we need to engage one another to solve the political problems in this country. divide,the cultural more importantly, that we now have. and if we do not embrace free speech, broadly speaking, then we are actually supporting that goal, ultimately. host: we would like to thank nathan harden, the project coordinator for realcleareducation, for coming this morning to talk about the 2020 college free speech rankings. thank you so much for being with break even as they enter next year." once again, we want to know what you think about what is going on on capitol hill right now. let's start with sam calling from georgia on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. i love this show. republican, but years ago

i voted democrat. bill was a $1.9 trillion months ago. and now, again, i do not know what happened. noy changed their mind and they arew looking at $900 billion. and thewashington, reason is, nancy pelosi was talking about people needing money right away because they have to pay their rent and pay for groceries, but when she was given the $1.9 trillion, she played politics because they -- she could have said, ok, let's pass this to the people and then we will work on another one. but she did not do that. she was playing politics. at the same time, what got me confused is the republican side, which they have approved the

$1.9 trillion at that time, but now they could not do it, they have come up with an excuse. everyone is playing politics. i do not know which one to vote, or i do not know who is right, but everybody is playing politics here, so i do not know what to say. that i want to remind you later on today there is going to and department of defense department of health and human services briefing with senior officials, including health and human secretary alex azar about operation warp speed and the covid-19 vaccine distribution. you can see that briefing live on c-span at 10:30 a.m. eastern. once again, you can see it here on c-span, on c-span.org, and as always on the free c-span radio app. and later this afternoon, this

is going to happen today as well -- later this afternoon, president-elect joe biden will announce his climate and energy team, including his nominee for the interior secretary and energy secretary. you can see the announcement live at 2:30 p.m. on c-span, always, onand, as the free c-span radio app. let's talk to david calling from south carolina on the democratic line. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call, sir. host: go ahead. caller: i wanted to ask a question. out, trying to get this i am a disabled veteran and i see that veterans at the va hospital, they do not even have so shots there for us first,

i was hoping somebody could help us there, because there are many older people, like myself. and this disease is running rampant down here. but they are not set up to help us at the v.a. nathan harden hopefully -- host: hopefully, they can get that addressed today when they do the briefing on operation warp speed. perhaps they will talk about what will happen on who will get the vaccine next and what will happen with the veterans, which we know they need as much help as we can give them. let's go to chris in oak park, illinois on the democratic line. caller: good morning. i guess i am, i'm not really torn on this, i believe the democrats are correct because aid to cities and states in a time when the tax revenues, in terms of income, to keep vital services open is in jeopardy. meanwhile, the republicans are

holding out for, you know, liability insurance for employers. i can understand that, but aren't employees covered by workmen's comp.? useddn't that be the total -- tool used, or is this covering businesses because people might trace their illness if they shop in that store, at which point i think those people are on their own and the business should not be liable. thank you for taking my call. have a good day. host: bob is calling from virginia on the independent line. bob, good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i understand that the governors and mayors would prefer that the federal government way in and relieve them of any responsibility to their budget issues. i do understand, but i think it

is a comp out for governors and mayors to say there is nothing that they can do. they have taxing authority, they have the ability to look inside of their budgets and not necessarily critical -- uh critical expenditures, but there is always a -- factor. so i understand her desire for the feds to help them, but they have property taxes, sales taxes, and if they exercise the leadership that they are supposed to have, they can explain to their people why one time a specific covid increase in taxes would be necessary and that they will be rescinded on the others of the pandemic. thank you. host: one thing i want to bring into the conversation is something we talked about just yesterday, which was the huge cybersecurity hack of the u.s.

government, and of private companies, that has been going on apparently since march. the u.s. government actually has responded to this with the secretary of state mike pompeo saying in an interview on friday that we can see clearly that it was the russians behind a massive cyberattack that breached dozens of government agencies, think tanks and companies. this is coming from axios. mike pompeo's comments are the first from the administration publicly linking russia to the hack. president trump has yet to address the issue. the state department is one of the federal agencies found to have been attacked, according to the washington post. and that cybersecurity investors or agency said on thursday that the breach was a grave risk to the federal government. and russian president vladimir putin has denied involvement in

the hacking, according to the washington post. it, secretaryve of state mike pompeo being the first trump official saying it is pretty clearly the russians behind the massive cyberattack's breachedve government agencies and private companies in the u.s. now let's speak with larry calling from alabama on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i want to know where the democrats get off. they said the veterans would get a cost-of-living raise, and we only gated -- got a 1.3% raise. we only get to see a doctor but once a year. we are lucky if we can even get our medications on time. host: who are you saying, who

are you blaming for this? caller: i am blaming the democrats, because nancy pelosi should not even open her mouth. host: ok. let's go to billy, who is calling from utah on the republican line. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i believe that the stimulus checks will be a conflict of interest. there is a runoff going on in georgia and i do not see either side taking >> this is live coverage on c-span. , we have got a great conversation starting off with some of our senior team working on the pandemic. we