>> here's a look at our live coverage today, at 10:00 eastern on c-span, the senate banking committee holds a confirmation hearing for marcia fudge to be secretary of housing and urban development. and the white house counsel on economic advisers. on c-span to the senate returns at 10:00 to consider the nomination of how hundred mayorkas -- alejandra mayorkas. and house speaker nancy pelosi speaks to reporters about the legislative agenda. coming up in an hour, the national education association president becky pringle on the debate over reopening schools

during the pandemic. at 8:45, republican national committee senior for black media affairs, paris dennard on the future of the republican party. and president biden's executive order on racial equality. ♪ host: good morning, everyone, on thursday, january 28. welcome to "the washington journal." we begin this morning with a conversation about president biden's climate change agenda. yesterday he outlined his priorities. we want to know if you support or oppose them. if you agree with the president, dial-in at (202) 748-8000. if you oppose, (202) 748-8001. text us with your thoughts, first name city and state, at (202) 748-8003. or go to twitter, @cspanwj, or

facebook.com/c-span. we will take your calls and comments in a minute but let's listen to president biden at the white house yesterday outlining his climate change agenda, priorities, including creating green new jobs. [video clip] >> we know what to do, we have just got to do it. when we think climate change, this is a case where conscience and convenience cross paths, dealing with this threat to the planet and increasing our economic growth and prosperity are one and the same. i think of climate change and the answers to it as jobs. a key flank of the build back better plan is building a modern, resilient climate infrastructure and clean energy future that will create millions of good paying union jobs. a prevailing wage. benefits.

we can put millions of americans to work modernizing water systems, transportation, energy infrastructure to withstand the impact of extreme climate. we have already reached a point where we have to live with what it is now and that's going to require a lot of work by itself without it getting any worse. we think of renewable energy and we see american manufacturing and workers racing to lead the global market. farmers making american agriculture first in the world to achieve net zero emissions and gaining new sources of income in the process. parenthetically i want to thank the secretary of agriculture for helping me put together that program during the campaign. we have small business master electricians designing, installing, innovating energy conserving technologies building homes and buildings and we are going to reduce electric consumption to save hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. host: that was president biden yesterday at the white house.

the associated press has the headline that we can't wait any longer to address climate change, quoting the president. senator barrasso at yesterday's hearing for the president's energy secretary nominee, jennifer granholm, pressed her about jobs and what would happen to jobs under the president's climate change proposal. here's the exchange. [video clip] >> the long term ban on oil gas will costs 60,000 jobs in new mexico, 33,000 jobs in wyoming, 18,000 jobs in colorado. the long term ban cuts revenue in wyoming by hundreds of millions of dollars, which these states use for k through to public education and other essential services. i'm curious how a long term ban is consistent with the goal of unifying the country and putting

americans back to work and helping the economy grow. how is that all consistent? >> the president's plan of building back better, creating more jobs in energy, clean energy, than the jobs that might be sacrificed. i will say this, we don't want to see any jobs sacrificed. that is why when you opened up your remarks, sir, your remarks about technology were so important. this is why reducing emissions is so important in the fossil fuel arena. the moratorium on public lands, i know for those states that have these jobs in abundance, this is something that we are going to have to work on together to make sure that people remain employed. but i will say that the licenses that are currently operating are not going to be disrupted and they will continue to operate

and the oil and gas industry in particular has got 10,000 licenses that they have and that will not be disrupted that they can continue to permit and deploy and extract energy from. it is only on future licenses that the moratorium is. it gives us the time to be able to work on creating jobs and diversifying and providing good paying jobs in every pocket of the country. i know that part of what joe biden has put together is a sort of swat team the federal government to focus on communities that are, that have power in america and make sure we don't leave those workers behind. host: that was the energy secretary nominee testifying on capitol hill yesterday. if confirmed by the senate she will serve that post for the

biden administration and we are asking all of you about president biden's bought lima change reposes. do you support or oppose? new haven, connecticut,., good morning -- dot, go ahead. caller: i support his agenda. as we know, the weather is changing. if you compare the weather now two years ago, there is, you know, there is climate change. i'm so glad that biden is president so that we can rejoin the rest of the world about doing something about it. i also saw a lot of the hearing and i want to complement, you know, former governor granholm and all of this, these republicans, the democrats, for

working with each other, working with each other and with the nominee. that's really pretty much all i have to say. host: ok, we will go to mark, next. mark? caller: i do not support it. i have major questions about it. first of all, i just heard president biden talk about reducing our need for electricity. but at the same time there is a big push for electric cars. what do we do with the waste on the batteries? what do we do on the climate environment for producing the batteries? and where does the electricity come from to power the cars? host: you ask the question about where it's coming from because why? caller: when obama took office,

he gave solyndra company half $1 billion and they were bankrupt and gone in six months. this is all just a big smokescreen. this planet goes through heating and cooling cycles every 18 to 20,000 years. we are now in the recession of the icecaps because the earth heats and cools itself up and down. what happened with the great ice age? it all started removing itself. we have lived to the last 200 years as a species in the most equitable and calm system of whether the planet has ever known. now that it's changing it becomes a political thing? with the paris agreement, why do we have to come up front to do

this? china and india are spewing all kinds of crap into the atmosphere and won't be responsible for 20 or 30 years. why do we have to lead the way? host: appreciate your question. i want to show you what the former secretary of state john kerry had to say about the costs of inaction. [video clip] >> it's cheaper to deal with a crisis than it is to ignore it. we spent 200 and $65 billion a few years ago on three storms. harvey, maria, going over niagara falls in a year and irma had the first recorded wins of 100 and 85 miles per hour for 24 sustained hours. last year there was one story,

55 million dollars. we are spending the money, folks, we are just not doing it smart or in a way that would sustain us for the long term. so, this is critical. the goal of the paris agreement was to hold the temperature increase to two degrees centigrade's. even in paris we are going up to 3.7 or four. that's catastrophic. what president biden is trying to do is listen to science, listen to facts and make tough decisions about what we need to do to make the world a better place, particularly our own country and that's what he has committed to doing. yes, there are a lot of challenges right now and sadly all of them were exacerbated by the last four years. host: market, are you still there? how do you respond? caller: i think that's a crock of baloney. these high fluting politicians

spouting this nonsense, like kerry, and let's go back to al gore, the environmentalist al gore was heating his swimming pools and streams on his property with propane. he was using more propane than small countries do and yet we are supposed to believe these guys who fly around the country and the world in their own private jets while we have to stay home, hunkered down, waiting for crumbs from these people? i'm completely disillusioned with the political system and arena in this country. host: take a look at the energy information administration's website. they put together this graphic. these are the primary energy consumptions by americans in 2019. 37% petroleum. natural gas made up 32%. coal, 11%. nuclear electric power, 11%. look at where nuclear energy is,

11%. and that includes mostly hydroelectric, solar, geothermal , a large chunk of it is wind. 24% of renewable energy. norman, massachusetts, independent. caller: high, i'm a leftist -- hi, i'm a leftist in the green party and a greenhouse gas researcher. what troubled me between granholm and yellen, lying about climate science, about, about electric cars. electric cars cannot affect the climate. electricity is a form of energy, it's a source of energy. local warming is caused by sources of energy. it's not caused by not having enough charging stations. they are not being truthful. also, what they are pushing with the solar wind are ultimately

byproducts of fossil fuels. for solar panels it takes coal and frack sand, that's what it's made out of, baked with coal to make it into solar grade silicate. it takes the cooling that comes from oil drilling. host: you and others might be interested in this article that comes from the huffington post. "the world's long, messy breakup with coal." they write --

host: i want to read a little bit more, actually.

host: back to calls. frank, good morning. caller: good morning. can you hear me? host: we can. agree or disagree with the president? caller: i absolutely agree. this issue is very close to me. i voted in 1976 for the first time as an 18-year-old. this was important to me then. and we have been kicking the can down the road ever since and it's a shame, really sad, we could have made so much progress over the years.

in developing renewable energy. you know, why wouldn't you, like i spent two bucks, three bucks a month on oil to heat my home and whatever on gasoline. why wouldn't you want a cheaper and cleaner source of energy if you could? i think that would be a wonderful goal, if there were such a thing, is what i'm trying to say. whether it is geothermal or whatever. if you could heat your home for half or a quarter of the costs, why wouldn't you want that? we are, we are at a ridiculous stage in computing and creating artificial intelligence and you can see that we have the ability to do this, to find the sources of energy and create them. we have had this opposition for all these decades. it's quite sad to me. what makes it really sad to me is we know that wildlife has

diminished. attenborough has this great documentary about it. we have seen this. we have seen how we have destroyed our oceans. it's all very obvious. the folks, the one fellow that called in from new hampshire, he was right to point out the hypocritical politicians. he was right to do that. on the other hand, for him not to see that humans have an effect, calling it a natural occurrence? i don't know what the population was in 1970, i was born in 1958 in we have doubled the earth's population. it's very obvious to see that the more people we have on the planet, the more you are going to spew toxins and carbons into the air. i'm just really hopeful that as we move forward, i want to stay optimistic but having lived as long as i have, social justice,

that's a whole other issue, but we have not moved the needle far enough. host: steve, you are next. webster, massachusetts. republican. caller: oppose, that's the line i'm on. in russian we would say [speaking russian] i think that this is a communist plot. the green new deal is a socialist manifesto. the notion of build back better? build back better, if you google the world health organization, this is a model of the world health organization. you will find it on their website. ethiopia, they have trillions of metric tons of oil. china is developing this, going back to china, i lived through

the 1973 gas crisis. we talked about peak oil. never ran out of oil. there are no climate change deniers. i was a geology major. i got my degree and all that stuff. the world has been changing. the pleistocene goes back for two and a half million dollars. kudos to mark, you can forward my phone number to mark, i will go to new hampshire to meet him and by him coffee, i love the man. we had two miles thickness of glaciers here. how did that possibly melt without the aid of the internal combustion engine? late tectonics produces heat in the oceans, as well as the interactions between the crust and the mantle. we have politicians talking like they are scientists the same way that they affected our core response to covid. there is so much to this, i wish

i was back in geology and everything. also that guy yesterday, the guy that called you a liar, he should apologize to you. that was wrong. you guys are all honest brokers. i like you. it's a tough world and you take that heat and you take it well. host: thanks, c. democratic caller. high, mark. -- thanks, steve. democratic caller. hi, mark. caller: i strongly support what president biden is doing. climate change is the existential threat of our time. i mean, i could try to explain the science, but i'm just going to talk about a personal experience i had. i went to los angeles on vacation after high school in 1976. i couldn't breathe, it was so polluted. i was getting my asthma back again. it was just horrible.

i swore i would never go back there. in 2018 my wife really wanted to go on a vacation and see beverly hills and hollywood in that stuff. she convinced me to go and i was pleasantly surprised. because of the regulations i was able to breathe and it was a whole different experience. people can say that these vehicles aren't going to solve the problem, but they will help if kids are dying of asthma and people can't breathe, that's a problem. 5 million acres of forests burned in california. i had hurricane sandy knocked the roof off of my house. you can't tell me that things aren't happening. it's just common sense. you see what's happening in the weather. when i was a kid there was snow all the time in new york where i grew up.

now there might be two or three snowstorms per year. the plan is morning -- warming and threatening human life. host: all right, let's listen to republican senator kevin cramer on foxbusiness yesterday reacting to the president's climate change proposal. [video clip] >> one reason that north dakota is second in the country is because we don't have a lot of federal lands, but there is still a fair bit of drilling on federal lands and it will have a major impact on the ability to be energy secure and create those good, middle-class american jobs, be less dependent on foreign oil. it's a big deal to say the least. and then you have things like the executive order on the keystone xl pipeline, meaning we will be more dependent on foreign oil from someplace other than canada. it means it will have an impact

on our relationship with canada. and ironically today, as you mentioned, he's going to focus executive orders on equity or equality and economic equality. well, there is no group of people more negatively impacted by higher energy costs and fewer energy jobs than the middle-class and lower income americans. it's very ironic that this president who wants to be a jobs creator and wants equality to start out by attacking an industry that provides opportunity for every american. host: north dakota senator kevin cramer yesterday on foxbusiness news. the energy administration put together this information about energy production. they know that in 2019 it exceeded energy production for the first time since 1957 and

the united states produced 100 and one quads of energy and consumed 102 quads and energy production grew 5.7% with energy consumption decreasing by .9% in 2018. i want to show you the primary energy production of the united states by major sources in 2019. 34 point 9% natural gas leads in the category followed by crude oil at 25.4. cole, 14.3. nuclear, natural gas, biomass, wind, hydro and others. you can see the numbers there. sherry and mississippi, republican caller. high, what do you think about the president's actions -- hi, what do you think about the president's actions on climate change? caller: i oppose his actions. the president's number one job, the first thing i consider in

voting, is who is going to keep me and my family safe. i feel like when you see how expensive he has put every aspect of the government about climate, it doesn't make sense to me. not now i'm all for getting better. just like the previous callers, i believe our environment can improve a great deal. but we are not that much under pressure where we try to in one day or week destroy our energy sector. in the name of climate change. if we lose our security, our national security, we will now have to deal with enemies that hate us.

it's hurting our jobs. and like many other problems it is hurting the very people they claim they are trying to help. and in the campaign, he was not going to do it. he was not going to end fracking. going back to the obama way on steroids where they use the epa and they use land and management and all the federal land they bought up, taking it away from the public. it's just wrong. it's going to hurt us. it's hurting us right away. i hope that our attorney generals begin fighting these executive orders. host: the six attorney generals wrote a letter yesterday in response to what the president announced, saying that they are watching closely and would take action. and then you also have lawsuits filed by the fossil fuel

industry and ads have been put together already and are on the airwaves opposing what the president has done. take a look at this headline in "the washington post." "a fight with the fossil fuel industry has only begun." from their reporting they note --

host: now, they also report this, though. here's a quote. "the director of finance for the institute of economics and energy noted that these companies account for 28% of the stock market in 1980, but just 2.3% as of this month host: bob in aurora, indiana. good morning to you. welcome to the conversation. go ahead. caller: yes, ma'am. i don't see the first guy that can stop a tornado, flood, earthquake, or hurricane. when he does that our country will get straightened out.

we could spend all the money in the world. it's not going to help this global warming and stuff. the bible tells us that earth is going to be destroyed by fire. these idiots think they know thing, they don't know their living. host: all right. derek, new stanton, pennsylvania. democratic caller. caller: good morning. yes, i agree with what they are doing. all you have to do is look at the environment and how to respond during that time where people were driving less in the environment in los angeles in particular where it had cleared up to some degree, over a very short amount of time, it's just an example right there of what can happen if you try to do things to make it better.

that guy that talked about the natural things that happened in the environment, that's part of it. that's always been part of the issue. but we are talking about a man-made problem that we are having. that's pretty much what i have to say. host: let's listen to the president from yesterday, here's a little bit more from him about his proposal. caller: i've been clear -- [video clip] >> let me be clear, this always comes up, i'm not going to ban fracking. we are going to create jobs, support jobs. unlike previous administrations i don't think the federal government should give handouts to big oil to the tune of $40 billion in fossil fuel subsidies . i will be going to congress and asking them to eliminate those subsidies. we are going to take money and invest it in clean energy jobs in america. millions of jobs like wind,

solar, and carbon capture. today's actions are going to help us increase renewable energy production from offshore wind and meet our obligations to be good stewards of the public lands. establishing a new modern-day civilian climate core that i called for when i was campaigning. to heal the public lands and make us less vulnerable to wildfires and floods. host: a little bit more from the president yesterday on the climate change agenda, the american petroleum institute responded in a statement saying that they share the biden goal for addressing climate change marked by u.s. innovation and empowered by american energy and skilled union workers

host: chuck, west virginia, what do you say? caller: thank you for taking my call. a few callers back a gentleman was opposing biden's economic plan, saying climate change is always taking place and always the earth has gone back and forth, up and down over billions of years. he is talking about climate change over geological time frames. that is not what we are talking about here. first of all, i live in west virginia. historically the coal industry has been the foundation of their economy and i really, really do feel sorry for the people that have hitched their economic futures to coal, but the fact is that coal is dying and the fossil fuel industry is going to have, we are just going to have to wean ourselves off of it because, you know, the alternative is simply unthinkable.

i mean john kerry was right when he said that the economic impact over a much longer amount of time is going to be far higher than what little economic sacrifice we have to make now. you know, i'm 62. in my lifetime alone the human population of the earth has gone from 3 billion to almost 8 billion people. these are all people that have to be fed, clothed, housed, and employed. we are clearing forests to make room for it all. the population is always going up. all of that energy, all of that carbon is still going straight up into the air. the physics of greenhouse gas emissions are very, very well understood. we cannot predict exactly how it is going to affect the weather in the future or, or, or ocean

currents or anything like that. but we know without a doubt that the atmosphere is warming and that heat is essentially energy and that that is why the storms we are getting and the weather patterns are getting more extreme and more powerful. just one more thing, the woman who said that she thinks, she's more concerned about the safety of her family and her kids? i tell you what, i don't have any kids. i'm 62 and don't have any kids, but my niece has two-year-old twin children. and i worry about the world that they are going to grow up in and i would say that you can care all you want for your own personal comfort and convenience across -- convenience and prosperity in the short-term, but if you have kids or grandchildren or great-grandchildren and you care about the world that they are going to inherit, you had really better start paying attention to this.

host: let me ask you, do you know what coal miners are doing who are losing their jobs? what is the plan in west virginia, from the governor to local officials? caller: well, they are always talking about economic diversification. traveling through west virginia, there are wind turbines that, you know, hundreds, 20 years ago i hardly ever saw any of them and today there are hundreds and hundreds of wind turbines lining the ridge tops. they look very modern. they are all white. turning gracefully in the wind. i would much rather see that. right now the coal industry only employs about 1/6 of the people that it did 60 years ago. and these aren't guys going deep underground with pickaxes and everything like that and

machinery to mine coal deep underground. the coal mining that's going on right now is mountaintop removal mining where they set explosives to blow up the sides of mountains and use chemicals to separate the coal from the dirt. it's turning huge amounts of west virginia possum mountains into just -- west virginia's mountains into a moonscape. host: michael, good morning. michael, do you support or oppose? caller: oppose. host: ok, tell us why. caller: well, i just wondered about us poor people out here. that don't have a lot of money. how are we going to get this on our houses with the heat in the

wind turbine with what we can't afford and they won't finance us for. what is it say about that? host: you are worried about this leaving low income people behind? caller: that and doing away with gas and oal and coal mining. don't some of them drive around them big limousines? who's going to get me a battery powered car with -- worth $30,000? host: what do you do? caller: right now i'm unemployed and can't get unemployment. host: because of the pandemic? caller: it's partly that, yeah. i can't get a job. who's going to pay for that? is the government going to give me a 30,000 of $40,000 job?

host: got it. andy, tully, new york, your next. caller: good morning. i support, i support president biden's climate plan. i've got 35 years of experience in utility and power grid operations. i'm an engineer. i firmly believe that president biden and secretary yellen really need to push forward with a carbon tax or carbon pricing. i see everything in the industry, how coal plants run. they run to discharge their carbon and it's akin to throwing your garbage in the neighbors yard. by putting a price on carbon we will run the grids immediately much more efficiently. we will turn down the coal plants. they will still be there, still be running, but we will turn up

the gas plants that produce half the carbon emissions that the coal plants do and it will really raise the level of using our markets to solve the climate problem. host: how so? and you explain that? how so? caller: of course. once you apply carbon pricing to the industry, the market power price will go up in certain areas and it may come down in others, but the areas where it goes up, where the need may be, there is a vast amount in the power grid of undeveloped renewable resources and there is just more resources waiting to be built looking for incentives, contracts, federal incentives and state incentives. when the market price responds, it'll unleash more of those undeveloped renewable resources to be. -- built.

the carbon price, remember, it's going to have an immediate effect. we are going to put out far, far less carbon the first minute that there's a carbon price carbon tax that takes effect. it's going to be a good thing and it will be a bridge to get us towards the development of those renewable resources and transmission assets that we need to transition ourselves to zero carbon. host: how would the average american have to respond to that? what were they have to have in place? caller: the average american is taking energy off the power grid. they don't know that they are allowing the coal plants to admit -- emit pollution. they will pay more in electricity costs in the short term until the renewable energy fills the void. it's going to fill the void far

faster. but the carbon tax will also generate a revenue that will come back to the electric users. so, it's not like it's going to be increased costs automatically. it may be a neutral thing. host: all right, andy in new york. mark, go ahead. caller: i'm starting to think that the republicans are very well-informed and the democrats have something wrong with them. [indiscernible] host: we are having a hard time hearing you, you sound very muffled. caller: can you hear me now? host: that's better. caller: republicans seem to be well informed and democrats don't and i'm wondering if something is wrong with them. this is the whole phrase, it's

called high in the sky. they talk about -- pie in the sky. they talk about electric cars. we aren't going to get electric cars. [indiscernible] host: ok. republican line, new york, for those of you who support taking action on climate change, this is a top issue for you, already they know on the senate floor that senator sheldon whitehouse of rhode island has spoken about this issue on a weekly basis for the last several years, going back i think nine years he's been talking about this. yesterday he said he gave his final wake-up speech on the floor. take a listen. caller: i'm hanging up the time to wake up poster after 200 and 75 of the speeches. -- >> [video clip]

>> i'm hanging up the time to wake up poster because i'm hoping to bring more determination to climate change this time as president biden has promised we will. his opening executive orders are a fine start and i appreciate particularly the restoration of the social costs of carbon. but perhaps the most important signal is not any specific policy, but the breadth and the scope of the emphasis on climate across the new biden administration. host: sheldon whitehouse saying he has had hung up that she is hanging up that poster board. it has been on the floor with him every week for the last nine years. he started during the obama administration. yesterday was his 279th speech.

randall's town, maryland, independent line, good morning to you. caller: i am with biden on the climate change, with this executive order. we have to do now not later climate impact over time. as we learn and grow, we have to get better. i'm here in maryland and from climate change, a lot of these are really astute when they talk about this macro level, but let's make it micro. clamshells are a winner. if it isn't already centered now , i guess it's moving towards france being extinct. i know everyone loves france, but to make it like very large and in person, if we could see that it's a crab shell over time , it's deteriorating and we are

just facing that. facing extinction. we do have to do better. when we learn, change is scary, right? we like to do what's normal. our norms are scary, to. i just hope that we can all lean in and continue to listen to the science and follow the facts. how we have been impacted personally today and really think about our tomorrows and not destroy the earth. we have to be more responsible. host: do you have a big crab industry in maryland? caller: they are known for their crabs and it being right here on the coast, up and down the east coast, louisiana, it impacts not just, you know, coastal plants, and fisheries. host: what are the people who

work in the crabbing industry saying? do they believe it's climate change causing this deterioration? caller: i'm not sure what they think, personally, about the impact. but it has been locally reported like this, learning and growing. i'm not sure what they think or how they feel. but i'm certain that they know that they can see that in the industry. host: do you know what the jobs pay in the crabbing industry? are they good jobs? caller: not sure. it's just one of those things that i have enjoyed personally and i just like learning and growing. it just hit home for me. host: and it's all around you where you live. caller: yeah, it's all around. to speak to the other caller, to piggyback off of what he said, as far as not getting out

because of covid, it's an awful thing, but i've been able to see first, walking the neighborhood, i'm like wow, there's more birds , the air is cleaner, just my own ecosystem, seeing the impact of us not being out and about running the gas. our c2 o levels, we've only got 20 years before we totally max out. host: fred, republican line, what do you think about this? caller: i live in maryland and 20 years ago they complained that chesapeake bay was so polluted that if we don't do something now and start paying to clean it up, we are going to lose the klatt -- crabs, the bay, and everything. after all the tax hikes to pay for this 20 years later, it has gotten worse. this is another scam to take us down a couple of notches.

it's to help out china and russia. by the way, they don't blame their country for causing global warming. global warming and climate change is mostly natural due to the earth axis tilt changes. remember solyndra, the $500 million solar plant deal under obama and three months later they claimed a bankruptcy? where the money went? this is a scam to take our money, to cut us down a notch and promote an agenda that's going to take us backwards. we are going to be to paying $10 per gallon for gas and the democrats in maryland but a five dollar tax on cigarettes and they will jump that up to another five dollars. it's the poor people that these changes affect. they need to get on board. china has got our president compromised from russia and china and we are in trouble if

someone doesn't step up to the plate. host: ok. virginia, alexandria, good morning. are you there? caller: can you hear me? host: yes, we can. caller: i think my comment is that i do support some of his energy policies, but i think he's going about it the wrong way. we should not punish american jobs in the things that we did, like the keystone pipeline. that's not good for the economy when we are still going to be buying oil and natural gas and fossil fuels elsewhere. he had a policy where we are not going to be buying american and we are buying oil from foreign countries and dictatorships and enriching them, than maybe it would be a more commonsense policy, but for now i think that it's better for biden in the administration to invest in those green energy sources so

that they can compete and let the market put out the fossil fuels out of business instead of just regulating and stopping pollution because we are still going to need fossil fuels and we are still going to purchase it from other countries and regimes that our competitors, or enemies -- are competitors, or enemies come of the country. host: so, get rid of subsidies for the fossil fuel industries. caller: yeah, no subsidies. yeah, no subsidies. what i was saying is not, particularly like, do not ban federal leasing. do not punish projects, do not kill projects like the keystone pipeline. you can cancel the subsidies for the fossil fuel industries, that makes sense, yes, but do not cancel the keystone pipeline.

do not import oil from saudi arabia, russia, or whatever countries are exporting oil. it's just punishing americans and hurting, hurting, you know, killing jobs here. if you have a policy where we won't find growth from anywhere, ok, but we are not there yet. green energy is not ready yet. i was saying that he's moving too quickly. host: understand. caller: yeah. host: understand. let me show this to you and others. environmental energy study institute puts together these facts. they say that conservative estimates put u.s. direct subsidies to the fossil fuel industry at roughly $20 billion per year with 20% currently allocated to coal and 80% and natural gas and crude oil. european union subsidies are estimated at 55 billion euros annually.

let's go to thomas and hayes berg, mississippi. hi, thomas. caller: hello. host: good morning. support or oppose climate change action? caller: i support any change to get away from fossil fuels. i know it's not going to be easy and stuff, but we've got to remember that we've got like coal mine fires burning down in pennsylvania. 38 of them burning since 62. they can't put them out. it's something that needs to go away eventually. we might as well get started. there is so many lobbyists and oil companies, it's been hard to fight it, the misinformation from them. they got a lot of money. hard to fight it. but we need to get started. i know it isn't easy. probably gonna make some mistakes. but you need to get started. host: all right, ron, you are

next. west chesterfield, new hampshire. hi, ron that. -- ron. caller: good morning, greta. you guys are awesome. i love the show. you had a few republicans call earlier and they are atypical of the ridiculousness we've heard from republicans. scientists are telling us that within 20 to 25 years this is going to be a reversible. everything is getting worse. the tornadoes, the fires. you can't continue to pump thousands of tons of garbage into the air every year, which we do as a planet, everybody together, and expect it's not can i have a bad effect. you can't do it to the oceans. you can't pump thousands of tons of garbage into the ocean without cleaning it up or making an effort. you won't have oceans, then. the science deniers just want to hear it, especially the

republicans. they are just in it for the profit at any costs. it doesn't matter if it -- any cost. it doesn't matter if it hurts the earth, so we've got to make the change. we've just got to make the change. i don't, i don't know, the republicans just don't care. maybe they don't have children or grandchildren or great-grandchildren that they care about leaving the planet to. again, you can't just continue to pump stuff into the air and expected not to have a bad effect on the air that we breathe. host: all right, heard your point. jeff, ohio. cleveland. caller: i really appreciate the conversation c-span sponsors. as americans we have become selfish. i agree with what president biden is doing wholeheartedly but as americans we need to take responsibility to conserve

energy, turn off your lights. it's not brain surgery. we have a greater impact on anything else that the government can do, but we are so selfish that we refuse to do it. host: jeff, you think that the government needs to mandate that, regulate personal action? caller: of course, that's the only way we are motivated to move by the intervention of painful action. sometimes we do need someone saying you have to do this. saying you need to wear a mask ok, just where it. it's not a big deal. each time that we take a step down, it saves energy. host: ok. darrell, independent line. what do you think? caller: i'm opposed to anything these guys do, uh. i don't know if i misunderstood or heard him incorrectly

yesterday, but i thought i heard john kerry say that if the united states went to zero carbon emissions tomorrow, that, you know, it wouldn't change anything. with china and india and these other countries polluting our world's atmosphere, i don't see where, what the united states, what little bit we do gonna make that much difference except costa bunch of jobs. i don't support anything these fraudulent idiots do. host: paul, tampa, florida. hi, paul. caller: how are you? yeah, i oppose it all. i can give you several scientific reasons. first off, we are not climate deniers, people. first off, let me give two pieces of information. the people, i'm no fan of michael moore, but he has a short film on this, on the

climate change and on green energy. if you watch that, it's incredible. he will tell you about wind power and how those wind turbines only last like 10 years. the solar panels don't last very long. you have to watch this, it's like 15 minutes. he says it's a scam. michael moore. and then precious metals. you can't get the power that you need to. you need massive amounts of land for solar power. large tracts of land to spread it out. ok that's one scientific thing, but let me tell you another. i watch a lot of nature shows. all kinds of nature shows. i investigate this. those fires in california had nothing to do with climate change. the town that earned was paradise. they will tell you it's not from climate change. it was from forest management,

mostly. those people are living in places where no one ever lived before. pbs, there's a show called the age of nature, narrated by uma thurman. she explains how you can restore barren, lands that have been barren, they are restoring them through a scientific method and they regrow the trees. they did it in china, they have done it in parts of africa. my point is aside from the solutions that democrats offer, there are other solutions besides a carbon tax. that show with uma thurman on pbs, she explains that we are on the cusp of breakthroughs for carbon scrubbing on the atmosphere and there are many machines where they are close to taking the carbon out of the atmosphere. you don't have to costly energy supply. i it's not enough and --

host: we have to run, we are getting to the end of this and i will end by letting you know what the biden administration is planning next. from "the new york times," they formally announced they will be holding a climate leader summit from major emitting nations on earth day. secretary kerry says that by that date the united states expects to announce specific targets detailing how they would lower carbon mine -- carbon dioxide in missions and the accord from which president trump withdrew and president biden has rejoined. when we come back, we will talk about the pandemic and its impact on schools with the president of the national education association, becky pringle. later the republican national committee's paris dennard joins us to talk about the future of the party after donald trump.

♪ >> do you solemnly swear in all things appertaining to the impeachment of donald john trump, former president of the united states, now pending, you will do impartial justice according to the constitution, so help you guide? -- god? >> i do. >> arguments in the impeachment trial of donald trump are said to begin tuesday, february 9, on whether he should be convicted on incitement of insurrection. watch the senate impeachment trial live on tuesday, february 9, at 1:00 p.m. eastern on c-span2, c-span.org, or listen on the free c-span radio app. >> book tv on c-span2 has top authors every weekend.

saturday at 8:00 p.m. eastern, and american life, dan lorraine talks about the life and career of vice president kamala harris. charles goodhart talk about their book "the great demographic reversal: aging societies, inequalities, and inflation revival." on sunday at 9:00 p.m. eastern on "afterwards," charles lowe on his book "the devil you know." he's interviewed by robert woodson. watch book tv, this weekend on c-span2. >> washington journal continues. host: joining us this morning as the president of the national education association becky pringle, here to talk about president biden's plan on

education during the pandemic. nora dunn sense of this tweet. "the white house confirmed president biden's goal of reopening a majority of schools in the first 100 days does not apply to high schools and there is no word of a timeline for reopening secondary schools." becky pringle, what do you know about the plan? guest: good morning, greta. it is good to be back on "washington journal." we have been so encouraged by president biden's understanding it is absolutely essential our students, educators get back to in-person learning. as a finance teacher for 30 years, there is nothing i know i would rather do than be in front of my students doing science labs. we know and have been saying for

10 months we need the resources. that's exactly what president biden plan -- president biden's plan starts with. he knows we have to make investments in our schools. not just that. is $1.9 trillion package he sent to congress also includes money to states. we have seen state governments cutting education funding. we have almost one million teachers and educators laid off. we are very encouraged he understands it will take resources to reopen safely. mostly what he said is follow the science. as a science teacher that just things for me. i did not ever think i would have to say that. for a president to believe in science and listen to scientists and health care experts, that is what he is doing.

the virus is transmitted as much with younger kids. i will tell you this. the president understands even with that, we have to have mitigation strategies to protect our students and our teachers and the other men and women surrounding our students with the care and nurture they need to keep everyone safe. host: becky pringle, are you in support of reopening the schools? which ones or what grade levels with reopen? guest: i will probably say this five more times. follow the science. the cdc -- i think you probably know, they put out a report. one thing the president called for is working with the cdc and health and human services to come up with guidelines. but it starts with following the science.

even with the cdc guidelines, they believe that the transmission rates within schools are no higher than the transmission rates within the general community. that means if there are communities, areas that are hotspots where the transmission rates are really high, what the guidelines said it was his people -- is people need to make sure they're not coming together in large groups. they are masking. they are washing hands. in the case of schools, they have to have good, clean ventilation systems. they have to have the resources. all those things we have been hearing for 10 months are in the president's plan. 130 billion dollars specifically targeted for schools so they have the resources. host: is it realistic to think, becky pringle, all those necessities can be put in place this school year? guest: greta, can i just say

they have to be. that is the only way schools will reopen safely. and, i need to at this, because the president has talked about this. it is why he has included it in his package. additional funding. he knows this virus has inequitably impacted our students of color, black and brown communities, indigenous communities. the crisis it has spawned has disproportionately impacted these communities. what we are concerned about his with the vaccine rollout we have to make sure we educate those communities so they trust us, because they have a lot of history that leads them to not trust the government when it comes to vaccines. we have a lot of work to do in educating those communities and

making sure we are disturbing them equitably. when we talk about resources we are not just about supplying resources to schools and not thinking about the long-standing inequities in funding and resources for students who have forever been marginalized. host: we want to take viewers questions and comments about education during the pandemic. we have divided the lines. parents, educators and others. if you're a parent, (202) 748-8000. educators, (202) 748-8001. all others, your line is (202) 748-8002. we see headlines about teachers in chicago and california and new jersey resisting reopening. what is going on there? guest: those are teachers and bus drivers and school nurses,

the educators all across this country are demanding this country finally, finally give them the resources so they can open schools safely and equitably. that is what they are demanding and that is what we have been saying. that is what president biden 's plan is talking about. we need congress to act so we have resources in all schools all across the country. host: what have you been told about vaccinating teachers and making them a priority? guest: unfortunately we have not had that. now that president biden is our president, he understands he needs to have a well organized, well communicated, equitable plan to distribute those vaccines and provide guidance. right now things are all over the board. there are some states doing it

right and following the guidelines from the cdc. they are prioritizing high risk populations and those essential front-line workers. in those states they have prioritized educators as well. all the educators, not just the teachers. everyone in the building working with students. they have prioritized them and they have started the vaccination process. teachers are getting the vaccine. there are many states that have not done that. it is chaotic. people don't know where to get the vaccine. they have no plan in place from the president -- and the president is trying to organize that so every state has a plan in place and educators are getting vaccinated. host: becky pringle is here with us this morning to take your questions and your comments and concerns about education of america's kids during the pandemic. john first in hallsville, texas. good morning. caller: good morning. my question is, here in texas i

have seen what the cdc said that it's ok to open schools safely. my daughter has been back in school since last year. all this is is schools trying to get all the funding, all the cash they can from their federal taxpayers. i have seen teachers dancing. they go and the public and grocery shopping. they wear our mask. that's just an excuse to get more money to find stuff that we don't need. get these kids back in the classroom and get these teachers back in there. if they don't go back, fire them and find somebody else. that is my comment. thank you. host: becky pringle, your reaction? guest: our teachers what nothing for them to be back in their classrooms. they just want to be safe. we know that the funding is all

over the board from state to state, community to community, district to district. we know what we need to be safe, what the cdc has said, what the president has said, is we need to provide resources to keep students safe. that is what we are fighting for and will continue to fight for. host: the caller references the cdc said the proponents of available evidence from the fall semester has been reassuring. there is little evidence schools contributed meaningfully to increased community transmission. becky pringle, our masks not enough -- are masks not enough? guest: let me talk about the cdc. that was based on a study in wisconsin. what they found is what you said, greta. however, those schools that reopened had a sizable donation

from a private foundation to provide the additional resources so all students had masks, they had small classes of 10 or 11 so there was socially distant. they had testing available. they had people to do the tracing. and they were working with educators to think about how they could bring students back safely. what the cdc has said and everyone else, scientists and health care professionals is we have to have all those measures in place. all of them. not one of them. it is not just masks. it is ventilation systems. it is washing hands. it is being able to clean surfaces. it is making sure we have tests available to quickly identify those who are infected with covid-19 and isolate them as quickly as possible. host: sheila in oklahoma. what grade you teach? caller: high school.

i retired last year but i substitute so i consider myself an educator. we are in oklahoma and we are open. most of the schools in oklahoma are open. they cut sports. they have masks. they are supposed to wear that mask's. when they come into the school room at our school is teachers option if they wear that mask or if they don't. most students have the mask and everything. i heard the safest place for students to be was probably schools because they are the least susceptible to getting the virus. they do not have it. i hear many people -- i don't hear of many students having the virus. they don't have any fallout from it. there is hardly any problem. they wash their hands, they have the masks.

they are doing fine. i feel like when you say that school that had a person to give a grant is probably one school. they were not doing it for the whole state. i just think open the schools. i'm so glad i live in oklahoma we are open and everything, instead of being a state where they have they can't have schools and i think it is just a power thing. guest: sheila, you are right that they focused that money on one school. but they had the money to do it. i will say, greta, it really depends on the school district and whether they were able to find the funding in the budget to ensure all the students at all the educators had access to masks. whether the schools were modern and the ventilation systems were already functioning at a high level.

whether or not they already have funding to have lower class sizes so they could socially distance. with the president is saying is every school should have the resources that they need to take the steps to keep all the students safe. that is what he has proposed and we are demanding congress act on. host: mark in virginia. how old are your kids? caller: 16, 14 and 10. host: go ahead. caller: one, i would like to say -- i understand that handicaps are those who don't have the resources and support. i get it. i think looking at being a public school graduate is that at some point we will have to throw politics aside. either we will have to make this

a state-only run environment or the government will have to go big and we will have to put all of our schools and physical plants on the same roadmap to ensure optimum safety. i don't think that our educational system as it is currently built is going to be able to ever be competitive worldwide if we continue to go down the path of trying to parse out and dole out money in pieces. you will never have equality for physical plants, resources. we will have to figure it out. if we keep trying to get on the path we are on, we are never going to get better from a health standpoint, they physical instructional standpoint -- a physical instructional

standpoint. we need to figure out how to attach a number to each individual student input are blinds on a make sure this dollars are applied to those individual students. host: becky pringle, do you have any thoughts? guest: i completely agree. taking politics out of getting students what they need, absolutely. taking this opportunity as the light is shining on the inequities that have been built into our education systems, starting with the funding of the education system. completely agree. it is why we are so encouraged with the president's plan. he understands we have the urgency now to get our students and educators back to in-person learning as soon as it is safe and as soon as we have resources to do that. we actually have to start doing things that will change things a long-term. -- change things

long-term. the nea pulled together 60 organizations to address the homework divide, the homework app. we already knew there were students who did not have access to the internet. they did not have access to digital tools. they were going home and being asked to do homework at home and they were not able to do it. that was in february. ironically we were having this conversation already. on a dime we were all out virtually by the end of march and beginning of april. over 25% of students did not have access. the nea did a report and they dug into the access for students and families state-by-state. i encourage listeners to go to nea.org/digitalequity. we dig into it more. we take a look at race, by

economic status, by whether parents own a home or not. all the things contribute to whether or not they are actually having access. we are concerned about students where for some students the virtual learning worked out well. my grandson is loaded with me and he's downstairs right now in third grade in my basement, doing virtual learning and doing a good job. we know we have to address the social needs of students. we have got to make sure we have the resources to do that. we still have work to do long-term to close the digital divide and provide equitable resources for all of our students. host: kimberly in baton rouge, louisiana. hello? give us your perspective. caller: i have a highschooler but i also work for a school. she is ninth-grade. i am constantly getting calls

stating there is covid in the school. i also work in a head start program for the school system. i am in fear of going to school everyday. i also fear other teachers that -- i also hear of other teachers living in fear because of having elderly parents in the home. it seems so hidden. they are not really transparent when they say who in the school may have it. the only time i will know that person must've been there was when they are out for two weeks. we want to know more about what's going on. i would like the high school to go back. i don't want her to feel unsafe like i do. what can we do to promote more safety for the children? if adults are scared, the kids

are scared. host: your thoughts? guest: that is absolutely true. the nea partnered with the pta to do a survey of parents. what the last caller said is exactly how parents felt primarily all over the country. if the students don't feel safe, if you adults don't feel safe, the students don't feel safe. they want the resources so they don't have the chaos she just described. that is happening all over this country with parents and teachers getting calls that i before saying we had a covid outbreak. we will shut down and go to virtual. that chaos for our students actually absolutely disrupts learning. it is not just that. we are so concerned about the trauma students are going through, the loss, the real loss

in our black and brown and indigenous communities who are suffering loss at a greater degree. we are also concerned about the loss they had for those who did not have opportunity to have in-person graduation or sendoff to college for just to be with her friends. we have the chaos has had a huge impact on them. this new we provide the resources for our schools, the more likely it is we are going to be -- first of all being post-pandemic and we can address the disrupting -- disruption in the educational opportunities for students and the opportunities to continue their growth, social and emotional growth. we completely agree. those resources must be available for all schools. host: earlier on monday we had a conversation about the rise in suicides in youth due to some parents saying the isolation they are feeling, of not getting

to go to school. some schools in las vegas are reopening because of the impact of these kids being at home on their mental health. what resources are available for schools to help those kids? guest: retta, we also -- greta, we did a survey last month. the students also talk about wanting to be safer. they do miss being with their classmates. they do miss the routine of school. they are suffering from the chaos we talked about. what we are doing is working with educators. kids are going through trauma as well. we are working with them. in trainings we had a partnership with yale university to provide educators with courses so they could learn how

to first take care of themselves and then take care of their students. yale is offering that for free for teachers all over the country. we invite listeners to go to nea.org to find out more about that. we are partnering with health-care professionals to provide additional services, mental health services for students. it is one of the reasons we are so concerned that we had so educators who were laid off. more will be laid off if the state and local governments don't get the funding they need. it's included in the $1.9 trillion packet the presidents of the congress. we need more mental health professionals. we need more counselors because we have more students who are falling in the gaps. they need the additional assistance. we have been partnering with health care professionals in the community. i want to say one more thing.

in those areas where they have community schools, where they have those, it's a hub of the community and they have partnerships built, they are faring better in every way. they have the partnership with the mental health professionals, the hospitals, the boys and girls club. they are surviving -- can families -- and families. they are nearest and mental health services they so deserve and need in this moment. guest: shreveport, louisiana. lisa, with the teach? -- what did you teach? caller: biology. what i would like to tell this lady is that this is nothing more than a political stunt. this is also not between republicans or democrats. this is a socialist agenda. go look up del gates.

look up the rothschilds. you are lying to the american people. it will come out so you can keep on pushing your crap. host: what is the lie? caller: number one, if you are trying to suppress. you are trying to control. you are trying to put fear the people. you should be ashamed of yourself. host: over what? caller: dr. fauci is a fraud. he's a power grabber. host: elizabeth in lexington, kentucky. caller: good morning. i am a middle school teacher. we just opened our schools backup. i, scheduled to get the vaccine today, my first dose. i had a couple of questions for mrs. pringle. i wonder if you see a future

where students will have to get the vaccine and order to attend public schools. i know there are certain vaccines they have to get to attend. i wonder if we will end up in a situation like that. i imagine it will not be for quite some time. i have another question. my school is looking at always having a virtual version of school available, even after and the post-pandemic world. i wanted to get your response on that. thank you so much. host: go ahead. guest: ok. first of all, congratulations. i'm so glad to hear you are getting the vaccine. i'm hearing more and more educators all over the country are getting the first shot. some are already getting their second shot. as far as students, i will say this probably five more times.

follow the science. we don't have enough information on vaccinating students. we are certainly not calling for mandating vaccinations. we need to listen to scientists. when we have enough evidence to say it is safe and it stops not only the transmission of the virus but makes sure the students are not infected with the virus, we have much more work to do to get to that place. we always believed students and educators should be vaccinated because that is the large gathering of people. we hope there will be a time we have enough science we can safely get vaccinated. we want to make sure all of our educators are involved in -- i did mention this before. there is transparency and communication. that is lacking right now.

we have a lot of educators that don't know about what the plan is for vaccination. they are not being communicated to well. states are not being transparent. that is the other thing the president is calling for in the handbook he is asking the department of education to work together to create. host: ned in florida. caller: good morning. i have one thing i would like to say. she keeps talking about following the science. look at florida. florida has been open all year long. our whole state is open for business. restaurants, everything. you look at the other states. it is always like it is all been political the whole time. as far as dr. fauci, i don't believe anything he says anymore. he has been all over the map. on the climate change stuff -- host: becky pringle, you can

respond to the education,. -- comment. guest: florida is a hotspot for this very reason. i wanted to say this. overover 429,000, probably high, americans have died because of this virus. families have lost loved ones and unfortunately in horrible situations. this is real. this is real joy millions of people have been infected -- this is real. millions of people have infected and we know more will die if we do not get control of his drivers. that is exactly what president biden said he would do before he took office and we can see by everything he has done since for a week, he is focusing on getting control of the virus. that is what we are asking for and that is what we -- that is

what he is working to do. teresa host: teresa in tennessee. please do not hang up on me if you do not like my question. most of the teachers in democratic states have already been out of school for almost a year not opening the schools back. has anyone of those teachers not received their paycheck? everyone of those teachers has received their full pay. they have not lost anything. i watched you this whole segment and every word out of your mouth is about funding, funding. that is all you have talked about for this segment. it is clear what you are doing. you are using these children as a black male ploy against a weak president -- as a blakmail ploy against a weak president that is

afraid to stand up to the teachers union. it is all about money. you want to extort the president and you will use these children to do it. in republican states, i live in tennessee, children have went back to school with no issues. you have a few cases pop up like going to work in any industry, but that will happen. you cannot make a school 100% safe, which is what you are demanding. it is all about the money. it is clear. why don't you say we will use your children to extort money from this weak president that would give us whatever we want. host: i heard your point. becky pringle. guest: let me say teachers and other educators are working harder now than they ever have. not only are they teaching the students in front of them virtually.

it is still teaching. i have been clear about in person learning. learning is happening in zoom boxes all over this country. not only are teachers and educators, our professors, our nurses, our counselors are meeting with our students. we also know that because of this virtual environment we have to do even more. teachers are having office hours not only with the students, but teachers are having office hours with parents. they are meeting with community members so they can figure out how they can support their families better. they are delivering meals to families. they are working harder than they ever have before. i want to be clear. we are teaching, we are nurturing students, we are preparing them for their next tourney, their next educational

journey every single day. let me say this about money. i hear this a lot. we are talking about investing in our students and the future of this country. that takes money. for far too long this country -- they have the wealth, the question is do they have the will to make sure when we say every student, we mean every student will have what they need when they need it. that does take money to ensure they have what they deserve. host: sheila in crestview, florida. how old are your kids? caller: my kids are 11 and 12. host: what has your experience been like? caller: i pulled the kids out in early march at the beginning of the pandemic because my father was visiting from europe and i

was concerned about bringing the virus home. we live in the northwest region, so as you can see from the other callers, there are a lot of people in florida that do not believe the virus is real. we have struggled with the stigma of keeping the kids at home. my stepdad who was visiting did pass in december from the virus. i wanted to thank you, greta, and ms. pringle for doing everything you've been doing, and i wanted to ask ms. pringle what can we do as a community to convince people or encourage them to do research? this pandemic is something that has not happened in 100 years, so it is like a behavioral statement we have to fix within the community, especially for the people who are nonbelievers. that is one of the reasons i did not want my kids to go back to school because i know there are adults who teach who do not

believe in the science or do not back it or will not encourage the children to follow these guidelines. i think that is an issue. i wanted your thoughts on that and how we can encourage the communities who do not think this is a real thing that is happening to understand this is real? host: before we get a response, are you homeschooling them? caller: i am. i've been homeschooling both of the kids and thankfully my children were placed in higher learning, like advanced learning classes. we have been able to take the school year because of everything as far as him passing , the uncertainty of everything, we have been taking the school year as a slow down period for us. i invested a lot of time as far as being like this is not normal . children in the early 19th

century were not going to school, they were staying home. i wanted to take this as a learning opportunity for them and thankfully my kids get it, they understand. they're more adamant about wearing their masks. if they have extra ones in there. it is good but it is difficult. -- they have extra ones in their bags. it is good but it is difficult. for teachers doing this, i cannot applaud you enough. host: thank you, sheila. becky pringle? guest: i am so sorry for the loss of your father and i appreciate you, even surrounded by people who do not believe we are in a pandemic, i appreciate you have the courage and the bravery to stand up and say this is real. people have died, including someone close to me. i will do everything i can to take care of and protect my family. by doing that, this is what we have been doing is educating

people. a lot of people talk about it is their right to not wear masks. that is not ok. it is everyone else's right to live, and to live in a healthy way. you are hearing more and more reports, we are counting the numbers, and like i said we are up to 430,000, but we are not keeping as much track of the people who have had the virus and are now suffering long-term illnesses. we know the fallout from this pandemic will go into many years. the more people ignore and pretend it does not exist and not do what they need to do to keep everyone else safe, the longer that will persist. i've been an educator for 30 years and i believe education is the answer. that is what we continue to do and we know that not having

leadership from the federal government and so many critical months, but we do now. he understands that part of it is educating people, being transparent, communicating with people in a calm and informed way. that is exactly what the president has been doing. that is what educators have been doing. that is exactly what the front workers have been doing who put their lives on the line to take care of our families. we need to continue to do just that. host: rebecca in orange city, florida. rebecca, are you there? caller: i am here. host: go ahead. caller: i have a son in first grade and a four-year-old daughter who is not in school yet. they sent everyone home in march when the pandemic started. in august they gave my county

three different options to return to brick-and-mortar, to do something called volusia live , which was to keep up on the curriculum in school, so if you want to send them back at any time you can send them back, and then they have regular homeschooling. i chose the volusia live. it was going pretty good but the teachers were overwhelmed. a lot of the parents were not able to keep up and help their kids. we are all helping each other. my family and i ended up getting covid. my husband works in hvac so he brought it home. it is probably a good thing i kept them home. as time started going by more kids started going back to brick-and-mortar. the volusia live was dwindling and the teachers had to go back to teaching in person. it was kind of like volusia live

was being put on the back burner , which i completely understand, they had to be there for the students in person. we ended up sending my son back to school and a week later he was exposed to someone with covid in his class and he had to come back home and have a quarantine for 10 days, and that was a mess. i just want to state that we are all trying our best, especially the teachers. like the last caller i applaud the teacher because they're having to do triple the work and we are all trying to figure this out together. it is hard times. we need to go easy on the teachers. host: becky pringle? guest: love that name, rebecca. rebecca, thank you. i appreciate what you said early on and that was we are working together. that is exactly what has to

happen. this is real. you know it, you've experienced it firsthand. you understand the tremendous stress and overwhelm our teachers are feeling right now. with parents and community members like you who are expressing they understand that and we just have to figure this out. often times i say to people we are in a pandemic. we do not know what that is. we have never been in this before for 100 years. this is the first time we are going through it. this is when we need to give each other breaks and come together and work together to do what is best for our students and our families. this is when we should all be working and saying to our government at the federal level and the state level and the local level that it is time they do what they must to make sure

every one of their students has what they need. this is the time to do that, to figure it out together, to stay together. not to start blaming each other. we have to do this together. it does start with leadership. that is exactly what we are seeing out of the white house. can i tell you i had an opportunity to meet with dr. jill biden, who is an nea member and she is continuing to teach. she had already taught three classes virtually. she understands what educators are going through and how much additional pressure, particularly as rebecca was describing, teachers are doing triple time, they are doing virtually am are doing in person, they are doing hybrid which is difficult and chaotic for them and for families. that is why we know we have to continue the fight to get that additional resources so we can

get the additional support. we can make our schools safe have -- and have health care professionals there to help us deal with the emotional needs of our students, the trauma they are suffering so we can build back better. host: we will go to cameron who is a student in missouri. how old are you? caller: i am 26. host: a student in college? caller: i took off this semester because of the pandemic. host: go ahead with your question or comment. caller: i would like to point out, i noticed their elementary schools in the town i lived in and one day i was walking past them and there were kids outside playing around and some of them were not wearing a mask good i thought to myself -- some of them were not wearing a mask. i thought to myself there should be a long place for mask wearing for children in schools are

mandatory or something. why that is, i do not know. back to what the lady said about coming together, the only weight we are going to be able to do that -- the only way we are going to be a do that is if our country realizes we need to unify each other and come together peacefully and peacefully protest for some clarity -- not saying -- people in this country are too quick to follow the ones that are going crazy and they're all the shootings and riding. -- and rioting. we will get nowhere. we need to come together peacefully and look to god because god is the only one who will save us from this mass. we cannot do it. humans cannot save ourselves. host: ok cameron. becky pringle, final thoughts?

guest: coming together and unity. those are words president biden used in his inaugural address. what struck me about that, we certainly are a divided country. no question about it. what struck me about the words he said is they reflected who he has been his entire life and he understands it will not be easy, it will not be easy. as we listen to the callers, they were all over the map. it is not going to be easy. there is no question about it. we know that is the only way to a better place. that is always true. not just in this pandemic. i am encouraged by him continuing to deliver that same message, building and administration around him that understands that. we are not blaming each other but we are working together to

do what is right for our students, to invest in our schools, to make sure this country lives up to his promise -- lives up to its promise. the first words of our constitution -- "we the people." it is we. all of us have the right to pursue happiness and it takes all of us to make that happen. host: our viewers can learn more if they go to nea.org. becky pringle is the president of the national education association. we thank you for the conversation. guest: thank you, greta. host: we will take a break. when we come back we will talk with republican national committee about the future of the republican party. that conversation right after this break. ♪ >> biden cabinet nominees are on

capitol hill this week for their confirmation hearings. today at 10:00 on c-span eastern , one hearing for two nominees. ohio congresswoman marcia fudge for secretary of housing and urban development and cecilia wells, nominated for chair of council of economic advisors. watch the conversation on c-span , on c-span.org, or listen on the c-span radio app. >> american history tv on c-span3. exploring the people and events that tell the american story every weekend. this weekend, saturday at 2:00 eastern, retired u.s. army general vincent brooks on african-american military service and modern-day challenges with cbs 60 minutes correspondent bill whitaker. sunday at 4:00, the nasa film apollo 14 on the third

successful mission to the moon less than one year after the near disastrous apollo 13 failed lunar mission. at 6:00 eastern on american artifacts, we visit plymouth, patuxent, and plymouth, massachusetts to explore re-created 17th-century colonial village depicted in 1627, one about 160 pilgrims lived there. at 6:30, discussion on the post-world war i era with richard faulkner explaining a time of racial unrest, violence, deadly pandemic come and the first red scare. exploring the american story. watch american history tv this weekend on c-span3. >> listen to c-span's podcast "the weekly."

this week, former chief of staff and the george h. w. bush administration and former deputy chief of staff in the george w. bush administration shares his advice for biden chief of staff ron klain. >> i told him to pay attention to decisions made by the president. you do not want the president making government decisions. the president should be making presidential decisions. not every government decision. he will be blamed for every government decision, but the president's time should be making presidential decisions and getting ready to make rough residential decisions rather than making government decisions. ron, it is your job to make sure people making government decisions are making them the right way. >> joined c-span for weekly, where you get your podcasts. >> you are watching c-span, your unfiltered view of government. c-span was created by america's cable television companies in

1979. today we are brought to you by these television companies who provide c-span to viewers as a public service. >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us to talk about the future of the republican party is paris dennard with republican national committee, the senior communication advisor for black media affairs. let's begin with what you do for the rnc? guest: first of all, good morning to everyone. thank you for having me on the program. i am honored to be working at the republican national committee as the senior advisor for black media affairs. my primary responsibility is to directly engage on a regular basis with the black media across the country. that includes television, radio, and black newspapers. when our chairwoman asked me to

come over, she said i want to make sure the republican party is reaching voters everywhere they are, in particular, black american voters. we know they are not always watching c-span, they are not always watching other cable network news programs, they are not always reading the major newspaper publications like the washington post or the new york times. we know they like to read the black newspapers in their local communities. when i was growing up in arizona, my grandparents subscribe to the arizona republic, but also the arizona informant, which is a black owned newspaper to get news more connected to our community. because of those relationships throughout the campaign, our chairwoman wants to continue the engagement effort, they want me to stay on and do this work and i am proud to now author a weekly column in the newspaper

in north carolina giving my conservative opinion in this black newspaper. that is what i do. i am engaging with the black community through media to highlight the things that the trump administration that was doing that was positively impacting the community and republicans in congress that what they were doing was positively impacting the community. now this new season we are in with the democrats controlling the house, the senate, as well as the white house, it is part of my job to articulate all of the things i think the black community should know that might be something not covered in the major news, that might not be of great benefit to our community from a republican and conservative perspective, as well as provide an alternative highlight of things the party is doing, highlight things

republican members of congress and our senators and state legislators and things the rnc happens to be doing to empower and encourage and uplift. host: the former president has indicated he could run again in 2024. the rnc chairwoman on wednesday said the gop -- the rnc would state neutral in the next presidential primary. what went into that decision-making? guest: it is insider baseball, which i am proud to explain to your audience. the rnc has rules and regulations like any other organization. part of the rnc long-standing rules and regulation is that in political contests across the nation, whether it is congress, the house of representatives, or the united states senate, if there is a primary, our position is to remain neutral. we do not weigh in on republican

primary elections, meaning we do not support this candidate over this candidate. candidate a over candidate b, because we are the republican national committee. we support the republican nominee. therefore during the present election that happened, the republican national committee always had it we are to remain neutral, meaning we will not show favoritism, we will not give finances or resources or boots on the ground to support one candidate over the other. that is the same going into 2024. if a candidate comes forward and says they want to be running for president and it happens to be former president trump, then the republican national committee would remain neutral in terms of our support and resources until we have a nominee. once we have a nominee elected by the republican party, then the republican national

committee will endorse and support them in every way possible they also work around necessary financial resources. the decision is not just because it was reflective of former president donald trump. this is the case because that is our bylaws. this is not to be seen as going after or not wanting to endorse or support president trump or any other person who may or may not be running in this upcoming primary. it is our bylaws. host: we saw testimony earlier this week in the senate on the question of whether or not to convict president trump for inciting violence at the capitol on january 6. it looks like there's not enough republicans to convict him. i want you to respond to democratic senator tim kaine talking to reporters yesterday on his efforts to censure the former president. >> i have been talking with a

number of my colleagues, a handful for couple of weeks about the likelihood we would fall short on impeachment. by doing that, notably would we fall short but we would use time for something we could be using for covid relief, which i think is so dire. i've been exploring that. i think there has been some interest, but we have to do something with it. the vote on the motion yesterday was completely clarifying we will not get near 67 votes. i think there is more interest, could this be an alternative? i've drafted something, i've not filed it yet as i'm trying to get other people's ideas about what should be in it. i am hoping we might find it and it could be an alternative. host: paris dennard, does

republican national committee support a censure of president trump? guest: aptly not. the republican national -- absolutely not. the republican national committee position is clear that this is a waste of time and resources for the senate to be trying to impeach or convict or do anything applied to someone no longer in office. president trump is no longer the president of the united states. he is the former president of the united states. why would congress choose at the time of a global pandemic to focus their time and energy and the taxpayer money on impeachment trial for a censure vote. it is a complete waste of time. the democrats have said, joe biden has said they are focused on unity. if they want to be focused on unity, on bringing the country together, if they want to find ways to reach out to the 74 plus million people who voted for president trump, if they want to be focused on doing things the

american people want to happen in this country, which is respond to the global pandemic, dress them of the economic concerns, get the country open so people can go back to work and provide for their families and put food on the table, he will not do that, he will not be successful in unifying the nation by pursuing overtly political things. the houseboat happened while he was still the sitting president. let's move on and be about the business of the american people. guest: -- host: we will pause for now. the house is coming in for a quick pro forma session.

[captioning made possible by

the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] the speaker: the house will be in order. the prayer will be offered by our chaplain, chaplain kibben. chaplain kibben: would you pray with me. o lord our god, how majestic is your name and ate the earth. when you look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established, what are human beings that you are mindful of them? mortal that you care for them. standing before your mavs we depend on our dependence on our own power and wisdom, who are we, o lord, but politicians and patriots, mere mortals attempting to manage the bounty of thisert. even so -- of this earth. even so, despite our efforts,

bouds of pride and prejudice, you yet charge us with dominion over your handiwork and entrust us with the governance of this nation. in response to your mercy on us, we pray that our deliberations would reflect your mindfulness. that our decisions would share your eternal vision. and that our decrees would be worthy of your faith in us. in all that we do may we magnify your name and declare your majesty over all the earth. we offer ourselves to you and pray in the strength of your holy name. amen. the speaker: pursuant to section 5-a-1-a of house resolution 8, the journal of the last day's proceedings is approved. the pledge of allegiance will be led by pt gentleman from california, mr. sherman. mr. sherman: i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

the speaker: the chair lays before the house a communication. the clerk: the honorable the speaker, house of representatives, madam. i write to inform you that i hereby resign from the committee on rules, signed, sincerely, debbie lesko, member of congress. soik without objection, the resignation is accept. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? mr. sherman: madam speaker, at the direction of the democratic caucus, i send to the desk a privileged resolution and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 62, resolved, that the following named members be and are hereby elected to the following standing committees of the -- mr. sherman: i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the reading. the speaker: without objection, the reading is dispensed with.

without objection, the resolution is adopted and the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from wyoming seek recognition? ms. cheney: madam speaker, by direction of the house republican conference, i send to the desk a privileged resolution and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 63 -- ms. cheney: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that the resolution be considered as read. the speaker: the speaker: without the reading is dispensed with. without objection, the amendment is adopted and the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. pursuant to section 5-16789-1-b of house resolution resolution 8, the house stands adjourned until 3:00 p.m., monday, february 1, 2021.

host: this morning, we have the senior communications advisor with the republican national committee. before the break, we were talking about impeachment proceedings on the hill and efforts by censure. you said the republican national committee is absolutely opposed to both of those ideas because the president is no longer a president. i want your thoughts on a current member of congress. politico has this headline -- representative jimmy gomez drops efforts to oust marjorie taylor greene from congress. this comes after green's facebook page featured several accounts of violence against democrats and federal agents. she said in a comment that a bullet to the head would be quicker than removing nancy

pelosi from her leadership. she said removal or death for policy does not matter, as long as she goes. she responded to another commenter, who suggested hanging barack obama and hillary clinton by saying stages put in place and we must patient. this must be done patiently or liberal judges will let them off. she also suggests execution for fbi agent who were viewed as working for the deep state against president donald trump. do you think she should be a member of congress? does the rnc think that? guest: i think ultimately, that is up to the voters who elected her to be put in that position. the republican national committee stands with the voters and we support the voters' de cision. i think if the voters who put her in office feel she is doing a good job, it is up to them. that is the way our system works. it is the same thing when you

look at what maxine waters said in terms of getting in the face and pushing back and going and getting people that are republican or trump supporters, get them out. no -- those comments that she made, if people find those to be flagrant or aggressive, that is up to the voters. a black republican ran against her and the people of the district voted to keep maxine waters in office. that ultimately is a decision voters have to make. do these people represent me? do they say things that i like or don't like? it's up to the voters. host: on the proposal by representative gomez, it takes a two thirds majority to expel a member from the house. his resolution is certainly to fail in a senate where

democrats hold a razor thin majority. we want to take your comments. phone lines are on your screen, start dialing in now. you recently wrote an op-ed talking about diversity in the republican party. do you believe there is enough diversity? guest: i think that the republican party is diverse. can there always be more? absolutely. i would love to see a day where the republican party , the republican president running for office can get 60%, 70% of the black vote. yes, there is always room to improve, but what we see under the leadership of chairman ronna mcdaniel, and looking at the leadership of president trump and the agenda that he had, there is no doubt that the republican party expanded, that we grew. our base is stronger, our base is bigger because we have more diverse americans from all walks

of life and racial, ethnic backgrounds coming to our party, agreeing with the free enterprise systems, with lower taxes, with the agenda president trump put in place over four years that the republican national committee supported. in this election, in terms of opening up and hearing these voices from black community centers and latino community centers and asia-pacific communities, it turned out to be a successful model for engagement because we were in the community. we did run ads and talk to people in their community, because it is important to do. i believe if you look at, which my op-ed talked about, the diversity that came into the congress, the unprecedented number of republican and conservative women that were elected, when you look at the black americans that were elected.

congressman byron donalds, the op-ed i wrote about, has a majority-minority office. that is impressive. there has been a lot of talk that there will be people he can't identify, minorities or women to work in congress, republicans, where are they? he found them, because he was intentional about it. the republican national committee has been intentional about engaging and finding those minorities who want to work, who want to have a chance in the rising stars program, which identifies young americans in indiana. the gop has a diversity initiative which has the support of their governor and their entire party, and they are growing the gop. you look at the successes we had in california with congressman mike garcia and others, michelle parks steel, who was elected,

these are asian american women. these are positive indicators that the party is going in the right direction. having over 60 some odd black republicans run for congress this past year and having 29 of them become our republican nominees, these are positive indicators that the party is going in the right direction. i am proud to be a part of it and help move it in that direction, because it is a priority of the republican national committee and a priority -- it was a priority of our former president and is something that will continue. it will definitely continue and our party will grow. host: let's go to shawna, democrat, california. you are up first. caller: good morning. my question is, what is it that the republican party can do is a whole for them to reunite and bring our country together and

for democrats also to come in and reunite with republicans? we are all really not looking good as a whole for americans. i watch c-span every morning. i am very discouraged some of the stuff that i hear, but it does not discourage me from watching. i would like to know, what can the republican party do as a whole to unite, because it doesn't sound good when you are talking about having a patriot party outside the republican party. as a democrat, i am willing to work with uniting with republicans so we can bring our country back together as a whole , because america is one of the best countries in the world. well, is the best country in the world. host: does the rnc support a patriot party? then you can respond to her question about unity. guest: no, the rnc does not support a patriot party.

we believe the republican party is the home for the most freethinking, independent-minded, free enterprise focused people who want to continue on fighting for the america first agenda that president trump has put in place on the conservative principles and values that we hold and have held dear for many years as the republican party. we believe it is the home for many more americans, but we have to earn the trust of people like shawna, who says she is a democrat willing to work across the lines, across the political aisle to get things done. that's what we want. there are people like vernon jones, the state representative out of georgia, who was a democrat and now became a republican, because he said the democrat party left him. i believe there are a lot of democrats out there, especially in states like california, that are looking at the state of the democrat party and saying, i don't recognize it.

i feel like they are more radical, liberal and i don't think the agenda items reflect where i am as a voter. i think more of them are saying, what can we do to move the country forward? yes, the republican national committee and republican leaders in congress stand ready to work to bring people together to have positive and possible response to legislation that does not hurt the american people. we are going to put forward things and support things like lower taxes. regardless of the party that stands up for the rights for the unborn, we are going to be the party that fights for parents to have the right choice in school, because we know it is good. we are trying to remove barriers to entry, barriers to minorities and women and others trying to advance, any american.

we want to have those regulations removed. if there is policy out there, like we saw with criminal justice reform, like we saw with opportunity zones, if there is good policy, let's come together and work towards the end, which is to ensure that the american people have a fighting chance to survive and a fighting chance to thrive, because in a global pandemic, we have to look at our foreign adversaries and ask them, what are they looking at us to fail? are they looking at us to slip? i saw a report that showed that china was the only major country that had an uptick in gdp. we can't take our eye off the ball. we have to have the america first agenda, but we have to be united around goals that make sense for the american people. i believe that is a lot of conservative principle, goals and policies, and i hope we can have more people like shawna in

the democrat party and the democrat white house that have the same reflection on how we can move forward. that's what we have to do together. host: edward, keyport, new jersey, or republican. caller: i have not voted since 2000. it seems like your parties are full of demagoguery and no policy. it was a good segment, what you are saying about your policy. you should stick with it. it bring something forward for 20th-century -- 21st century people. things like the climate, democrats don't need a demagogue to sell people on the idea that hey, the environment is dying or hay, poor people need health care. all these different policy issues they have. they get up on stage and just mention something and it is accepted because -- that's my things. drop the hollow patriot rhetoric

and more policy. thank you. guest: look, we are the party of ideas. we are the party of sound policies that work. we want to engage, democrats want to engage with the biden administration, but we want to talk and have a look at these policies. i think people are tired of hollow rhetoric. i think people are sick and tired of people coming on camera, going before the podium, and saying things that are just not true. like i am not going to get rid of fracking, and months later, come out and confirmed that they are going to prevent fracking from happening. i think they are tired of people engaging in things that are hypocritical. that's with the republican national committee is going to do when democrats controlled

house in the senate, we are going to highlight the differences that are happening. we are going to look at the policy. you want to get rid of the keystone pipeline, we are going to ask those people that could have benefited during a global pandemic from having this keystone pipeline go through, because no matter what they say, no matter how you spin it, the policies to help the american people and help our nation remain energy independent and to be an energy producer, and have us create jobs will not happen when you get rid of the keystone pipeline. it will kill jobs. it has already had people laid off from the opportunities to work on it. we will highlight those policies. it's not about the people -- see, to my friend who called, that is what happened the last election. they made it all about the person. it was all about the past. the american people are tired of that. let's have a vigorous debate on policy. let's look school choice. is it valid to have school

choice? is it something that can empower parents and uplift students of all races and all economic backgrounds? let's have a conversation about whether or not the school should be open right now. if we want to look at the data, the science, the doctors and medical professionals that have all been looking at these trends and these stories and research people that show that schools should be open, let's have a serious policy debate on whether or not we should continue to keep them closed or continue to give more and more money, when we have given the millions of dollars in the last round of covid legislation that came about. where are we going as a nation? the republican national committee and republicans are going to have serious policy conversations with the american people. host: sandra is a republican in georgia. thanks for waiting. go ahead. caller: hi, i would like to make a comment to paris, just a comment. you talk about honesty and doing

right. my thing is that president, former president trump should be held accountable. what should we say to our children when they look to leaders, they say they want to be a president one day, or they want to be a congressman or senator, and then you have this vileness, this dishonesty that has been shown. would you want your children to see that and model it that way? just a quick comment, if your child that something four days ago in school and it was a bad thing, do you not punish them because of what they did? no, when you do an action, there is consequences. i think they need to go on with what they are doing with president, former president trump, and he needs to be held accountable. host: mr. sanders' campaign -- mr. dennard?

guest: first of all, i love your name. sandra is my mom's name. thank you for calling. i think you are right. when we talk about the need to have elected officials that we can look up to and be proud of, i am raising a nine-year-old son right now and he loves president trump. he understands what he did for the country, and i have no problem with supporting a -- supporting president trump and the republican party. it's also about accountability across the board. if you ask me what president trump -- was president trump held accountable by the congress when he was a sitting president? the answer was yes. they had an impeachment vote and he was impeached. what do we do now? impeachment is an act to remove somebody from office. donald trump, the former

president, has been removed from office by means of an election. there is now an impeachment route that is null and void, and some have questioned the constitutionality of it because he is no longer in office. it is not that he hasn't been held accountable by congress, he has. they took that impeachment route. they did that. but when you look at cancel culture, that has been permeating the country from the left, they have been going after a series of people that appear, banning them off twitter and social media platforms and trying to get them kicked off corporate boards and all these other things that have been done as it relates to the work that happened. host: does the rnc believe the president cited an insurrection on the capital? guest: i don't know if the rnc has taken a specific position on

that, but i would defer to what our now minority leader kevin mccarthy said, he does not believe president trump incited a riot. if you look at this objectively, if you hold donald trump to the same standard that you would hold maxine waters, for the things that she is said, in terms of going after people, getting in their face and doing things, you would say, anything that happens to a republican after congressman maxine waters said that, she should be held accountable. i think that what we are having here is a debate that is not honest, fair, objective. it is filled with hypocrisy and it is vindictive. host: did anything happen to a republican after maxine waters? guest: sure. republicans were harassed. you can look at examples of

republicans that have been spat upon and have lost their jobs, been run out of restaurants. yes. there is evidence of that. there was a black man who was a trump supporter who was shot and killed in cold blood, standing in front of his small business. that happened. yes, there are examples of that. i will also bring up, all the cries of people going out in the streets, make your voice known and get in their faces and take back the city and to do all these negative things, they happened during the black lives matter protest, when you saw a lot of violence and you saw death. officer dorn. that occurred. we have to be honest about how we look at this and the slippery slope we are going to go down by saying, if someone has an event and someone acts independently of it, are they held

responsible? i think the vote that was taken in the senate clearly articulated where they are. i think senator kaine, the democrat from virginia, his sentiments rarely show where they are, where the senate is on this issue. i think we have to remember, the pendulum swings both ways. the minute you start trying to double down and have more harsh penalties and things applied to republicans just because you don't like them politically, which is what cancel culture is an does -- remember, this can turn around and go the opposite direction in a heart beat towards the democrats. it's a dangerous precedent that we are setting, but i don't believe president trump incited a riot or incited the violence. let me be crystal clear. any form of violence, any form of destruction of property is one hundred percent unacceptable, unjustifiable, wrong and should be denounced. i saw that happen with

republican national committee, we released an immediate statement that our winter meeting. -- at our winter meeting. we are a party that respects authority, we are a party that pushes law and order, public safety. we are a party who stood against the violence that we see right now in portland, and with almost every day by the white house press corps, white house press secretary jen psaki, she will not talk directly about nt for. she will not call them out by name and denounce what they are doing and hold them accountable for things not that happened months ago, because they've been doing things for several months, but things that are happening right here, today. you've got to be consistent. you have to be fair. she does need to circle back on that. wrong is wrong.

call it out. do something about it. host: we will go to jan in georgia, an independent. caller: good morning, thank you for taking my call. first of all, i am from georgia. marjorie taylor greene is an embarrassment to this state. people have not noticed over the past few days, weeks, whatever, what she has said in the past and what she has done. they are not going to hold her accountable. it is the house of representatives, people that she works with, that she needs to be held accountable for. they have a right to have a member that is going to be a legitimate governing person that will give on honest and fair answer. she is not one of those. mccarthy put her on the education committee after just saying that the shootings will fall flat. she is an embarrassment. the other thing, my head is dizzy from this spin that is going on about the republican party. it is unrecognizable. it doesn't exist in the same way

that it did prior to donald trump four years ago. this was a party of law, order, family values, everything went out the door with him. it did. his presidency started in 2017 and where we are today, this is an unrecognizable country. host: jan, were you a republican? caller: i am an independent, but i voted for joe biden. i have never voted for someone of a moral caliber like donald trump. it is amazing to hear that popper see about how we need to hold people accountable, democrats are not calling out antifa. call at this criminal. they would not have rallied on january sixth if donald trump and his cronies had not stood up there and talked about the illegitimate election. capitol police men would still

have been alive had that not taken place. do not tell me there is not some responsibility and that he did not incite that. i apologize for the passion, i am just so tired of hearing republicans talk about what they are and then look at what they are doing now. he needs to be held accountable. you have to have that and move on. don't talk about unity, don't talk about how the democrats aren't doing anything. and as far as tim kaine talking about censure, if they can't get him convicted in the senate, which they won't, there are too many chickens that won't do that, they can make it so if they censure him, he cannot run for another office. that would be some blessing we have in the hopes that it would never be donald, but it might be unfortunately donald junior or his daughter. thanks. guest: those are the things about people who masquerade as

independents and are really radical liberal democrats. they can't let it go. her point about trying to articulate where the republican party is, what we are doing and where we are and she is not even a member of our party, it is interesting area i think the listeners and the viewers can come to their own conclusions about that. i would point out one thing. had there not been the riots in the looting that were happening on the west coast, congress -- officer dorn would still be alive today as well. we have to focus on where we are as a nation and where we are as a party, we are the party of ideas. we are the party of policy. we are the party of moving things forward. we do not want to have a nation that resembles any socialist country. we don't want to be venezuela. we don't want situation where lawlessness abides. that is why we are working every day to elect people who understand that, and to elect people who want to advance

policy, that are going to uplift, empower, encourage, and not make it difficult for people to thrive. right now, the biden administration is saying that climate change is one of the top four issues they should be focusing on right now. i don't know a lot of people around the dinner table that are small business owners or single moms that are trying to keep food on the table or pay their rent, and they can't work because they don't have a job that allows them to work from home, so they are dependent upon unemployment temporarily and these benefits that are coming, well, that haven't come because of the democrats can't get their act together, but they are saying oh my gosh, i need to get climate change under control. if we can get climates under control, then i can work. then i can get food on the

table. then we can beat the global pandemic. this is not where the american people are and this is not what we should be focused on right now. we should be focused on doing the things that are going to help the american people, and i think we need to elect people that understand that raising taxes right now is a bad thing. killing jobs, like canceling keystone, is a bad thing. having policy that does not uplift, empower, and strengthen the american people, all-americans, is a bad thing. the republican national committee and republicans across the country are going to highlight the differences and create the contrast of what that ms. administration -- of what this administration and the democrats in this country are doing to advances forward and not a positive way socially, economically, and on every metric. we have to hold them accountable and we are going to do that. host: earlier this morning, we asked the viewers whether they

support or oppose president biden's climate change agenda. we will go to that conversation in just a few minutes, but let's go to fill in baldwin, missouri, a republican. hi, phil. caller: yeah, hi. i am calling with a concern about the format of your show here. first of all, we will talk about the nasty last caller who was a product of the mainstream media. there's not one thing she said there that has been proven. then you have this nice democratic lady who gave us a backhanded compliment. paris, how are you going to change the republican party so they are like the democrats? that's her concern. then there was a republican, it's suppose it republican that said trump had no policy. no, he had policy, you just

didn't like the policy. then someone else jumped in, it was supposed to be a republican, truly was not. then the moderator jumps in and was rude enough to ask the rnc if they think trump incited the riot. ok? this is like a tough debate here. you get six people jumping on this great rnc representative, and you want to know if trump incited the riots? you are part of the cancel culture, my dear lady. yes, you. yes, you. that's right. quit making faces. quit making faces and just do your job or get another job, because you are not any good at what you're doing right now. host: ok. mr. dennard, do you have any thoughts?

guest: i think the american people want to have objective media. i think they want to have objective journalists. want to have honest journalists. they want people with the same passion, vigor, almost obsession for president trump. do that for joe biden. do that for the democrats. let's not pretend this is not hypocrisy going on. if you believe that donald trump incited a riot, which i don't believe and i don't think anyone at the republican national committee believes that, you would ask the same questions about maxine waters and others, some of the comments others have made in the democrat party. i think if you look at if -- joe biden said, we are going to have a federal mass mandate. if you are on federal property, you must wear a mask. that is the law. that is my mandate through, i don't know, over 30 executive orders that he signed.

every time you appear in the capital without a mask, you are breaking your own federal policy. how serious are you taking this issue of covid-19? or mandates? you know, that is what the american people are talking about. it's fairness. it's accountability on both sides. and being hypocritical. i am not saying you are, i am saying the feeling that i think americans are just fed up with is the feeling that there was a one-sided focus on paring down, attacking republicans, trump supporters, and the former president. now we have joe biden in office as president of the united states and the democrats are in control, we give them a complete pass. i think they want to see media, they want to see journalists be fair and be honest about it. host: paris dennard with the

republican national committee. we appreciate your time and the conversation this morning. thank you. guest: thank you for having me. i hope to be on again. host: we will have you back again. when we take a break, we are going -- we are going to take a break. when we return, we are going to return to our question from earlier, do you support or oppose president biden's climate change proposal? ♪ >> sunday night on "q&a," investigative journalist lawrence roberts talks about his book "mayday: 1971," which examines the spring offensive when tens of thousands of anti-vietnam war protesters, including vietnam war veterans, came to washington, d.c. in an effort to shut down the federal government.

>> the story it tells is a much larger one. it is a story about how we as a nation, we as a people, as individuals, dealt with one of those periodic emergencies and american democracy. does the justice system deliver justice? do people stick by their principles or are they caught up in their own self-preservation? it's a story of the clash between un-embattled president in this case, which is nixon, who confronts the social movement in the streets, in this case the antiwar movement, just as he is trying to get reelected. what constitutional lines were crossed in an effort to stay in power? >> investigative journalist lawrence roberts, sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span's "q&a." >> "washington journal"

continues. host: president biden yesterday at the white house outlined his climate change agenda. we want to know your thoughts on it. first, let's listen to the president yesterday. [video clip] >> we know what to do. we've just got to do it. when we think of climate change, we think, this is a case where conscious and convenience cross paths. we are dealing with an existential threat to the planet and increasing our economic growth and prosperity. it's one and the same. when i think of climate change, i think of jobs. a key plank of our build back better recovery plan is building a resilient climate infrastructure and clean energy infrastructure that will create millions of good paying union jobs, not seven dollars, eight dollars, $10, $12 an hour, but prevailing wage and benefits. we can modernize our water

systems, our energy, or transportation, our infrastructure to withstand the impacts of extreme climate. we have already reached a point where we have to live with what it is now. that will require a lot of work all by itself without it getting worse. renewable energy, we see american manufacturing, american workers racing to lead the global market. american agriculture is the first in the world to gain zero carbon emissions and boost the economy in the process. we see small business and master electricians designing and installing and innovating energy, conserving technologies -- energy conserving technologies and building homes and buildings. we are going to reduce energy consumption and save hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on energy in the process. host: the associated press quoting him, saying we can't wait any longer to

address climate crisis. do you agree? if you do, dial in at (202) 748-8000. if you are opposed, (202) 748-8001. you can also text us at (202) 748-8003 and go to twitter and facebook as well, and join the conversation there. let me read one text from deb in columbia, missouri, who says consumers are responsible for pollution. what they need to have is manufactured --, work from home, drive and buy less. biden's plan will only make the rich richer and poor poorer. let's go to robert in pennsylvania, supporting the climate change agenda. good morning to you, go ahead. caller: yes, my name is robert. i support bidens environmental push. host: ok, and why? you know what, robert -- hey,

robert? pause for a second. mute the television, just talk and listen through your phone. caller: ok. i support it because we need to clean up our environment and we have to worry about this climate change. it's real. it is not unreal. i am tired of the lies of the republican party and the extreme people out there that are just trying to support the republican party and their president and lied about everything. host: robert, you are getting confused because you are hearing that feedback. a reminder if you call, you are going to be on-air, so turn down the television and just listen it talk to us through the phone. john in connecticut, you oppose these proposals by the president. good morning. caller: good morning, thanks for taking my call. the issue that i hope moderators like you would went out more is

the 25 year exemption for china and india, particularly china. that's the problem i have with it. host: in the paris climate agreement? caller: yes. as far as i understand, there is a 25 year exemption for china, where they don't have to comply with this. in the meantime, american businesses are complying with it. they are being hurt by it and by biden shutting off all the oil leases, it is hurting our energy independence and costing jobs. so this whole thing makes no sense to me, what biden is doing. the problem i have, these things that are being pointed out by the press -- aren't being pointed out by the press. host: where have you read that? caller: read what? host: about the exemption for china and india? caller: every time i read about the paris accord, it says india and china

have a 25 year exemption. i believe i have read that since the very beginning of it and it never gets reported properly. one of them was in "the washington post c check i -- washington post." check it out. host: let's go to ed in stockbridge, georgia. good morning. caller: good morning. i am a retired teacher on a fixed income, and i am so happy i can watch the news again and don't have to mute it when the president is giving a news conference. i definitely support the green program and you know, it is going to create so many jobs and even if it raises taxes, it is worth it to be able to give our children and grandchildren a safe and healthy earth.

i just want to say that the gentleman paris, boy, i tell you, he has to wake up. he's terrible. you folks do a great job and i watch you every day. host: well, let me show you what the senator from wyoming had to say, the republican. he was yesterday questioning the biden, president biden's nominee to head energy, questioning her about the impacts of the president's decision to end leasing, oil and gas leases on federal lands and the impact of that on jobs. take a listen. [video clip] >> a long-term ban on oil and gas leasing is going to cost about 62,000 jobs in new mexico, and we have the senator from new mexico here. 33,000 jobs in wyoming. 18,000 jobs in colorado. long-term bands are going to cut revenue to mexico and wyoming --

new mexico and wyoming by hundreds of millions of dollars. i am just curious how a long-term ban consistent with the president's goal of unifying our country and putting americans back to work and helping our economies grow, how is that all consistent? >> i think the president's plan of building back better, which would create more jobs in energy, clean energy, then the jobs that might be sacrificed. i will say this -- no job -- we don't want to see any jobs sacrificed. when you opened up your remarks, sir, your remarks about technology were so important. this is why reducing ghd emissions is so important in the fossil fuel arena. the moratorium on public lands, i know for those states that have these jobs in abundance, this is something we are going

to have to work on together to ensure that people remain employed. but i will say that the licenses that currently are operating are not going to be disrupted. they will continue to operate. the oil and gas industry in particular, they've got 10,000 licenses that they have, and that will not be disrupted. they can continue to permit and deploy and extract energy from. it is only on future licenses that this moratorium exists. that would give us some time to be able to work on creating jobs and diversifying and providing good paying jobs in every pocket of the country and, to senator manchin's point, i know part of what joe biden has put together is a sort of swat team inside the federal government to focus on communities that are, that have powered america and to make sure we don't leave those workers behind. host: former michigan governor

and energy secretary testifying on capitol hill yesterday. kelly, you oppose in texas. go ahead. caller: yes i do, ma'am. host: and why, kelly? caller: because he's killing so many jobs right now. i mean, our carbon was down before and now -- i'm sorry, i mean the keystone pipeline, he's killing those jobs, he's putting more people out of work and he wants to unite the country with all these crazy ideas he's coming up with? this is socialism at its best. host: ok. holly in new york, you support. holly? caller: i support climate work, but my concern is that the previously un-gendered political parties are being transformed by men for male versus female policy gaining purposes, into

the female proxy democrats -- host: holly, i will stick to the conversation. supporter of climate change -- support or oppose climate change, linda in pennsylvania, you oppose. caller: yes i do. i oppose it because they are taking jobs away from the american people and it seems like this united states is going down in a deeper hole. i mean, you know, they can give president trump all kind of hell, but he tried to help the people of the united states. that's just the way i feel. to me, he was on tv the other night and he acted like he either had dementia or alzheimer's. host: an earlier caller mentioned the paris climate agreement and whether or not

india and china have it easier. that is a statement made by florida republican senator rick scott. alyssa -- politifact looked into this question. under the agreement, each country submits a set of greenhouse gas reduction targets, and they write in its 2016 plan, china said by 2030, it would lower carbon dioxide emissions per unit from 60% to 65% compared to 2005 releases. while it's emissions would rise as the economy grew, they would not rise as much as they would have if everything works the way it did in 2005. china said they would aim for carbon dioxide emissions to peak in 2030. india set a more modest goal. both china and india had additional goals on their list. they go on to write in the

article, benjamin zeiger, resident scholar at the american enterprise, said scott has a point. there is no enforcement mechanism. but is this an unfair advantage? scott's reference to china and india was misleading. it implies that they are subject to weaker requirements than the u.s.. that's correct. the compliance rules might be weak, but they apply equally to all countries. the biden administration will determine how ambitious these goals will be when the u.s. rejoins the agreement. adam, you support. good morning. caller: good morning. i do support any movement in this direction by the administration. i also really support the people that, or really understand the people that don't want this kind of government implementation,

because it is a really big, valid fear for their current jobs. we don't really want to recognize the fact that the current jobs that people have today in the energy industry are really developed and supported and are endorsed by government backing over decades. it seems pretty evident that this type of energy resource can only be valuable for maybe another couple of decades. movement by governments, looking ahead and backing technologies and backing the creation of new ways of energy production in the united states, i think will eventually in 20 to 30 years, 40

years, we could be the leaders in this. but i'm saying if we continue to endorse the old technology, we are going to fall behind. host: ok. bradley, who opposes in clear fork, west virginia. caller: good morning, good morning, c-span. you are doing a pretty good job down there. i am against it because i'll tell you why, these other countries are not doing it and we are killing our united dates and our country by letting those -- united states and our country by letting those people get by, like china, russia. over and china, you could not see each other over there. if they are back end about, why can't you see nobody. these people in the united states need to wake up. you are eliminating jobs in the gas lines in west virginia and out west, and especially coal. it's just like a tree.

when the tree falls in the woods, it rots and creates all this pollution in the air. when the mountains are cut down in the woods are cut down for building you a house and that rots. it pollutes the air. what are we going to do? live under a cliff somewhere or another because it is polluting? we need to work with these other countries too and not stabbed the united states and kill all our jobs here, which is already across the water. you can't pick nothing up that isn't made across the water. host: the senate is holding a confirmation hearing for the secretary of housing and urban development. that's happening in just a few minutes, we will bring you there . if you off to start your day --

if you have to start your day, watch on your phone, or download the free c-span radio app and listen there. richard and rockefeller, maryland, you support. hi, richard. caller: hi, yes. i am 69 and have children in their mid-30's. i truly believe this is going to get worse and worse and worse. china and india, they are working, their technology is apparently extremely good and we could use some technology to solve some of our climate problems. host: i'm sorry, it's very difficult to hear you. you are breaking up. maybe you can call back again. robert says i am on board, and realize there is an entire industry against these moves, but they have to admit that the ocean levels rising will affect many of their facilities on coastal lands. they will have to deal with it too.

it is not just a political issue. dave in auburn, new york. you oppose. good morning. caller: i think you create a vacuum. you take an ax and chop everything off. they will have less demand with high prices. there will be fewer of those jobs and it will affect things all the way across. second, you can't just transport people around to create these solar panels. it almost reminds me of jumping in your car and driving to where the jobs are. that's not going to happen. incrementally, yes. i think there is an issue, but you can't do it, not like this. you can't transform this thing instantly. that's what they are trying to do. host: carly in minneapolis, support. she texts us to say this technology is going to happen,

so why shouldn't the u.s. develop and profit from it rather than china? we have been blessed with the best minds in the world, let's do this. i'm sure stagecoach drivers were displaced too, but they did transition. let's be brave. caller: i believe we need to go in this direction. we are going this way anyway, and china and india are going in this direction. people are concerned about not having jobs over here, we don't have jobs because we are stuck in the past and the old ways. we are not going to change overnight, we just need to start doing things to help, like affordable housing, staying close around local, keeping the energy we really need to the places we need them to go. i really appreciate your show and i think you are a wonderful host, and i am sorry that people rip on you when they call in. have a great day. host: thank you. i am open to constructive

criticism. everybody is who sits in this chair. nancy and savannah, georgia. go ahead. caller: hello. thank you for having me. i just want to echo the sentiments of the last caller. i'm a younger person, i am in my 30's. i am an army veteran. i developed cardiomyopathy from standing and guarding oil pipes. these are not even healthy jobs for the people. we have to be concerned not only about the environment and the next generation, but our health, how healthy our own environment is. our water. our air. we have to change. no one is trying to make anybody change automatically, right away. everything has plans and steps. everyone is saying repeatedly, we are going to help people transition. there is such a divide here in our country that no matter what,

people are going to stand stove -- so sturdy in their ways. china and india are not just coming up, they already have the technologies. the cities are better than ours. their infrastructure is better than ours. we have to come on. host: andrew in ohio. you oppose. caller: yes, the democrats. this fabrication from the party of science -- republicans need to go more offensive on this global warming nonsense. the antarctica ice is 98% solid ice still. the only country on earth more than antarctica is russia. global temperature has moved from one point 82 degrees fahrenheit since 1880, but there was a warming period during the middle ages and there was a

roman warming period between 250 bc to ab 400, so we are not the cause of the earth warming. one more point, the wildfires. the deadliest wildfire was in 1871 in wisconsin and blaming wildfires for global warming, when it has been an natural incurrence. host: elizabeth, manchester township, new jersey. you support? caller: 100%. i think we have to move toward the future. i respect andrew, but i would like to know if he has a science degree. scientists have said it is detrimental to the environment. host: we are listening. caller: it will create better jobs, it will move america towards a better future. there will be more jobs. technology is what we need to be

following today. we need to move towards a better future and leaders in the world again. host: ok, lydia in new york. what do you say? caller: hi. i am little of the road on this. i oppose the way it is being done. i feel if it is too -- hello? sen. crapo: we are listening -- host: we are listening. caller: you can't suddenly stop one thing and do another. i believe in doing things that are good for the environment, maybe it would've good to finish the pipelines, half that, gradually do more and more with green energy. that way you are not having people suddenly lose jobs, you are gradually getting things in place. that is what i think would have been a better way to go. host: levan in baltimore, you support? caller: i do support.

when we look at the cost of the climate change in our country, almost $95 billion a year, it is costing us. it is nationwide. we have the fires going, the floods, tornadoes generally outside the scope of what has been normal. as far as the keystone -- host: i'm going to jump in. the senate banking committee is getting underway their hearing for president died in's hud -- biden's hud nominee, as well as counsel on economic advisors. cracks there will be a flight delay -- slight delay before you are displayed. please hit the mute button until it is your turn to speak. if there is a technology issue, we will move to the next senator until that is resolved. i would like to remind all