thank you, guys. thank you, guys. >> you are watching c-span, your unfiltered view of government. c-span was created by america's cable television companies in a 79. we are brought to you by these television companies who provide c-span as a public service. >> coming up today, the u.s. conference of mayors is hosting its meeting with dr. anthony fauci and boston mayor marty walsh. that will get underway at 3:38 p.m. eastern. the senate is back to vote for lloyd austin as defense secretary. >> coming up this morning, political reporter sabrina

rodriguez talks about the biden administration's immigration policies. axios reporter amy harder on how the administration plans to address climate change. "washington journal" is. ♪ host: good morning. it is friday, january 22. this is "washington journal." we want to get the reaction to president biden's plan. he has signed a series of executive orders. he said a full-scale war effort is required. he would need money from congress to carried a lot. do you have confidence what you have heard so far about the president's plan to fight the virus. democrats, (202) 748-8000.

republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, your number is (202) 748-8002. you can also send us a text at "washington journal," your number is (202) 748-8003. you can also post a comment on facebook. here is the front page of the wall street journal on this friday morning. you can see a shot of president biden signing executive orders. he is flanked by vice president kamala harris and dr. anthony fauci. the president signed 10 executive orders on his first day in office to combat the coronavirus. seeking to jumpstart the u.s. response to the pandemic, but morning it will take many months to get to where we need to be. the new strategy is focused partly on ramping up vaccinations and curbing the spread of the virus through mask wearing and treatments.

one directs agencies to use their authority, including the defense production act to meet shortfalls in supplies, while another establishes a pandemic testing board. another order requires masks and airports and in certain types of public transportation, such as many trains, ships, intercity buses and airplanes. more detail from the president yesterday about vaccine distribution. [video clip] pres. biden: we directed the federal emergency management agency to start putting vaccination centers up with the goal of putting up 100 centers in the next month. the centers for disease control and prevention will launch the federal pharmacy program to make vaccines available to communities and local pharmacies

by the seventh or eighth of february. also tasked the department of health and human services to prepare and expand the pool of medical professionals who can administer the vaccine. and to ensure we have enough people doing the vaccines to meet the nation's needs and quickly. in addition to this effort, our administration will be asking congress for the funds to grow the public health workforce. we will also take immediate steps to partner with governors, mayors and other local officials who are on the front lines of this fight. we directed fema to establish a covid response liaison for each estate, which means every state will have a point person at the federal level to maximize cooperation between the federal government and the states.

this is a model we used to respond to hurricane sandy, which i was deeply involved with. host: president biden at the white house yesterday. you can watch the entire event at c-span.org. before we get to calls, here is a photo in the new york times. a line for vaccinations in pa terson, new jersey. people first arrived there at 2:30 a.m. here is the times' headline. mr. biden predicted the national death toll from covid-19 would top 500,000 -- half a million people -- sometime next month. he described his approach as a full-scale wartime effort. he appeared in the white house

briefing room for the first time since november. dr. fauci said using anti-bodies that were used on president trump were not effective against more -- against different variants of the virus. first, your general reaction to what you have hurt so far. herndon, virginia. it is john. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. host: good morning. caller: i am cautiously optimistic about the executive orders that have been signed concerning the vaccine roll up. -- vaccine rollout. it had some part in administering the vaccine for the swine flu pandemic 10 years ago. they have more options concerning the different types

of vaccines, like the moderna and the johnson & johnson. one of them, you have to store the vaccines at a low temperature. i am cautiously optimistic about how things will go. host: do you know folks who have suffered from the virus and their families? caller: i know one person from an extended circle who died. i am not sure if it was from coronavirus. i was not sure of the cause of death. but they were infected with coronavirus before death. i knew a few people who had gotten sick and recovered. host: thank you for calling from herndon. lesko to phi -- let's go to philly, democrat line. caller: i did not believe it was what he promised. he promised the first day in

instead of stalling with the stimulus. i was disappointed. host: when you said he was stalling on the stimulus, what are you saying? caller: that is what he was saying. check your c-span recordings. he said day one, he would work on it. there has been so much stalling. i am from philadelphia. i have a 99% voting record. since my husband passed in 2018, i have had the discovery of c-span. i did not know you were there

since 1979. i feel like -- my mother always said, the democrats are for the working class, and the working class poor, not for the deadbeats who want free handouts, even before corona. host: thank you for discovering c-span. the president duda put forth a $1.9 trillion -- the president did put forth a $1.9 trillion plan. let's hear from mike in woodstock, georgia. on the republican line. caller: i want to say thank you for letting me on c-span. it has been interesting trying to get on. i think the plans will go ok if they do more socialization.

i have not seen any media coverage in terms of -- here is why we want to talk about this. i watched the briefing yesterday with mr. faucher. the -- with mr. fauci. i have gotten the vaccine, my wife has gotten it. we know people in our area that if that a lot of trouble trying to get it. i am trying to get my mother in cleveland, ohio a vaccine, and it does not look like it is in the area yet. i understand people's frustration. it will be a while. if we get more coverage, more socialization from media, more commercials, honestly, about what is -- why take it. if we get people to agree this is good for not just me, but

everyone else i know, that is fine. is that socialism? i don't think so. that is just for survival. i am hopeful things will go through. i think the president is consistent in his messaging. he did not say it will be easy and it is not. it will take the military to help out. that is kind of scary, but it is a scary thing. it has been a scary thing. hopefully, we'll get it done. host: thank you for calling. we want to get some other viewpoints in, including mary from buffalo, who sent this text. thank god we have a president with a plan to fight this virus spread derek writes extreme confidence. washington times on the vaccine, new york times touch on what our last caller said.

vaccine shortages cause a different path for biden. his blueprint for tackling covid signals the departure from president trump's vaccine or bust strategy. scrambling to get more shots into arms. he might not have a choice, writes the washington times. people had to cancel vaccination appointments as attempts to expand eligibility has led to confusion. mr. biden is banking on a boost in federal funding and using the defense production act. with vaccine reserves already exhausted, ramping up the rollout could be difficult in the near term. here is more about the president yesterday, assessing the federal response to covid so far. [video clip] pres. biden: hospitals are out of beds, businesses are closed

for good, schools are in between. the vaccine provides so much hope, but the rollout has been a dismal failure so far. i understand the frustration of so many americans and how they are feeling. i understand why so many governors, mayors, county officials feel like they are left on their own without a clear national plan to get them through the crisis. let me be very clear -- things will continue to get worse before they get better. the memorial we held two nights ago will not be our last, unfortunately. the death toll will likely top 500,000 month. cases will continue to mount. we did not get into this mess overnight and it will take months to turn things around. let me be equally clear -- we will get through this. we will defeat the pandemic. for a nation wanting action, let

me be clear on this point -- help is on the way. host: here is the help as laid out by the white house. a series of executive orders signed, including guidance for schools unsafe reopening, vaccines and local pharmacies by the month of february. use the defense production act to address a vaccine and ppe shortfalls. the white house wants to create a covid health equity task force and establish a board for unity approaches for testing and better covid-19 data. back to philadelphia, where marvin is on the line for democrats. caller: in my lifetime, i never realized about power -- until

president trump was in office. everyone is working together, we can accomplish anything. when we are divided, we cannot accomplish anything. i think everyone will get in line. host: let me ask you, have you or family or friends than impacted by covid? caller: two people i work with caught it and they got through it. they are young. i was asking what they did in case i caught it. host: thank you for calling this money. the vaccine supply -- thank you

for calling this morning. a pledge to tame the most dire health problem, significantly increase the supply of covid-19. federal health officials and executives agree it would be impossible to increase the immediate supply of vaccines before april because of a lack of manufacturing capacity. the administration should focus on fixing the hodgepodge of state and local vaccination centers that have proven capable of managing even the current flow of vaccines. that is in the new york times this morning. mark is on the line from georgia. welcome to the program. caller: how is it going? host: good, how are you? caller: pretty good. i feel confident biden will be able to work something through cents him and obama virus.

it is probably a 50-50 chance but i feel confident in his abilities. it is a stark contrast between this administration and the last administration. i would like to think biden is not sugarcoating anything, he is telling it how it is. it will be grim, but i like the moves he is making so far. i know several people who have caught it in my circle. just the other day, i spoke to a lady at my job. she said she had it for two weeks and it was no joke. i know firsthand people who have had, at least 10 people i know of. host: thank you for calling. here is another text this morning from new mexico. do i have confidence in the plan? in a word, "no."

new york, republican caller. hello. caller: as a physician, my concern is what is done that works. in an epidemiologic journal, is specialist says the vaccine will not stop you from getting the coronavirus. it would only block the worst side effects, the ones that lead to death. you can still be infectious once you get the vaccine. has anyone been told anything like this? no. another thing that really gets to me, we have the pcr test. the results come back five to seven days after the test. have we discussed how useless that is? the antigen test is not as

sensitive, but it can identify very well -- not that you are infected, but when you are infectious to other people. that is not being used, that is not available. and then we are crying that we don't have enough of anything. host: you said you are a physician, what is your experience with covid? caller: hodgepodge completely. everyone does their own thing. you have telemedicine care for people about coronavirus, all of this stuff that makes no sense. to get a license, you have to go through a lot of proof that you know the background, you have studied the material, you know the research. i have read over 900 papers on this and this is the submitted

version, not the final version one or two years later. there are so many contradictions that nobody talks about, nobody thinks about. i just want to point out one thing to you -- every test, every treatment and every vaccine we are using now has been approved by one source, donald trump. if you look at the containers, it says they are not to be used for treatment, diagnosis of covid-19. but because of a special emergency approval by the fda or cdc, these are to be used until the -- the approval is withdrawn. host: there were two events at the white house yesterday. you can watch them on our website, c-span.org. one of them was the president's signing events where he signed the orders and made remarks. and then there was a press conference with the white house

press secretary. dr. fauci was at that news conference. here is dr. fauci on the efficacy of these vaccines. [video clip] dr. fauci: if you have a vaccine like the moderna and pfizer vaccine that can suppress the virus at a delusion at 12 1000, and the mutation influences it by bringing it down to one to 800, you are still well above the line of not being effective. there is a cushion that even though it has diminished somewhat, it is still effective. that is what we are seeing with the u.k., a minimal effect. we are following very carefully the one in south africa, which is more concerning, but nonetheless not something we do not think we can handle. what is the message? someone can say, if you have the

possibility that the vaccines are diminishing in their impact, why are we vaccinating people? it is all the more reason why we should be vaccinating as many people as we can, because as long as the virus is that the replicating, viruses do not mutate unless they replicate. if you can suppress that by a very good vaccine campaign, then you could actually avoid this effect that you might get from the mutations. bottom line, we are paying very close attention to it. there are alternative plans if we ever have to modify the vaccine. it is not something that is a very onerous thing. right now, from the reports we have, literally as of today, it appears the vaccines will still be effective against them, with the caveat in mind that you want to pay close attention to it. host: dr. fauci from yesterday.

gregory writes on twitter it is nice to have dr. fauci back. we have carroll in iowa. caller: good morning. i am very confident in joe biden and i think he will do the best he can and has a good plan. i think the other important thing for me is to see that both parties work together. you are not going to be able to get everything you want. you have to give and take, and to do it for the best. host: you so you have confidence in the president, how much confidence do you have in congress because he has to turn to congress for a good deal of money to carry out his plans? caller: i am not sure about congress.

i think they have to do some give and take. host: the washington post this morning, several aspects of this national strategy of the covid-19 response preparedness are intended to steer more money to states which have complained they did more funding to carry out testing, vaccinating residents and other functions. the white house will try to persuade congress to cover the entire cost for states to vaccinate low income residents. a little bit more on money from this post piece, the coordinator of the white house coronavirus response said the plan was the product of conversations with experts and interest groups, along with state and local leaders aired many goals would require congress to provide more funding. you can read more about that in the washington post. we have landon in richmond,

virginia. caller: good morning. first thing i would like to say is people should be careful about the virus, number one. i have confidence in joe biden, but do not mistake a common code for the virus, there is no question about that. people have been very complacent about it. you have to be very careful around other people, especially because that is how the virus spreads. it spreads when you talk to people, when you touch people. i am an old guy. i have been around for a long time. i remember back in the 1950's when there was polio. everyone was scared of the same thing -- a needle.

if you got polio, you had to go into an iron lung, which is awful. people said they did not want the needle because it would leave a red spot. when they can make a vaccine that people can take by mouth, you will find out that people will go ahead and take it. next thing i know, -- i don't know if you can do the same thing with this covid thing that you could do with polio. if science makes it to the point where it is easy for people to take, then they will do it. people are naturally scared of needles. thank you very much. host: jd from massachusetts writes that it seems like not much will change. rollout the vaccine, wash your

hands, the rest is all handouts. more detail from this washington post piece. one of thursday's executive orders gives governors more help with directing fema to pay states more for using members of the national guard, and for supplies like protective gear for schools and childcare providers. the strategy also -- greater use of the defense production act. this is a decades-old old law to give the government power to boost manufacturing -- during wars to help expedite production of glass vials, syringes and packaging. it is not clear how the new administration will change that. biden has also set a goal for most k-8 schools to be open during his first 100 days. his aides have not explained

what portion of schools are open today. by some estimates, majority of schools are already open. here is the republican leader in the u.s. house of representatives, kevin mccarthy, who did a briefing before the formal rollout. [video clip] >> there was change of the political party in the white house, the problems we need to address still impact americans, republican, democrat and independents elected to work together. president biden works over at a time people need to get back to work, kids need to get back to school and get every american vaccinated who wants one. this is a national priority. we must ask if the plans from the biden administration are helping the american people who need it most. are we helping businesses reopen and getting america back to work ? are we helping students get back into the classroom? many of these kids have been

learning from behind computers for nearly a year. are we helping individuals, especially our most at risk population, gain access to a vaccine? that is why i was disappointed to see within hours of assuming office, the new administration was more interested in helping illegal immigrants than helping our own citizens. more interested in virtue signals to climate activists. and appeasing the w.h.o. rather than getting to the bottom of how china released this virus to the world in the first place. w a panel established by the.h.o. said the organization fails to act quickly. it is the wrong signal, the biden administration is rewarding failure.

host: a text from south carolina, as a republican, i am confident biden's team will ultimately handle this well. i am thankful for warp speed that provided the vaccine so quickly. another headline, another 100,000 people could die in weeks. that leads to the figure of 500,000-plus that president biden spoke about, the death toll coming up shortly, perhaps in the month of february. usa today also says american covid-19 deaths surpass american soldier fatalities in world war ii. the covid vaccine being developed by a new jersey-based company, johnson & johnson, could speed up the fight against covid-19 because unlike the two vaccines already in use, this one would only require one dose

and not need to be stored at super cold temperatures. rochester, new york, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. thank you. host: you are welcome. caller: i have confidence that president biden and his vice president will not eradicate but get the coronavirus under control. they will get all of the medications that states need. they will get the medical companies to produce even more. i think things will work out fine. i heard you had kevin mccarthy speak. it is too bad that, whether it is democrats or republicans, they start out on such a negative note. he did not put immigration, he did not put the environment before covid.

covid is at the top of president biden's agenda because he knows we need these injections. we need to save the lives of all people. the virus does not say i will just kill the democrats or i will just kill the republicans or just the independents, the virus kills all of us. it will take the president and congress to come together to help eradicated. i believe they will come together. we do not need negativity from the opposite party. americans want them to work together to get this done. host: on to sterling, virginia, back to the republican line. good morning, gary. caller: good morning. i think you moderators really

rock. you get it from both sides. in regard to the coronavirus, i heard a caller three or four weeks ago say i am not going to be muzzled by wearing a mask like a mad dog. i thought to myself, i can relate to that for the fact i worked in a tv shop where the winter solstice was the only time the sun would come in, i was at the other side of the counter watching a coworker ask some questions. as i was watching the customer, a beam of sunlight was coming in -- the only time of the year the sun would come in. the winter solstice, the 20th two the 22nd, it would come in for 20 minutes in the afternoon.

host: let me jump in. in general, what is your level of confidence in battling the virus? caller: extreme. with all of the technology, we have electronic air cleaners that take particles out of the air and clean the air. we have disinfectants. what is that -- host: we have to move on. we have about 25 minutes left. we are asking you about your level of confidence in the biden administration's covid-19 plan, that was unveiled yesterday. ted is calling from miami, florida on the republican line. caller: good morning. i have all of the confidence in

the world in biden and his covid-19 plan. the last administration to not have a plan. they are not even scrambling. if you don't have a plan, that is the last administration. i have confidence, i have believed. i want to say thanks to joe biden and his administration, give us belief in the plan. i hope it comes together at some point. thank you to joe biden. host: thanks for calling. indiana, democrat. tim, your level of confidence in this? caller: i am positive. joe biden is someone who does

not think he knows everything and pretends he does. he relies on people who knows what they are talking about. that is my level of confidence. earlier, you read part of the defense production act. what i did not see was the shortage of oxygen. if you google the difference between medical grade oxygen, the oxygen that welders use, and aviation oxygen, they are all the same thing. they come from the same place. if you google it, you will see what i am talking about. if there is a shortage of oxygen, that sounds to me like that might be a problem. the only difference is three different hoses, and just label them different. host: there is a shortage of help.

local pharmacies do not have enough help to pull off mass vaccinations. they should contact retired nurses to become volunteers for these pharmacies. here is senator charles schumer, democratic leader. [video clip] sen. schumer: our country has suffered from the incompetent federal response to covid-19. as we cross the grim milestone of 400,000 -- 400,000 -- american fatalities from covid, the biden administration is wasting no time in marshaling the resources of the federal government into action, and today released a national strategy to defeat the pandemic. what a concept -- a president who actually takes the defining crisis of our time seriously. what a change. and how great is the need. host: onto myrtle beach, south

carolina, republican line. what is your level of confidence in the administration's plan? caller: my level is hopefully pretty high. the main thing i want to say was people keep saying that president trump did not have a plan. he did have a plan. it was to get the medical people vaccinated. it was to get the people in the nursing homes taken care of, vaccinated. and people like me -- 75 and up -- get them vaccinated. but the democrats were saying they did not want the vaccination, they had to wait. they waited and know everyone is trying to get that vaccination at one time. thank you and have a good day. host: birmingham, alabama, independent caller. caller: i think biden was wrong in terms of the keystone pipeline.

democrats have been much better on infrastructure. the abysmal alabama rollout is flint, michigan level of incompetence. in order to combat covid and diseases we will face in the future, maybe something unseen, i think president biden needs to double nasa's budget and we need to have more research on biomedical fields and perhaps follow-up with space stations. you can do better medical research and a microgravity environment than you can hear. i would want to make sure all hot zone level 4 disease research should be done off world. if it is the case that something escape from a lab in wuhan, if it happened off world, it would not pose a threat to us. i hope president biden does not

look at nasa as something for the extravagant rich. i want to see space-based solar power and more money spent on pharmaceuticals in space. host: cheryl calling from florida. democratic caller. good morning. caller: good morning. i am a nurse. what we have now are the logistics that we have not had for the last four years. we needed to pull up the logistics and put in place by president eisenhower during the 1950's for a national defense plan and we would not have had this problem. host: go ahead. caller: hang in there, we will get this done. we have the logistics going now.

my dad was part of it and i am 74 years old. host: what has the experience been like in saint augustine in florida? caller: i am going to try again to call my publix. they are taking appointments on monday, wednesday, and friday, and giving shots on tuesdays and thursdays. that will require be getting off of the corner of my bed that i have been sitting on for the last year. i know what pandemic means, and it means i am bad and i am coming for you. host: here is more from the president yesterday about how his plan will impact travel in the production of future supply. [video clip] pres. biden: we we signing additional executive action requiring masking on

international travel. in light of the new covid variants we are learning about, we are instituting now a new measure for individuals flying into the united states from other countries. in addition to wearing a mask, everyone flying to the united states from another country will need to test before they get on that plane and quarantine when they arrive in america. our national plan launches a full-scale wartime effort to address supply shortages by ramping up production on syringes. when i say wartime, people look at me like, wartime? like i said last night, 400,000 americans died. that is more than who died in world war ii. 400,000. this is a wartime undertaking.

host: president biden has sent a $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid stimulus plan to the hill. a good chunk of that money is needed for the plans the president has put out to fight the virus. the house of representatives will come in not next week but the following week, the first week of february. meantime, the senate comes in today. they will vote on the retired general, lloyd austin, becoming defense secretary. this follows news that general austin received away virtue leave the pentagon. -- received a waiver to allow general austin to hold the post of defense secretary. if confirmed by senators, mr.

austin, 67, will become the department's first black secretary. joe biden will keep on christopher wray as the fbi director. back to your calls on the virus. the rollout of the virus battle plan yesterday from the white house. al is calling from hawaii, independent. caller: thank you for taking my call. i have a few topics. you should try to get a guest on, a professor from harvard, he is very happy about the biden administration selecting -- he is for the antigen test, not for diagnostic -- this is a key factor -- but for using the antigen test for screening. several people have called

c-span asking to get him on. he is a busy guy. he is the most brilliant advocate for this and can make a strong case with politicians who are probably listening to the show before they go into make decisions about what to do with the money. it will take a few billion dollars. his guess is a couple of billion. it will take a few different manufacturers because these antigen test's -- i am in hawaii, by the way. we have had big issues with testing for people flying to hawaii. they are trained to use these pcr tests which take up to four days to get results for that makes them completely useless. the reason is because a person is usually infectious for about five to six days. if a person gets on an airplane after taking a test three days

prior and the results only arrive in the state of hawaii, that person sometimes has to go into quarantine because the results do not arrive. even if the results arrive in the person was ok when they took the test three days ago, that is not mean they were not infectious when they got on the plane. it just means that at the moment they took the test, they are not infectious. host: let's hear from pj in california on the line from democrats. caller: my level of confidence is questionable. i am thinking of the caravan that is coming up and in 100 days and not worrying about illegal immigration. those people, when they get here, who is testing them? the people who get through, who

gets vaccinated first? is it americans, or is it people who are undocumented? very questionable. i have not heard anything on that, whatsoever. are we worried about our front-line workers, or are we taking care of people who are here illegally? host: we will see if we can find out some more details. dennis is calling from rhode island, republican. caller: i am a republican but i agree with the democrat who just called. he made some good points. if these people are going to come over here when biden wants them to, hopefully they will be vaccinated before they come in here. by opening up a wall, it is like taking the mask off your face. we are supposed to be stopping this virus, and then you have all of these people coming in.

if you look on tv, they don't have a mask on themselves. host: a little bit of a blurb in the new york times, they go through the president's strategy, requiring mask wearing during interstate travel. mr. biden will likely influence mask wearing wherever he is legally allowed to, including on federal property and travel that crosses state lines. intercity buses, trains, the same order also requires international travelers to prove they have a recent negative covid-19 test before heading to the u.s. in requiring with quarantining guidelines once they land. i'm not sure if that information helps the last couple of caller s. the new york times lays out the president's plans. impeachment also making a lot of

news as we await the start of the senate trial. it could be days, it could be weeks. here is speaker pelosi. [video clip] >> you mentioned unity. are you concerned about moving forward that impeachment might undercut that message and alienate republican supporters of the president? speaker pelosi: no. the fact is the president of the united states committed an act of incitement and insurrection. i don't think it is unifying to say, let's just forget it and move on. that is not how you unify. joe biden said it beautifully -- if you are going to unite, you must remember. that is our responsibility, to uphold the integrity of the congress of the united states. that is our responsibility.

to protect and defend the constitution of the united states. that is what we will do. just because he is now gone, you don't say to a president, do whatever you want in the last month of your administration. you will get a get out of jail card free. we should not forget the people died here on january 6, an attempt to undermine our election, to undermine our democracy, to dishonor our constitution -- no, i don't see that it all. host: a little bit more on impeachment from the pages of the washington post. a three week delay for an impeachment trial. senate republicans pushed to delay the trial for president

trump for three weeks because he is struggling to assemble a defense. mitch mcconnell, the minority leader, floated the delay of the trial, saying trump deserved more time to prepare his case print the conviction could bar trump from holding office in the future. senator lindsey graham disclosed the former president has secured a lead counsel for trial. he is a south carolina maternity known for litigating election matters in north carolina and south carolina. that is in the washington post. in politico, senate republicans uniting behind an impeachment defense. members are backing a bid to dismiss a trout, claiming it is

unconstitutional. in the hill, only a few republicans will vote to convict president trump. about 10 minutes left with our first hour, or we are focusing on president biden's covid vaccine planned, the plan to battle the virus. lots of different provisions. tony, thank you for waiting in fairbanks, alaska. republican caller. caller: thank you for having me today. it is early for me. i have watched for a while now, and paying close attention to everything that has been going on. i did not read the entire 200 pages of biden's book that was published for the covid-19

policies, but for me, it already seems to be following the same basis that states have put into play. there are a couple of differences, but nothing dramatic, nothing i think will turn a new leaf. what i do see is, we will keep spending money and money and money, the first day of presidency, he also put 11,000 people out of work at the same time. we keep putting everyone out of work, we are going to be out of money. host: thank you. fort lauderdale, florida, democratic caller. caller: good morning. my confidence level is very low. i am surprised to hear talking

about wearing masks on planes. i have flown recently. they tell you when you get on the flight. we all know the best results happened in west virginia. one of the poorest states in the country has somehow put together a project better than everyone else. they have not asked for anything from the government. the game to local pharmacies, people know to go to the local pharmacy. i have not heard anyone in the government say they should follow west virginia's example or see why it works so well. biden's answer is let's spend millions of dollars putting together some kind of mega structure when little, poor west

virginia has done it better than everyone else. why are we not looking to white west virginia has been it -- why are we not looking into why west virginia has been able to do it so well. host: how are you keeping up-to-date with events in other states like west virginia when you are down in florida? caller: i try to look on the internet, i try to monitor different tv channels. thank you so much for c-span, the place i go to more and more because you are unbiased. i have been trying to get the vaccine. most of florida is doing well. where i am in broward county, it is not going well. my local walgreens does not have the vaccine yet. i don't know why. i finally got through to the appointment line and they said i

should call back every morning at 8:00 when they redo their ro ll to try to get an appointment. if it was just at my local walgreens, i could literally walk down the block and get my vaccination. host: richie is in massachusetts, independent caller. caller: like the guys said, more money and more money. there is no difference than what we were doing with the masking up. if i go in a store, i go on a bus, they won't let me in unless i have a mask. it is just common sense. i can't figure out how this stuff is spreading. i go walking every day. i am 76 years old. i am going on another walk in an

hour. i walk four miles a day. i don't see how this keeps spreading so bad. i really don't. i don't know what is going on. that is all i have to say. you have a good day. host: thank you for calling. zachary, harrisburg, pa. caller: how are you. i am calling from harrisburg, pa . joe biden did an excellent job. he did a better job than trump did. he did -- joe biden, i believe he will do a better job than our

previous president. i hope he gets everybody the vaccine and does a better job for people. thank you. host: we have time for a couple more calls, but first, dr. anthony fauci, back to the briefing with reporters. [video clip] >> you joked a couple times today already about the difference you feel about being the spokesperson for this issue and this administration versus the previous one. can you talk about how much different you feel, less constrained? for so many times, you stood up behind the podium with donald trump, that was a different feeling i am sure that it is today. can you talk about how you feel

relieved about what you have been doing. dr. fauci: you said i was joking, i was very serious about it. i was not joking. obviously, i don't want to be going back over history, but it was very clear there were things that were said regarding things like hydroxychloroquine and things like that that were uncomfortable because they were not based on scientific fact. i take no pleasure at all in being in a situation of contradicting the president. it was something where you did not feel like you could actually say something and there would be no repercussions. the idea that you can get up here and talk about what you know, what the science is, and know that is it -- let the science speak. it is somewhat of a liberating feeling. >> you basically vanished for a few months. do you feel like you are back? dr. fauci: i think so.

[laughter] host: you can watch that event, and the news conference. c-span.org is the place to go. joe is calling from mississippi, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. regarding transparency with president biden saying everyone needs to wear a mask on federal property, can you show the part where he was at the lincoln memorial not wearing a mask and the clip -- someone asked about it at the press conference. host: mark is our last call,

independent caller. caller: good morning. it is a brand-new day and i'm happy to see president biden in there. just so many things they are tackling. trump just walked away from the job since covid really. man oh man. i'm optimistic. it really reminds me of 2008. president bush was 100 times better than what we just endured right here. host: thanks to everybody who called this first hour. we will give us a little bit later in the program. coming up we will dig into two

other major policy areas where the biden administration is making major changes. first we will look at changes in immigration policy. later, amy harter of axios will look at how climate change policy will look in the new biden administration. it is friday, january 22nd, we will be ririririri. >> american history tv on c-span three, exploring the people and events that tell the american story, every weekend. coming up saturday at 2:00 p.m. eastern history makers with a conversation between founder and president. sunday at 2:00 p.m. eastern, the history makers series continue with bowman college president and prairie view a and

m president. unreal america, in light of the recent attacks on the u.s. capital, watch several films on the united states government and american democracy which offer civics lesson on how the government works. an author talks about his book, in the heart of the sea, the tragedy about the 1820 sinking of the ship following a whale attack. at 8:00 p.m. eastern on the presidency, we look back at farewell, and inauguration of previous presidents, bill clinton, george w. bush, dwight eisenhower, ronald reagan. watch american history tv this weekend on c-span3. >> washington journal continues. host: the topic is now immigration. our guest is sabrina rodriguez of politico. thanks for joining us. guest: thank you for having me.

host: a recent piece, the headline says immigration, biden's plan to outdo obama, undo trumps immigration legacy has begun. he has been putting out executive orders. there is legislation. give us a broad overview of what the president wants to do in the area of immigration. guest: there's a lot that has happened in a short amount of time. it is not just me saying that. we are talking democrats, republicans, immigrant advocates. it was a very busy day on immigration. he has the released the plan of what he wants the reform bill to look like on capitol hill. what it looks like and what it will ultimately be if it passes will probably have changes. some of the top lines are offering a pathway to citizenship for the country's estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants.

tackling room positive migration. the situation in central america as well as adding technology and figuring out how to tackle security at the border in a way that is not from president donald trump or the wall. the trump administration, president trump did more than 400 different actions on immigration, executive actions. he is also in the process of undoing a lot of that. on day one he signed multiple executive orders and memos rolling back construction of the border wall. securing president obama's daca program as well as moving forward on things like that. doing a 100 day moratorium on most deportations. times to really figure out homeland security. host: she is sabrina rodriguez

of politico. we are talking about immigration reform. we will have lines set up for democrats, republicans, independence. you laid out the broad overview. you mentioned what president trump did and what president biden is undoing. could you remind us where congress left off on the immigration issue? what does it mean as they receive this big proposal from the president? guest: congress has been unable to do comprehensive immigration reform. the last time they had a big effort was in 2013. it was a bipartisan effort. there were faces like marco rubio and lindsey graham that were both involved in this process at the time. they were able to pass a bill through the senate. it ended up falling apart in the house. a lot of people are concerned. they don't want to see it happen

again. they are concerned it will happen again. on capitol hill, senator bob menendez is leading the effort. saying this is going to be very difficult. he says he would not have lent his name, if you thought the biden administration would not have put political capital behind it. this seems like an area they will really push. rubio has been involved in the 2013 effort. he has said already this is a nonstarter. he does not like biden's proposal. mitch mcconnell now senate minority leader has said it creates huge incentive to rush into the country.

it does seem like it is a priority for this administration. host: before we get to calls, let's dig into a little bit of the policy provisions the president has put out. you write about the u.s. citizenship after 2021, it speaks to that pathway for the 11 million undocumented immigrants in this country. how would this work? guest: he's breaking it up into two groups of undocumented immigrants. if you already have? or temporary protected status, if they meet specific requirements they could automatically get a green card. they would automatically be eligible for a green card. three years later could apply for citizenship. if you don't qualify in that group, it would be you could have temporary legal status for

five years, apply for a green card and three years later have citizenship. that is the eight year pathway. one of point they are making because of this rhetoric that people will rush the border is you must have been in the united states on or before january 1 of this year to even qualify. it is not that people will be able to get citizenship or green cards automatically if they come now. that is a big point. host: our first call for sabrina rodriguez of politico. we are talking about immigration. carolyn, good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for having this subject. i'm a democrat but i do not agree with biden on this issue. they are leaving the borders open to let the gates flooded in. unless you live right around them or in them you don't understand what the people go

through. they come into the united states and don't pay any taxes. food stamps, free food, then they come and get the ssi, that is free. they don't pay into it. that is why we are not getting social security like we should. we need to stop letting these palpable -- people come here and get free stuff. host: as a post to a structure to improve the situation that many want, what are you suggesting? what would your proposal be to the problem? caller: you have to find out if they pay taxes like we do. let them pay taxes for five years. if they pay into the system, then they could be considered being a citizen.

most of them go right on welfare get free money, free food stamps, free everything. the people here are paying for it with taxes. host: thank you for calling, let's hear from our guest. you could hear the passion that. what you make of that argument? guest: carolyn's point hits at something a lot of people have talked about. not paying taxes, there is a system they are not buying into. a lot of undocumented immigrants do pay taxes currently. under biden's proposal the qualifications to get a green card or apply for a green card they need to be paying taxes. there are fees they have to pay and all of that. it is not like a free green card or free citizenship.

what we are talking about the situation at the border, lawmakers on the border -- we are talking senator john cornyn of texas, henry clay, they have discussed and talked publicly a lot about how there needs to be a different system at the border. republicans have been more concerned and more careful how they phrase it. not wanting to cross donald trump on the border wall. there needs to be a different system for how to deal with the situation at the border. having stronger technology to secure the border. this seems to hit at that. the way the biden administration is selling this is three pieces.

one is the pathway to citizenship, one is smart border control, the third is the root causes of the migration. definitely focused on border security in some way. they're not trying to sell it somewhat the trump administration did. that is the phrase that is being used by republicans. the way that biden is pitching this -- host: what does that mean for the construction of the border wall? does construction stop? guest: one of the memos the biden administration signed was president trump had used this national emergency declaration a couple of years ago to reroute funds to build the wall since mexico did not pay for it. he issued a national emergency so he could reroute funds from the defense department.

one of the first executive orders from the biden administration has been immediately ending that declaration and halting construction of the wall. after four years and all of the talk of the wall from the trump administration they only ended up building 450 miles worth of wall. most of it being replacement barriers and secondary barriers. it is the most recent dhs figures. that is not going to be happening anymore. there's a question of how long it will take to stop. the trump administration did have contracts with different people. we are in the middle of land negotiations about areas they could continue building.

if it is a few miles more or less it is kind of a debate right now going on. definitely not part of his agenda. host: margin is calling in from massachusetts. you are on with sabrina rodriguez. caller: good morning, thank you for taking my call. appreciate c-span. one of the things that i find really confusing about this entire debate is that we have a legal immigration system. it basically allows one million plus people in annually. then we also have another system which is of you legal aliens. i know we call them undocumented immigrants. this has been going on the last several years. back in 1980 when ronald reagan was president, we were throwing

around that 11 million figure. we are still throwing that around. i don't believe it. we live in an age of competing narratives and competing facts. if we simply enforced our legal immigration system we would not need a wall. this is the trouble with this debate right now. host: before we go to our guest, you mentioned the ability to -- 11 million figure, what do you believe? caller: i believe the figure is a lot larger than that. we don't have the political will in this country to address the issues properly. we are not actually using the right language. we need to call people who call people who come into the country illegally illegal.

guest: one thing that is interesting that struck me from what you were saying was the biden administration plan, one of the things they want to change is u.s. immigration law. the word is typically alien for a non-us citizen. they want to change that to say noncitizen in u.s. -- in u.s. immigration law. that is a nugget in the language of the terminology around all this. in terms of the numbers, i cannot debate with you on what the exact number is. i have not gone that -- gone out and counted every undocumented immigrant. there is a question of if the 11 million is an accurate number at this point. there's different estimates about 5 million undocumented essential workers that has been a point of discussion.

part of the biden administration's plan right now is definitely figuring out how to improve the system. clearly the u.s. immigration system is not working. the u.s. immigration system is not working. some people will call it broken. some people will say it never worked. part of it is figuring out how to smoothly do illegal migration. right now, people spend years in backlogs. if you have a family member and you are applying to become -- to meet with them legally with united states government it is eight years. it is a huge backlog, lengthy wait time. certain countries have caps that then complicates it for certain people trying to go through a legal route. part of the biden plan is not only a pathway to citizenship for undocumented migrants that are already here but figuring

out how to smooth out that process. if you are trying to come to the united states illegally, you have -- legally, you have family here, have smooth -- secured a job it goes smoothly. but we talk about securing the border and that aspect, part of the biden administration's plan are looking at this optimistically. they are saying when biden was vice president he was very involved in issues with central america. he made that one of his projects while he was in the obama administration. it was later in the administration so we didn't necessarily get to see the results. it was figuring how to stop these root causes. a lot of these people are coming from el salvador, guatemala, where the situation in the country is unstable and not safe. figuring out ways to tackle that violence or corruption and

helping these country so people don't feel the need to come here. this has been going on for decades. this is not new. it is very comprehensive proposal that if he accomplishes it could make a difference. host: richie, you are on the air, go ahead. caller: i'm not sure how anybody could say the biden policies aren't causing a rush to the borders. these caravans that are coming through. as soon as he was inaugurated the rush came. his policies, his language about the campaign was clearly about the border wall not working, come on. anytime you have a barrier it works. it makes them harder -- makes it harder for them to come in.

president trump lifts a ban to europe. president biden put that band back on but lifts the band from muslim countries and the border during a pandemic. those things just don't make much sense to me. one policy is looking to change is using the word alien. we have a major immigration policy problem. american people look at that and say what are we doing here. host: thank you for calling. a lot of different points there. speak first to the the so-called caravans. what is the reality right now with those groups of folks coming up to our border? what is the administration had to say about that group? guest: the biden administration so far, their public messaging

is definitely discouraging people. they want to change the asylum process that the trump administration in collaboration with the mexican government established. they want to change the system but that will take a long time. they are trying to figure out how to dissuade people from coming. they are obviously going to the harsh conditions of traveling through central america, through mexico and they won't be able to come in or there is not a humane, fair, however you want to describe it. there's not a system in place at this moment to handle that capacity. they won't be coming into the united states. just the reality of the policy currently in place. to your point on the issue of safety and we are in a pandemic. one thing biden has not established yet, it called title

42. this order that was issued by the cdc that allows border patrol officials -- a migrant that is crossing the border, even if they are an asylum seeker, children, they could immediately get booted out of the country. that right now is still in place. technically speaking if a migrant comes through they could be sent back immediately. the biden administration had a call the night before inauguration where they were asked about this. they said they will have something to say in the very near future. it is possible they will roll it back or keep it in place. at this moment it is still in place. that goes to the question of

safety and security at the border. to your point about the border wall. the u.s.-mexico border is 1954 miles long. the trump administration accomplished about 450 miles of border wall. specifically only 50 were new where there anything before. it is not the only way to get things done speaking logistically. 450 miles to a 1954 mile-long border, there are plenty of ways to get it in regard of -- get in regardless of a border wall. here's the headline in usa today. white house to improve visitor screening. what is the reaction been to this move so far? guest: democrats, immigrant

advocates, and human rights advocates have definitely been pleased with the decision. i can't speak to the necessary details. how it will be impacted especially in a pandemic when we are trying to dissuade people from traveling here. this muslim ban has obviously been regarded as a human rights violation. they are moving quickly on that. host: a little bit more reaction to all of this before we get back to your calls. here is mitch mcconnell, the senate republican leader. we will follow this with the new press secretary being asked about working with congress. sen. mcconnell: this was not the day one the american workers deserved. this would got and enforced america's laws while creating

new incentives for people to rush here illegally at the same time. this kind of failed approach and privilege powerful entrance ahead of american workers. >> there has been a lot of efforts to do any form of immigration reform. what we are hopeful is this will be a moment of reset and a moment to restart on capitol hill. there are already a number of cosponsors. there are experts on immigration who have worked on this issue on both sides of the aisle. historically, it is an issue that there is bipartisan support, support from the community, support from a range of outside groups with different political tilt. we are hopeful that will help propel it forward. host: we look at the hill betrothed that number, 60, that

is the number to pretty much move any legislation. assuming the filibuster remains in place, that is in question because they are working out details. what are the prospects for passage of president biden's plan or at least elements of his plan in the senate? guest: i am not the most optimistic person on that front. that is kind of a shared view when you talk to senators at this point. i mentioned senator bob menendez. he is overseeing the effort on the senate side of bidens built. he acknowledged it will be difficult. he had a call yesterday where he said he felt optimistic that the biden administration was going to put a lot of effort into getting this done. the realities are the numbers are not necessarily on the democrat side even though they

have the majority because they would need about 10 republicans to get involved if every democrat were to vote for it. there are some targeted republicans that they would hope would get involved. people like senators romney, murkowski, collins. that does not add up to 10 at this point. it seems much more probable. it is possible to do maybe dhaka but at this moment he didn't feel that comprehensive immigration reform was going to happen. something to secure a pathway to citizenship, secure the daca program the obama administration did legalize was possible. there might be pieces for a piecemeal approach of getting things done. there's a question of the relief package. you could put a pathway for essential workers who have been involved.

now getting a big build on, if it happens naturally it is not in the immediate future. host: tom, we are talking immigration here, go ahead. caller: what concerns me is the fact that building the wall around the u.s. was about stopping that. they built the wall completely around congress to protect them. it was put up immediately. those to prevent the person from breaking the wall and going into congress. this is my concern. why not protect the u.s.. we have this covid virus. that concerns me whether these people from honduras and all are

bringing the virus or some variant of it to the u.s. host: thanks for calling. guest: that is definitely a big concern that is shared right now. we have the pandemic going on. beyond concerns about if you should come to the united states legally or not. at this point, one thing is if you are coming through the u.s.-mexico border and the northern border, it is close to non-essential travel. first and foremost, it is not that any mexican citizen could cross the border and come shopping in the united states or anything like that. every month they have been renewing this. the cdc ordered to keep the borders closed on that front. there are people still traveling

on planes of course. there are plenty of americans who have gone to cancun to party, and there's plenty of talk if they're taking coronavirus to mexico by doing that. but in terms of the my grants that can frumming -- coming from central america twell tell twell -- we've seen different waves of caravans throughout the trump administration. it was expected that a new administration, different rhetoric, would prompt, you know, a new wave of that, with some optimism that they'd be able to get. in but because of the way that the asylum process is and the backlog right now, it's not that someone that comes to the border right now will be able to get into the united states. it remains that, you know, they have to go through a process. and there's a backlog in all of that. so, it's not an immediate concern or immediate threat, concern of safety and such. host: sabrina rodriguez, you also write in "politico," biden officials would not offer specifics on a price tag or timeline for that increased

technology and infrastructure at the border. topics that have come up several times this morning. saying part of it depends on decisions to come from biden's pick to lead the department of homeland security. wanted you to explain what's going on there and especially the hold on this nomination, but first let's hear from the nominee, mr. mayorkas. ests asked at his senate confirmation hearing about the border wall. >> when i served as the deputy secretary and i met with the border patrol, both ated headquarters and in the field, along the southern border, what i heard from the border patrol was that we need a diverse approach to border security. that in some instances a physical barrier would be effective, but that in other instances more boots on the ground would assist and yet in other circumstances, the use of

technology, the use of air and marine assets would be most effective. and i look forward to studying the challenges at the border and developing a sophisticated approach to meet those challenges, to be sure that we're harnessing innovation and technology to the best of our ability. host: to our guest, what do you make of that back and forth there, those comments by the nominee, and why has senator hawley of missouri put a hold on a quick confirmation for the d.h.s. secretary? guest: yeah, you know, ultimately the hold comes down to politics. ultimately, you know, senator hawley is unable to block him from actually becoming the d.h.s. secretary. he will be becoming the secretary, there will be a vote. but he basically halted the quick process. the idea was, and the hope was from the biden administration

that on day one they would get to confirm mayorkas because protecting the country from external threats and national security threats was a focus and a concern from day one. he slowed down the process and it will probably be another week before mayorkas is formally voted on and confirmed to his position. and to the point of what's happening at the border and border security and such, the way that the biden administration is discussing this is they want mayorkas to be confirmed, be already sitting in his office so he can take a look at budgets, take a look at how things have been handled and formulate a plan on how to better tackle border security. a big piece of that is the technology aspect and figuring out, you know, having -- there's plenty of, you know, i am not an expert on technology by any means, but figuring out better screening process, scanning technology that can

help with not only -- it's not only about people coming into the united states, but making sure that they're keeping out narcotics or they're keeping out all these drugs, weapons, things like that. and figuring out a better process to stop that, to be able to identify this when it's coming through the border, whether it's their land ports of entry or through trains or through planes. but being able to have a better system. and they want him to be in place to identify a plan. to device a plan and one thing that democrats and republicans have agreed on when it comes to mayorkas is just the fact that he has a long history at this department and under the trumped a station -- trumped a -- trump administration, there were a lot of people in the d.h.s. secretary role that didn't have that much experience or were there in an active capacity. so having someone that is

confirmed in that seat will hopefully improve the process and just kind of improve planning and such in the department. host: we have about 10 minutes left with our guest. call now from steve in anaheim, california. republican. good morning, steve. caller: good morning. good morning, c-span. your guest is wrong. the experts went in front of congress and told them to fix the immigration problem. it was going to cost $32 billion. this would include a wall that would funnel people into processing centers, which they would have to build. then they'd have to build holding centers and hospitals where they could organize the system to bring people in and at the same time free up the courts that are overwhelmed with all the cases that they have to oversee. instead of having to spend -- send helicopters, people walking around on the ground

with a.t.v.'s, looking for people that won't be found, the purpose of the wall was never to stop immigration, it was to stop people from going to areas that they clearly were going to die. that was the purpose of a wall. i watched al green talk to one of the experts there, the woman chaffs in -- that was in charge, and berate her on c-span for over an hour and then come on the next day and brag about how he belittled her. host: steve, thank you for calling. let's get a response from our guest. guest: we have not disagreeing on a question of there should be no barriers or anything like that. we've always historically had barriers at the border and that has been part of the strategy. i think the biden administration, just given their -- there was a lot of loaded rhetoric, everyone can agree on, there was a lot of loaded rhetoric on both sides and everything, dealing with the border wall and what that meant and all of that.

but there always has been barriers at the border. and i think what's now being put forth by the biden administration is having an approach that includes more technology, that includes better training for border patrol officers, you know, there's a question of once you become a border patrol, ensuring that they know about the latest technology, they know about the latest safety protocols, especially with a pandemic going on and just promoting their safety. so there is going to be money put toward that aspect of training, there is going money toward technology. at this moment they've stopped the border wall, they've stopped the construction of it, which sounds to be obviously one of your concerns. but there is going to be funding and planning on how to have a comprehensive approach at the border. it's not just a wall but obviously there will remain barriers, there's barriers for hundreds and hundreds of miles, they have existed before and

itland it to exist -- and will continue to exist. to keep the migrants that were coming safe and not in these harsh conditions. although we have seen obviously plenty of cases of them having -- not being safe when they're coming into the country. host: and we have mayo on the line from california. democratic caller. good morning. caller: good morning. i've been dealing with this stuff. my dad deals with this immigration stuff. he's worked here, he's been here since he was 16 from mexico. he's paid taxes his whole life and worked in this country and his immigration status got messed up. i'm saying, it sounds good, you know, that joe biden wants to pass immigration, but it's never begun to happen. because social security's already in trouble. if they were to pass this bill big, it would never -- it would break the back of social security. there's so many immigrants here. it's not 11 million. it's more like 20 million in the shad osaka.

my dad has paid money into this economy and this system. they keep saying the immigrants get food stamps and medical. that's a lie from the devil. i'm going to tell you right now. that's a lie from the devil. i don't know where they believe in that. i've been to the social service office. they can get emergency medic health if something happens to them. my dad deals with a lot of medical problems. we're going through immigration lawyers right now. but it would break the back of social security. that's a lie from biden. i voted democrat because i don't like donald trump, but i don't believe in boyd's immigration policy, it can -- biden's immigration policy, it can never happen it. would break the back of social security, they know it. host: that's for calling. let's hear from our guest. guest: to your point, immigrants in this country are paying taxes and that's one aspect of this. there are plenty of taxpayers in this country that don't have citizenship or don't have green cards, necessarily. and in terms of the realities of getting it done. like i mentioned before, it

will take in the senate 60 votes to get this done. that's 10 republicans that have to get involved. that's assuming that every republican, including moderates and more progressives and everything in between, will support it. i am not personaly the most optimistic on congress getting things done. i think anyone that's in washington or anyone that follows congress is fully aware of the challenges of getting anything done, especially at a big level. it does seem very possible that they can get done smaller things like daca. there's a pretty widespread agreement that the deferred action for childhood arrivals, that there needs to be a pathway for them, having grown up in this country, having been back and forth for years in terms of legislation. i mean, there was an interest in getting this done years ago, legalizing dreamers. there's still an interest in doing that. it's very possible that they can get things done on a smaller scale and not this big

grand bill. but it seems that there is going to be a big push regardless to get it done. host: here's a text from baltimore. i think people should be more angry at the business owners who hire illegal immigrants, since they are the ones who are encouraging them. is anyone going after the business owners? so, sabrina, does the biden bill, president biden's bill, or orders address business owners? guest: at this point there's definitely some talk about increasing penalties for employers that are violating labor laws. not just in the aspect of hiring and document -- undocumented workers, but then also exploiting them and there's some question of, you know, increasing the penalties there. there's not a ton of details out yet or at least that i have read through. but definitely getting labor agencies more involved in this reality that we see in plenty of companies across the country. host: there's also a viewer from new jersey who texts this

morning, something is always -- has always bothered me about this debate. instead of americans having this never-ending debate, why aren't the governments of countries where illegal immigrants are coming from held more accountable? they don't even seem to be part of the conversation. it sort of speaks to you what mentioned earlier about the president wanting to get to the root causes and actually go gown into -- down into central america and places like that, to try to deal with the issue there. guest: yeah. there was one point during the trump administration where out of the frustration about so many people coming through the boarder from central america, the trump administration said, it's going to cut off aid to these countries. migration experts say that's not the answer because it's only going to worsen the situation in this country -- in those countries specifically. a lot of it's taking place in specifically el salvador, guatemala, honduras, those are the three big focuses when it comes to migration patterns. but there is a question of how do you improve the conditions

in these countries so that people do not feel the need to come to the united states. again, i think a caller earlier that i was saying, this has been going on for decades. this is not necessarily new. we've seen it under the trump administration, under obama, under bush. it's not a partisan issue. it's not -- everyone is dealing with this issue that's coming from central america. so there will be a question of how to get these countries more involved, how to build out a relationship and build out a situation where conditions are improving. that obviously did not happen under the trump administration. although trump administration officials did have plenty of conversations with mexico, with these central american countries it. just seems that the biden administration will potentially take a different approach in working with them. host: one last call from daniel. back to california again. independent. caller: hi. thanks for taking my call.

i don't know when we became such a cruel, mean country and, you know, what it's going to take for us to learn again or to learn how to open our hearts . these are human beings. i mean, your guest is absolutely correct. the idea that this isn't a new phenomenon, i mean, people have been migrating for as long as we've been people. millions of years. or since we came down out of the trees, we've been on the move. and that's not going to change because some 250-year-old country decides to pass a law or build a wall. people have been moving around the planet and we're going to continue to move around the planet and we need to, you know, we need to grow up. and -- we need to grow up and become people again and recognize that these are our

fellows, these are our brothers and sisters, and we need to be good to them. so i guess you could call me one of those whacky open-border kind of people or something like that. because countries are pretty new and i don't think we really have the right to decide who gets to go where. host: all right, daniel, thank you for calling. one last thought from our guest, sabrina rodriguez, including the future prospects of the biden administration's legislation here. guest: yeah, so, you know, to your point, the biden administration, its immigration plan is not just thinking about immigration. it's part of them trying to position themselves as the united states under trump is not the united states under biden. and there's going to be a more humane system, there's going to be a more fair system. they're not going to speak

about people from other countries in the way that necessarily former president trump and his administration did. so this is also part of just messaging. this is part of the way that i mentioned the nugget about changing the language from alien to noncitizen, things like that, that will hopefully make the world look at the united states differently, after the reputation was arguably tarnished under the trump administration for some of his rhetoric or his relationship with other countries. the prospect of this bill in its current form, going through congress, is low. there will of course, if there is some interest in getting this done, if there is a concerted push from the biden administration, as it seems at this point, and that's what they're saying and how they're talking about it, there will have to be negotiations and there is talk about biden is good at that. biden has more of a moderate --

as more of a moderate is good at that. biden with his longstanding relationships on capitol hill is good at that. the reality is obviously this is 2021. we've seen a lot of moments of tension between republicans and democrats. i don't know that is necessarily going to change. but there is going to be a concerted effort to change this immigration system. and even if it doesn't happen in law, there is an effort to just change the tone at the homeland security department. host: we will see how it plays out in the months and perhaps years ahead. sabrina rodriguez, "politico" who werer, thank you very much for joining us and -- reporter, thank you very much for joining us and your expertise this morning on this issue. we will take a short time-out and then we'll bring on another guest to talk about another major plank of the biden agenda. it's climate change. our guest will be amy harder, of axios. will take your questions and

comments and talk through some of the provisions here that the president's putting forth. we'll be right back. >> sunday night on q&a, a discussion about the development and rollout of the polio vaccine in the 1950's. with university of california at berkeley historian of medicine. >> once the vaccination was developed and approved and it was approved for market use within just a few hours after the test results came out, the nation had to scramble to ensure that everybody who needed the vaccine most would get access to that vaccine. and there had been planning in the works for at least a year before the wax was approved for market. >> the history and development of the polio vaccine, sunday night at kl 8:00 eastern on c-span's q&a. >> biden nominees will be on capitol hill next week for their confirmation hearings.

tuesday at 10:00 a.m. eastern, rhode island governor and commerce secretary nominee testifies before the senate commerce committee. and wednesday at 3:00 p.m. eastern, former white house chief of staff, nominated for secretary of veterans affairs, testifies before the senate veterans' affairs committee. watch the confirmation hearings live on c-span, on demand at c-span.org, or listen on the c-span radio app. >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us now is amy harder who is energy and climate change reporter for axios. good morning, amy. there is a lot to talk about with the biden administration and its climate change policies. a lot of new information coming out. a lot of proposals. why don't we start with one of the bigger pieces of news and that's the administration rejoining what's known as the paris climate accord. remind us of what that accord is and how significant this decision is. guest: thank you so much for having me on.

the paris climate agreement is very significant. it was agreed to by virtually all countries in the world in 2015 in paris, france, hence the name. it doesn't have anything to do with paris, that's just where it was agreed to. and it was really led by the obama administration. which of course pribe was the vice president at the time -- president biden: was the vice president at the time -- president biden was the vice president at the time it. called on countries to reduce emissions as much as they can, limiting the earth's warming to the -- two degrees over the next century. two degrees celsius. and that figure, although may not make sense to most people, it's basically what the scientific community has agreed is necessary to avert the worst impact of a warning -- warming earth. that was in 2015. we know in 2017, when president trump came into office, he followed through on his campaign promise to withdraw america and that took many years to actually go through the process, and biden was very

clear on the campaign trail that this is his top priority for climate change. and so he did that on day one. and the reason why it matters is because ultimately climate change is a global problem. so if there is no global deal, there's going to be no effort to get closer to solving this massive problem. host: phone numbers on the bottom of the screen for our guest, amy harder will take calls from democrats, republicans and independents on the biden administration's climate change policies. we'll get to your calls in a couple of minutes. amy harder, u.s. faces tests, writes the "wall street journal," on the paris goals. where's the pushback coming from? guest: he's already facing some from house republicans, a bill trying to block the biden administration from joining the deal. they don't have a lot of

recourse to do that. the way the obama administration did it back in 2015 is they knew they wouldn't get support from the u.s. congress because climate change is such a raw issue, there has never been historically enough support in congress to support u.s. joining an aggressive climate change deal globally. so the obama administration signed it basically, made it so -- [indiscernible] -- deal that didn't require u.s. congress. that's why biden can rejoin so easily. but nonetheless there will be pushback. mainly from republicans in congress. it's quite fascinating to see that over the last four years, the business opposition to the paris deal has actually lessened. the u.s. chamber of commerce, who led the opposition to the paris deal in 2017, when trump was in office, the chamber actually funded a study that trump cited in the rose garden, why he was rejecting -- withdrawing from the deal.

they now support joining the paris deal. the only constituency that is opposed to the deal from a political perspective are republicans in congress. and of course i know there's a lot of people in the country that also don't support it. but from a washington, d.c., perspective, there's a lot more support for it than there was two years ago. host: big business backs key climate change regulations, something amy was just discussing. amy harder, we also have a number of other planks, before we get to calls, we can start talking about some of them. we mentioned the paris climate accord so far. but the administration wants to provide $2 trillion for clean energy transition. explain that for us. guest: right. so $2 trillion over four years is really an eye-popping number. biden has the most aggressive climate policy of any president in u.s. history, which is basically just a function of the time that -- -- as opposed

to vice president biden: being a uniquely climate change president. he's trying to infuse climate change policies that include things like subsidies for electric vehicle charging stations or hardinning infrastructure along low-lying areas in places like florida to respond to the impacts of the warming world. that type of fund something likely going to be infused or attempted to be infused into things like the coronavirus economic stimulus packages. and that number will, biden has promised or is hoping to add up to $2 trillion. now, with republicans with a narrow control in the senate and also similarly narrow control in the house, it is much more likely that biden will get close to that $2 trillion figure than he would have if republicans had control of the senate. but it will still be difficult to really reach that number. campaigns are often more aspirational than achievable. but nonetheless, democrat control in the congress does

make it much more likely. host: the administration would also like to cut carbon emissions. cutting carbon emissions by 2035. and net zero emissions by 2050. again, one of the big planks there. walk through that fours. guest: so it's going to be very difficult for biden to achieve either of those goals. at least using just the tools that he has at the federal government. and that's because even though democrats control both chambers of congress, the democratic party is not monolithic. and although democrats did sweep all parts of the government in this last election, it wasn't really a referendum on climate change. it was a referendum on so many other things. president trump and the covid-19 pandemic and so climate change is one of the planks of the democrat party, but not the key one. and that's important because i don't think there's going to be support in the democratically controlled senate to really push forward an aggressive mandate, for example, that calls for a zero carbon

electricity grid by 2035. for context right now, it's about 70% natural gas and coal right now at the national -- across the country. and so it's a big leap to be able to get to where we are today, to zero in the next 10 years. senator joe manchin is a critical figure in all of this. he's a democrat from west virginia. he's the chairman of the senate energy committee. and he has said he doesn't really support that mandate. so i think it's going to be really difficult for biden to achieve these goals at the national level. therefore i anticipate him to, you know, of course try to find every nook and cranny in the u.s. federal government, things like the e.p.a. and the interior department. but i also anticipate him to work closely with states, which have made a lot of progress reducing emissions over the last four years, and lean on these states to achieve its goals.

so it's going to be tricky to see how he kind of hobbles together the numbers to reach his goal. but he's going to try to do that because it all comes back to the paris deal. he's going to anticipate, although -- i anticipate he will put that goal in the u.s.'s -- [indiscernible] host: one more quick question before we get to calls. with so many competing interests out there, we know the president is pushing a $2 trillion stimulus bill, there's the covid relief action that he put forth yesterday. how does climate change or how did climate change get so far up on the agenda of just day three of the administration? guest: i would say this has been years in the making. i like to call it sort of a puzzle of all these facts that are have come together to make climate change a front burner issue. even in the middle of a recession and public health crisis. you know, one big reason for this, though, is the galvanizing interest of young people. i would say this really began in 2018, with the swedish

teenage activist, greta thuneberg, making this a cog for young people. then the sunrise movement, a youth-led activist group here in the united states, really galvanizing after the 2018 midterm elections, when congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez won and championed the green new deal. that provided a movement that then sort of accelerated and put pressure on all other aspects of society. investers in companies and politicians and all of these things came together and i think underlying all of it is the science of climate change, in 2018 the u.n., united nations, issued a major report underlining how serious this problem is. all of these things have come together to make it a top issue for biden, despite all of these other crises facing the u.s. host: we have calls up. democrat caller from el paso, texas. you're up first. caller: thank you. hi. i grew up in seattle,

specifically shore line. but my question is how can you -- how can we have a meaningful discussion about climate without also discussing the global -- exponential global reproductive rates, right? and access to birth control and vasectomies. that's my question. host: thank you. amy harder. guest: you know, this topic about that sort of melds the question of reproducing less frequently and humans' impact on the planet is really -- has become a more common discussion pointi will say two things, oneu are hearing modern commentary about people wanting to have children far less about concerns about climate change.

there's a feeling about bringing a human into this world that will by definition bring carbon emission and also worry about what the world will be like for these people. on the other hand, it is considered a third rail. certainly in politics to talk about any sort of urging of people to reproduce less in the name of climate change. there's a lot of other really compelling reasons to reproduce less. we encourage women in africa and other places to make sure the children they do have, have really good lives. last point i will make on this is a lot of technologists and scientists out there hope that and are working towards finding technology so we could continue to reproduce at the relative scale that we want. to use energy in a clean way.

this technology development is something. host: let's hear from gary. good morning. caller: yesterday i paid $2.30 a gallon for 87 octane gasoline. what will i be paying one year from now for the same gasoline? guest: i think this brings up a critical point about this entire topic. ultimately, things are driven by energy prices. also electricity prices and diesel and things like that. complicated whether factors go into what people actually pay at the pump. i could draw some numbers, i wouldn't want you to hold me to them quite too much because we don't know what the future

holds. given the ongoing pandemic and how it continues to be having demand for oil cheaply at the aviation level and less driving and commuting and things like that. considering so much oil around the world, the other change that has occurred in the last decade is america has become the world's largest oil and gas producer. that has dropped prices. that move happened under obama, sort of despite obama. it continued under trump. i think prices will remain low. i think any impact that bidens policies will have on gasoline prices will take time. over time, gasoline prices will have to go up because of climate change. they are now artificially cheap. it is not embedded into that

price. host: there is gas prices and the federal gasoline tax. pete buttigieg was questioned about it at his confirmation hearing. we read that he wound up walking back those comments. is there discussion about the increase after a couple of decades? guest: i haven't heard too much about that. there has been discussion about how to raise money. there is one concern that deficit spending has been out of control over the last four years. republicans have already started talking about that. raising the gasoline tax has been something -- i wonder if they will raise that. once we start talking about the gasoline tax there will be calls for a carbon tax, which is a

little more comprehensive. host: keystone pipeline, another major piece of news that came out this week. the president has decided to stop u.s. participation in the keystone oil pipeline. what led to this decision? guest: since its inception in 2008, it is crazy to think it is that old. again, it was just a little old pipeline. ultimately just one of many pipelines across this country. it would send up to 830,000 barrels a day from canada down to texas. more than 1000 miles. over the course of the last decade as climate change became a bigger concern for america and the world, the pipeline began to take on the lifeline of its own.

ultimately, the obama administration rejected it. trump revised it. all this time, the oil industry has changed and become a shell of its former self. partly because it is losing so much oil it hasn't been doing well financially. that has occurred. similar campaigning on the parish climate agreement, he has campaigned to reject keystone, he followed through on that. he did that even though unions, which are incredibly important to his agenda, unions have tried to come out in support of the project. even though the project developer said they would have 100% renewable energy operation. all of that was not enough. i would argue that keystone is

just not what it was a decade ago. it was such a flashpoint in our debate. it just isn't the same as it was then. it is not as needed in the market either. still it is a hot political debate. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: i have a couple of points to make. one of them is i believe are we putting up $3 trillion for china and all those other countries to increase their pollution by like 7%-8% each year? when they get to start bringing theirs backwards like we are. we are going to be the only country to be doing anything to cut back on anything. everybody else will be able to increase there's. it will increase at such a rate

that by the time you get to the end it will be more than 100% each. that is kind of crazy. one of the other things we like to mention about climate change, i know you are not a scientist, if anybody in the world would like to look up what the co2 levels have been through our existence, we are not going into a climate change. guest: the viewer brings up some really interesting points about who bears responsibility to reduce emissions. this is one of the biggest sticking points over the past decade. one of the keys was that each country should do what it can. the u.s. committed alongside china that the u.s. would reduce its emissions 24%-40 8% by 2030.

china on the other hand said it would not start reducing its emissions until 2030. that's where people get upset. why could china keep emitting in the u.s. have to reduce now? the argument goes is china is a little bit behind us, although now it is the largest emitter. it was developed -- it was behind us in the developing timeline. it needed to grow its economy. so much room to grow in terms of bringing its population up out of property in places where they have air conditioning in places where the americans are. since the parents deal -- paris deal, china has tried to have a

net zero carbon economy by 2060. it seems a long ways away but not when it comes to the problem of climate change. that is a significant role for china. china sees this as a geopolitical issue where it hopes to dominate. the viewer brings up really important points about who needs to bear responsibility. we talked about the money as well. the u.s. committed $3 billion to a green climate fund to help more developing countries respond to climate change. the obama administration put about $1 billion in. i expect biden to rejoin that effort. there will be pushback on the domestic spending we are doing on the pandemic. this will be one of the biggest sticking points with republicans. caller: good morning, everybody.

i'm trying to figure out the connection between the last own investment group and their support of joe biden. i know they were big contributors to trump's campaign . from what i understand, they have three people that they placed on the cabinet of joe biden. i'm also wondering about joe biden support of fracking. maybe you could square that for me. guest: fracking is short for hydraulic fracturing. it gets oil and gas out of tight areas in the ground. it's controversial because it uses a mixture of water and sand and a chemical mix. you basically do many explosions in the rocks to bring out the

oil and gas. the fracking and the combination of horizontal drilling -- there has been increasing controversy around fracking. it has unlocked a lot of natural gas which from a carbon dioxide perspective, natural gas is much cleaner than coal. natural gas still has a lot of methane. as the debate about that is a little bit dicey, fracking is tied up for the local environmental impact but also climate change. biden is trying to walk a fine line on this issue. the obama administration really praised fracking in the early 2010s because it was leading to this placement of -- displacement of cold. that is an important point.

today it is very different. biden went out of his way to say that he does not oppose fracking. he did early in the campaign say it was going to stop. he has been a little inarticulate. maybe he was just inarticulate or flip-flopping. he did say some things that were conflicting. he went out of his way to say he did not oppose fracking. that is because there is an important constituency in place in ohio, pennsylvania, battleground states. he went out of his way to say he doesn't oppose fracking. he also didn't say he really likes fracking or natural gas. that a lot of progressives and democrats to be like why are you saying this? fracking is bad for the environment and climate change. i will be watching to see how he handles natural gas now that he

is governing. he will probably be more critical of natural gas domestically. i actually anticipate him quietly trying to continue exports of gas. it is displacing the dirtier coal abroad. host: this is arctic drilling, among his first act as president. i wanted to ask you about congress and its role in the biden climate agenda. i wanted to start first by showing a clip of senator mitch mcconnell, the republican leader criticizing the move. sen. mcconnell: on the biden administration's very first day it took several big steps in the wrong direction. the president reentered the failed players climate agreement -- paris climate agreement. with no insurance china or russia would honor their commitment. in fact, the u.s. has already

been reducing carbon emissions while china and other nations have cap increasing their's. rejoining this will kill american jobs while our competitors roll on by. he also unilaterally canceled the keystone xl pipeline. the day one killed union jobs, disappointed canada, and reversed some of our progress towards energy security. this is a project that the liberal canadian government and prime minister trudeau support. investment in north american energy, even the obama state department concluded it would not harm the climate. canceling the pipeline project feels like a green thing to do, the new administration killed all of these jobs. host: speaking of congress, how much does the president need congress to enact his climate agenda? guest: i will say a lot.

things are a lot easier now that they are not controlling the senate. mitch mcconnell hails from kentucky, a coal driven state. i think congress is pivotal in all of this. i do think biden will be able to infuse climate change and clean energy funding and a coronavirus stimulus package that he would have otherwise. i think a lot of people say democrats control the senate, we will do the green new deal. there's a lot of people out there who are hopeful who want climate actions if that is possible. the democratic party is not monolithic. it is not as progressive as a

lot of the politics are. senator joe mentioned is a key figure, as i mentioned earlier. in the immediate moment the focus in congress will be on the pandemic. there is some discussion that it could raise a lot of revenue. i think in this moment in time a tax is just too much given the recession. it is certainly a much more lively ballgame now that democrats are in control. caller: i have to recommend a website called w ww.climatedepot.com. we have been hearing of climate change, the cover of time magazine in 1970. and said in 20 years we will be

having advice to -- an ice age. it is nothing but a globalist, marxist hussle trying to spread the wealth from america to the third world. that is what its purposes. the climate has always been changing. millions of years ago. the biggest polluters are china and india. somehow they get by scot-free. we need to clean out the oceans of all the plastic floating around instead of spending all the money on this climate hussle. it is just a big frog. host: let's hear from john in south dakota. caller: good morning, thank you for taking my call. the woman i just called is misled. don't go to that website, that is misinformation.

the past six years have been the hottest in human history. i have to set up my questions because a lot of people don't really understand what is happening. the planet is warmer because of the co2 we are putting in the atmosphere. we are at about 415 parts per million right now. we should be at about 270, 2 hundred 80 parts per million. the carbon in the atmosphere is like a fuse. this bomb is the methane and the nitrous oxide being released from the polar caps. that is going exponential and is a strong greenhouse gas. methane is 100 times more powerful than co2. nitrous oxide is 315 times more powerful than co2.

as the thawing happens, these are growing exponentially into our atmosphere. if we don't address this immediately it is going to get beyond our control to stop it. my question to you is this, with the blue ocean approaching us where the ice will be gone in the polar caps, how are we going to stop the methane hydrate in the arctic from melting and reaching -- releasing all that methane into the atmosphere? guest: two brief comments about the caller beforehand and then i will take that question. climate depot is a website that i would also not recommend viewers go to. it is climate misinformation. i'm not a scientist but i take what the scientists say to

heart. same way i'm not a doctor. that caller had a perspective that is something that we should respect. there have been traditions where activists have made over the decade that have not grown out. really get to the heart of why climate change is such a difficult problem. it is very long-term. it is not necessarily linear. it is linear at some points but it is not like every year you will see it be hotter than the year before. it is something that needs to be measured over decades and centuries. that is hard for those of us who live out there. i can understand why people would be frustrated when they were not going out.

that doesn't imply that climate change is not happening, it very much is. to respond to the gentleman's question, i think he brings up a good point on what i call negative feedback. as the world warms, that warming triggers impacts that warm the earth even more. i wrote a column about this recently. i call it the snowball effect. except it is hot, we are talking about a hot planet, not a cold planet. as the snowball goes down the hill it gets bigger and bigger. the warming is causing more warming and then causing to potentially have a problematic situation. i'm not an expert on the science but nonetheless an example of that. we are seeing that across the scientific realm.

that is really troubling. host: fuel economy standards is one of the place the president put out. what about tailpipe emissions standards? guest: right, making cars more efficient is a really critical part of any climate agenda. the united states, transportation is the biggest emitter of gases. americans love to drive. suv use and purchasing has gone through the roof. the best-selling vehicle, the ford f1 50 has been the best-selling vehicle in america for quite some time. that is why continues to go up. americans like big cars. that is why the emissions standards are so important. they are reinstating much of

what obama did. obama did get the car companies because they were bankrupt in 2009 and needed help. auto companies see the potential in electric vehicles. i anticipate this will be one of his top regulatory moves because of the outside world. i will give a note of caution there is currently a gap between what automakers see as potential in electric cars and what consumers actually want. there is a lot of reasons for that. people don't want to have to wait 30 minutes to recharge their car. people want to know that they could drive and refuel what they want to. i anticipate that gap to close. partly because they want to have subsidies for electric vehicle charging stations.

it is certainly going to be a key part. host: we have livingston, texas on the line. good morning, kenneth. caller: i have two points. the keystone pipeline was going to run right across the drinking water for millions and millions of people. two, what are people going to do when the ocean level rises 2-3 feet here in texas? a large part of texas is only one foot above sea level. places like pearland texas -- pearland, texas is only one foot above sea level. if we rise two or three feet, what are we going to do? people aren't thinking about the future or their grandchildren. host: is there anything else you

would like to add? guest: he brings up a good point that we could talk about the omissions all day long. we are still going into this warming. it is about responding to the warming that is already happening and will happen. even if we reduced emissions tomorrow if you levels are still going to rise. adapting to the climate change is something republicans do support. they will want their cities to be safe. this is another area i do anticipate. host: what are some of the key names mr. biden has put out there in terms of implementation of these policies? explain the notion that he is embedding people both inside the white house and through the various cabinet agencies to fulfill this agenda?

guest: climate change will be something that there is climate experts pretty much on every agency. even like the securities and exchange commission. it is an independent federal agency that could force companies to disclose more on climate change. biden has brought up people -- jenny mccarthy on his top white house adviser on this issue. john kerry was obama secretary of state. mccarthy was obama's epa administrator. he is bringing in some new faces. michael reagan, the north carolina environmental regulator in epa administrator pending confirmation. jennifer granholm, former michigan governor will be the energy secretary pending confirmation. most of these players really got positive marks across the political spectrum. that is tough to do.

i anticipate biden's leadership and top folks to be a mix of people who are bringing back a lot of what obama did. it also brings new concerns such as environmental justice and important topics as well. host: let's hear from chris in tennessee. caller: first of all, you are talking about climate change. i'm not even going to get into climate change and act like it is a proven fact. it is actually just a scientific theory. historically speaking, we are sort of on the low-end of co2 levels. greenhouses actually pump co2 into the greenhouses to enhance plant growth. the oceans have been rising 10

inches every 100 years for about the last 12,000 years. the largest emitters of co2, people like to point out are china and india. the third largest emitter of co2 is the amazon rain forest. there is quite a bit that we don't even look at anymore. i don't think co2 even drives the weather. it used to be called global warming, that was inconvenient when we had extremely cold winters. it has always been changing. host: thank you. we do understand the point. we want to hear from our desks. -- guest. guest: there is a small segment

of the population who continues to dispute the mainstream consensus on this issue. all of these people have used that we want to respect and understand. it is important to know that at the political level that kind of denial is much less common than it was 10 years ago. trump today counterintuitive thing. he so aggressively disputed the science and ridiculed the problem if for some republicans in congress to come out and say we think climate is a problem. maybe we should plant some trees? some of these policies are in trump's denial. biden's election and his presidency i think is going to make it so there are a few

voices that remained in the u.s. congress that don't think there are a at all. it will really minimize those voices. it is the responsibility of people working towards an issue to be humble about the challenges. this viewer is right. china and india are the biggest emitting countries. they are critical to solving this problem. just because they are the largest emitter doesn't mean climate change isn't real. i think it is important that we have these dialogues. at the same time it is most important that we realize this is a real challenge this world faces. host: georgia, you are the last call on the republican line. caller: i have worked on both sides of the environmental issue. there is a lot of fuzzy stuff out there about climate change. i talked to an astrophysicist

about -- you kind of agreed with me. they said why don't we put sand in space and block some of the sun outside of where the satellites are, maybe one rocket every month the first year? then back off and see how it works out. that is a cheap cost. it is not trillions of dollars. we should be spending money on things like why do the chinese have such a low rate of covid-19? i know because i have the same equipment they have. it is an electronic frequency device which kills covid-19 very quickly. we would cut our costs in half and our health care cost in half if we use more common sense. host: amy, you could response that caller and then i want to give it back to you about moving forward with what are you

looking forward to with this administration in this area? guest: the caller brings up is pretty controversial area of research called geo-engineering. i think there has been a movie made about it. the geo-engineering apparatus as weapons. certainly we hope that thousand happen. these ideas that could potentially alter the planets atmosphere so it can change our weather and actually lower the temperature, literally. there's a lot of research on this. it is controversial because people think of it as a get out of jail free card. let's just keep emitting and not worry about adjusting climate change that way. the other concern is the consequences. obviously uncharted territory. what could be some of the problems that come up that we do not anticipate. the movie is escaping me now but

nonetheless that said as we continue down this path about solutions to climate change more and more experts are beginning to fund this idea or study of how we could have geo-engineering is one of the many tools in the toolbox. to come to your concluding question, the issue of climate change is so broad, it touches on everything. one of the many missing legs, there are several challenges that remain. there is a lot of technology that do not exist. things like how to make cement cleaner. things that make the building we live in. those things do not exist.

i will be looking to see to what extent the biden administration prioritizes thorny issues of climate change in ways that will set up the country and world to succeed in reducing emissions not just with electric cars but in these other technology areas. host: axios.com is the place to read her work. thank you. we will take one more short timeout. we will return to the topic from the earlier part of this program. president biden's covid-19 plan your veil yesterday -- he revealed yesterday. (202) 748-8000 democrats call(202) 748-8000. republicans call (202) 748-8001. independents call (202) 748-8002

. what is your confidence in the administration's new covid-19 plan. we will be right back. >> saturday on the communicators, author sarah friar chronicles the founding of instagram in the impact the act has had on the tech industry. >> you have to think instagram also reflects the celebrities around the world as well. all of the brands. c-span unsure has an instagram. it is all of these accounts that are doing instagram. there are also these homegrown people. these people who would not have a voice. without having to go through the normal gatekeepers. becoming a fitness instructor without having to work. this is a place where people

could just demonstrate what they are good at. they could build a following and eventually become famous. >> author sarah friar saturday on the communicators on c-span. washington journal continues. host: back with the topic of your confidence level in the biden administration's covid-19 response. a series of executive orders some of the major areas he wants to focus on with covid-19 will be to provide guidance for schools to safely reopen. to require face masks on interstate travel. to provide vaccine for local pharmacies. use the defense production act for vaccine nppd shortfalls. use osha to provide safety guidelines to front-line workers. to create an equity task force

to establish a board to provide uniform approach to testing and generally to provide better covid-19 data. we could find some of the details of those planks as we move forward. here's a little bit about what the president had to say yesterday when he met with reporters on vaccine distribution. president biden: we direct eczema to start setting up the first federally supported community vaccination standards with the goal of setting up 100 centers within the next month. the centers for disease control prevention will start the program to make vaccines available to local communities beginning by the seventh or eighth of february. we will also task of the department of health and human services to prepare and expand the pool of medical professionals who could

administer the vaccine. to ensure we have enough vaccinators to meet the nation's need, and quickly. in addition to this effort, our administration will be asking congress for the funds to grow a public health workforce. we also will take immediate steps to partner with governors, mayors, and other local officials who are on the frontlines lines of this fight. we directed fema to have the response for each state. each state will have a point person at the federal level to maximize cooperation between the federal government and the state. this is a model we use to respond to hurricane sandy, which i was deeply involved with.

host: what do you think? as we look at the papers and websites this morning, more quotes from the president. it could take many months to get where we need to be. in the new york times, the president is calling this a full-scale wartime effort. he has said legislation to provide money to implement his plan. the president reminds us the death toll from covid-19 could top 500,000 people in this country sometime within the next several weeks. we have leah on the line. caller: i was just wondering -- i tried to get in on a call you had before concerning the fencing in texas. my son lives in el paso. he had a lot of trouble there with immigrants coming across.

waking up in the morning. host: we understand this particular topic, your level of confidence in the administration's covert plan. have you been listening to what the president has to say? what do you think? caller: i don't think he knows what he is doing considering this pipeline. i don't think he knows about the fencing. host: we will move on and get back to the topic at hand. your level of confidence in the administration's covid-19 plan. sergio, good morning. sergio, are you with us? i don't think we have sergio. let's try him one more time, are you there? how about philip? caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. the hurdles we have to overcome

are evident with the last caller. mr. biden will need time to implement his plans but he will lead us in the right direction. not because he is democratic but because he is an empathetic president. i feel a lot better now than i did even two weeks ago. thank you mr. biden and c-span for letting me voice my opinion. host: we have rhonda on the line from sacramento. what you make of the biden covid-19 plan. caller: i feel there is a lot of information being put out about the covid-19. here in california we have one of the highest rates happening right now here in california. now, what you here locally is that some people have gotten the

first vaccine shot but are questioning getting the second one. it seems president biden has set the bar very high and i'm afraid with so much on his plate is just kind of like -- it is a little bit hard. i have confidence that he could do this, i'm in question of that. host: it is 100 million shots in 100 days. caller: i have confidence that getting this off the ground -- i'm glad dr. fauci is able to speak more relaxed and more freely and be honest with all of us. i appreciate that honesty now. host: let's move on to tricia in

cincinnati. how about your level of confidence? caller: i am so confident, i am so relieved that finally we get some information that is sensible and i'm so glad dr. fauci is allowed to speak out and give his science information. i have total confidence in president biden. i feel that i kevin mccarthy got up there yesterday and said that president biden is not putting enough emphasis on the covid and is talking about the pipeline and all the other issues he signed executive orders on. if they would get off their bu tt and do something we would be better off. host: gary in kentucky, republican caller. caller: i don't know.

biden has a lot to prove. he has had 47 years. i don't know. you wish for the best but it doesn't look very good for him. host: thanks, sue in new jersey. i believe anyone could come up with any ideas, the challenge is figuring out how to pay for them and implement them in a commonsense matter. the new york times goes into some detail on each of the points the president makes during his actions yesterday. one is ramping up the manufacturing of testing. because on agency leaders to check for shortages. identify where the administration could have gone to the defense production for manufacturing. during interstate travel, they

will require mask wearing. mr. biden is bound to use his powers to influence mask wearing wherever he is legally obligated including federal property and traveling across state lines. in order thursday requires mask wearing on many airplanes, trains, the same order right here requires international travelers to prove they have a recent negative covid-19 test before heading to the u.s. and to comply with quarantining guidelines. let's hear from helen in california, democrat. good morning. caller: i have full confidence in president biden. i knew before even open his mouth he would be the solution our country needed. i'm very excited for him to be our president. my best friend, my sister is a republican and i am a democrat. i love her with all my heart.

we fought like cats and dogs like we never have before and our whole life. i still love her. i know she loves me. just love the ones you love. hopefully we can all get together as a country. host: carmen is calling from florida. caller: hello, biden ran on the covid issue. it is very important. i'm happy to see he didn't enforce shutdowns of businesses as of yet. the biggest concern for this is the border. when we left thousands and thousands of people across the border without using a way of

ensuring there is no covid coming across our borders. we are in for a few problem -- huge problem. i think that needs to be better looked at. host: the president would like to form better data collection systems. one calls the health and human services secretary. the covid-19 data gathering systems issues a report on the findings. it calls on the head of all executive departments and agencies to gather and share virus related data. this will be a health equity past, this is a another executive order that will recommend how to carve out more funding for parts of the population particularly hard-hit by the virus. based on ethnicity, race, geography, and other factors. mr. biden said they would have

hesitancy towards taking the vaccines. a couple of other points. dave calling out from new york. democratic caller. caller: biden has a national plan. it is 200 pages. trump had nothing since covid hit. now we have a plan. we will have national coordination. dr. fauci is free to speak. feeling pretty good about that. host: here's a little bit more from the president yesterday. president biden: we will sign requiring masking on interstate travel like trains, planes, and buses. in light of the new covid variants, we are instituting now a new measure for individuals flying into the united states from other countries. in addition to wearing masks, everyone flying to the united states from another country will

need to test before they get on that plane. before they depart. they will quarantine when they arrived in america. my national plan launches a full-scale war time effort to address the supply shortages by ramping up production and protective equipment. when i say wartime, people look at me like wartime? i said last night, 400,000 americans have died. that is more than died all of world war ii. 400,000. this is a wartime undertaking. caller: we have a national plan now. we did not have one before. trump checked out ever since he knew he was going to lose the election. but it is getting to work just like we said he would.

host: margaret in wisconsin, democrat, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i feel like there has been a breath of fresh air over the whole country since president biden was elected. i do have one question about the covid-19 vaccine. i am up for a vaccination this week. i would rather give up my place in line if i have to to be assured that i will get my second shot then to get the first one and then be left in a quandary of will i get the second one? is there going to be some difference in how it is going to be administered? in the beginning we will receive the first shot and second shot. they have either been put off.

i think the came out with their recommendations, they should be following this or that should not -- the shot should not be given in the first place. host: how are you finding out the availability of vaccine? what are your sources there locally? caller: we have a hub where the vaccine came to our medical centers. we get most of our information from there. i have relatives throughout the country, in florida that have had the first shot and were unable to get the second one in time. host: thank you for calling. a couple of other points and details on this "new york times" piece. he wants to publish guidance for schools and workers. mr. biden issued an order meant to protect the health of workers during the pandemic. telling osha to release new guidance for employers. he also asked the agency to step

up and stop the spread of covid-19. he's also directing the departments of education and hhs on how to safely reopen schools. when the white house and health department officials have the risk of sending students back. they would like covid-19 and future pandemics. there calling on hhs to draft a plan to draft a plan to support the study of new drugs for covid-19 and future public health crises through large, randomized trials. a couple of notes to tell you about programming wise. the white house press secretary will hold a briefing today at 12:30 p.m. from the brady briefing room. that will be her third day in a row of holding the briefing. we will hear from the president again today.

he will talk more about the u.s. economy. live at 2:45 p.m. political rights a little bit about this. biden ends executive orders at combating hunger and protecting workers. there will be more executive orders coming in today. fighting hunger, protecting workers, and providing economic relief to families whose jobs and livelihoods have been destroyed by the virus. the measures at agencies across the government to expand, extend, and re-examine guidelines to find ways to provide further aid for americans while working within existing authority. they are not meant to be a stand-in for the newly -- nearly $2 trillion relief plan biden proposed. it will select them to shore up the economy. lawmakers debate whether to enact a new, massive aid package that could take months. thank you for waiting, wayne city, illinois, republican. caller: good morning.

i just want to know why is president biden handling the coattails of former president obama. if he comes up with his executive orders and do things on his own and come up with new plans. host: is there something new that he is not doing that you would like to see him doing? caller: the immigration thing is what is really throwing me off. it is going to put us out of jobs as americans. you're going to have people on more welfare, public aid, these jobs are going to be taken by people that are not from this country. they are not legal citizens. where is the money going to come from for all of this is what i want to know. host: linda calling. you are in mid valley, utah.

are you there? linda, one more time. i don't think we have linda. let's try california, an independent caller. go ahead. caller: i just heard the woman say it is always about the illegals. a lot of good restaurants in california are closing up. that is only because they paid all of their cooks, waiters, dishwashers, whatever cash so they had no way of us recognizing what they were doing to themselves. the liars of this world is satan. god says the biggest thing man fears is fear alone. that doesn't put fear in us. to that, moses could not speak

because he stuttered. i think right now -- i'm just thinking that god has his hands on biden. no matter what anybody says, watch out. god is still sitting on the throne and he knows trump's heart. host: a headline, hundreds of national guard members banished to it parking garage. a story that has been developing for several hours now. hundreds of guard members were forced out of the u.s. capitol cafeteria and put in a garage nearby putting them in close quarters with moving cars, exhaust fumes, and potentially the coronavirus. two soldiers told the washington post. we have a little bit of a video here that senator schumer noted of these national guard troops.

the transfer came thursday with no explanation. images of the guard members sports guard raged and there was a reversal later in the night as they said the service members would be moved back to the capitol as long as they are needed following the inaugural. the last couple minutes for your comments. i will wrap this up. terry is calling from pennsylvania. your thoughts on the president's covid-19 plan. caller: i'm happy somebody is finally taking this thing seriously. whether you are a republican or democrat, most of my life i was registered a republican. when all this stuff started to happen i thought it was a disgrace how people were treating other people and blaming everybody for everything that was going on. instead of taking time to do something productive, there was

just the fighting and nonsense the last four years. i'm finally able to sleep at night. thank god for joe biden. he is older but she has a lot more sense than the last president. he cares about people. he wants to bring people together. it is so much better right now in my opinion. i'm tired of all the fighting going on. i'm so happy he was elected. god knew what he was doing when joe biden got elected. host: final call, republican line. caller: all about this covid business, trump was a terrible person according to the democrats. you wouldn't have a vaccine if it wasn't for trump getting all of the problems out of the way to get the thing developed. it is like he went over to nato,

he was the only man that i know of that got the europeans to cough up the money. he was the only man. what did the democrats -- according to the democrats he was hitler's. the democrats think that is wonderful. but the americans pay for everything. china is flying around with the f-35 from this country. $180 million filled up in washington just let them do it. that is not good. you know all about the fence. 160 million people would love to get in if they could. open it up. you don't d give -- you don't give a damn about your grandchildren. everybody thought clinton was so good. he shipped the jobs off when he

signed the gas treaty. several million people lost jobs. he put his arms around and empathized and felt good. trump was a different type of person. he gets things done. he just got them a job. host: thanks for calling and we thank everybody who called in this morning over these past three hours. we will be back tomorrow at 7:00 eastern time just like every day with another edition of this program. in the meantime, enjoy the rest of your friday. we will see you tomorrow. >> jen psaki briefs reporters today at 10:30 eastern. also today, president biden plans to sign executive orders

that would expand access to the food stamp program and require the federal government to pay all workers at least $15 an hour. president biden's remark on those executive orders are scheduled for 2:45 eastern here live on c-span. later this afternoon, the u.s. conference of mayors annual meeting. we hear from dr. fatty and a doctor who cochairs the president's covid-19 advisory board. -- dr. fauci. >> use our website, c-span.org/coronavirus. watch a researchable video any time and track the spread with interactive maps. sunday night, on "q&a," discussion on the development and rollout of the polio vaccine in the