coming up on "washington journal," nick timiraos joins us from "wall street journal" to discuss president-elect joe biden economic team. then emily benfer talks about housing issues due to the coronavirus pandemic. host: overnight in the united kingdom, the british government has authorized the first use of a covid-19 vaccine made by biontech and pfizer. good morning. it is wednesday, december 2, 2020. welcome to "washington journal." we will talk about the cdc panel decision, look at the vexing news out of the u.k. and ask you this morning, how would you

prioritize vaccine distribution? the lines to use -- host: i want to start with a poll that was done four months ago, and not surprisingly some of the decisions made by this panel fall in love -- fall in line with what the poll said in terms of which of the following priority.uld receive health care workers, 73% of those polled said that. compromised amused

systems, 60%. 56% for fire/police rescue. the story this morning on the decision made by this panel, part of cdc health workers long-term care facility should get covid-19 vaccine first. theysay the committee voted overwhelmingly tuesday to recommend health-care providers and residents and staff of long-term care facilities be at the front of the line for a covid-19 vaccine. the resignation must be accepted by cdc director robert redfield. agency will then issue guidance on who gets access. final decisions will rest with the state. state governments must put their first orders of covid vexing to operation warp speed by friday. the vote was aimed at giving

them concrete advice on who they should prioritize for vaccination with first deliveries, which are expected to be limited. a bit more from the article -- they write about this panel -- the advisory committee on immunization practices, they voted 13-1 to put health-care providers and long-term residents, groups that represent about 24 million americans, at the top of the vexing priority list. health-care workers is a broad group encompassing people that work at hospitals and outpatient clinics, the staff at long-term care facilities, people who deliver health care, and people that work at pharmacies. was cast byent vote a vaccine researcher at vanderbilt who said there are not -- there is nothing data to support using vaccines in long-term care residents. your thoughts on how you would prioritize, and brought them out

-- not just populations, but where in the country. state governors have to have their requests in by friday according to the article. of 2748 8000, eastern and central time zones. , mountain and pacific. the story you are hearing another new services about the british decision, this is the pfizercovid biontech vaccine approved for use next week in the u.k.. here is that story. the medical regulator says the jab, which offers up to 95% protection against covid-19 illness is safe to be rolled out. they say the first 800,000 doses will be available in the u.k. from next week. they write that elderly people

in in-care homes are at the top of the priority list followed by over 80's and health care staff. they say because the pfizer vaccine needs to be stored at -- sevenseven degrees care at homeus, residents may not be immune until later. , eastern.00 202-748-8001, mountain and pacific. let's hear from the working group chair beth bell on the process. [video clip] beth: thank you for participating in this first meeting in which we will be having a vote. i will just mention this is a particularly difficult time in the nightstick. covid -- inging one

the united states. we are averaging one covid death per minute. in the time it takes to have this meeting, 180 people will have died from covid-19. guess, not tooi soon. host: the working group, the group making recommendations to the cdc -- they said the initial recommendations on the initial distribution of the vaccine in their decision on this -- health care workers, -- the numbers there. 21 million health-care personnel can be affected by this. workers in essential in critical industries, 87 million. adults with high-risk medical conditions, 100 million. adults 65 and older, 65 million. 202-748-8000, eastern and central. this48-8001, mountain and

-- and pacific. let's hear from john. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. a first-time caller starting to listen to c-span. thank you for having me on. i appreciate it. host: you bet. your thoughts on the prioritization. we heard the decision from the panel on the cdc. what are your thoughts on this? caller: i did not read specifically, i probably should have done that, but i think it was a 13-1 decision to move forward, and one of the things i liked about it is that the elders were either included in b, or the 2 group, and because over half of the deaths in the u.s. from the coronavirus over 55, i think it is logical news.

one of the interesting things to watch -- and i was doing research on this -- i think the flu had about a 90% to 95% vaccination rate in the u.s., and i think one of the questions i have is how many -- what the percentage of elders are in that group that may not take the vaccine for coronavirus. host: on site. tie that into the flu vaccine -- i am sorry. tie that into the flu vaccine. caller: i am saying about 5% to 10% of people don't take the flu vaccine, and out of those five to 10% of people -- host: i see what you are -- what you mean. tos you are in a situation get to the critical population they have to go into nursing homes, long-term hair -- long-term care facilities, and make sure those folks actually do get vaccinated and get approval, in some cases, from

family and things like that who have their loved ones, parents, and others and those facilities. caller: that is a good point. the one final point i wanted to -- it could the very on a region to region basis. in the northeast, the demand would be higher there since that is where most of the deaths tend to be, where is if you go out to oklahoma, hawaii, alaska, where the death rate is not as high as it is to -- compared to other regions, the demand may not be -- you may not need to have a higher priority for those areas. host: john, appreciate your call. first-time caller. thanks for doing that. hope you call back in. some priorities to from the working group. again, they approve the initial groups, health-care personnel and long-term residents --

health-care personnel, including more specifically hospitals, long-term care facilities, outpatient clinics, home health care, pharmacies, emergency medical services, and public health, and more specifics, long-term care facilities, skilled nurses facilities, assisted living facilities, and other residential care. the total there about 3.2 million beds according to the cdc panel. let's go to pat in bristol, tennessee. good morning. caller: yes. -- the elder people first and in hospitals and different types of vaccinations and stuff. is that i'll -- how they are doing that -- starting with the elderly people and the ones really sick in the hospital,

they get them all first before they can later distribute out to the general public? i think it is how they are doing it, like i have heard on the news and stuff, right? you are very much. host: appreciate that. from "washington times" cdc committee gives prior to residence in long-term care. they say the first doses should be given to health care workers who might be exposed to the coronavirus and residents of long-term care facilities were people tend to be elderly and have underlying conditions that put them at risk of dying. the advisory committee on immunization practices said roughly 20 million health-care workers could have direct or indirect exposure to the coronavirus. assisted living facility should be grouped to do phase one a

distribution. staff and long-term care facilities, where 40% of the deaths have been reported, are considered health-care workers eligible for the initial doses. the committee chairman voted sash says he voted yes because the recommendations maximized benefits, minimized arm and promote justice -- harm and promote justice. the no vote after raising concerns on the lack of data on how vaccines would affect. they said governors have the final say on who gets doses, but experts say states typically follow recommendations from the panel of doctors and experts. one of those officials involved in his part of the chief medical officers and talked about the process of distribution once the vaccine is available.

health-care personnel are defined as essential workers paid and unpaid serving in health-care settings who have potential for direct or indirect exposure to patients or materials. there are approximately 21 million health-care personal working in hospitals, long-term care facilities, outpatient clinics, home health care, pharmacies, emergency andlities, public health, others. the second group under consideration are residents of long-term care facilities. about 3 million adults in the u.s. live in long-term care facilities, which provide a spectrum of medical and nonmedical services usually to frail older adults unable to reside independently indicated. there are several different categories of long-term care facilities including skilled nursing facilities. require higherse acuity care including assisted

living. other residential care facilities may provide specific services or cater to specific populations. host: on this first hour of "washington journal" asking you about your priorities for vaccine distribution following the decision yesterday of the panel to cdc. we mention of the start of the program the decision by the british government to approve the biontech pfizer vaccine for nextn the u.k. as early as week, and "the guardian u.k." has a piece on how they are prioritizing -- a look at the list on their priority populations. residents in a care home for , all of those 80 and older, frontline health and

social workers, all of those 75 years of age and over, all of those 70 years of age and over, clinically extreme, vulnerable individuals. cookeville tennessee, and hear from don. good morning. personally, i think as much or more efforts should be put into something that knocks it out if you got it, then you have the results in a matter of days, finding out if it works instead of potential side effects that could come up years down the road. as far as those that ought to get prioritized, starting at the top, everybody involved in pharmaceuticals, although legislators that say they would never take the vaccine created term, and the employees at big-box stores, the

only ones allowed to stay open. that is my opinion on it. host: elizabeth next up in fairfax, virginia. caller: good morning. no republican should be allowed to get the vaccine because according to them it is all a hoax, no one will tell them how .o act they take no personal responsibility about this virus, which for decades about this -- was there republican mantra "personal responsibility. country hase in the received index mission, maybe a republican could get what is left over and i really mean that. thank you. trump to the fda -- why is your beating us on a vaccine? americaent to breached first is demanding to know why

the notice states could end up third or worse. president trump and his deputies are privately admonishing the fda officials for not moving faster to authorize promising coronavirus vaccines, a push partially motivated by trump's desire to claim credit for record fast vaccine development, four officials said. host: ohio. go ahead. caller: it only took you 15 minutes to get around to the statement that this is an advisory committee that made this decision, but the final decision will be left to the governor's or the government as to who gets the call. host: right, and i think in that piece that i read in the washington times, is said essentially governors will have the final say so, though experts say stupid -- states typically follow the requirements from the

panel of experts. caller: well, it is like a little kid waiting around to get his christmas toys. it will be the governor who makes that decision. for your governor, jim dewine, how does he hope he prioritizes the vaccine? caller: well, mike has made a lot of mistakes so he may go a long with some of these other governors like the new york governor, the new jersey governor, the gun of -- governor of california. i don't agree with them. i would like to have my they pickedwhenever these groups. just make sure i get my vaccination where i fall in. host: that is jim in ohio. the panel that we are talking about is the -- panel, the

members -- there are 15 voting members responsible for making vaccine decisions. this is from the cdc page, and we mentioned his name -- jose ramiro is the current chair chief medical officer from the arkansas department of health in little rock, and members of that panel, both geographically and regionally -- regionally and by allession, in terms of -- of them are doctors. many are masters of public health and other specialties as well. kent in wheeling, west virginia. go ahead. caller: yes, i would like to what countries came out with these vaccines -- there are three or more out there -- is a great britain or china? do we, with one? -- come out with one?

it changes all the time. just wondering who came out with them? host: the british approved the use of the biontech and pfizer. other vaccine awaiting emergency use approval by the fda, and the other one by astrazeneca as well. caller: all right. thank you. kent in westght, virginia. the front page of "wall street showing joe biden on the men's sporting a medical boot. the president-elect twisted his ankle while playing with his dog major and sustained a hairline fracture. we will talk more about the choices made by president-elect biden on his economic team and the little bit her on

"washington journal." allen is in michigan. good morning. go ahead. yeah, i think they should definitely do the medical community first. are you there? host: we are there. we are listening. go ahead. caller: i was watching your show and saw the man from the cdc on and he stated the covid closely resembled the rubella, so i went and gotpay $87 at myers the measles, mumps, and rubella shot. i think people should go get the a pre-covid shot and then you will know if the proteins in it are that close to being covid. you should get the shot. if the shot bothers you, you might have a problem with covid, but if you go right through it like i did, i am figuring you

are all set for covid. the elderly should be doing this , as far as i'm concerned. ,ost: when did you get the mmr the vaccine. caller: i got it about three weeks ago. host: had you ever gotten that before? caller: it is funny. i went to walmart and they said they had it, and i said i would theyto get the shot, and and they said it was because you already have the shot, and i said you don't get it. i need that shot. people should get it, especially the elderly because it is proper in -- prompting you to get ready for the shot. i watch the guy from the cdc on your show. go figure. host: thanks for the call. joplin, missouri.

carol. welcome. caller: hello. host: you are on the air. go ahead. caller: i don't think the vaccine should be given to people prioritized on their political views. host: are you referring to the woman who said that republicans should not get the vaccine? caller: yes, i think that is one of the most horrible things i have ever heard anybody say. think the most multiple people should get it -- most vulnerable people should get it -- obviously, the elderly, the sick. host: ok, carol. thank you for calling this morning. --nt to play this earlier this is with the association of state and territory health officials talking about distribution. [video clip] >> there is a group called the advisory council on immunization practices, made up from some of the top scientists and public who comeficials

together and provide recommendations for how vaccines can be used and how they get distributed, and we call it the , thatthe acronym, acip group that will put out recommendations for who should be prioritized. traditionally, i will say, being advisoryan myself, the council on immunization --ctices, that is so i go where i go for everything. i think you will see most priority -- providers follow that. most states will follow that. acip is highly regarded. they are also autonomous. they do not work for the administration. they work in hospitals, research, or academic settings. that is where we look at the recommendations from. they have more data from the trial before they begin making firm recommendations.

politico thisat morning, overnight from the u.k., u.k. approves biontech pfizer vaccine, ready to use next week. it is donald trump's worst nightmare, right politico. the u.k. becomes the first country to authorize the vaccine. the vaccine should start arriving in the u.k. within days and could be used on british citizens from next week. the first people to get the vaccine, which will be administered over two doses, 21 days apart, will be priority groups, health care, health and care workers, the elderly, and those that are medically vulnerable based on a decision from u.k.'s joint committee on vaccination and immunization. the committee will publish its latest advice later on wednesday. we are asking you about prioritization on the distribution of the vaccine and the decision an announcement made from the panel from cdc

yesterday. we're also hearing from the prime minister this morning on "prime minister's questions" in the u.k. carried every week on our companion network, c-span2, and every sunday here on c-span. prime minister boris johnson on the decision in the u.k.. let's listen. prime minister johnson: i know the whole house so want to join me in welcoming the fantastic news they have formally authorize the pfizer vaccine for covid-19. the vaccine will begin to be made available across the u.k. from next week. i would like to pay tribute to thank all of those that have made this possible. it is the protection from vaccines that will ultimately allow us to reclaim our lives and get our economy moving again. mr. speaker, this morning i had addition to myn duties i should have further such duties later today. >> thank you, speaker. i would like to share the

congratulations of the prime minister on the creation of this new vaccine and the speed with which it has gone out, and to give that congratulations to the engineers and scientists that delivered it. i believe we should form the widest this a vision take-up of safe and effective medicines, but does my right friend agree with me that it should always be taken on a wholly voluntary basis of individuals and -- familiesstion question mark prime minister johnson: -- families? that itnister: i agree should be taken, but it is not how we do things. host: the prime minister announcing the use -- the news of the acceptance of the vaccine, the biontech pfizer vaccine in the u.k., distribution of that starting next week in the united kingdom.

we are asking you this morning about the distribution in the u.s. after the decision by the panel from the cdc yesterday. is the number to call in the eastern time zones. 202-748-8001, mountain and pacific. for those of you that are medical professionals, that is 202-748-8002. will go to crestview, florida, and hear from eric. caller: how are you doing? host: fine, thanks. caller: i want to comment about the woman who called earlier who said republicans should not get the vaccine. i think it should be up to the person. i think this world needs a little more empathy. as an independent, i see a lot of partisan stuff going on. forbless c-span and oan opening everybody's eyes. host: kevin in jacksonville,

florida, next up. good morning. caller: i feel it is important that anyone that works in a long-term care facility be a priority for getting the vaccine . the deaths there have been really bad on the quality of -- oner the residents person comes down with covid, everybody ends up again isolated, making it ends up being isolated, making it really difficult on residents and family members. at a socialok economic factors and race and make sure whatever will we go about distributive in the vaccine that we don't leave out large numbers of poor people, homeless people, or african-americans, and so forth -- we need to be fair. i would hate to see at the end of 20 million doses been distributed we have all of the wealthy white people have been vaccinated and a lot of other at-risk populations have not had

the same opportunity. has your governor, ron desantis, made any announcement about how the vaccine will be distributed or the logistics of the populations affected? caller: i've not seen anything from him here to know. host: ok. host: jeff in lawson missouri, go ahead. guest: i don't field the -- caller: i don't field the theine should be -- feel vaccine should be administered at all. that ideas for the army to administer -- the idea is for the army to administer it within 24 hours. that would require martial law. tot: the job of the army is

distribute it. journal said states/jurisdictions under emergency powers. zones will be the jurisdictions, not the states. host: your concern is you will be forced to have a vaccine? caller: yes sir. host: how would they make that happen? caller: the journal stated in its press conference with trump it would be within 24 hours and all americans would receive it. host: we covered that press conference. you can go back and listen to it generale exactly what gus perna had to say. here is what dr. anthony fauci

had to say last week in terms of prior tort -- prioritize asians. prioritization. >> i can tell you what is traditionally done but that is not a final decision and it is not up to me. it is up to an independent body into the responsibility ultimately is with the cdc. it traditionally when you have a shortage you give it to the health care workers who put themselves at risk taking care of other individuals. elderly ande the those with underlying conditions. then you have those essential workers, which would include the military. who arere are are those teachers, children into school and -- in school.

that is not the final determination. that is what usually happens. for covid-19 the decision will be made after an emergency use authorization is given. then the cdc together with their advisory committee will make that decision. host: the u.s. senate coming in today, the house is later today beginning the end of the lame-duck session here. this tweet from a capitol hill reporter talking about the change in the senate seat in arizona -- the moment between the departure of martha mcsally into the arrival of mark kelly -- and the arrival of mark kelly. that swearing in is i think at noon today. it is at noon today at the u.s. senate and vice president mike

pence will be there to administer the oath of office. our producer with the details there. live coverage of the senate is always on c-span two. vaccinealking about distribution in the u.s.. the headline from the new york the cdc director will decide by wednesday whether to accept the recommendations. states are not required to follow but most are expected to. your thoughts on prioritize --an of dutch prioritize of vaccinations. caller: i agree with the cdc recommendations, those who are most vulnerable and then rush restore clerks and things like that who are putting themselves

at risk. about the vaccines, as of the middle of november there were 44 vaccines in human distribution. there were 10 that are currently in phase three. pfizer did not accept government money to research the vaccine. they did accept money for later production. --t is why they are able they can go to any country they want and to distribute the vaccine if that is what they want to do because they did not accept u.s. government money for that. int: we will hear michael houston, texas. caller: good morning. i have an idea. take this all the way down to the state and county level.

there ought to be a four-person person team -- medical personnel , military such as the national guard, law enforcement and a government official. sure it isel to make all the way down to the county level because then they can see where the most severe outbreaks are at and move the vaccines and they are done with their initial distribution of it. it should boil down to that. that government official should report back to the state government than the state government reports back to the federal government. be efficient all the way down to the county level. beach,ext, papa no florida. caller: good morning. establishing about an online registry and that would require voluntarily,

people would fill out a survey that i believe would feel -- fill in key necessary statistics. for example the registry could ask for age, mask behavior, household cluster size, the distribution of ages within that cluster in the household and lastly the geographical location . for example, i live close to miami. the behavior in miami is disturbing to me. therelderly, but i go out and there are so many who think it is a party city. they refused to wear masks near the beach. to ben cluster areas have treated with higher priority because the people who are sensitive in those areas with a lot of people who are irresponsible. host: how soon do you hope you can get vaccinated? caller: i agree essential health care workers should be first.

obviously they are not just our risk but at risk of spreading also, not that they necessarily wed be subject to mortality risk, but as transmitters they can further come into contact with people coming into the hospital even for flu cases. health care workers first then we can decide based on the survey who is statistically more likely at risk. for example, how should you treat military people? in a war zone or other risks. you can do that intelligently if you have an information database to make a correct decision. host: there was a headline this morning from politico. lawmakers to biden -- "step it on diversity.

included an indian member, a man from nigeria. the response -- it is not enough. they want more representation. after jim clyburn spoke out last week about the need for more diversity in bidens administration, more black and asian lawmakers are joining the chorus. biden in wilmington, delaware yesterday announcing that team. >> a team that will help us build the economy back better than it was before. -- the team is tested team is tested. they share my core vision for economic relief here in the usa. given a fair shot and equal

chance, there is nothing beyond the capacity of the american people. let's not forget who built this country -- middle-class and working-class people built this country and unions built the middle-class. greatest job crisis in modern history we can tilde a new american economy that works for all americans -- build a new american economy that works for all americans. host: we will talk more about s economicent elect' team coming up. agencyaises to fill jobs. the president-elect is lining up appointees to fill lower-level jobs that do not require running the gauntlet on capitol hill. inr calls -- catherine concord, new hampshire.

good morning. caller: i want to remind everyone about the 1960's. england put out an anti-nausea drug for their pregnant women. i was pregnant. america took its time deciding and we avoided the tragedy of the babies that were born without limbs. we are not in a race with another country. we are in a race with a disease. let our medical people take due diligence before they ok it. i think it is great that the poor people who are working on the first minds on the hospitals should get it first. host: lou in long beach, california. you are on their. the air.e on caller: my name is joe actually.

i am 88 years old. i want to give a brief history of what life has been like since my parents came over from latin american countries. they were poor and they worked there but softer the second -- and they worked theirh the -- they worked through the second world war. it was a tough struggle all through school so here i am. 88. i said, i am am beginning to get the fruits of all my labors. i was raised a democrat. [laughter] host: joe, interesting story.

glad you called in this morning. in terms of where you stand on getting vaccinated, you are one of the elderly population obviously. are you concerned? will you get vaccinated as soon as it is available? caller: it does not seem to be as long tested as it normally is and i want to see what the results are for the earlier people who get the vaccination earlier. so i think eventually i will get it. host: i appreciate your call this morning. wesley in germantown, maryland. caller: good morning. reallys one industry i think the cdc should add. i agree with the cdc's recommendation, especially hotel

workers, people on the front lines and all that. i think restaurant workers get skipped over a lot of times. that is one of the only industries i can think of where the workers are forced to work around people with no masks on. people cannot eat with a mask on. those people are one of the few in that industry that i can think of. a governor you see of a state saying -- agreeing with you? you're the first one to raise that on this program. the governor of a state with a lot of restaurants -- california, texas, new york say we want to raise the priority of restaurant workers because we would like to open restaurants. caller: governor hogan gave a press conference yesterday. our state here in maryland, we have opened and closed once or

twice the restaurants and certain counties will have to close. i'm not certain exactly -- not sure exactly how they do it, but when he spoke yesterday a lot of it had to do with the economy. it sounded like he did not want to close restaurants back down because a lot of people are losing their businesses. he made that a clear point when he was talking about the economy . he was asking for federal act, whichthe cares i guess is about to run out and the paycheck protection plan, which has already run out. he was calling on the federal government to get more money sent out to us.he was basically saying they were playing political games. we are not sure exactly where it is going to go yet. as of now restaurants are open.

we are at reduced capacity. they changed that a couple months ago i guess. we are keeping an eye on it and everything. i thought that is something people should think about. it is one of the few industries where workers are working around people without masks on. host: couple comments on social media --jean sends us this text from minnesota. " healthy retirees can wait. we are safe as long as we isolate." the military is just as important as health care workers." dale says " does my medical history matter for what vaccine works best?" "om michael in philadelphia, we need to give the vaccine to those working in medical fields. we need to work to give it to

high-risk patients and seniors." j,bethlehem, new hampshire, are next.-- jay, you caller: what a fascinating field that says. i heard this is a new technology using genetic materials. it has never been widely used in vaccines before. i do not understand how they are helping themselves by calling it warp speed. i have heard by -- from friends in the medical industry that they are getting nervous because of the speed of this stuff. i might beome data ignored. i heard the fda was excluded from warp speed meetings. they are not like a medicine -- they are reviewed as a biologic.

i think this is tied to the old cold war stuff. if we were ever attacked they would have to get stuff out in a hurry. i canle other things -- kind of understand the manufacturers are shielded from all liability. i do not think also that pfizer or the industry helps itself when the executives are running and cashing in millions of dollars in stock options. i'm not necessarily against it i think given it is a new technology i just do not see how calling something warp speed is going to help build confidence thank you very much. i appreciate c-span. host: you asked about the new type of vaccine it is. we talked about it yesterday on the program. specifically with dr. chris from johns hopkins university.

you can find that on our website. in's go to dan next asheville, north carolina. go ahead. caller: i agree with what you were just saying too. i think the military should be first to because that is the only thing that is going to keep us free. then go up by age. i hate to say that. let me die last. give it to children and all first after that. florida, goess, ahead. caller: this is a simple prioritization. the people saying there is no covid should not get a vaccine. they have been trying to kill me for 10 months. why did they need a vaccine if they say there is no covid? i can be just as cruel as they are.

republicans idea of health care is die and die soon. burnishump seeks to record. they were apart the trump invited leading vaccine manufacturers and government officials to a covid-19 vaccine summit next week two days before drug and food administration meeting considers the first application for a covid vaccine. the meeting is set for next tuesday and will feature president trump, vice president mike pence according -- industry officials familiar with plans for the summit interpreted as an opportunity for the white house to pressure the fda to quickly issue emergency authorizations for the first vaccine candidates to be reviewed, one developed by pfizer and biontech and the other developed by modernity.

it to make sure trump receives credit for the breakneck pace of the vaccine development. host: in kansas city kansas -- in kansas city, kansas we hear from -- next. caller: the people who care for children need the vaccine bad. back in april when my daughter got shuttered from her job, she stayed home with her son a couple weeks then she had to go back to work. myad my son -- her son, other daughters too, sometimes three children here and i am 72 years old. i'm not ready to run a daycare center, but i had to. i want to tell you a two sentence story -- i had my trump 2020 flag in the front window of my house. two of my grandchildren were spending the night and one had a

friend. someone drove by and put 430 caliber shells through my window -- four 30 caliber shells through my window. i did not realize people hated donald trump that much. i immediately had to take it out of the window because of the grandkids. host: was anybody hurt, gordon? caller: no sir. the police came and investigated. they said they fingerprinted the shell casings, but it was raining that night, storming. ,ourse they never caught anyone and i slept on that couch until midnight that night then got up and went to bed. then three shells went through the couch. pre-bad stuff. -- pretty bad stuff. the militaryaid

should get a first has a good point. --hink health care workers childcare workers should get it because that is a burden on the parents, grandparents or anyone who has to take care of kids. my youngest daughter thought i do my first great grandsons virtual school and i did that for about two weeks and i about went crazy. [laughter] host: you and a lot of other parents or grandparents. an earlier caller talked about the coronavirus economic aid package. one packagepdate on that was proposed yesterday. bipartisan talks resume. they write that congressional leaders of both parties made a new push tuesday to find a compromise on the long stalled

covid-19 aid package that lawmakers could pass this month. talksr pelosi resumed with steven mnuchin and briefed him on a new proposal she drafted with schumer. he agreed to review the proposal. mcconnell meanwhile circulated among senators his own plan and said that president trump would be willing to sign. finalized. brian inr from hanover, maryland. caller: hi. i think we need to remember when we discuss finances, who benefits the most from our tax breaks? they have been left out of this conversation. we cannot have a strong economy without job creators. they should be one of the first to receive vaccine doses.

i say that in just. jest.ay that in the people who should get it first is health care workers. host: a few things from our :cebook page -- gary says give it to -- gary says, " give it to the politicians first. if they don't have a bad reaction, give it to the rest of us." i got mine in july during the testing of the modernity vaccine. this will save so many lives and frontline workers need it first. if you have been claiming it is a hoax feel free to let those who believe in science get the vaccine." over the thanksgiving holiday . concerns of a

rise. americans heard the pleas to stay home yet still millions traveled either doubting the warnings are deciding they would take their chances. partier waking with a tinge of regret, the nation is about to face the consequences of its behavior and will need to quickly apply the lessons before heading into the double-header of christmas and new year's. to many keyts point takeaways. many states were overwhelmed by sudden surges in testing with some families believing getting tested would make their gathering safer. lesson the most obvious -- public health messaging needs to be retooled as a whole. swabs of the country are tuning

out the warnings from officials country aref the tuning out the warnings from officials. our next caller is from woodbridge, virginia. caller: i have a little comment and a question. comment isl, my earlier there was a gentleman who mentioned about he had to put a president trump flag in front of his house and he got some bad people shot at his house. comment is that talking about kept saying that president trump and his administration and the ones that

support him or the --criminators -- it is support him are the discriminators -- it is totally the opposite. for quite some years, not just time, president trump's but president trump been trying to restore what we called and americants patriotic -- english is not my mother tongue, but i hope you understand me. ones thatose are the actually discriminate and do not want us as americans to have rights and have a voice. president trump has done all that he could have done and even more. that is one thing about the vaccine.

nothing from the beginning of the pandemic, we have nothing yet because everyone is still trying to learn and understand. and hist trump edged -- administration tried their best and it did everything it could to help us. now vaccines are going to help us and there are people saying they are against it! it is like they don't want to have a peaceful and positive host: you say you had a question. what what your question? -- what was your question? the news has said we might have the vaccine available

maybe by january or during the springtime. my question is what is the latest news? when are we going to have the vaccine? thank you very much. approved, vaccine was distribution of some 40 million potentially could be by the end of 2020. we will go to shirley, new castle pennsylvania. caller: thank you for taking my call. i have one question. flu, theened to the virus we would get every year? they talk -- start talking about it during september and october and it goes through march.

all these people hospitalized with the flu, did you get your flu shot, the pneumonia vaccine? now you don't hear anything about the flu. it is all covid. i have a problem with that. i know there are some cases but i think this is out of hand. closing down all these businesses, people can't work, want to keep the kids out of school -- this is all nonsense. host: that is surely in pennsylvania. more calls and comments coming up. next up, with joe biden introducing his economic team, we learn more from nick timiraos. theill be joined later by emily benfer to talk about evictions under covid with a pending and the eviction ban at the end of this month. more ahead on washington journal. ♪ two has topn c-span

nonfiction books and authors every weekend. coming up saturday at 8:15 easter, coverage of the national book awards. sunday at noon eastern on a-depth, a conversation with r.ad junior -- eddie junio "exodus", "democracy in black." >> here we are after electing the first president, the country responded with voter suppression laws, the tea party, and then reelected donald trump. we are at the crossroads. who are we going to be? at the heart of it all, there has always been this moral question, who will we take ourselves to be? >> join the conversation with

your calls, tweets, and texts. at 9:00 p.m. eastern, kevin williamson and his book "white ghetto" on the politics of working-class americans in appalachia. watch book tv on c-span -- on c-span2 this weekend. continues.on journal host: we welcome wall street journal's chief economic correspondent nick timiraos to talk about the announcement by joe biden introducing his economic team. are us what your thoughts on the people introduced by the president-elect. what does this tell us about the president-elect's economic philosophy? from: what we have seen president-elect joe biden's

picks is that he is prioritizing experience. he wants a team that will hit the ground running. you have the first half-dozen people announced yesterday who have extensive backgrounds in the obama administration and the clinton administration. they are washington pros. there is an emphasis on the pandemic. it is the biggest problem facing the economy. this is a downturn like no other. it will probably be a rebound like no other if there is a vaccine next year. he is trying to get a group of people where there wont be much of a learning curve. he wants to hit the ground running. ,ou see that with janet yellen you see that with her deputy, a adeyemo. adewale

they have a lot of washington experience. host: let's start with janet yellen. you did a piece last week "policy is not janet yellen's forte it is what she is in for now." she was fed chair under president obama into president trump's term. now she is nominated to head treasury. what is in store for her? guest: she was at the fed for a long time. for though she was the fed four years, she was the vice chair before that, she was the president of the san francisco reserve take -- reserve bank. she was on the board of the clinton administration and she was on his council of advisors. thoughre jobs where even there is a lot of negotiating that has to be done, think of the fed as an academic

institution. they don't have to get involved in the rough and tumble of politics. they're not negotiating quite so openly on capitol hill. the treasury is different. the former treasury official said the treasure is going to move 10 times faster than the fed and the white house moves faster than the treasury. what she is in for now is more of a political role then she had at the fed. when people said janet yellen doesn't know how to do politics, i'm not sure that is right. if you look at how she got the job, joe biden picked her because she was somebody who was seen as acceptable to the progressive wing of the democratic party and somebody who knows financial markets, wall street's, the moderates, and even a lot of republicans can be comfortable with her as treasury secretary even though they may not like all of her policy. host: what is her relationship with the current fed chair, jay

powell, who i assume will continue on. guest: his term runs through january of 2022. he will be there at least for the's first year of joe biden's administration -- he will be there for at least the first year of joe biden's administration. then he will have to pick someone else. janetwell served on the federation, they had some disagreements but he has continued to meet and speak by phone with her. he succeeded her as chair. i think it is safe to say these are people who can work quite well together. it will be interesting to see now that the outgoing administration has made changes to see what janet yellen does and how that relationship with chair powell unfolds.

is a chieftimiraos correspondent for the wall street journal. we are talking about the economic team announced by the biden administration. we welcome your phone calls. republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. all others, 202-748-8002. janet yellen set the tone for what the biden administration wants to do in terms of responding to the pandemic. here is a little bit of what she had to say. [video clip] will produce a downturn with more devastation. we risk missing the obligation to address deeper structural problems. inequality, stagnant wages, especially for workers who lack a college education, communities

that have seen industry disappear with no good jobs replacing lost once. , jobl disparities opportunities, housing, food ,ecurity, and small businesses denying wealth to people of color. gender disparities that keep women out of the workforce and keep our economy from running full force. it is a convergence of tragedies. it is not only economically unsustainable, but one that betrays our commitment to giving every american an equal chance to get ahead. host: any indications from the biden team of any specifics of what they would like to do on the pandemic response? guest: you have the democratic

party for some time saying they want more spending, they want a spending bill that addresses unemployment benefits, extends benefits for people who lost their jobs during the pandemic. they want to spend more money to make up for the revenue shortfall that cities and states have suffered, you're seeing public transit entities and municipal agencies cutting back spending. to reducedng to lead services but also job losses. that will be an early focus of the administration. the question is what is going to be possible to get through congress and the runoff elections for torture next month -- for georgia month which will decide the majority. you begin to wonder what the administration might do through executive action and other moves. host: let's me ask you about

another nominee. neera tanden is to run the office of management and budget, the white house budget rector in effect. telus -- budget director in effect. tell us about her. guest: she has been the head of a think tank in washington, the center for american progress. she was an advisor to hillary clinton when she was the first lady and when she ran for senate and president twice. she has been very steeped in policy discussions. she was an architect of the affordable care act, the law that president obama passed. she has a pretty active residence on twitter. some republicans are upset over statements she has made. she is somebody who has been in

washington working on these policies way long time. she has developed quite a record. host: your newspaper and other publications have talked about the trouble on capitol hill in terms of her nomination. this is the headline in the new at tanden."balking and kamalaoe biden harris knew the scenario ahead of time and yet chose to go with her. how difficult to think the non-asian process will be for her? -- the nomination process will be for her? guest: if republicans decide to fight this and they have votes in the senate, it could be difficult for her. this takes some of the heat off and that thenees biden administration is going to

want as many of those people in the seats as they can. host: one more announcement , sherday, cecilia rouse has been picked to chair the council of economic advisers. this is not a position that requires senate approval. guest: it does, the other members of the council do not. cea is responsible for what? guest: think of it as the president's economic brain trust. these usually have economic backgrounds or are phd economist. the other members joe biden nnounced our heather boushey and. bernstein -- and jared bernstein. they have been in a lot of the debates. cea as a place

where they are going to offer analysis for different proposals. if you do this, this is what is going to happen to output. ideasa place to that bad as andthat -- vet bad ide make sure they don't get too far ahead of themselves. the influence it has depends on the relationship of the three numbers, their relationship with the president determines if the cea is influential or not. of a brainy more trust for the president. host: let's get phone calls, we go first to richard in philadelphia. on our independent line. i heard joe biden said they are going to create a new economy, it is going to be more inclusive and all.

talke past, there has been in the relationship between stagnation. i'm wondering what janet yellen when that came up before, had major concerns about the economy shifting and to the people were left out. i am interested in concern around the african-american men who have been knocked out because of the transition of this economy. what do you think are her chances of actually able to come -- beasure, push policies able to, as treasure, push policies that will challenge this new economy? as a: her background is labor economist. as the fed time chair she was focusing on workers, unemployment.

she gave speeches that seemed controversial on the time -- at the time on income inequality and labor force dissipation for women. -- labor force participation for women. republicans thought these are things the fed chair should focus on. she said these are issues that can hold back growth. if you don't have widely shared prosperity, that can create problems. it is something she has a lot of credibility on. i will leave others to decide what is politically possible and i will cover the economy, but she will have credibility to make those arguments and focus policymakers might be able to make a difference on this thanks. these two issues she has been focusing on for her career -- for her entire career. "janetylan says this,

yellen is an incredible pick. biden has hit the ground running." discuss the "please ties to corporate organizations, lobbying, equity, and foreign governments." guest: janet yellen was in the government for such a long time that she was not able to do that sort of activity. she did leave the fed in february 2018. she went to the brookings institution where she was a scholar. she was on a couple of different boards. i would not say that was the mainstay of her activity. host: to jeffrey in pennsylvania, good morning. veteran ofm a proud the u.s. army and a republican voter.

am watching this and falling into the trap of this and the vote and the new counsel and the transition team. i am backing whoever is president, the office of the president of the united states. i don't care if is bobo the chimp, it is the office of the president of the u.s. i defended for 18 years. i have never seen anything like. where is the -- anything like this. 19re is the economy i had in 65 and 1966? one of my local senators is still in office. don't we put people in and out? as for the new economist person, she is wonderful and i hope she does something and it does dramatic changes and how we run the country economically -- in

how we run the country economically. host: nick timiraos, any thoughts? guest: thank you for your service and it is a challenging time for the economy. we have been going through so many shifts. technology at all of these things changing the way we transact -- technology and all of these things that were changing the way we transact before the pandemic, it feels as if we have sped those things up. part of the challenge of this new team is to pick up the back tond to try to get something like we had before, recognizing there has been an incredible amount of change happening in the economy. host: let's go back to joe biden's choice to run the budget office, neera tanden. tells us -- tell us what that role does in regards to the

budget and what they do presenting to congress and shepherding it to the congress? guest: the public face is important once the budget is released but a lot of that goes think of a tire with different spokes and the spokes are the different agencies of the government, the domestic agencies, the pentagon. all of their funding requests, all of their regulatory proposals managed by omb, all of that has to flow through that budget office. this is somebody who really is deep into everything the government is doing, spending money on, regulating. they manage the federal

register, publication of these regulations. it is something that covers the entire waterfront of the federal government operations. in december of every year they put together the president's budget request that is usually released in february or march. they run that process as well. it is a very comprehensive job with a relatively small affectional staff. host: neera tanden spoke yesterday about struggles she experienced growing up and how they could affect her abuse that her views -- in her views and role -- in the role of budget director. [video clip] mom andhere next to my because of a country that had faith in us and invested in her humanity and our dreams. i am here today because of social programs, because of because ofarea --

choices and because of a government that saw my mother and gave her a chance. it is my honor to shape those widgets and grams to lift americans up -- to shape those budgets and programs to lift americans up to give everybody a fair chance my mother got. america we were drawn to, the america that joe biden and kamala harris want to go. i will serve all the american people, republicans, democrats, and all people like. they deserve the -- they deserve to know if government has their back. i look forward to working with the professionals of the omb to expand possibilities for every american family. think some ofyou

those social programs and budgetary programs she is talking about -- what specifics do you think she can advocate for early on? guest: i think you're going to see a focus on student that, on education -- on student debt, on education, on immigration, and on bank regulation. these are all areas you have substantial disagreements with where the trump administration has gone. yesterday on all of these positions focus on domestic economic positions and on a labor market, on workers. ,hat clip from neera tanden everybody was sharing their personal story as a way to make real the policy challenges they are going to wrestle with. one thing we didn't hear as much about is we talked -- is the

international issues the economic team is going to have to grapple with. we have heard a lot over the trump years about america first, negotiating with china, re-negotiation 18 -- renegotiating trade deals. these are issues the biden administration is going to have what their approach is going to be these tariffs. the trade deal that was completed in any way with china, are we going to roll back tariffs on other countries apart from china? what are we going to do about the tariffs on china? these are issues that are important. they don'tse because have to go through congress. if you think about the potential for a divided government between ,he senate and the white house you have a more free hand in national affairs.

janet yellen is going to go to group -- going to go to the group of 20 nations and she is going to encourage other countries to spend more to boost their economies at the same time she is encouraging congress to do the same your. that is one area -- do the same here. that is very important as well as one place they can move without some of the same constraints that will save them from congress. host: we will hear from oscar in california. morning, thank you for all you do. do you think the biden team and their new deal for america with renewable energy and so forth, creating 18 million new jobs, etc. can last through two or three presidencies?

that seems to be a problem, what on president puts forth, should they lose office after one term or even two with a tremendous new deal, it is going to take a decade or two. how did they keep that going? the second question is can they sell it better? biden put together the aca but didn't really sell it to people. what can they do to sell the program to america so they can keep that going? guest: that is a great question. i think part of the challenge for the biden team is there is a lot of hope before the election that -- in the biden world the hope is you would win the white house but also bring a congressional majority. that, they still have

a chance to have a 50-50 senate. they would have the vice president to break the tie. this isn't too thousand eight were obama -- this isn't 2008 were obama came in with a large house majority and the way you are able to move those deals is having a large majority. the affordable care act, the dodd-frank law, those would have been parted to -- would have been harder to do without a democratic majority. the question now is if you don't have the senate or even if you have a 50-50 senate, what does that do to your green climate plan, to your health care proposal for a public option. then the question becomes what can you do through the executive agencies, what can you do through regulation? things.sier to undo

challengeing to be a what is our first 100 days agenda. it is going to come down to what can get there congress and what can you do through executive action. host: here is william in ohio, republican line. 2008 whenck in general motors filed a proxy -- filed bankruptcy, there were a lot of retirees that got left behind. in the trump administration there was a blip about maybe trying to get help to those people. i am just wondering if this economic team, if that will be a priority or if it will get swept under the rug. i had to go back to work at 70 years old and i got laid off

because of the coronavirus. since been a struggle on., we are barely hanging i was wondering if that would be a priority. i think the priority here is going to be -- i don't know the specifics about addressing the pension issues with gm and what may happen there. issue is how do you get the economy back to where we were before the pandemic where you have low unemployment, we were at 3.5% unemployment. the way wheres you can address these difficulties that a lot of where its have faced

is harder and harder to get ahead. especially if you don't have a havege degree or if you had to leave the workforce to take care of kids or your parents and it is harder to get back in. here is how to get back 2020ere we were in january with low unemployment rates and businesses competing for workers, raising wages, putting in place more attractive benefits because they are competing for workers. that is going to be the challenge here. in andly vaccines come time we havehis been in with the virus and we are able to see how much progress we can make in getting the economy back to having

businesses competing for workers. host: coming up this morning, we cover the senate -- the house financial services will hear from steven mnuchin and jerome powell at 10:00 eastern here on c-span. our guest is nick timiraos. on steven mnuchin, what do you think his legacy will be as treasury secretary? guest: he will be remembered as the treasury secretary that managed through the shock of the coronavirus. we had a financial crisis in march and the treasury and congress came together with the cares act to help make sure the system didn't completely come apart. part of what we're likely to see about him later is a partisan fight over components of the

relief program. part of what the fed did is they created an emergency landing program so the fed began doing things they had never done before. they were buying corporate debt, they were purchasing loans to small and midsize this is -- and midsize businesses. they were able to buy short-term debt and all of this because the financial markets were in complete shock. everybody wanted to get their hands on cash in those two weeks itmarch when it looks like was going to upend everyday life. part of the nguyen -- part of steven mnuchin's legacy is how he handled that crisis. he decided not to extend emergency lending programs beyond the end of this year. the fed checked it which is very

few -- which is very rare that you would see the fed doing so publicly. mnuchin yesterday at the senate said he didn't think he had the legal authority to do that. republicans have backed him up on that and there is a political fight here because democrats want these programs to be available to the biden administration. you could change some of them, you can make terms more generous if the fed was willing to do that to lend to cities and states and businesses through the main street lending program. when you think about steven mnuchin's legacy, part of it is what happened this year. he is the one person democrats feel they can negotiate with, even though if you look at the attempt for a new second coronavirus relief bill, they really haven't been able to get it done.

the president has not been actively involved in those negotiations, he has left it to steven mnuchin. host: next is jamaal in florida. caller: i would like to think voters who million voted this election and graduate -- and congratulate joe biden and kamala harris. i believe the priorities we have -- i believe the priority we have is this virus. let's get a handle on this virus and everything. in the future more people are going to be inclusive in this economic future we have. i want to thank everyone for voting. host: bob is in pennsylvania. good morning. caller: thank you for c-span, god bless you. i'm calling about the economy.

i am an independent. republicans, democrats, we have done it time and time again and we get the same thing. i am on medicare. i tried to get a prescription program. i called four companies at every one of them had people from foreign countries. all of those jobs could be back to the u.s. it -- if they are interested in putting people to work, anything the government uses should have to be made in this country. you have american flights that are brought in from china. -- american flags that are brought in from. -- we have that free trade deal and until they switch that around the rich are going to get richer and the poor are going to get poorer.

why do i have to talk to somebody in the philippines plan?my prescription jobs have been originating in or returning to the u.s.. repetition of the trump administration? guest: they will point to the level of unemployment we had with the pandemic. trump came into office saying he will bring more those jobs back to the u.s.. --the extent that you bring to the extent you are successful in bringing manufacturing back to the u.s., we don't need to employ the same number of people we used to to make this product because of the technology -- to

make those products because of the technology. there hasn't been in any increase in manufacturing jobs over the last couple of years. there are questions over how effective his tariffs were. this is something i don't expect to see a lot of support for from the new administration. janet yellen has argued a bilateral tariff in a global market doesn't accomplish much. if you raise a tariff, the currency of your trading partner will also adjust to reflect that. you won't actually see any real change in what you are going to achieve. these are difficult issues. whether it is globalization or technology, they have upended the economy. they have upended a lot of the jobs. the challenge is to find ways to build middle-class jobs that

will allow people to have the better standard of living for them and their children. host: a comment on twitter. will have's cabinet qualified people which is in contrast to the trump administration that paid for their positions." a couple of questions from janet. senateould happen if the doesn't approve his appointments? what power do these people have by themselves with their office? makingyou believe he is choices on who to appoint." -- who to appoint?" after january 20, if these agencies don't have confirmed directors, there will be an active secretary over whatever interim period.

this happens every time our changes in the administration. if the senate doesn't confirm and nominee, the president's team will have an opportunity to pick somebody new. we saw that with us to trump, we saw that with president obama. if that happens on one or two nominees, that is not the surprise. in terms of how much power these people have, if you take the treasury department, this is someone in charge of a large rock receipt -- a large howaucracy that spans from we manage the debt to fund the government to tax regulations. these are important jobs. the people who take these top positions are not going to do all of these things themselves. they're going to pick people into those jobs.

who is your general counsel at the irs? that person is going to determine how you interpret different tax relations you may have. personnel saying that 's policy and that is true for almost all of these jobs -- issonnel is policy and that true for almost all these jobs. the people making those day-to-day decisions, they are important. host: we will go to to mike in north carolina, republican line. caller: good morning. you made a couple of comments. i will start with your most recent one. it is a good observation. is, no, we don't need as many people in manufacturing as we did. this has been going on since the 1950's and my father came back from world war ii.

i have been in manufacturing for almost 30 years, in sales generally. a variety of machine tools and business services. my role has changed over time. my most recent role has been in -- which hardly existed 30 years ago. i have had to continually adapt as any worker has to do. we look at any similar line from the 1950's gm or ford, look at an a line today, there are robotics. there is software, there is automation, there is toyota production systems and so on. all of these things are in play that allow one man or woman to do the job where it took 10 before.

the other thing you mentioned when i first clicked over and i would try to call was you mentioned how are we going to get back to that great success we had before the pandemic hit? it seems like that is pretty self-evident. you do everything that trump did. inaugurated, joe biden has no intention of doing. they hated him for four years. china, he wanted to bring any factory back as best as he could -- manufacturing back as best as he could. whether it is pharmaceutical drugs or so on. lessening restrictions and regulations and so on. all of that and tax policy as well. the democrats don't like any of this. it just cuts them to the court.

-- to the core. once we get the virus under control which hopefully we will -- but president biden is not going to go back to what got us where we were in december of 2000 -- december of 2019. it is not going to happen. host: i'm going to let you go, we are running short. nick timiraos, your thoughts. guest: those points on manufacturing are spot on. there are people that will argue that we have the opportunity to make strides in these technologies like artificial intelligence. i think the caller mentioned 3d printing. a is not that we can't have manufacturing base, it is just going to be different. there is a path we are probably not going to be able to go back to. youaxing and regulation,

are right, there are differences between the incoming administration and the trump administration over texas. joe biden -- over texas. -- over taxes. he is going to take a different approach to regulation then trump did. the expansion ended earlier this year, it began in june of 2009. andas the longest expansion history since the civil war. we had a 10.5 year expansion. we saw the unemployment rate went down from 10% in 2009 to 3.5%. that spanned all of the obama administration and the trump administration. sometimes it is hard to point to any particular policy that would have done that. the economy is a complex

organism. host: nick timiraos is the chief canonic correspondent for the wall street journal, thank you for joining us. guest: thank you for having me. host: coming up, we are joined by emily benfer. she would talk about rights renters have to keep from being nicked it even with the ban on evictions in place -- from being evicted even with the ban on evictions in place. when washington journal continues. >> american history tv, exploring the people and events that tell the american story every weekend. this weekend, saturday at 10:00 america",rn on "real as health officials will out a archivalwe look at films about next scene. at sunday -- on sunday at 6:00 p.m. eastern, tour the eastside

museum that shows how immigrant families coped with poverty and crowded conditions in the 19th and early 20th century. 6:30 p.m., a look at the cold war. then at 9:00 p.m., a u.s. constitutional debate hosted by the colonial williamsburg foundation featuring a reenactment by james madison and george mason on issues from lafrance to slavery. -- from the bill of rights to slavery. watch this weekend on c-span3. >> washington journal continues. law: emily benfer teaches at weight force school of law. wakeforce.orce -- joining us to talk about

americans facing evictions, emily benfer. good morning. about comedy people in the u.s. face eviction right now? guest: it is a severe crisis. around 14 million households are at risk of eviction. 18.1% of renters have told the census they are behind on their rent. we entered the pandemic in a housing crisis and covid-19 has accelerated and magnified to extreme levels. --t: when the pandemic began when the aid package passed, in that was an effort to prevent evictions. what has the government done in that regard? guest: the cdc issued a moratorium on evictions that was in effect on september 4. it expires on december 31. for prevents evictions

nonpayment of rent but to be triggered by tenets -- but it has to be triggered by tenets. many tenants are unaware of their rights and they have been implement and get in and consistent ways. it depends on what goes with it if you'll -- if you will receive protection under this. host: do some states have their own moratoriums and place? guest: 43 states had a state level moratorium in place. over the summer, the majority of them expired. we only have 14 state-level moratoriums left across the country. most of those are set to expire at the end of the year. ais new year could rein in housing crisis and instability as well as evictions. host: what with the cdc -- who makes the decision on whether that moratorium gets continued?

guest: the cdc issued the moratorium under the authority of an executive order to prevent if actions which are causing spread of covid-19. the cdc could extend that. we could have a 20 day cap before the biden administration goes into effect and they issued their own oratorio. -- their own moratorium. the thing to remember is that we have almost a three week gap for protection for renters. cdc moratorium went into effect, we saw evictions despite as much as we hundred 95% above historic averages -- 397 -- 395% above historic averages. we could see a catastrophe across the country as families

are struggling to stay housed. host: after an individual or family is evicted, what is next? where did they go? -- where do they go? guest: they will try to stay out of the shelter system, but many, residing in homeless shelters is their only resort. others end up moving in with friends our families. others are sleeping in cars or public places. anywhere they can find shelter. is problem with homelessness that it makes it impossible for individuals and families to adhere to the cdc protocol. , ifou are cap surfing you're residing in homeless shelters, you can't frequently watch her hands -- wash your hands. you can't wear ppe, you can't quarantine or social distance effectively. it increases covid-19

transmission and increases infection and immortality -- and mortality. determined that eviction over the summer when comparing states that lifted their moratorium with those that didn't result in 133,000 excess cases and excess deaths due to eviction alone. host: emily benfer chairs the force19 ask force -- task for evictions for the american bar association. our phone lines, 202-748-8000 for those in eastern and central time zones. 202-748-8001 for mountain and pacific. if you have been evicted or face eviction, the line is 202-748-8002. creation ofd the this task force and what are you tasked with? guest: the american bar

association formed a covid-19 task force when the pandemic started. the goal was to understand how laws could be harnessed to protect people and respond to the pandemic. public health laws, housing law and so on. through surveys we determined that eviction was going to be one of the most severe challenges for the legal system and for people facing eviction. evictioncommittee on -- i am chairing the committee on eviction and we have tried to support them in their efforts. the american bar association created a pro bono network to provide eviction dissents across the country as well as a resolution on relief to ensure tenets and property owners are protected during this time. as well as to prevent the screening of evictions.

host: in terms of the first line of defense or the first line of help for someone facing eviction, aside for reaching out to the management agency, who should the contact? guest: if they are facing eviction or have received a notice, the best thing to do is to contact legal services organization. there are multiple aides and corporations across the country and in every state. you can find that information on theelp.org and calling local information line, 211 or311 -- or 311. -- it is in the interest to try to leverage those as quickly as possible. having applied for rent relief is one of the conditions for ,ction under the cdc moratorium

or making every effort to do so. host: that eviction band is in effect through the end of this month. the headline from the associated press "despite the federal ban, renters are still being evicted amidst the virus. any legal victory could be short-lived. the order is to expire december 31, just when a spike in cases reference to undermine the economy. many tenants over months of rent. advisory firms estimate that by january renters will owe as much as $34 billion." guest: princeton university has been tracking eviction filings during the pandemic in 26 cities. in just 26 cities, they have seen 150,000 eviction filings and that is with the moratorium in effect. the shortfall is estimated to surpass any five billion dollars

-- $25 billion by the new year. this is on the property owner to withstand that extra debt. ownersority of property are small property owners who don't have access to credit to cover nonpayment of rent. it is critical that congress include rent relief, especially retroactive rent relief so that we can prevent the eviction cliff that is coming. host: we will go to brett in iowa. welcome. go ahead. caller: this is a good program and i hope you do well. pray we get the package through. they need to help all of their american people, not just democrats and or publicans. minnesota,ilip in

you are on. i am a landlord and i have been one for over 30 years. i have tenants. place --f the laws in the minnesota laws are stricter. they know they don't have to pay rent, they have money coming in, i can't get proof of that because of privacy laws. they intentionally choose to not pay rent. i've been in touch with the governor's office, the city allocatedhey were $100 million back in july with the intent of having an avenue to go directly to landlords to prove money is being stolen from us. is down to $10 million

and they are still not distributing it. the studies have been done. up to 8% of tenants are taking advantage of this. they already have bad credit with regard to the evictions coming up. you know as a lawyer that is a bunch of nonsense. the pipeline starts with this number of cases, it is going to be a year and 2.5 years long to get to the courts. no one is getting thrown out. the only thing is that landlords are getting thrown under the bus and nobody cares about the landlords. host: emily benfer, your response. caller: i -- guest: i appreciate his comments. i think landlords and tenants are bearing the brunt of the economic downfall.

there are situations in the tenant side and landlord side where people are not following the rules. on the landlord side, 90% serve it said they are seeing illegal evictions. out.were forcing tenants i think that might be happening on the other side as well. most founders from landlords are the state level moratorium. in those cases, the judges have found that the moratoriums are necessary at this time and they are not an undue hardship for the landlord because at the end of the moratorium, the landlord can collect on all the rent due. they will hopefully ultimately see that come into effect. is thatunderscored here we are setting up the housing system to fail because we are not funneling the rent release necessary to support the

property owners and make sure they are getting paid. whether that is directly to property owners or to the tenant. many tenants use stimulus funds to pay the rent over the summer. at the end of the year, 13 million renters are expected to lose unemployment insurance at the same time these moratoriums expire. we could end up with the housing market which is a house of cards. if you pull out rent, it could end up crumbling as well and take a landlord and tenants with it -- the landlords and tenants with it. host: if you have been evicted, the line for you is 202-748-8002 . on that line is thomas ryan a northglenn -- on that line is, is in north carolina. people are paying what they can pay and we are still

struggling because we have light bills. theme in contact with coronavirus because of my job working with elderly people. there seems to be no help for us. what else can we do? host: when is the eviction day, when have you been threatened with eviction? caller: i have not been threatened yet. we went to court and they worked with us. all of the bills piled up, but then i made an agreement with them. right now i am working with the covid outreach team. there is another chance i might get sick and have my whole family sick. i'm trying to get whatever help is possible. i have three girls, my wife, and my mother-in-law. every week i pay my bills. every week i have given my check away, but it is not enough for

us to be on top because if you youpaying the rent and then get the lights cut off. what thomas is saying is true and i appreciate his willingness to share that as far as the hardship he is experiencing. saying,score what he is the rent is first. 30 million americans do not have enough food because they are shifting their budget toward the rent. there has been a sharp increase in requests for rent assistance. states, food pantry requests have gone up by 2000%. the federal reserve of philadelphia reported that over the last year paying rent on credit cards has increased by 70%. financiale taking on risk in the future, they are paying with their future to stay housed because they recognize that eviction leads to severe

health outcomes and could amount to losing your life because of contracting covid-19. the people most at risk of eviction right now also have the highest rates of comorbidities that would lead to complications if they contracted covid-19. at the same time, having an eviction on their record leads to a downward slide. it is a record that is searchable and that landlords used to screen tenants out of safe and decent housing opportunities so it pushes somebody out of the market where housing is substantive, conditions are unsafe, poor performing schools, higher crime. it really does preclude so many opportunities and creates this downward trajectory that can negatively alter a person's life. int: let's go to brock trenton, new jersey. go ahead. caller: good morning. host: good morning. is, me andquestion

my wife are landlords and we do not want to kick anybody out. we are still paying mortgages on these houses. that people losing their jobs and all of that and they cannot pay the rent. is there any government relief programs that can help landlords still pay the mortgages that we have to pay on these properties that we bought so we can make a profit on them? again, we don't want to kick nobody out. where is the relief for landlords? that is my question. this is one of the greatest failings of the pandemic response. small property owners were left out of the cares act and stimulates and once they were -- unless they were backed by a federal mortgage. in that case, there is a moratorium.

otherwise, they have to rely on banks issuing mortgage forbearance or allowing people to restructure their loans which was a prime response in the foreclosure crisis. we need to adopt some of those practices and pay them forward to protect property owners. affordableillion housing units in the last decade and we cannot afford to lose more. most of these smaller property owners are of providing affordable housing and they are getting taken off the market because of nonpayment of rent and a lack of protection from the federal government to enable people to stay housed and safe and drive down the infection rate for covid-19. host: next is alex in virginia. we are talking about eviction on the rise during the pandemic and facing the end of the eviction moratorium. alex, good morning. caller: i just had the same question as the previous caller

which i think you pretty much answered. my second question is that if the moratoriums on eviction are really just pushing rental payments until it is highly accumulated several months later, i am curious how that is a solution is at the end of it, you wind up with people who have been unemployed for seven months who then owe $6,000 to the landlord, i am curious how that works. thank you for c-span. guest: that is such a great point. the covid-19, the cdc moratorium is really a mitigation strategy. it is not a reaction to the eviction crisis, not an attempt to solve housing instability. it is truly an emergency act paused thekind of problem to prevent the spread of covid-19. we have left this incredible gap that is continuing to widen

during the pandemic as people remain unemployed and do not have a national support -- financial support. they are accumulating incredible amounts of back-rent. that needs to be paid. that is why it is so critical to have a rent relief package to address the current affordable housing crisis. once that happens, we need to start unpacking the root causes of the affordable housing crisis that we had pre-pandemic that amounted to this acceleration and magnification of the issue. prior to the pandemic, incomes remained stagnant for 20 years. one third of americans were always receiving -- were only receiving $12 an hour and at the same time, rents were increasing and the government only funded one in four eligible renters. we really have this issue that is going to perpetuating especially in the wake of the

pandemic and is going to make recovery incredibly hard and could reduce the effectiveness of a vaccine if we are not able to locate you have people been evicted. eviction also leads to reduction in access to healthcare. the: do you see the -- take incoming by the administration has spoken specifically to the concerns you have raised -- the incoming biden administration has spoken specifically to the concerns you have raised? guest: they are interested in pausing the eviction crisis and advancing the federal moratorium as well as funding rental assistance and rent relief programs. ideally, they will keep people housed so they can stay safe and alive during the pandemic and also address the underlying causes of this crisis, especially its effect on people of color and marginalized groups. it has dramatically affected those groups at much higher

rates than others and that was also a pre-pandemic situation that has increased during the pandemic. host: you mentioned the rise in paying by credit card, a 70% increase. typically how do people pay in mostnt and are rents instances monthly, weekly? guest: most rent is paid on the first of the month or by the fifth of the month. we are in the window where december rent was due and people pay by check, credit card, electronic systems in place, direct deposit, any host of ways. typically renters know that paying on a road card is also incurring late fees or interest fees. during the pandemic, many credit card companies waived interest fees but that will all start to come back as soon as the pandemic is over and the vaccine is distributed. we are just pushing this issue forward every day that we delay

rent relief and support to the people who have suffered the most hardship during the pandemic. evictionlab.org is the website that keeps track of evictions during the pandemic. 148,376he pandemic, evictions and they filed for 2300 58 evictions last week. the pandemic has deepened america's housing crisis, the nation's most severe public health emergency in a century may cause large spikes in eviction and homelessness. they created the eviction tracking system. that is evictionlab.org. our phone lines, (202) 748-8000 in eastern and central time zones. (202) 748-8001 in the mountain and pacific region. if you have been or are facing eviction, the line is (202) 748-8002. to leesburg, virginia.

carol, good morning. caller: good morning. host: you are on the air. about: i have a question rentals, small businesses and landlords. involved fors small business owners to pay part of that money to the landlord. ppphow did the landlord use to cover it? with no business, being shut down, there was no income, paying as much as possible, but it is not the full rent and how does that play out at the end? is there anything in place for such matters? outset of the pandemic, there were multiple commercial eviction moratoriums

in place. now the majority of those have been lifted and commercial property owners do not have much recourse other than the financial branch from the federal government that came out of the first cares act. ideally that would be included in the next meal is as well, but it remains to be seen. -- in the next stimulus as well. tenants are struggling to maintain their businesses. host: next is bret in florida. go ahead. caller: yes, ma'am. my home got destroyed by hurricane michael in 2018. ast year the fda gave me disaster assistance loan and then the pandemic hit and i'm on disability. on mymake the payments house. but since the pandemic hit, it is hard for me to have extra money. i've got money when i work in an

ira. i want to know why the government could not give people like me a one time tax holiday to pay my house off so that would not be an issue no more. i cannot pay taxes on $50,000 and make payments -- and live, too. i wonder why they don't do something like that for people like me who is hurting because of this pandemic that they allowed in here. , youremily benfer thoughts? guest: i wandered the same question and i am sorry for the experience you had. so many americans are facing hardships, who have lost jobs, who are struggling to pay bills. we are going to propel the problem, increase problem if we do not respond by initiating a second stimulus and ensuring that everyone has the support that they need to comply with the pandemic protocols and to safely survive this crisis.

to put the eviction crisis into 3.7ext, in 2016 there were million evictions filed in the entire year. right now we are looking at 14 million at risk of eviction in a short period of time. this is really catastrophic in terms of how many people are affected and the hardship that they suffered. eviction, housing instability, all of these lead to long-term health consequences. it is not just about finding a place to live. this is the trauma that affects mental and physical health, it can reduce your life expectancy. if you are pregnant, it can result in preterm pregnancy. for children, it can take a lifetime to recovery and caused severe long-term health outcomes. it is in our country's best interest to step in the way quickly. if we don't, it is estimated the public cost of the eviction crisis will be upwards of $128

billion where the rent due right now is $25 billion. it is common sense and a cost benefit is there to intervene and support renters and homeowners those who have called in. happensat do you think in january and after if the moratorium ends, there is no additional aid package by congress until perhaps a new biden administration, what happens in that interim time? guest: i think we will see eviction filings spiked beyond historic levels like we did in between the cares act and the cdc moratorium were in roast beef 395 percent above historic averages in some places -- 395%. i think we will see in a spy in covid cases that were preventable -- a spike in covid-19 cases. we will see emergency shelter costs go up. there will be foster care

expenses, juvenile delinquency expenses and long-term health consequences. we are really setting people up for failure and delaying recovery and crippling any response we might try to engage in. int: let's hear from eleanor felton, pennsylvania. caller: i have a reverse part of the story. i maintain my household by taking in tenants in a boardinghouse and i am in the second experience of having someone here who refuses to comply with any of the recommendations for the virus, comes and goes, visits out-of-state, and i have no recourse. i am elderly, i am that risk having this person who does pay the rent, but i cannot put them out for violation of the recommendations for behaving in by pandemic effectively social distancing, etc. ,ost: what have you done

eleanor, have you talked to local authorities? teeth: absolutely no whatsoever to enforce complying with the recommendations for the virus, none. , any emily benfer suggestions? guest: this is a tough situation. on the one hand, you don't want be infected might with covid-19 and transmit it to others and increase the rate of infection. at the same time, you want to protect yourself and the other tenants. the moratorium does have exemptions and one of them is threats to health or safety of others or health code violation. you may want to check with local attorneys to see what your rights are. i think the best action is to continue engagement with the tenant and talk about your concerns and what you would like to see happen.

often times, it sounds like you have done some of that, often times discussion and bringing in others to help can be effective in achieving your goal. host: give us a breakdown of , sizeons, what age groups of families typically affected by eviction. guest: black households are two times as likely to face eviction than any other group. in one study of multiple cities, 80% of people facing eviction were black. part of it is because people of color, due to long-standing history of racially discriminatory laws and policy in the u.s., have 1/12 of the wealth accumulation of their white counterparts. when they entered the pandemic, 70% or more of black and latin adults entered without three months of a safety net to cover emergencies.

at the same time, job loss has affected black and latin workers at much higher rates, double the amount of white workers. they are much greater at risk of eviction during this time. this is also a health equity issue because we know that eviction during a pandemic is resulting in an increase in covid-19 infection among people who have been evicted. at the same time, hospitalization rates are affecting black and hispanic times the4.7 and 4.6 rate of white adults. black and historic -- hispanic adults are dying. we are really increasing health and equity by not responding at this time as love your host: -- host: next we will go to houston. this is william. caller: i live in houston, texas. one of the biggest i have seen

in this industry is the lack of -- if you go to court with a tenant who has paid his rent of $500 a month and then there is a $10 water bill, they deduct the $10 from the rent and say you are late on rent and you accumulate a $100 late fee. by the time you can wait two weeks, you already behind. it is accumulative all the way down to forever. when you go to court, it is so rigged that they say, past due rent. if i paid you $1200 per month and you charge me $50 for a light bill and you deduct that and say iou $50 plus $100 late fee and $10 per day, it is a never ending cycle. this is the only state that i know that you can literally go to a bank and fill out an

application to rent from them for $1200 a month, but you turn around and say i have $20,000 for a home that cost me $900 and they will not approve you for a loan. it is ludicrous that they expect people making minimim ways to come up with $1200 rent when you constantly did them in a hole with a water bill and you have no recourse. the judge will look at you and say late rent, you have three dollars to cover the rent and that is the way it goes. anyone who lives in texas knows this is the most biased state that there is one that comes to the association. you: william, how long have been involved in renters issues in texas? caller: since 2004. i'm tired. i see look at this, people just walk in and they say they owe $800 in past due rent.

and then they show a receipt saying i paid my rent. the laws allow the landlord to fees andose utility then you automatically are late in the judge does not want to hear it. it is one of the biggest ripoffs i've ever seen in my life and there is no recourse. host: william in texas. emily benfer, can you respond? guest: i have heard that experience from so many individuals. it is incredibly tragic and true across the country. once you have an eviction filed against you, it plummets your credit score and makes it impossible to apply for a mortgage, to seek other housing. in texas in particular, eviction moratorium was lifted on may 17. evictions have been filed throughout that time in over the summer, those evictions amounted cases and theid

people.f 4456 let that sink in. over 4000 people have died because we are not supporting tenant in exactly the way he is describing. the median amount of rent a marker most of these eviction 0 and some were - less than $100. this is not about landlord or tenant and whose rights are at stake. this is a public health crisis and we have to put live first and that means a nationwide eviction moratorium and funding the rent retroactively so that we can cover this rising accumulation that he is describing. host: let's hear from mike in rockford, illinois. good morning. caller: good morning, c-span.

first of all, i would like to isut out our commentary that suspended right now. scully. i read his staying and it says that his family was threatened. i forgive him for everything. mnuchin could help us in this situation. his he did during confirmation hearing, mnuchin was found with $100 million and that was from the last downturn of 2008. he was foreclosing on people for no reason. i'm wondering if you know anything about that and could this be part of a land grab? excuse my question. i tried to ask against the grain and nothing bad. hopefully you can address, he

made $100 million. they found that in his hearing and they still swore him in. host: mike in illinois. your response, emily benfer? guest: i think the foreclosure crisis should be our warning that there was a huge blossom of affordable housing due to buying out properties and converting them to higher income rentals. that is a high risk today and we can put protections -- the federal government can put protections in place to prevent that type of transfer of properties at risk of being pulled from the market and sold because of small property owners will not be able to cover the rent or even larger property owners in these other towns hardest hit by the economic isis. -- economic crisis. host: there are more affordable apartments available across the country than there were? guest: we have lost 4 million

affordable housing units over the last decade. worseisis has only gotten , especially in communities of color and marginalized groups in low income communities. there were 50 million renters living in rental households that suffered covid-19 job or income loss. these are the same renters who are going to lose access to affordable units and have nowhere to transfer to if they face the victim. host: we will hear from rich in virginia. good morning. caller: good morning. the last gentleman talked about steve mnuchin. i'm still -- i believe he is in front of congress today. if you go to wall street on parade, a daily thing they put $345 billion that he was using to pay derivatives and money to the eu, japan, and

so on. i heard your guest mention $25 billion. that would have cleared his eviction issue. my point is deeper. the treasury secretary has given a lot of leeway and i am not so sure anything is going to be different under the biden administration. it would be great if you guys had a segment on this business about these slush fund that the treasury secretary have that they use for their own good and paying other countries while our people are in dire straits. thanks. host: i will remind our viewers we are covering that hearing at 10:00 eastern. the treasury secretary and jay powell, the fed chair, 10:00 eastern on c-span. emily benfer, any final thoughts on the issue? guest: such a good point. we have the ability to end this crisis. we have the ability to prevent the widespread eviction of families and individuals across

the country. we can get in the way of the trauma and long-term hardship that children will suffer as a result of this crisis. billion atebt of $25 the new year. we can pay that back, sustain property owners, it is going to require political will to do so. i think that requires all constituents to demand that of their representatives and senators as quickly as possible. when we entered the pandemic, 20.8 million renters were rent-burdened and that number is only increasing every day that they are out of work and every day that that debt is moving forward with them. host: our guest shares the american bar association's task force, the committee on evictions. emily benfer, thanks for being with us this morning. host: we will turn to the election next and the news yesterday from the election, the statements from the attorney general about the election,

seeing no widespread evidence of voter fraud from william barr. we will read more about that and hear from you as well. republicans, (202) 748-8000. democrats, (202) 748-8001. others, (202)nd 748-8002. we will be right back. ♪ with a peaceful presidential transition of power in question following the election, sunday night on q&a, historian susan shelton and eric talk about two of the most contentious presidential transitions in history. in 1851 between james buchanan and abraham lincoln and in 1933 between herbert hoover and franklin roosevelt. >> several southern states did not recognize the election of abraham lincoln as legitimate. they considered him a sectional president for the fact that by

and large his support came from non-flight states. no sooner than he had been elected that north carolina makes good on its promise. >> on election day, they really had no choice given the resounding nature of the vote. it was clear he had lost the election, but he never conceded in the substance of the argument. he continued to believe that the new deal as roosevelt had framed it during the campaign and after the election, represented a fundamental threat toward the american way of life and so he devoted himself to preventing roosevelt from being able to enact it. announcer: contentious transitions, sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span's q&a. washington journal continues. host: your phone calls this last half-hour on the attorney general's statements yesterday,

the associated press about the election. here is the new york times this seasonal basis for fraud claims. repudiation by allies start to move on." they say the attorney general acknowledged on tuesday that the justice department has uncovered no voting fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election. oftriking repudiation president trump's groundless claims that he was defrauded. the statement from mr. barr affirming joe biden's win served as a harsh blow to mr. trump's efforts to overturn the results of the election. mr. barr has advanced mr. trump's political agenda perhaps more than any other cabinet member bringing the justice department is close to the white house as it has been since watergate. othermments came as republicans separated themselves on tuesday from mr. trump's charged complaints about the election. a georgia election official angrily denounced the threats of harassment at election workers

and urged the president to stop inspiring to commit potential acts of violence. and i talking about this will show you the atlanta journal-constitution, their headline about the comments yesterday, "georgia official, trump, u.s. senators complicit in potential violence." this is the gabriel sterling, the georgia official. we will get to your comment in just a moment. we will open up the phone lines for your thoughts. (202) 748-8001 republicans. for democrats. and all others, (202) 748-8002. the comments yesterday from gabriel sterling. >> it has all gone too far. all of it. he asked for chris krebs, a patriot, to be shut.

a 20 something text has death threats saying he should be hung for treason because he was transferring a report on batches to a county computer so that he could read it. stop. to notpresident, you have condemned this action or this language. senators, you have not condemned this language or these actions. this has to stop. we need you to step up and if you have a position of leadership, show some. sec. raffensperger, his address is out there. they have people doing caravans around the house, come onto their property, his wife is getting sexual threats to her cell phone. it has to stop.

is elections. this is the backbone of democracy and all of you have not said -- who have not said a word are complicit in this. it is too much. yes, fight for every legal vote, go through due process, use your first amendment, that is fine. death threats, physical threats, intimidation, it is too much. it is not right, they have lost the moral high ground. host: president trump responded to the comments by the elected officials by tweeting this, "rigged election shows signatures and envelopes expose massive voter fraud in georgia. what is secretary of state and brian kemp afraid of? they know what they will find." let's get to your calls.

karen in columbus, north carolina. caller: good morning. yes, c-span. i am on the fence but i really believe there is something to hide in all of these states. georgia, pennsylvania, arizona, michigan, because the press and the media is not covering all of these interviews with all of these people that are witnesses at these polling places. there is something really fishy and i have worked at the post office and i know that votes can be hidden and destroyed and we have become union, union and democrat. i know this stuff does go on. -- mr. sterling is irate about threats. threats are going on on both sides and the media does not cover that. i am disappointed with him. there is so much evidence out there, i am really disappointed. host: to charles, republican

line, jonesboro, arkansas. go ahead. caller: i think we should have another election next year on the fourth and just call this one, this is too suspicious. we need to do it fairly next time, too, and just show up and vote and have everybody check every vote, no mail-in vote. host: when you say fairly, you don't think this election was done fairly then? caller: absolutely not. election,d a fair conservatives may even win chicago and detroit. i think those places have been cheating for years and we should do a fair election just to see what one looks like. something that we would make sure to happen -- host: who makes sure it is fair. i'm trying to get a sense of what would make it fair. we have results from 50 states, the comments of the attorney general on the election, the

head of the security agency that overseed and monitored the election. how do you monitor and determined that, who determines that? host caller: no mail-in vote and no cheating. when the democrats want to give them the answer -- host: but in the election, where has the cheating happened? caller: people voted, i think that is cheating. i think the birthdays coming up, that is suspicious. it is rampant cheating. we should have another election. host: here is the response from the lead editorial of the wall street journal specifically on the barr statement yesterday but more broadly on other claims. the ag says the feds have seen no evidence to overturn the election. they write, "as claims of fraud get knocked down, the broader

election fest -- theft takes on the nature of unfalsifiable. nottrump added, you are going to change my mind. where is the evidence to convince the country? many of the theories do not withstand scrutiny." the wall street journal concludes by saying this, fighting such claims is like wacko mole. no, pennsylvania did not count more votes. no, wisconsin did not have 89% turnout. no, several states did not simultaneously stop counting ballots on election night. no, it ballots out with sharpie markers were not discounted. an election with 155 million votes, there are irregularities and maybe fraud. but for mr. trump to win, he needed to flip tens of thousands of votes in multiple states. the wall street journal writes, we are open to evidence of major fraud, but we have not seen claims that are credible. now comes mr. barr who has no

reason to join a cover-up. he likes his job. he wanted mr. trump to win. as the timetable closes, mr. trump should focus on preserving his legacy rather than diminishing it by alleging fraud to cannot prove. to missouri, franklin on the independent line. good morning. caller: thank you very much. independent. i voted for trump, but i am a democrat. anyway, what i am calling about is the act, consumers financial act 202, china sending all of this debris in here without any inspections or anything. the american people are buying it. fires are started by heaters in homes made in china. host: franklin, we are focusing on the election, specifically

the comments of the attorney general. we showed you the, yesterday by gabriel sterling, the judge election official. a trump campaign response to gabriel sterling's comments. "the campaign is focused on ensuring that all legal votes are counted and all illegal . no one should engage in threats or violence and if that has happened, we condemn that." in oklahoma, good morning to matt. you are on the air. matt in oklahoma? we will move to woodbridge, virginia. democrats line. this is patrick. good morning. caller: i just want to say everyone knows that the election was fair. there is no evidence of widespread fraud. 39 cases have been thrown out due to lack of evidence. is problem that we have here we have a narcissistic brat as a president and has deranged cold

followers whoult will never believe in facts. you either support trump or the united states and i think this is what happens when his followers abandon america and worship him as some sort of god. that is all. host: the trump campaign responding to the white house -- excuse me, responding to bill barr's statement. this is jana alice tweeting this statement of the trump legal team on that statement of the legal team, "there has not been any semblance of a department of justice investigation. we have gathered ample evidence of illegal voting in six states which they have not examined. we have witnesses swearing under oath they saw crimes being committed in connection with voter fraud. as far as we know, not a single one has been interviewed. the justice department also has

not audited any voting machines or use their subpoena power to determine the truth." this is mark in saint augustine, florida. caller: how are you doing, c-span. thank you for taking my call. independent, i find this very frustrating that these two sides of the parties keep fighting with one another, calling trump voters deranged and making up all kinds of crazy nonsense that is making the problem even worse. i think for barr to say what he said yesterday, has he been watching the testimonies that have been going on? the information that these people are giving with signed affidavits knowing they could go to jail for lying, come on, something has obviously

happened. whether you voted for trump or not, he is our president and i find it appalling. people sit there and call this man all kinds of names and things of that nature. i voted on both sides of the aisle before. i probably will never vote for another democrat as long as we continue this nonsense and calling everybody deranged who votes for trump. it is absolutely ridiculous. host: our line if you want to send a text, (202) 748-8003. this one from mickey in los angeles. datamovement rests more on -- more on raw belief than data." voter fraud is so widespread, why isn't he asking for recounts?" michael in michigan on a republican line. go ahead.

caller: thank you for taking my call. how does every republican keep their seats? how do we gain seats, the republicans? and yet the only republican that lost his trump. that makes no sense. i also got three ballots in the mail in michigan and i did not request one. thank you. host: more legal action in michigan. usa today reporting, trump allies what -- want michigan results overturn. set want state leaders to aside election results and awarded 16 electoral votes to the president. a separate conservative group also wants the supreme court to invalidate the results that show joe biden won the state. the latest lawsuit filed in the eastern district of michigan and before the state's highest court rely on unfounded allegations of fraud and misconduct that the

judges across the country have rejected. there is no evidence of mass fraud or wrongdoing that affected election operations in michigan or elsewhere. 154,000 more votes than trump in michigan and last week the michigan board of state canvassers certified the results. roy is in san diego. i will get to you. this is benson in georgia. democrats line. caller: good morning. i live in georgia. this past election, i worked as a poll worker. to hear all this so-called fraud. if you work as a poll worker and helptayed and tried to this election go right. people will come up and say all

this nonsense. it is very frustrating. nothing out there that would determine any kind of fraud. host: we will hear roy next in san diego. thanks for waiting. caller: good morning. i just wanted to congratulate bill barr. he came out. it took a lot of courage for him to come out and just tell the simple truth about this election. nonsense, it was rigged. you have all of these people who pollin the cold places -- places, that is a great thing and then now they are being attacked. for our newotes

president-elect joe biden. thething that gets me is senate republicans cannot even say that and they are allowing all of this nonsense and this is getting dangerous because no one is able to stop our president. i think what is going to happen now, sooner or later, he is going to have to leave office and when that day comes, the republicans will realize, what were we thinking. we are alltoday is americans and this is just nonsense and we should just move on and accept this election. thank you theater host: here is an opinion piece in the washington examiner. "president trump should heed william barr's

announcement that the justice department has not found enough evidence of vote fraud to change presidential results -- presidential election results." scroll down to get the meat of what he is talking about. "to be clear, some seem more legitimate than not. they should be investigated. simple arithmetic as a team indicates these are not voluminous enough to provide legal grounds. richard nixon had good reason to believe more decisive claims of voter fraud on behalf of john f. kennedy than the one trump claims. yet, nixon does not -- declined to pursue them. trump should follow nixon's lead. while still insisting that anomalies be investigated, trump should concede and honor the tradition of a peaceful, stable

transfer of presidential authority." l in arizona.e caller: good morning. please do not hang up on me. americans are naive, and that is not a bad thing. it means we are goodhearted. sir, you give one call every 30 days. we are going to move on to shady springs, west virginia. go ahead. caller: everybody is making this about the president. it is not about the president. the american people see a government that investigates everything. we have seen one person lose their job, he was a lawyer who said he made mistakes and everyone expects us to accept the same government saying there was no fraud.

our state voted one way but then we see another state who allows votes to come in days after the election. yet,ve an election day but they can send in and accept votes days after it. then you have people who are swearing under oath and penalty of going to jail that they see things that are not right but yet, you do not see any coverage of it on the media. it is not about what the president thinks. it is what we have seen. we have seen investigations by the attorney general's office, by the doj, and nobody has ever prosecuted. nobody ever pays any consequences. everyone expects the american people to swallow and say, just because the government says it, it is true. , our votes, we went, we

did it the proper way. they make changes because of the pandemic and it is unconstitutional because you cannot do things just on a whim. it has to be passed in legislation and it is because it was not followed, we are supposed to take it. you cannot change the rules in the middle of the game and then say, the game was fair but everybody says because we have a pandemic, that makes it fair, that is not how it works. host: did they change voting in west virginia? requestyou still had to your ballots. they did not do much mailing. you had to have them in time. these states that send them out so far in advance, why couldn't the people mail them in in time to get them thereby election so they would be there? so much noticed of how far out the election was, if they mailed them from their

district that they are voting in and they were processed in the area that they were being counted in, why did they have to go so far out of their district to be processed? in each statewn has a mailing process. host: we appreciate your phone call. news from georgia, nbc news tweeting this, the georgia secretary of state says authorities have seen no substantial changes in the second recount of the presidential election. i think that is the last chance they will have there in georgia before that state certifies the election. california, fred is on our democrats line. good morning. caller: thank you for taking the call. there are so many different ways to think about this. i wonder if you thought about

all of the voter fraud in north carolina and south carolina where those two republican senators won their seat. i don't know why the media is not looking at all of the fraud that happened there with lindsey graham and thom tillis. this is sickening and the media will not look at it. have you heard about this? host: i have not. we appreciate your input. let's go to matthew in idaho falls, idaho. good morning. caller: good morning, sir. i believe that william barr is just a slow list of growing republican officials that are having to come out and say that they are not finding any fraud because judges who are appointed by donald trump are not being presented with any credible evidence during these hearings that would lead anybody to determine that fraud was committed. in reality, there was a

senatorial race in virginia or somewhere up there like a year back where one of the republican officials actually was prosecuted for fraud. i believe his people were to look at the -- if people were to look at the fine print when he sends donations out saying he needs donations to fight the presidential fraud, it says at the bottom that donald trump could use those funds for almost anything that he wants and i believe that gives him the freedom in order to use funding to pay off his personal debt which i think is disingenuous on his part. i think he truly does note that he has lost this election -- he he has lostat his election. the way he is doing it is tearing our democracy apart and it is truly sad. host: this is the washington

post on the fundraising that matthew was talking about. raise $170 helped million. president trump's political operation has raised $170 million since election day using misleading appeals to shatter fundraising records said during the campaign according to people with knowledge of the contribution. the influx of donations is one reason that trump and some allies are inclined to continue a legal onslaught and public relations splits based on claims of election fraud even as their attempts repeatedly fail in court and key states continue to certify wins for beau biden. -- joe biden. much of the money is likely to go into an account for the president to use on clinical activities after he leaves office while some of the contributions to go -- will go toward what is left of the legal fight. danny is in mechanicsville, maryland on our republican line. go ahead.

caller: yes. i watched this in real time. i watched all the states via the computer online. and yes, the states did stop counting. we all watched it. you can read it in wall street journal. just like my family, they are all divided because you have half of the family watching cna and -- cnn. then you've got the other half watching america's voice network and that stuff. the problem is we are not getting facts. you are sitting here pointing out all of these tweaks and things like that. morningr came out this and said he did not say that. he said he did not say there was no voter fraud. he came out this morning and said that he is continuing the investigating into the voter fraud. it depends on what media you are getting your information from.

if you get it through all of the media and pull all of the news in and look, yes, there is voter fraud. you can listen to the witnesses in every one of these jurisdictions and i am telling you, i watched it in real time. when this all gets done, california was red, all of the blue states were red. you will see that the united states was red throughout. host: danny, to your point, what we read this morning was not the exact story but these were the words that they quoted that they not, "not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected the outcome of the election: that is from the attorney general. don't have the actual video. his words are available. say no fraud, he said, paraphrasing, no widespread fraud. the investigations continue.

caller: -- host: at this point, he saying there is no widespread fraud that they have seen. caller: what you need to do is make sure the viewers are watching all of the different media. my sister, all she watches is cnn and msnbc and she is just getting one side. these people are saying, when people are saying, kill trump, this stuff is just crazy. the disrespect that the democrats joke to our president, whether it is donald trump, i don't give a crap if it is mickey mouse. in west will go to sean virginia, democrats line. caller: thanks for c-span. i appreciate what you do. it is a shame. i don't know if republicans have a problem with reality anymore.

i have watched this whole thing let this and we have ationmation -- disinform take over. the media is not to blame. the rest comes down to common sense. .e are destroying the election cell in the a fire united states, it is a laughing point right now. every other country is looking and we are supposed to be the example of the world and our elections are fair and free. even his own people come out and say, everything is cool, quit flipping out. it is all good. that is so wrong, it is just so wrong. host: thank you for your calls and comments and participation this morning. i hope your back tomorrow morning at 7:00 eastern on

washington journal. we will take you to capitol hill where steven mnuchin and the federal reserve chair powell will testify before the house natural services committee. live coverage is next here on c-span.

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