the overwhelming majority were african-americans, longtime voters who were completely eligible and have lived there their entire lives.

sadly these are the kind of dirty tricks that happen sometimes in communities off the beaten path, sometimes these are stories that don't make front page headlines, but really illustrate the barriers that too many communities face across the country. i spent close to 20 years fighting to make sure people have access to the ballot box, and sadly our work has only intensified and become more critical in the last several years as we have seen voter suppression effort become more intense. host: in wheeling, west virginia. mike is a democratic caller. caller: all i have to do is make a statement. i went to the election board on the county i live in, and i talked about -- i am concerned about the postal system. since they changed the postmasters i have talked to the

post office here and they said it takes -- you will get mail every third day or every second day where i live, and a lot of mail won't be going out for seven to 10 days. i have not been getting mail. i asked the election board and they told me this. they told me when you get your ballot, mine is supposed to come in october the ninth. when you get your ballot read it first, take the time, for let out, and sign it where you are supposed to sign it. he said don't put it in the mail, bring it to the election board. every single place where you normally vote or wherever people vote across the state, you can just drop it off at the ballot box at any time. just drop it in. it ballot box is open and goes directly into the side of the building. you can drop it off at the

ballot box, don't put it in the mail because there is a good chance we might not get it. that's what i have to say. thank you. there are real concerns about the u.s. postal service. there is a new postmaster general who comes to the role without any experience in the u.s. postal service, and there are reports of changes that may result in mail delivery delays. we are working hard to fight some of these changes, given the 2020 season that we are in. we are at the moment where because of the pandemic people need access to medication and food that may be being delivered by their postal service worker. we know that 2020 is an unprecedented election season and that the u.s. postal service plays a critical role in getting absentee ballot applications to

-- and ensuring they are delivering and returning those ballots on time to election officials. you bring up an important point. we need to make sure people are informed and educated about the ways in which they can successfully cast an absentee ballot. who will be people voting absentee for the very first time. you underscored the need for congress to allocate money to states to get this right. we are fighting for congress to allocate $3.6 billion in their next covid stimulus package, and to deem this money critical to ensure that states have resources in place to conduct an effective election season. i want to leave callers with a number they can call to report problems. leads a program

called alexion protection. electionhe nation -- protection. this is the nation largest alexion protection program. it is anchored by the 866 -ourvote hotline. if you want to report problems in your community you can call that number to get through to an attorney who can help you navigate the issues you are experiencing. bruce in prattville, alabama, good morning to you. caller: good morning. what i would like to ask is what does she think about the post? does she think they are accurate? one reason i say that is when the primary went on, i went back and looked at alabama. that wase democrats

running for president, if you added all of them up, and all the ones that voted for donald trump e1 alabama by 250, same thing in mississippi and arkansas. he won texas by a million. same thing in georgia and south carolina. media ishe news suppressing the democrats vote by making biden to be out to win and on election day they are going to think he is going to win, so if i am busy i am not going to vote. host: let's take that point. kristen: my organization is a nonpartisan organization, we just pay attention to the polls. what we pay attention to are the barriers that voters are up against, we believe our democracy works when everyone has a voice and when candidates

can succeed on a level playing field and you don't have voter suppression tactics that make it hard for some to have a voice in the democracy. my hope is that in 2020 we will be able to beat back voter suppression, get people access to absentee ballots they may need because of the pandemic, and ultimately have an election that people feel confident income november. host: her organization is lawyerscommittee.org. with the former congressman john lewis lying in state on the east front of the capital, tell us what impact he had on you. kristen: he had a tremendous impact on me. i spent my entire career fighting for civil-rights, and doing civil-rights work, and i have drawn great inspiration from his example at every stage

of my career. recall seeing him at the united states supreme court several years ago, he intended to hear a case challenging the constitutionality of the voting rights act. it was my first time attending andrgument inside the court he was seated among a number of attendees. what i appreciate about him the most is that for all 17 terms in , and since that time he was in college he was similarly focused on fighting for a stronger democracy, one where everyone has a voice and is committed to nonviolence. my hope is that we can all carry his torch forward and work to get out the vote in 2020 and we can all raise our voice when we and just suppression,

grateful for his time and his service and we will miss him dearly. host: thank you for the conversation this morning. kristen: thank you for having me. there is the casket of the late congressman john lewis on capitol hill. as we told you, the opportunity for the public to pay their respects continues today into the afternoon and the evening. the casket is outside because of the coronavirus pandemic, to protect those that are traveling to mark the death of the congressman. are going to switch topics here and turn our attention to the $1 trillion coronavirus relief package that the republicans unveiled to lower, they want enhanced unemployment benefits and other proposals area we will talk with the director of

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>> washington journal continues. host: shai akabas is with us, he policy forctor of the bipartisan policy center here to talk to us about unemployment policy during the coronavirus pandemic. a $1licans unveiling trillion coronavirus relief package, at the center of debate has been enhanced unemployment benefits. congress passed in march an extra $600 a week and republicans are now saying they need to reduce that to around $200 a week. explain who was getting this enhanced federal benefit to begin with. unemployment insurance is a program that is around in any economic circumstance in the u.s.. in the current pandemic, congress expanded the program significantly when they pass the cares act. -- overs act had about

$2 trillion in federal spending, a lot of that went to enhancing the unemployment insurance program. it is covering all the people it normally covers, which is people that have lost employment through no fault of their own. it does not cover people who left on their own volition. --ple it is now covering people who need to either leave for some covid related reason, whether it is illness of their own, illness of a relative, to care for s, orren or dependent people in the gig economy or freelance workers. they expanded unemployment insurance and all of those people are now receiving $600 in additional weekly benefits relative to what they'd received before. to show our viewers what chuck grassley, a republican from iowa, had to say about the justification for

changing the current unemployment assistance formula. >> regardless, the boosted unemployment benefit is significantly more then democratic senate and democratic presidents approved in the 2009 which, by thes, way, was only $25 a month addition when we had the worst recession in this country since the great depression in the 1930's. i am hearing people cry just a few minutes ago about our not doing enough. sense to do what we knew we were doing wrong, but we had to do it to get help out to the people who were unemployed. months wehe last four

were paying out of the federal treasury $600 a month in addition to what each state would pay for those unemployed. host: shai akabas, your reaction to the senator? shai: there is a lot to unpack. the senator is correct that in the great recession congress passed a $25 a week bump up to unemployment insurance benefits. i think we are in a different situation. we have now had tens of millions of people forced to stay home because of the pandemic, and who are not taking in any income from their typical employment. what that means is it is even worse of a situation that we had in the great recession. unemployment rates are higher and more people are having their wages cut or hours reduced than at that time. i think we need a larger federal response. agreek all parties

that we need a more robust response than during the great recession. the question is how large should that addition be? republicans came out with a proposal yesterday that would be $200 a week on top of standard unemployment benefits. those standard unemployment benefits typically cover between a third and a half of people's prior wages. this is $200 a week on top of that. the democratic proposal is to put $600 a week on top of that. i guess they will likely end up somewhere between those two. if unemployment benefits are far in excess of prior wages it could have a disincentive affect towards them reentering the labor roof or -- reentering the labor force. host: if unemployed are says, please return to work i can start paying you now, and an employee refuses to do so, what

happens to those benefits? technically, if an employer calls an employee back they are required to go back to work. there are some exceptions. right now people are allowed to stay on unemployment insurance if they are caring for somebody who has covid, if they have covid, if they have dependence at home -- dependents at home or children they care for. that,es that are not like the person is required to go back to their place of employment but there is not a whole lot of enforcement. people are genuinely scared, and many cases, because of their own personal health with pre-existing conditions from the virus. this is a situation that is very atypical, it is not the standard situation where people would go back to work if they had a job offered to them.

for a variety of reasons they may not want to do so. continuespolicy that to accommodate those extenuating circumstances. host: let's get to calls. from meadville, pennsylvania a republican. good morning. caller: good morning. the a republican so i think $600 a week is just the democrats road to socialism, to get everyone comfortable with more money. what i want to say is, everybody is always saying that computers know everything about us and everybody is hacking into every other country's computers. surely there is a computer person out there that can just make up the difference between their unemployment and the extra little bit. isn't there some kind of a computer program that can do that?

i think you are talking about the fact that the unemployment insurance system, this is a federal state program, a partnership where the federal government helps pay for some benefits and they set the rules of the road, but each state is responsible for administering its own program. that means they are responsible also for the underlying operations and architecture. a lot of the state systems are severely outdated. many are still running on a computer system known as cobalt which was developed 50 or 60 years ago, and there are very few people who know how to run those programs. these state agencies are not equipped to make quick adjustments to unemployment benefits. that is a problem that needs to be fixed. in this moment the reason why congress had adopted this $600 bump up as opposed to replacing a portion of people's wages is

because they were not able to add an additional percentage onto the original percentage. they were not able to set up a code that could adjust on an individual basis relative to prior wages, so they did an across-the-board bump up. i think that is likely to be necessary this time, because the state unemployment agencies have said to transition to something that works on a replacement rate asis for everybody individually, that would take months. journale wall street reports that states drew $16.32 billion from the federal government's to pay the enhanced benefits for the week that ended in july 11. that would pay for 27.2 million $600 payments, the total likely includes back payments. a left-leaning think tank that about 25 million

workers are poised to lose the $600 benefit. shai: unemployment insurance has been huge for the u.s. in terms of its response to the pandemic. there are three ways. the first is for public health, it has allowed somewhere on the order of 25 or 30 people to stay ,ome socially distanced complying with stay-at-home orders, and help to the extent that we have mitigated the spread of the virus. the second is for the individual and household itself. this has been a lifesaver for many people in terms of allowing us to put food on the table and allowing us to pay bills. consumer spending has only dropped about 6% since pre-pandemic levels, which is remarkable considering how many people are out of jobs or facing reduced pay or reduce take-home income. on all three levels this has come up in a big way for the u.s. economy. if it were to go away entirely,

the additional $600, i think it would be devastating and have severe consequences for the next several years or decade. it would mean financial distress for so many american households. we cannot allow the rug to be pulled out from under the u.s. economy. we need to find a sensible compromise that continues to support the economy while putting in place the right incentives for economic recovery. host: lisa in texas, good morning. kristen: good morning. -- caller: good morning. ,here should be a compromise perhaps they could compromise and not drag this out. the american people, there are some people that are truly hurting. i would like to say that i tried to call earlier, because i would like to say the world got a little dimmer and have been got a little brighter with the death

of mr. lewis. walked hisn that talk. god bless mr. lewis. host: bath in tampa, florida. in tampa,ng -- beth florida. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. need to comell, we within some middle ground on the extra $600. 57, i have never seen anything so horrific like what is going on in our world and our country right now. the money that is being spent to help families is good, but for some it may be more than what they are used to making and for others it may be less than what they are used to. amountve a middle ground would be very beneficial at

least to help people stay as stable as possible to pay their bills and put food on the table. i hope that we can find some peace in this world and these horrible things that are going on. what has happened to the economy since the beginning of this coronavirus pandemic? , consumer the jobs spending, all of those economic points that people look at. have really fallen off a cliff, unemployment rates are in the double digits. tens of millions of people have had employment shock. surveysus bureau does a that they have ruled out over the past several months to track how american households are doing in the pandemic. they found that more than 50% of households have had some loss in income since the beginning of

the pandemic. that is remarkable and it shows just how hard this has hit the economy. what is also surprising is how consumer spending has not dropped. i think that is in large part because the unemployment insurance benefits, and the paycheck protection program benefits that help employees retain -- employers retain their employees. all of those have helped prop up demand to make sure that we don't enter something worse than the great recession in just a few months. i think there is still a possibility that the economy could take a turn for the worse, and over the last four to six weeks we have seen troubling data with the coronavirus popping back up in hotspots like arizona, texas, and florida and as the path of the virus goes so does the economy. i expect with more data we will see a step back over the past months, the question is can we

get the virus back under control before there is a vaccine in order to get the economy moving in the right direction? i want to add to the prior collars, i appreciate their comments on compromise. we at the bipartisan policy center have put out a proposal and we recommended that congress continues the weekly enhancement of $400 a week, roughly in the middle between where the two parties are now, and supplement that with another round of recovery rebates with direct checks to american households to make up the difference in income they would be receiving. we think that is important to make sure consumer demand does not drop off, but to lower the unemployment insurance so the difference between working and not working is not as great as it is today. some people are being paid more to stay at home than they would to go to work. host: republicans are proposing another round of $1200 checks to

the same group of americans that were slated to receive the cash this spring. those payments started phasing out for those of income above 100000 for individuals and $50,000 for married couples. the first round of payments provided $500 for each child, but democrats want to increase that to $1200 per child for up to three children per family. includeslican plan $500 per child but would expand the definition for a dependent to include adults and other over 16.s what impact did those checks have for consumers and the economy? shai: they had a big impact too. there is no silver bullet, all of these played a role. the checks, we did a poll earlier in the spring that shows that a lot of people were

spending these checks on basic necessities like putting food on the table, paying rent, and that was true for households of color especially. this pandemic has impacted communities of color disproportionately. as we have had that conversation on a national level for the past couple of months it is important to keep that in mind as we look at solutions going forward. another element is that they reach a broader segment of households then unemployment insurance which only affects people whose employment has been impacted. fort of people who apply unemployment insurance get rejected for various reasons. maybe they did not fill out the form or are not familiar with what they need to fill out the form. those checks can help us reach financial support to a much broader set of the population than just the 30 million people collecting unemployment insurance. host: we are talking about the economic impact of the

coronavirus pandemic. for viewers waiting for the house judiciary committee to begin with attorney general william barr, we just learned that the house judiciary chair, jerry nadler, was in a car accident this morning. not been injured, he was not driving, he is fine, but his arrival has been delayed and thus the hearing has been delayed till later this morning. we will keep you updated on that. we are covering that hearing right here on c-span as well as c-span.org, or you could listen along with the free c-span radio app. inwill go to but in -- bud tennessee. caller: thanks for taking my call. it's funny that these congressmen that are making six figures are worried about $600 added unemployment for people. is, in this economy

where people like me have two jobs. if i lose one job i don't get compensated for that loss. i would like to hear your expert talk about that. thank you. shai: that's a good question. called shortogram time compensation that is in place in many states, i am not familiar if tennessee has that program. it's part of the unemployment insurance system that allows people who have had a reduction toemployment or work hours collect some level of unemployment insurance, a prorated or proportional amount of benefits. you could look into if you qualify for that. i don't know if you have two jobs and lose one if you are eligible, but that program is attempting to fill the gap between people who are fully unemployed and people who are fully employed. host: sabrina from asheville,

north carolina. caller: [indiscernible] host: sabrina, i apologize, i cannot understand what you are saying. john from elwood, illinois. caller: how are you doing? i am a little upset about this system. when they were sending out the $1200 i did not get a dime. i am on partial disability, i took some partials from my retirement under teamsters. i did not get one dime from the government. i could use the money. my brother-in-law has a half $1 million in his bank account and he got $1200, and he is laughing about it. he doesn't need it, why are they sending it to him? give it to the people with the families. he was laughing. a bunch of people that live

around me that are wealthy are getting this money, and their company is paying them to be off. they get all this money plus unemployment. they have it made, they don't have to go back to work, they can stay home with this money coming in and buying new cars every year. some of these people that are very wealthy are still getting money they don't need, and people like me that are struggling did not get one dime from the government. i don't know why but i did not get money. why are these people getting this money? this whole system is really not fair. family didn't get any money and they want to know when they will get their share. there are people that are rich that don't need the money that are getting the money. good the caller makes a point, that it is difficult to target these benefits perfectly

in an extremely effective way because they are meant to go to such a wide portion of the population. congress intended to do that by setting an income cap on the household income, whether it is one household or a married couple. in terms of phasing it out $150,000.,000 or what the caller is pointing out is that there may be people who have a lot of wealth who don't have high income who may be eligible to receive the check. i am not sure why the caller did not receive a check, but it's worth noting that the irs had a challenge getting this money out to so many households on such a quick basis. many people had it automatically deposited in bank accounts. so finding those people with checks or debit cards, it has not been an easy process. i would encourage the caller to check out the irs website and see if there are mechanisms by

which he can get a payment. of people owedy those payments who have not receive them. host: the wall street journal reporting that state and local governments would get no additional aid under the republican plan, but it would grant them flexibility in using existing federal assistance. democrats have allowed nearly $1 trillion to state and local governments to fill revenue gaps because of the recession. can you talk about the impact of the aid to state and local governments? shai: this will be a crucial portion of the package. congress provided some support to state and local governments, but they have been hammered with the effect of coronavirus, because many of them rely on income tax to meet their budget. most of them have balanced budget requirements. when income stops they need to

cut spending in a commensurate way and most of that is done by laying people off. that has laid down a vicious cycle where more people are getting laid off, less people are spending, then growth drops off because consumption is down and more people are laid off. we need to make sure at the government level that that is not happening in the same way it did after the great recession because congress provided insufficient relief. there needs to be a large infusion of cash to state and local governments. what that is is up to the states and congress, but i think it needs to play a large role in the package being debated. this is urgent for many states because they have already laid many people off and are preparing to lay more off. the sooner we can get these on insurance benefits out, they are about to expire with most people receiving their last supplemental payments last week. the sooner we can get checks

out, relief to schools so they can make an effort to open and falls in person or remotely, all of these are critical to support the economy through the next several months. a tweet commenting saying nothing is being done to help people who are retired and earn 0% interest on what little savings they have left. checkstwo 1200 dollars does not cut it. citizens are being ignored and prices are skyrocketing. prices on average are not skyrocketing, there has been some level of reduction in prices where you do not have inflation right now. there may be certain goods for which prices have increased substantially, perhaps goods older americans rely on disproportionately. host: they could be talking about the price of food at the grocery store. shai: that could be, there could

be food that has increased significantly in price. there has been a rise in demand for food at the grocery store because fewer people are eating out. we can send out another round of checks. what is good for most seniors is that most of them rely heavily on social security. have not been affected, so people are receiving those payments as they were prior to the crisis. good point that savings accounts are not going to be making a whole lot of return, so older americans probably need additional help. housing relief that congress has passed can come in and other approaches may be necessary. host: bonnie in mississippi is up next. you cani am hoping answer this question. passed the first relief package, and now they are fixing to do another one, why is -- even in the

first 1 -- there was millions of dollars that went to different thems, i don't no one of may have been the arts. why can't they -- bipartisan, but she she has to have a gun held to her head to pass anything without a bunch of garbage in it. i don't understand why even she would do that. it makes no sense whatsoever. ,ust like someone said before , andve on social security we are doing pretty good right now. we don't have anything save for but we actually

could do without the $1200. counties, a lot of froms, when they get money either small businesses or whatever, that money stops right there. else'sut in everybody pockets except for where it is supposed to go. shame and it is not right. host: let's get our guest's response. shai: the caller is noting that some of the spending in the original package may not have gone to the most worthwhile causes. you get a bit of that on both sides of the aisle. democrats thought that some of the money that went to big businesses was a bailout, and on the republican side some of the

money that went to nonprofits like the arts may not have been necessary. a lot of this money was meant to preserve employment. when you talk about money going to businesses or nonprofits, or even government agencies in some cases at the state and local level, that is largely to retain jobs because that is what a lot of the budgets are spent on. if we don't spend that money people will be out of work and then collecting unemployment insurance. type of spending generally speaking is absolutely necessary. there are elements of the original package that was rolled out so quickly and was so large, on the order of a couple trillion dollars, that are likely to have been wasteful. there is a commission in congress right now that is looking at the effectiveness of that spending and the question over whether some of it may have been wasteful. i think it is called the corona

relief oversight commission or something like that. i is a bipartisan commission, believe they still don't have a chairman and have been hampered by that. the question of how the money was sent out will be important when we look back and think of what we can do better for next time. dave in reston, virginia, you apply for unemployment benefits, have you received them? caller: no, i did not qualify. host: what is your comment or question? caller: it's both a comment in question. virginia is here in paid by the state. week for ato $300 a maximum of 16 weeks. clearly those same employees are getting an additional unemployment benefit of $600 a week from the federal government for up to $900 a week.

that is $3600 a month over a three-month, 16 week period. 16,004 hundred dollars not including the stimulus payment. people are saying they need more. i did not get anything. they are bitching they are not getting more because of the closure of these high percentage of businesses that were forced to close by state governors and will not be returning and remain closed. others got loans that will need to be repaid, people were -- homelessness will rise to unprecedented levels. there are no more unemployment benefits than they will become destitute. personally i call it economic genocide. these states going to make up for deficits of three

months of lost income taxes, three months of lost sales taxes, things of that nature? it seems like we are solving solutions that will cause additional problems down the road. problem withng a the solution that causes additional problems is not a solution to the original problem. we need to address the original problem. host: we will leave it there. shai akabas? shai: the caller raises an interesting point. when it comes to unemployment insurance, paying that $600 a week supplement has been more that is necessary, frankly. that is why we proposed withting some of that weekly benefit scale down over time. the problem it creates is a couple. one is that it is just not fair that people who are staying home are getting paid more than their

counterpart making the same who is working on the front line. it's also not the most efficient use of federal dollars. paying people more than they received before from their income, when we could be paying somebody else who is not collecting unemployment insurance who was rejected or does not have an income would seem to be a better use for the dollars that are paying the former individual more than they received an income. we need to think about this package holistically, it needs to be large and bold, but should be thoughtful and how much additional supplement we are paying. hopefully if we continue paying a $600 a week supplement and for many households two thirds of them, it is more than they were making prior to the pandemic. that will this incentivize people from going back to work and ultimately to get economic recovery we need people who are

willing to reenter the labor market. especially once we get the virus under control and move to the backside of the crisis. host: patricia from new castle, delaware. caller: thanks for taking my call. my granddaughter is 17, she has couple- she got a job a months before the pandemic hit. she has a heart condition and had to leave because of her heart condition. sure wondering, i am not if she would be eligible for unemployment or not and was wondering that. if the state did not allow her unemployment would she be entitled to federal benefits? i am not sure, i did not hear all the circumstances. the federal and state benefits are sort of combined in a sense. i don't believe there is anyone that would be eligible for a federal benefit who is not eligible for state benefits.

hasfederal government extended the eligibility for benefits so there are more people who are eligible for the unemployment insurance program. i don't believe -- there are two different applications that if you do not fall into the traditional category then you may need to apply for pandemic unemployment assistance. that was a specific expansion and eligibility passed by congress through the cares act. might be an option if your daughter does not qualify for the original standards. ofis a different sub portion the program. also republicans are wanting to expand a worker retention tax credit. allowing larger credits per worker and allowing 30,000 -- what is this and can you talk about the economic impact? keepingis is about

people on payroll, making it easier for businesses to rehire employees, to retain their workers during these difficult economic times when the revenue that is coming into the business is likely to be substantially depressed given the reduction in demand that we have. that will likely continue and could get worse depending on how large the federal government's response is to the current situation. those programs are trying to keep people on the payroll so we don't get this vicious cycle where more people get laid off and then they don't have income to spend on other businesses, than those businesses have to lay people off. that is what the federal government's response is trying to do, to prevent long-term unemployment spells where people are permanently separated from their employer, or business closures. that is often the result as well. to the extent the federal

government can prevent that by extending lines of credit, giving grants to businesses, or tax credits to help them retain workers will be an important component going forward. host: host: thank you very much. guest: thank you for having me. host: as we told you just moments ago, we've learned that jerry nadler, democrat of new york was in a car accident this morning. he's not hurt. he was not driving. however, they have delayed the hearing with the attorney general william barr. not sure when it will start. we will have coverage of it here on c-span. so keep your channels here when that begins. and as we say goodbye, we'll note for one last time, the casket of the late john lewis, democrat of georgia the civil rights leader lying in state today on the east front steps of the u.s. capitol after today's public viewinghe