group america's voice reviews biden's executive orders on immigration policy. and we will take your carl -- calls. washington journal is next. ♪ host: good morning. it is saturday, february 6. so far, around 30 million people have received either one or both doses of the covid-19 vaccine in the u.s. congress is working toward more money for the effort. well governments continue to work through the various issues of supply and logistics, we would like to hear how the rollout is going in your state. here's how to take part in the conversation. if you live in eastern or central time zones, call (202) 748-8000. if you live in the mountain or

pacific time zones, (202) 748-8001. there is a third line this morning for those who have been vaccinated already. we want to hear your story. (202) 748-8002 is that number. a couple other ways to take part. send us a text, (202) 748-8003. please leave your name and the city you are calling from. @cspanwj is our twitter handle. you can also post a comment at facebook.com/c-span. the washington post has a covid tracker. here are some of the numbers. 29.6 million people have received one or both doses of the vaccine in this country, including more than 8 million people who have been fully vaccinated. larger figure. 58.4 million overall doses have been distributed to the states. we want to hear what is happening in the states. they say that vaccination has sped up across the country, but

is struggling to keep pace with expectations as estate have widened the pool of eligible recipients. we know that president biden previously announced a goal of protecting one million people per day in his first 100 days, but they write the office is working to buy more vaccines. more here. supplies of vaccines allocated to states are below the expanding group of eligible people. they are struggling to make and keep appointments as supply trails demand. on the other hand, the post writes some states are filing -- falling behind their goal because of reluctance to take the vaccine. doses are currently allocated for only one third of the priority population identified by the states. many states are doing a poor job

describing who is getting the vaccine. the washington post there. before we start getting to your calls, more about the need. frank pallone asked a witness what states need at this point. [video clip] rep. pallone: my understanding is that the states are still wanting resources and needed additional money. we did not provide any state and local aid directly, and many are still using their own money and need federal help. those are two questions. what happened with that three-pronged biden plan, and what do you need? >> thank you for that question. i have been appreciative of the biden administration.

we have three weeks of transparency as far as how much vaccine will be given to the states. that is helpful. they can go ahead and schedule -- we also are very thrilled that, potentially, the american rescue plan will go through. we certainly need additional funding. we are at a point where i have contact tracers getting involved in vaccination efforts, other things in the health department. we absolutely need more funding to build out our infrastructure to bring in more staff to be able to support our vaccination effort. host: just part of one of the many hearings on covid we covered. you can watch the all in c-span.org, including that one. the new york times.

a simple map here. see how the vaccination rollout is going in your state. in general, the darker shaded states on this map indicates the larger shares of population that have gotten at least one shot. if you look around the country, you see states that are doing well comparatively, vermont, connecticut, delaware, virginia, west virginia, arkansas, oklahoma, the dakotas, new mexico, alaska, states with a higher share of population that have gotten a shot. various reasons for this. we will go through this over the hour, but we want to hear your stories. inverness, florida first, susan. how is the real outgoing? -- real outgoing? -- how is the rollout going? caller: pretty bad. host: you are saying good for

your state, but bad for your area? caller: we are pretty rural. in florida, one third of the population is over 65. we have been dealing with first,, first serve -- first come, first served. you cannot wait all night long in your car. it is like you get online and the system crashes. they keep adding more counties so their website cannot handle the traffic. the other day, my county had only allocated 200 appointments and others are getting thousands. when i called my department of health to find out how many people have been vaccinated in this county, this was last week i called, the department of health told me 5000 people. then i asked, well, how many has

publix vaccinated? "we don't know." she said you have to ask them. i said how come they are not telling you? don't you need to know? she said, we have no idea. so i called publix. they don't know. we cannot tell you. so i find it extremely strange that nobody has a handle on how many people in this county, which i said one third is over 65, yet they do not know how many of us have been vaccinated. host: so what is next for you? what is your next move? caller: keep trying. the state finally called it -- finally did a thing called get in line. it is like the lottery. host: susan, thanks for sharing

your story. let's go on to tennessee. millington, good morning to you sir. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. host: sure. caller: i live in millington, tennessee, about 30 minutes north of memphis. it is going good. the health department has picked it up. a lot of the policies around this area are picking it up. i have not gotten my vaccine yet. i am 62 years old. i expect in the next couple of weeks, they should be calling me. host: all right, steve. thank you. we have william in nashville, tennessee. what is your perception of what is going on in tennessee and in your area? caller: [indiscernible] host: are you there? we will move on to middleton in west virginia, who has been vaccinated already.

is that correct, sir or ma'am? caller: good morning. . yes -- yes. i got my first shot wednesday and i will get the next on march 3. they are bragging on west virginia, but they are just seeing a surplus. they are not getting underneath because i know two people, families, the husband got the shot but the wife did not. that's not right. they live together, but they cannot get the shot together? they are separating people like this and their families. host: so, middleton, tell us more about your experience. you say you have gotten one shot. you are waiting for your second. what was your experience like?

where did you go and what was it like for you? caller: i signed up with my county health department and also -- i didn't know. i went online. i filled out the form. and you don't know that you are on the list or not, so i called the local health department to ask them if i am on the list. i just wanted to know. i did not want to say i want my shot now. the girl told me we cannot do that yet, but since the state did the new program, where they put all the health departments into one big thing, she says, i will be able to check it and see if your name is on the list and call you back. i am still waiting on the call.

i was put on the master list. i am also on the local list. but my wife, she goes to valley health systems, a clinic, they have been calling her and says we will let you know. they are the ones that called her, told her we are going to give her shots at this certain time, and she called them back, she says, i want my husband included also and they said yes. so we both got our shots last wednesday. the problem i am having is my shoulder is sore. that is the only thing so far. host: i am showing folks a headline about west virginia, where officials there are saying, we crushed it. they talked about how west virginia became a national leader in covid vaccination. i know you pointed to certain

problems and issues, but do you have a sense of what is attributing to that reference point about your state? caller: i think i am lucky. i am 74. my wife is 70. we are in the right group, but the health department was not taking care of it, and the main one was not taking care of it, but i got to the clinic. they let the clinics have the vaccines. they can get the moderna. that is the one they can get because you do not have to keep it refrigerated. host: thank you for your time this morning. we want to get some other voices on. joan from minnesota sends a text. "poor job. all clinics and pharmacies say they are ready, but no vaccine.

this week was better. many places only getting 100 doses for a week. this is not acceptable." back to this tracker at the new york times, how each jurisdiction is reporting, the territories in the states, and you can see that west virginia is among the higher percentage states, 11% of people in west virginia have received at least one shot. 4.9% have received at least two shots. you can go to this chart, and we will refer back to it from time to time as this goes on. during that to house energy commerce subcommittee hearing we covered, someone asked about doses distributed, sent out around the country, versus those administered. [video clip] >> there has been confusion as to why there is a discrepancy

between the number of doses distributed compared to the number of doses administered by the states. the cdc website notes that as of january 1, 39 point 9 million doses have been distributed, but fewer have been administered. can you explain the reason, if you know, in the discrepancy between doses distributed and administered? >> thank. in west virginia, i am working to have local control of the doses. we understand that. certainly other states have adopted different strategies, and there are significant, as i understand it, numbers of doses not accounted for in the current system. and whether those are some of the doses that have gone into various programs like the federal pharmacy program and others, i don't know off the top of my head.

but certainly maintaining control and understanding where the doses are are critical components of success. host: -- >> how do you will track where the vaccine is being sent and how it is being used? >> we received every dose into one of five hubs located around the state so that the shortest distance is required to move the vaccine between places. we track each dose sent with a gps tracker. we have an inventory. we know the vaccine is brought back to the central hub and reallocated if not administered. host: the website, covidcdc.gov, says total doses sent, 58 million plus. mary tweets from west virginia,

west virginia is doing well. i am not in the targeted group, so i am waiting for my time. there is also a text -- first of all, he writes, a big thank you to president trump forgetting is the vaccine. -- trump forgetting us -- trump for getting us the vaccine. dolores is in california. good morning. caller: good morning. tell us what is going on -- host: tell us what is going on. caller: my experience has been that i, according to resources, qualify as being the priority group to be vaccinated, yet the way -- what i have to do is get an appointment through a computer system that is completely, elaborately set up.

so many choices to make. so much information is in there. you get to the end and they say you qualify, find a clinic, appointments available, and never has there been one appointment available. the next option would be you can get your name on a notification system to be notified and i have done that three times. and when notification came through -- and one notification came through. this is the most populous area of los angeles and i have not heard anything different. i thought, why did my primary care provider, a huge health care system in los angeles, not involved in that part of the treatment? because they give out vaccines for everything else. why wouldn't they want to?

in the beginning, they said we are not doing it. they had the capacity. they have got the vaccines for their health care workers. they have the storage capacity. finally, they set up a system where only certain people -- and i was told i would get an invitation for my health care provider, but right now -- i am 65 and older and i have pulmonary -- i have a pulmonary condition and a condition that has compromised my immune system, yet i was told only people with cancer and on transplants are going to be the priority receiving the vaccine now, and i have not heard a word from them as far as getting the vaccine, so it is like we are helpless. the bigger the place -- where i am anyway. i live alone. i reached out to my local congresspeople to see if they are helping as well as the

health care system, which is huge, the university based health care system, and there is no way to get through. people will answer the phone and they will tell you things but they are not based on real knowledge they are allowed to have. host: no help from the congressional office? caller: mainly because you do not get hold of a congressperson or anyone with authority. you might get a volunteer who might be a high school student taking your information. they are making a decision whether or not you are important enough to get through. i was told by one person for my city congressperson that because i am the first person that complained about this one problem, i am considered statistically insignificant, and i really tried to make a big deal out of that. i said, you know -- it is just there is no way to get through. you are just one person and you

do not know somebody. host: doris, thank you for sharing your situation. we want to hear from steve and others. steve is in st. louis. we hear you have been vaccinated already, correct? caller: yes. i received my shot about three weeks ago. host: you are one of those 7 million people that have had both shots in the country. how has that been? caller: it was great. i never had any side effects. it was unbelievable. i will say this -- i want to get a plug in for the veterans association. i am a veteran. they sent me a letter. two days later, i went in to get my first shot, the pfizer shot. and it just went, bam, bam, bam. no problem whatsoever. very organized. my wife is 69. she has been getting on one website after another in the st.

louis area. she finally received in the mail that she is registered. so -- i am sorry. so hopefully, she will be getting her shot down the road, but it is chaos here like everywhere else. host: steve, what do you know about immunity, hoped-for immunity, now that you have the second shot? how long do you need to be waiting before you consider venturing out? caller: i will continue to wear the mask, social distance. i am not going to just drop everything. the nurse there told me -- the word they are giving now, 14 days before -- everything with the vaccine will kick in. that's what she told me. i am not going out without a mask. i am not going to run to walmart and run around.

i will follow the guidelines until we get more people -- host: i think we lost steve. thank you for calling and sharing the situation. 7 million people have gotten both vaccines so far. we are hearing your stories about vaccine rollouts in your state, how was the state doing, how was your experience either trying to get a shot or whether you have had one already. at the same time, the president is moving forward, president biden and democrats in congress, at least, are moving forward to get more money on the table, not just for people in their monthly bills, but also covid. this headline, amid poor jobs reports, biden calls for fast aid with or without the gop. they write that president biden,

spurred by a lackluster jobs report, said on friday that the economy was in need of urgent help and republicans should either get on board with a robust stimulus package or expect his plan to pass without their support. here's what he had to say yesterday. [video clip] >> i am looking for the american people. i'm going to act fast. i would like to be doing it with the support of republicans. i have met with republicans. there are some really fine people wanting to get something done, but they are not willing to go as far as i think we have to go. i have told republicans and democrats that it is my preference to work together, but if i had to choose between getting help right now to americans who are hurting so badly and getting bogged down in a lengthy negotiation or compromising on a bill that is up to the crisis, it is an easy choice.

i am going to help the american people who are hurting now. that is why i am so grateful to the house and the senate for moving so fast on the american rescue plan. host: here are some of the details on this american rescue plan. $1400 in direct payments on top of the $600 passed in september for a total of $2000 per person. $400 per week unemployment insurance supplement. an extension on the moratorium on evictions. $400 billion to fight coronavirus and reopen schools. $350 billion for state and local governments. $15 an hour for the minimum wage. expanding sick paid leave for workers and expanding the tax credit for families with children. both houses have passed their budget resolutions, which means they have a blueprint to move forward and craft legislation, which we may see in the coming

weeks. from pennsylvania, think you for waiting. go ahead, please. caller: thank you for having me. in my area, nothing is offered and i am in high risk. i have two autoimmune problems. my daughter is high risk, and nothing. nothing is offered for this area. host: where is your town, exactly? caller: that's a good question. newtown square, upper darby, drexel hill. host: yep. philadelphia area, right? caller: not far from philadelphia. host: what has your process been? caller: my daughter lives in another town and she is high risk, and so i might because of

my autoimmune problem. -- and so amide because of my own -- my autoimmune problem. she got an appointment but because she did not live in that county, they dropped her off the list. in other words, it has to be in your county for you to be able to go get a shot, and there is nothing offered right now, nothing. and i don't have a computer, so i rely on my daughter, and she has been doing it, and nothing is coming up. host: thank you for calling this morning. pennsylvania overall, according to the new york times tracker, 7.8% of people in pennsylvania have received at least one shot. 2.2 percent have received both shots. looking at the list a little bit is ohio. 8% of people have received at least one shot. from ohio right now is sandy in

kent, ohio, who has been vaccinated. sandy, tell us your story. host: yes, i live -- caller: i live in senior housing. walgreens came to our building and vaccinated the ones who wanted it. i have had both shots. the first shot i had i just felt tired, sore arm a little bit. the second shot, which i got monday. i had fever, aches, pains, weakness. the arm was not sore very long at all, but all week, i have not quite been myself, but we were lucky that they came in here and gave it to those who wanted it. we were grateful for that. and they were very nice. walgreens was very nice, but some people here that got both shots did not have any of the fevers or anything, but i did,

so i think it works different for different people. host: thanks, sandy. walter, ocala, florida, good morning. caller: i live in florida and i can tell you my experience with this is there has simply been no plan. there is no way that you can go online and these websites are the most inapt thing -- the most inept thing i have ever witnessed in my life. this is a joke. i guess this is the republican plan. there never was a plan. thank you for listening. i hope everybody has a good day. host: all right, walter. joe from kentucky sent us a text. "i called every day for the last 30 trying to get a shot. cancer survivor, diabetic. i found that people are putting their family in first they

shouldn't get a shot. very poor world out." laura, calling from florida, you have been vaccinated. tell us how you went about the process. caller: i was part of the group for health-care workers. i got the vaccine through my job and it was in the job. we had a lottery, but the lottery was, like, stratified by risk. if you are working directly with other patients versus working in the outpatient clinic. i got the pfizer vaccine, and after the first dose, i did not feel anything except for my arm was sore for a couple days, and then my second dose, i ended up having some pretty, like, strong feelings. i had a fever, body aches for about 24 hours, but i did take

that as a good sign because i knew it was my body doing what it was supposed to do and it was definitely completely worth it. host: lauren, as a medical professional, what is your perspective on how the baltimore area is doing in maryland as a whole with rule out? --with the rollout? caller: from what i have read in the newspapers, i have seen a lot of criticism in baltimore because, a couple weeks ago, we had only one vaccination site for the public and that was located on the outside of the city in an area that is not very accessible to public transportation, which a lot of people rely on, especially, like, people that might be more at risk, people from disadvantaged communities. so that was a concern. i think they are trying to open up more sites, but i do not know how much is up and running yet. host: lauren, thank you for

calling from baltimore. lewis is in tucson, arizona. tell us how your state and area is doing. caller: actually, it is not as organized as it should be, i don't think. i happen to have a disability. i am 56 years old. i have cerebral palsy with comorbidities. i also have people that come into my home and help me every day because of it, so i put myself on the county website. they put it into groupings and i am in 1-b. they are still working on 1-a, but with my comorbidities, it is concerning, and the coordination could be better. host: here's a text from jeff from peru, illinois. "if you do not have internet, you cannot get an appointment or

vaccination. my 80-year-old mother has not been able to get vaccinated." we want to show another clip from this energy and commerce subcommittee hearing about seniors, the elderly. the democrat from illinois asks what is being done to help those people get the vaccine. [video clip] >> it is so important that we are able to get the vaccine told her americans, and i know that in illinois now, we are in 1-b, people 65 and older, but we have seen some difficulties. i have certainly heard calls at my office of people that age and way more that are having a hard time just navigating the system, and i am just wondering what kinds of things you are doing and the state is doing to make sure that our older population is having access to the vaccines.

>> thank you. we know that everyone is not able to use the internet and access vaccines that way, so all of the local health departments are being encouraged to use resources to expand the phone lines so that there can be people they can call and have hands and reach out personally and help schedule that vaccine so they can call back with a time. we need more people, not just vaccinators, but community organizations that can help with identifying people who need the vaccine but cannot get it through the methods that have been established, including even transporting people who want to get vaccinated to the site. all of those things are part and parcel of getting our most vulnerable populations

vaccinated as well. host: there is also the story we woke up to this morning at axios.com. the pentagon will deploy over 1000 troops to support vaccination sites over the country. dod will send more than 1000 active-duty personnel to vaccination sites across the country. the pentagon approved the request from fema to provide military aid for five vaccination centers as part of an effort to meet president biden's goal of vaccinating 100 million people in those first 100 days. it is unclear if or when the request for 10,000 will happen. the first troops will arrive in california to begin operations around february 15 with added missions soon to follow. they came from the white house covid advisor at the press -- at a press briefing. we have allen on the line, calling from oak hill, virginia.

you have been vaccinated. tell us your story. caller: i live in rural virginia and we have three main sources of vaccination. there is an exceptionally capable rural health system here as well as a local hospital and then the department of health. all of them give vaccinations now and i read somewhere that cvs is going to be giving vaccinations as well. when my group -- and i would be i guess in 1-b, but i am over 75, and when i learned that the rural health organization was going to be accepting applications or appointments by phone, i called up the very first day and had no trouble whatsoever scheduling my wife and myself for our first shots. it was done smoothly and

remarkably on time, as per our appointments and we are scheduled for our second shot a week from monday. host: a positive experience so far, then. caller: exceptionally, at least here. i cannot speak for the entire state. i have heard complaints about the difference between doses distributed and doses administered, and i think that's -- that does not take into account that it takes time for the information -- when they are distributed, they are distributed to the states, as far as i know, and it will take time for them to get down to the next level, locally, and then used. it looks about like two thirds of the nearly 60 million doses that have been distributed have already been put into arms. i think that's amazing. i think it's terrific. i know there are local problems, but you are dealing with

government bureaucracies and complicated systems and it will take a while to sort it out. i think people should pay attention to what they have been doing for months and months, and that is wear masks, do not circulate yourself, and relax. don't get hysterical about it. host: thank you for calling, alan. joseph in california, good morning. caller: i have been calling and since you guys started. i am almost 80. that's my only comorbidity. i am just curious about -- you know, talking about crisis management with the government, i mean, there seems to be so much focus put on creating a new system. we have been distributing flu vaccines in this country for years and years and years. we already have a good distribution system, but what i

am mainly concerned about is what we are trying to achieve is heard immunity. -- heard immunity. -- herd immunity. how many people that have been vaccinated is not the only contribution to herd immunity. how many people are immune naturally by getting the virus? we have no clue. we have all this panic and anxiety going on for two reasons. one, duplicating a system we already have in place. they should just let everybody who is in my age group who has comorbidities just be able to go to their -- how they have been getting their flu vaccine and get that out of the way and then tell the people, try to figure out how many people are already immune. so right now, it looks like, you know, we are we off the mark, but we are not because so many

people have already gotten this thing and have been over and they are already immune. they are not even being counted. so we don't even know where we are. host: thank you for weighing in. another californian, russ, writes that poor planning and the san diego area. news that the vaccine is on the way. states new that the vaccine was on the way. more help needed giving shots. the wall street journal -- school attendance declines. more kids have been absent this year than a year earlier. this according to new research in the wall street journal about school attendance declines in the pandemic. here is the washington post covering this. the super bowl raises new virus

alarms. experts fear a spike as americans are tempted to gather. this is the super bowl tomorrow, happening in tampa, florida. also, the virus upends lunar new year. in china, for the second time, the revelers are disappointed and angry over the disruption. a shot of yankee stadium in the new york times. open for vaccines friday only for residents of the bronx, hard-hit borough. pointing out the progress there. one of the earlier callers mentioned cvs. here is jeff zients of the administration, the white house covid 19 response coordinator. he talked about a plan to deliver these vaccines straight to pharmacies. [video clip] >> pharmacies are readily accessible in most communities, with most americans living

within five miles of a pharmacy. that's why we are pleased to announce the first phase of the federal retail pharmacy program for covid vaccinations. this is a key component of president biden's national strategy, offering vaccinations in america's pharmacies. starting february 11, the federal government will deliver vaccines directly to select pharmacies across the country. this will provide more sites for people to get vaccinated in their communities and it is an important component to delivering vaccines equitably. this pharmacy program will expand access to neighborhoods across the country, so you can make an appointment and get your shot conveniently and quickly, but i wanted to set expectations appropriately. due to the current supply constraints, this will be limited when it begins next week. supply will only be at about 6500 stores nationwide before expanding. in the early phase, many

pharmacies across this country will not have vaccine, or may have limited supply. people should make sure they meet their stay's eligibility requirements and then check availability on their local pharmacy's website. equity is at the core of how the cdc is working with states to select pharmacy partners for this first phase. sites are selected based on their ability to reach some of the populations most at risk for severe illness from covid, including socially vulnerable communities. the cdc will monitor the data on an ongoing basis to make sure that our missy's are efficiently and equitably -- that pharmacies are efficiently and equitably distributing vaccines. this will ensure that pharmacies have the infrastructure and experience they need to scale up when vaccine supply increases in the months ahead.

eventually, as we are able to increase supply, up to 40,000 pharmacies nationwide could provide covid-19 vaccinations. these are places ranging from local independent pharmacies and national pharmacies in supermarkets. this is a critical step to providing the public convenient places to get vaccines in their communities. host: louise in eastlake, ohio, you have been vaccinated. caller: yes. i got my first vaccination yesterday. i was registered at six different places and got my shot, a pfizer shot, at walgreens. i go back march 4 for my second shot. my sister is in pennsylvania. she is 75, has a heart condition, and she has still not got her shot or her husband. host: what was your own

experience like getting that first shot? caller: wonderful. they may be an appointment and i was there early. they were done before 4:20. because i'm a part-time uber driver, she told me wait two weeks after the second shot before i go out there. i will still be masking and taking care of myself, you know? i take vitamins and that, but i am grateful. host: but you plan to get back out driving once you get the second shot? caller: a couple hours a day during the week. host: thank you, louise. tony from saint pete in florida. hey, tony. tony, you are on the air. tony, are you there? let's try carol in minneapolis.

good morning. caller: good morning. thank you. i am 80 and my husband is a couple years older than i am. february 1, i got a phone call and they said that my husband -- he passed away in a nursing home, asking if he would like to come in and get the shot. i said if he passed away. i asked if i could take his place and i had an appointment. i arrived. by 8:05, i had a shot and by 8:30 -- i had to wait. i had an appointment for my second shot two weeks later, february 18. it hurt less than the flu shot. i have been very careful with masks. and it could not have worked better. because i took my husband's

appointment a week after i got my shot, i got an email for my clinic telling me to make an appointment. i could come into my local clinic instead of going to a vaccination center. host: carol, what will be the same and what will be different for you once you get the second shot and the 14 days go by? will you change your routine at all? caller: no, not really. not until everybody does. i mean, regular church activities, not until the whole community -- i'm scheduled. i'm doing two different river cruises in europe next year, and i hope i can do those. the first one in june. but it is all up in the air. can i say this? my son is a pastor and we had a blizzard and a lot of the senior citizens could not cancel their

trip, so they put a call out to pastors. he went in and got a vaccine. he took his four-wheel-drive and drove through the blizzard and got his vaccine. i would also like to say i am getting the pfizer. it has to be kept at -70 degrees. if you live in minnesota, you would know, -70 degrees. you cannot just have it all over the place. also, they do not know -- if you have it, yeah, you probably do have immunization, but they do not know. i think we are going to need for everybody to wear their masks because they say, too, the areas for people where they are not wearing the masks is where they are getting the variances. we will all get well and have a good time. thank you. host: more of your stories for

this first hour of washington journal, including bob's in north carolina, who has been vaccinated. talk to us please. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. i am in the birthplace of andrew jackson. anyway. i got my first dose last sunday at the bank of america stadium outside of charlotte at the bank of america stadium. they did 20,000 people, i understand, and about three days. i could not be happier with it. i did get there fairly early, so parking was not that much of an issue. we walked in. it was pouring rain and everything, pretty cold. they had heaters set up inside. we walked in, went through the maze, one of those walk-through mazes. the health people were cheering and applauding as we went

through. i was very pleased with the experience. the second those is scheduled for the end of february. host: can i ask how old you are? caller: 71. host: retired? caller: i have been retired for about seven years and i'm loving it. today is saturday and you know what, tomorrow is saturday? host: will you change your routine at all when you get your second dose? caller: i do not intend to. we have our children living at the home, their spouses working from home, so i do not intend to do anything for a while. whenever i go out, i will still wear a mask or whatever. i am just going to play it safe for another 5, 6 months or so, get that herd immunity where it

needs to be, and after that, i think everything will be fine. host: bob in north carolina, thank you. this is a text from sue in new jersey. "slow at best has been the process in ocean county, where i live. many of the tough -- many have a tough time traveling for distances." more headlines. wall street journal -- shot works against u.k. variant. the astrazeneca vaccine is 75% effective against the new covid version. they wrote a column in the wall street journal about why covid shots are more scarce than flu shots. joe mcginty writes that manufacturers of flu vaccine distributed 190 3 million shots this season even as makers of

covid-19 vaccines have labored to get shots in arms. the disparity makes the response look like a train wreck, but the differences between the vaccines explain the gap. there are fewer makers and distributors of covid vaccines, and so must be stored at ultracold temperatures, making them difficult to ship and store. covid requires two shots compared to one with the flu, and providers muster out additional time to monitor patients for -- providers must allow for additional time to monitor patients for adverse reactions. just a little bit of an explanation from the wall street journal this morning. here is dr. anthony fauci at a washington post live event earlier this week talking about what is being done to increase that coordination between the government in the states. [video clip] >> if you look at the national

strategy for covid-19, part of that is trying to expedite the distribution, and that would be in the mind of all of us on the team a much better collaboration between the federal government and the locals, particularly the states and the cities. the federal government is not going to fix this alone, nor are the states going to do it if you just leave them on their own without any help. what that is going to be is a cooperation and a collaboration and a synergy between the feds in the states, but also the rolling out of community vaccine centers to make it easier to get it done in mass -- en masse. two, get the pharmacies more involved. three, use mobile units to get out to inaccessible areas, particularly concentrating on the concept of equity to get

minority populations who may not have as easy access to the vaccine to get that done. all of that is being implement it now and i believe, david, that you will see in the next few weeks a much bigger escalation of the capability of getting vaccine into people's arms. host: -- >> i take it this will be federal government led. you will work through state and local authorities, pharmacies, etc., but this will be led from washington? >> exactly. you will see more involvement of the federal government in assisting them we saw in -- assisting than we saw in previous months, when states were in many respects left on their own. we have to get the synergy between the feds in the states,

particularly some leadership from the federal government. host: you can watch these events at our website, c-span.org. tom is calling from michigan. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? host: doing fine, sir. how is it going? caller: going well other than it being cold and snowy. i received both my shots. i got my last one about a week ago. the real out here in my part of michigan has been fantastic. the health department opened their lines up, i signed up, was able to get in. it took less than two minutes to get the shots. in about seven or eight more days, i should hopefully be in the safe zone. not going to change a whole lot. when i do go out, i am going to wear a mask, keep my distance and whatnot, but i am thankful for my governor and the weight has been ruled out. -- the way it has been roll

ed out. host: arnie, different part of michigan. caller: it was in -- it was a fiasco in the beginning. i probably made about 50 phone calls. they did not have emails available. it was difficult and the only way i really got in, i think, and got my shots -- i had to have mind in another district -- was being persistent and making calls -- let's put it this way, to directors. i did not use normal phone lines because i was not successful. quite frankly, i think governor whitmer should have spent more time managing this instead of being in washington. i was a little disappointed because it was a fiasco. i am glad we got our shots.

the shots themselves, the organization as far as giving the shots, was adequate. it was quick. you had an appointment, went in, got it within an hours so. that is all i have to say. but i was disappointed in the initial fallout. they had a year to prepare for this and it is said. there's a lot of seniors, friends of ours, that are not even on the list yet. i have been trying to help them out a little bit by signing them up, but it is -- and there's a lot of people that got them. that i don't think should have gotten them.younger individuals and some of the colleges here had their own vaccination for their people. i think the seniors, 75 and older, should have been first. that is all i have to say. host: arnie, thanks for calling

this morning. belle sent us a text. "a big deal was made of opening a center to give shots. they gave less than 3000. finally called the v.a. and got the first pfizer right away away could go. no serious issues." that is in tinley park, illinois. during that house hearing we covered earlier this week, representative from washington, kim schrier, a doctor, asked about the potential shortage of supplies needed for administering the vaccine. [video clip] >> because of our experience and the scale of this operation, dr. larson is concerned about supply chains. he is concerned about not having enough employees. this is not a trivial problem.

the question for director ryan, given the vaccine supply will be increasing in the coming months, which supplies are you most concerned about and, in your opinion, how can congress help stabilize the supply chain? >> thank you for the question. and it is a good point about the specialized needles, because we absolutely are counting those sixth and 11th doses in our planning. i would say we worry about the supply chain in general, not just vaccines, but all the equipment that goes along with it, and it is probably, you know, from the beginning of the pandemic, when we were choked by the lack of ppp and testing. -- ppe and testing. the role of the federal government is just insuring those supply chains do not seize up.

everybody around the world needs the same supplies. we are doing additional manufacturing where we can because it is one thing to have the doses and, to your point, if you do not have everything that goes with it, it slows down or hampers your response. host: we have time for one more call. fill in maryland, already vaccinated. caller: i was at one of the v.a. facilities. i called in, very quickly got an appointment for the next day, and already have a schedule for my second shot. the system worked very, very effectively. all of the past complaints about the v.a., they really came through for me. 87-year-old vietnam veteran, retired, it set or a -- retired, etc. host: thank you for calling. appreciate everyone who called this hour about the vaccination rule out.

we will do this again later in the program, but we want to take a short timeout. it is 8:00 here in washington. when we come back, we will shift gears to talk about -- we will have a discussion on immigration and what the president is looking to do with some of his recent executive orders with frank sharry of america's voice. you are watching washington journal on this saturday, february 6. we will be right back. ♪ >> sunday night on q&a, look at the january 6 attack on the u.s. capitol and the government's response with the wall street journal reporter at a northeastern university political science reporter. >> this is an incredibly fast-moving investigation that has already resulted in more than 150 arrests.

to see the scope of this investigation in terms of hundreds of fbi agent's across the country running down suspects and leads across the country, to be able to pull all of these cases together in the three to four weeks it has been since the january 6 riot shows you how much they have been putting into this, running nonstop 24/7, more than 500 subpoenas and search warrant, field offices across the country devoted to this one investigation. >> what the government needs to do is try to prevent people from moving from the political extremist camp into the tactical extremism. it needs to find a way to accept people on the right without pushing them into the far-right. i'm not actually sure -- the united states is going right now

in the aftermath of the january 6 attack, people seem to be getting elevated and credited, they are basically outbidding each other for increasing the extreme behaviors and responses against the right. i think we need to pay attention to that threat and not just a threat coming from the far-right itself. >> the federal response to the attack on the capitol, sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q&a. ♪ > you are watching c-span, your unfiltered view of government. c-span was created 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 now is

multi-hamilton, a senior research fellow at the mercatus center at george mason university. i wanted to bring you on to talk about the biden administration's housing policy. there are changes afoot. i want to take a broad look at housing, including public housing. february, 2021, still in the middle of the pandemic. how would you describe conditions? guest: in public housing, and particularly the largest in the country, new york city, very poor condition. there are rodent problems, led is a problem for tenants living in some of the public housing facilities. in general, the biden plan would allocate additional funding toward these public housing programs to improve conditions

in existing public housing and build new public housing. the most important subsidy plank of the biden housing plan would be expanding housing vouchers, often called the section 8 program, which includes vouchers that go to households making less than half of the median income in their region, and then households who hold these vouchers have to spend 30% of the income they make on rent. the voucher covers the rest of the rental costs. host: the way we are reading about that particular piece is it is moving from a voucher program to what is basically called an entitlement. explain more about how that will work and how much it will cost. guest: right now, about one in five households the qualify for

vouchers based on income level received them. the other four out of five households that could qualify for a voucher based on how much they earn do not get one because congress does not currently allocate enough money to the section 8 program to cover everyone. under the biden plan, section 8 funding would be expanded to the point that each household that qualifies for a voucher based on their income would be able to receive one, and use that to help cover housing costs. host: how significant of a change is this? guest: it is a big change. right now, many localities have shut down there waiting lists for section 8 voucher holders because there are some of the people on the list that they do not see a point for allowing more people to get on. this would be a huge step toward improving housing affordability for those at the bottom end of

the income spectrum. host: let me put the phone numbers on the bundle of the screen. we are talking about the biden administration's housing policy. republicans, or is your number -- (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8002. independents -- let me start this again. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, your number is (202) 748-8002. we will also put them on the screen. and multi-hamilton is a senior research fellow at george mason university's mercatus center, and we are talking about the biden administration's housing policy. what else is in the new plan? guest: one important piece of the plan is for the federal government to encourage

localities to reform some of their zoning rules. these are rules that require each house to sit on a yard of a certain size, for example. they limit how much multifamily housing can be built, and often bias housing toward single-family housing, which is often the most expensive. they can require parking requirements, which can be expensive in places where land is expensive. these rules are the root source of the housing affordability problem in those parts of the country that are most expensive, and warehousing for billy problems her greatest -- and where housing affordability problems are the greatest. programs that would be intended to encourage localities to reform these restrictions to

allow more and lower cost housing to be built. so far, i don't think any of these programs have been optimally designed to encourage that reform. first of all, there is no current federal program that sends grants directly from the federal government to all of the localities that do this land-use planning. the localities that implement these zoning rules and issue building permits. what is required is a new source of federal funds that go directly to these permitting localities and is awarded to those that have the best housing market outcome. right now, many proposals focus on encouraging localities to adopt specific zoning reforms. for example, reducing their minimum lot size. but when localities where

policymakers wish to be exclusionary with their zoning rules, they have many ways around actually implementing the rules on their books. for example, with subjective approval processes for developments. i would like to see the federal government award those localities that are performing well based on the actual housing market outcomes. how much housing is being built and at what price. host: there is a lot more to go through with our gas, and multi-hamilton, including how -- with our guest, emily hamilton. caller: thank you. i am in florida, and what i am seeing is real estate developers are flooding the market with houses in the over $300,000

range. i drive-through these new subdivisions and think, who is buying these houses? florida is a low wage state. i feel there is a price floor being created and it is forcing people who would normally buy a $190,000 three bedroom house into the lower rent houses. the people who really need that need the dwellings that are lower rent are getting pushed out. when people complain, they slap up a section 8 apartment complex. the solution might be to force these developers into the free market. they say florida is becoming the

new california. host: thank you for calling. emily hamilton. guest: stephen raises a good point. oftentimes, new construction housing is built at the height of the market. new construction, new products of any type, tend to be more expensive than used. in general, the vast majority of homebuyers are buying secondhand houses, which tends to be more affordable over time. additionally, these local land-use restrictions like zoning that encourages single-family development, rather than multi family, does drive construction toward the more expensive, higher end of the market. without some of that housing that would be affordable to middle income households when it is brand-new. when housing can be delivered at

lower price points, the process by which it becomes more affordable over time is more effective at serving a broader range of income levels. host: san jose, california, republican caller. caller: thank you for taking my call. i have a question and i want your guest to be totally honest. i am skeptical and i am not looking forward to anything that the democrats come up with in regard to helping society with housing. i first refer to what the johnson administration did in the late 1960's with the great society program, which basically produced a lot of housing in the form of places for the lower income people to live, which were promptly turned into ghettos, drug-ridden and

crime infested. and what the clintons did, they lowered the requirements so anyone could get into a house and they did this primarily for the minorities at the first economic downturn. these people walked away and this created a huge banking crisis, starting in 2008. can you honestly say you are looking forward to more ideas that the democrats have? host: let's hear from our guest. guest: at the federal level, there tends to be some bipartisan agreement on the need for reforming local barriers to more and lower cost housing construction. many of the proposals that have been introduced in congress are bipartisan bills that get

support from both sides of the aisle. i share his skepticism of public housing in the united states. i favor vouchers that give households that need income support the resources to afford housing on the private market with private builders supplying that housing. it would result in a mixed income development and neighborhood, rather than building more public housing that is only accessible to low income tenants. host: he also mentioned requirements for housing. how have they been trending in recent years? how difficult is it for someone to become a homeowner? guest: it has become more difficult since the financial crisis. credit score requirements and income requirements have been

going up. this has been partially responsible for a slow down in single-family construction since the 2008 financial crisis. host: massachusetts, democratic caller. caller: thank you for giving me the opportunity. i have been on housing for three years, i finally made it to the top. what has happened is i was -- qualified for section 8 and i'm at the top of federal housing and i feel the income level should be increased because they had to include my veterans for part of my income, so i did not qualify for section 8. under the federal standard, i did finally make it to the top of the list and now i am waiting for housing. host: do you have a question for

our guest? caller: i am just saying the level for section 8 should be higher than what it is because someone collecting benefits is included as far as your income. host: we get the point. thank you. guest: certainly, in many parts of the country, affordability problems are not limited to those who qualify for vouchers based on income levels. that is where the regulatory reform peace -- piece becomes important, so it is feasible for private homebuilders to build lower cost construction without barriers that drive up the cost of construction and limit the amount of lower cost construction that can be built. host: how are section 8 benefits

distributed? how with the proposal for cash transfers actually work? guest: this is one of my recommendations to the new department of housing and urban development leadership, is rather than administering all of the section 8 benefits through vouchers, some should be administered as an experimental cash transfer program. under the current voucher requirements, many landlords do not like to accept these vouchers, which means that only about 20% of households qualify for vouchers actually receive them. some of those households have a hard time using their vouchers, because the locations where they want to live might not have landlords who accept those vouchers. i think hud should experiment

with giving some recipients cash rather than vouchers, which would limit the bureaucracy that landlords accepting vouchers have to go through. it would also increase the freedom for beneficiaries of these federal resources to use it in the way that works best for them. some recipients might prefer to spend less on housing than a voucher would require them to. they might want to live with roommates or family members to economize on their housing costs and have more money left over for other needs. they might want to spend more on housing than a voucher would allow them to in order to live in a location that is particularly important to them. host: we are talking with emil t hamilton, a senior research fellow -- emily hamilton, a senior research fellow at george mason university's mercatus

center. how the biden administration can improve housing affordability. what other ideas do you and the organization have about improving housing in the country? guest: one potential side effect of expanding the section 8 housing program as this will increase demand for housing among the new residents who qualify for vouchers. in places where homebuilders are allowed to respond to new demand for housing with new housing construction that is tailored to meet the needs of that new demand, this will not be a big problem. but in other parts of the country, where affordability problems are more severe, and housing supply is constrained, expanding access to vouchers will potentially worsen housing affordability problems for

households that earn too much to receive those vouchers. understanding this trade-off, and potentially severe unintended consequence of expanding voucher access is really important, and makes federal efforts to encourage local zoning reform even more important. this program must be designed to be very effective at encouraging localities to allow more and lower cost housing to be built in order not to have a section 8 expansion to drive affordably problems up for households that are earning a little too much for the voucher. host: a report encouraging zoning reform at the federal level. let's get a call from tamron. missouri, independent caller. caller: i would like to say some

things about the housing policies. i think we should really come together on these things, like housing policies, and what they have in place to rebuild homes and build more homes. from this point on, our country and engineers should really look toward putting silver roofs on these homes and making them energy-efficient. using only clean energy, such as wind energy and solar energy. it might cost a lot of money at first, but in the long run, it could jumpstart and help the progression of the very quickly changing climate we live in. the covid virus really took out a lot of businesses and homes. i think they should have something in place that secures

these homeowners -- it is not fair to them. nobody knew this virus would happen. how could they sit there and blame people who can't afford to pay their bills because they are out of work because of the virus? there should be some sort of forgiveness there. host: let's hear from emily hamilton. guest: there have been problems because of reducing household income for many households. my preferred way to address this is with direct and to homeowners -- direct aid to homeowners or tenants who are having problems paying their bills because of covid, rather than a rent or mortgage forgiveness program. trying to implement a forgiveness program kicks the

can down the road. we do not want to see the covid crisis turning into another foreclosure crisis if rent or mortgages simply are not being paid. host: silver spring, maryland, democrat. good morning, rose. caller: i was surprisingly optimistic to hear when i applied for an apartment. i am living on under $43,000, and i get help from my daughter because she inherited a trust. i live in silver spring, maryland. i am going to be selling my house that i lived in for many years that i inherited from my parents. i am a widow. the apartment i apply to, they

told me, when i told them i was the wife of an honorably discharged navy veteran, would i be entitled to the application fee of $25, a security check -- not a security check, a credit reference would not be given. i would also get another discount. i was really surprised to hear that, being the wife of a veteran. i am 67 years old. host: emily hamilton, is that something you can respond to. guest: i am not sure about the caller's specific situation, but one thing we are seeing in the d.c. region, where she and i live, where there are some of the highest cost regions in the country, during the covid crisis, rents have been falling

in those locations. people might be leaving for more suburban or rural locations where they can work remotely. landlords and some of these high cost coastal regions are making it easier for renters to get apartments, whether that means reducing rent, offering free months of rent, or leaving things like security deposits. on the one hand, unfortunately, many people are struggling on the income side of things. for those who are not right now, it is a very good time to be renting an apartment in a high cost coastal region, relative to this time last year. host: take us a little bit deeper into this plank in your platform, looking for -- what is happening -- what should

be happening that is not happening? guest: among those proposals that have been introduced, they offer some of the worst offenders in terms of the localities that are doing the most to obstruct housing construction and drive up the cost of housing a way out of actually reforming their local rules. what is important is a federal program intended to encourage reform needs to look at actual outcomes. what is the affordability level of the locality in question and how much new housing is built? and at what price? rather than just allowing the localities to tweak the rules on their books, but not actually allow more lower cost housing to be built. one place we can see the effects of these rules, there has been a

lot of recent reform energy put toward allowing duplexes, rather than single-family homes exclusively in jurisdictions that were previously zones that were exclusively single-family development. if localities do not change other rules -- for example, reducing parking requirements to make duplex construction feasible, we will not see that construction. we need to look at actual housing market outcomes rather than just the list of rules that localities have about what type of housing can be built. host: back to section 8 vouchers, there is a text from a viewer in chicago. is a renter presents a section 8 voucher to the landlord, is the landlord legally required to rent to the individual work and

the landlord choose to not rent to someone with a section 8 voucher? guest: it depends on the state and locality. in some parts of the country, i believe chicago, landlords are forbidden from doing what is called source of income discrimination. that means a landlord is legally required to accept a tenant who presents a housing voucher if they would except that tenant if they were paying out of their own pocket. it is difficult to enforce, and that is not the case across the whole country. that is one reason i would like to see experimentation with cash benefits that would potentially directly reduce landlord discrimination against beneficiaries relative to the current voucher program. host: michael is in bradenton, florida.

independent caller. good morning. caller: good morning. i have a few different things. in the last four years, i have been in 48 states and have been consistently traveling in an rv. every rest area has homeless people -- especially this past year -- that were not homeless prior. they are homeless because they were driven out of their apartments. we are talking handicapped people, it is amazing how many people are literally just pushed out of their houses across the country. not just this year, but specifically this last year. i am in bradenton, florida, and it is impossible for a senior that lives on social security to get an apartment here. it is $1200 a month for a one bedroom apartment in bradenton, florida.

they call it the newly wed and a nearly dead in florida. they build these houses that are $300,000, $400,000, $500,000, and they build nothing for low income. it has to be addressed. i am not a democrat or republican. i think both parties need to be removed and to start a new system. there has to be some way of addressing -- this. host: speak first to his concern about seniors not being able to afford a one bedroom apartment in bradenton. guest: certainly, affordability problems extend to seniors specifically in many cases. that is partially a result of income restrictions, when the fixed income that seniors might be living on is not enough to

afford housing of any type. vouchers can help in this case, when low income households simply don't have enough financial resources to afford what is available on the market. again, zoning rules to a huge amount to reduce the amount of housing that is being built and push up the price of the housing does get built, and allowing more multifamily, more housing duplexes, that have low construction costs, that allow households to economize on land, and more mobile homes, is a very important piece of the affordability puzzle. host: the last caller mentioned homelessness, as does jim from the state of washington in a

text. is there anything in the biden housing plan to deal with the homeless? guest: homelessness is where we see the tragedy of housing affordability problems unfolding worse. homelessness rates in california and washington were on the rise, even prior to the covid pandemic , and are rising even faster as a result of that. again, addressing affordability problems is the real root cause of what is often called economic homelessness, which is not driven by problems with tenants, but driven by a lack of housing available to people at lower ends of the income spectrum. one thing we see in the

homelessness research is that as median rents climb above 30% of median income, which is the federal guideline of housing considered affordable based on a household's budget, homelessness rates start increasing. it is important that we have housing markets that are able to serve a wide range of income levels. in california and washington, there are homebuilders that would love to be building more multifamily housing at lower price points if local governments allow them to do so. but current approval processes for housing construction and zoning restrictions on what can be built are standing in the way of that happening and contribute into homelessness. host: michigan, democratic line, eddie, you are on with emily hamilton. caller: good morning.

i think subsidized housing is great. one pushback, the 2008 housing crisis seemed to be caused by the lenders. people would get loans at a proper rate and then the rates would balloon and force people out of their homes. also, when people complain their mortgage is below water, the government, there you go, subsidizing those folks. i don't think that should happen again, either. our builders subsidized when they build homes -- are builders subsidized when they build homes? they used to be when they were able to discriminate against certain owners. local governments supported that.

insurance rates were high. the zoning laws were in such a way that you could not allow certain groups to move in a certain neighborhood. i think homeownership policies should be reviewed and make sure it is just for everyone. host: let's hear from our guest. guest: the history of local zoning restrictions is an ugly one. in many cases, these rules were implemented with the intention of segregating neighborhoods and localities by race and income. these effects, unfortunately, continue to be the case in places where zoning restrictions really limit how much and what type of housing can be built. i am not an advocate of government policies that are intended to encourage people to become homeowners and pursue

homeownership as a wealth building strategy. there are many advantages to homeownership for some households, but there are disadvantages, as well. when we are talking about some of the most expensive parts of the country, it costs a lot more each month to own a house then to rent a similar unit. those households might be better off in those parts of the country staying renters and saving that additional income, investing it or spending it on other needs rather than spending enough each month to afford owner occupied housing. renting also allowed households to have more flexibility, to move in pursuit of a new job opportunity, for example. there is currently a lot of

weight at the federal government on the side of homeownership versus renting. i would like to see the government policies treat these two options more neutrally, without favoring one or the other. host: take us through the process, the biden demonstration's housing policy, how much is he able to do with executive order versus legislation? is legislation eminent coming to the hill? guest: i think there are legal questions i have not qualified to speak to as far as how far executive orders or even new rulemaking at the department of housing and urban development can go toward encouraging local zoning reform, for example, under current statute. as far as whether or not action from congress is imminent, i

think addressing the covid issues will be there first priority. i do think some of these proposals toward housing abundance and housing affordability may have some momentum to get into a future infrastructure build, potentially, because they do have some bipartisan support. the federal government, there is wide bipartisan recognition that housing affordability is a huge problem for both household budgets and for allowing people to live in locations where their best economic opportunities are located. host: how about the domine for housing and urban development, the congresswoman -- how about -- what will she bring to the table in terms of priorities?

guest: she has local government experience, which i think is encouraging. housing and land restriction issues are huge piece of the nuts and bolts of local government policy. she seems to share the buddhist ration's -- she seems to share the administration's priorities, in terms of affordability with new subsidy programs. she also supports efforts to reform the current regulatory barriers at the local level that are standing in the way of lower cost housing being built. host: let's go to david in south carolina, republican caller. caller: good morning. the democratic platform describes programs based on race

58 times, three times about housing. race is not mentioned on the republican platform. there is a push for unity from the democratic platform, i would like to remind viewers and the host that the use of race during the obama years led to a backlash from identity politics. something you don't ever hear is the civil rights division of the department of justice was a republican program proposed by eisenhower and opposed by lbj. my question -- two questions -- do you think you could help propose the elimination of race in these housing programs, much like nancy pelosi recognizing the difference between boys and girls and men and women? is discrimination good only if

the government practice it? host: race and discrimination. guest: i can't speak to areas outside of housing. one reason there is a lot of focus on racial justice and housing policy is because every level of government, from federal lending programs all the way down to local land-use ordinances shaping who can live where, have a very serious history of segregation and racist housing policies that have prevented racial minorities, particularly african-americans, from accessing housing in the location of their choice. i think it is worthwhile to recognize this history and the effects of some of these

policies that persist today, having disproportionate incomes with households of color, particularly african-americans. host: a text from mark from texas. he asks are you in favor of substituting federal controls for local controls? our decisions from bureaucrats or academics better than the free enterprise system? reform sounds like control by agencies located thousands of miles away. guest: government is limited and the controls to directly affect local land-use restrictions. i think appropriately so. the tool available to them is offering funding incentives to localities that implement

land-use reform. i certainly don't think it is a good idea for the federal or state level governments to try to zone every part of the country, for example. i think that would go very poorly. under the current local control, we do not see the free market being able to provide housing and the quantity and price points that would be most profitable. rather, we see local governments controlling what gets built where and driving up housing prices as a result. host: let's hear from rosemary in new jersey. independent caller. caller: hello. host: good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to say thank you for taking my call. i would like to say, what could we have done about the waiting list for affordable housing in different sites in new jersey,

people apply for the apartments and it becomes -- nobody ever hears anything about it. there is housing going up and around. there is no type of response. i don't think it is fair to the people who really need it, especially for the disabled. host: waiting lists for public housing. guest: rosemary is correct that all types of subsidized housing, whether we are talking about vouchers, or units set aside for households at specific income levels at new developments tend to have long waiting lists. currently, it is almost like a lottery system. these subsidies for subsidized unit get huge benefits relative

to households in similar circumstances who just happened to be lower down on the waiting list or do not win that lottery. this is a really poor way to allocate resources intended to improve housing affordability. what we need is more abundance of housing that serves households of all income levels with additional income supports for those households at the very lowest end of the income spectrum, who cannot afford what is available in a well-functioning market. host: we have time for one last call. robert in north-central florida. democrat. good morning. robert, are you with us? robert, can you harris -- can you hear us?

robert is not with us. just a reminder, turn the sound down on your set. you won't have the feedback. let's go to blanche in pennsylvania. independent caller. caller: hello. thank you for taking my call. i seem to be at a different spot than everyone else who is calling. i own a home in the veterans who i am a caregiver to recently had a heart transplant. he owns his home, but technically he is homeless and i had to move him into my place. while he was having his heart transplant, the pipes burst in his house and 70,000 gallons of water went through. long story short, we applied for

help for him and he was accepted. then covid hit, and pennsylvania subcontractors were not allowed to work. right after that happened, they told his -- they pulled his funding and said he had to live in the house during construction and during this covid situation. because of his heart transplant and compromised immune system, his doctors said there was no way he could. the agency pulled his funding. item trying to figure out if i can talk to hud about making a reasonable accommodation for

this veteran, heart transplant patient who is now technically homeless. while he was in the hospital for six months, his housing insurance, the v.a. sent him to madison, wisconsin. host: thank you for calling. i think we understand the point. guest: i personally cannot speak to specific hud programs intended to benefit someone in those specific circumstances. for some households, homeownership can be a great decision in a very positive choice. but one of the risks of homeownership -- and i think a downside of government policies that encourage homeownership as a primary wealth building tool and as the default approach to

housing -- is that homeowners can be on the hook for huge costs of maintenance fees, which in some cases can be urgent. renters do not take on that risk, their landlords do. host: our guest has been emily hamilton, a senior research fellow at george mason university's mercatus center. emily hamilton, thank you for joining us. guest: thank you. host: we will take another short break and then we will shift over to the topic of immigration. our guest will be frank sharry from the group america's voice. he will talk about what the biden administration is doing so far in the area of immigration and take your questions and

comments. we will be right back. ♪ ♪ >> american history tv on c-span3. exploring the people and events that tell the american story, every weekend. coming up at 8:00 p.m. eastern on lectures in history, a look at world war ii leadership with a college professor and military historian, describing the relationship between president franklin roosevelt and winston churchill. sunday at 1.05 p.m. eastern, an author on his book the people's revolt, texas populist in the root of american liberalism, about the origins of the people's party, political goals. at 4:00 p.m. eastern on real america, we will watch the 50th

anniversary of the occupational safety and health administration with three films released in 1980 by the carter administration and later recalled by the reagan administration and 1981. at 8:00 p.m. eastern on the presidency, a discussion of presidential transitions with historians, highlighting speeches from thomas jefferson, abraham lincoln, franklin d roosevelt, john f. kennedy and ronald reagan. exploring the american story. watch american history tv this weekend on c-span3. congress recognized a slain capitol police officer by laying in honor at the capitol rotunda and memorial service. president biden and vice president harris paid their

respects, along with remarks from nancy pelosi and chuck schumer. watch the memorial service tonight at 8:00 eastern and again at 11:00 p.m. eastern on c-span and c-span.org, or listen with the c-span radio app. >> washington journal continues. host: we are talking now with frank sharry, founder and executive director of america's voice. he is here to talk to us about immigration policy and the by demonstration. what is america's voice? what is the mission and how are you funded? guest: we are a pro-immigrant organization in washington, d.c. our mission is to translate political will and public support into immigration policy changes. we think america is a nation of immigrants, it is one of our

strengths and we need to build on it. host: where does the funding come from? guest: we get funding from mostly private foundations that support our mission. host: the president signed three executive orders related to immigration, there are several planks people have been talking about. we will start taking some phone calls. we want to hear from the president first as he signed these orders. [video clip] >> i want to congratulate the new secretary. looking forward to his leadership and working with congress on a lot of issues, including an immigration bill that i think has great support from both chambers. i will sign a few executive orders today to strengthen our immigration system, building on

the executive actions i took on day 1 to protect dreamers, the muslim ban and to better manage our borders. that is what these three executive orders are about. there is a lot of talk about the number of executive orders i assigned. i am not making new laws, i am a limiting bad policy. i am taking on the issues that 99% of american presidents -- the last president of united states issued orders that were counterproductive to the country, particularly in the area of immigration. this is about how america is safer, stronger, more prosperous when we have a fair, orderly and humane immigration system. with the first action today, we are going to work to undo the

moral and national shame that the last administration literally ripped children from their mothers and fathers at the border, with no plan to reunify children who are still in custody with their parents. the second action addresses the root causes of a migration to our southern border. the third action, the third order i will be signing orders a full review of the previous administration's counterproductive policies across the board. host: frank sharry, let's walk through those briefly. family separation, this task force the family is putting together, what is the broader goal? how does it work? guest: the trump administration launched one of the most atrocious programs ever, which was to take toddlers and kids

from their parents in order to punish them from seeking asylum or refugee status -- in america. so outraged americans that the backlash forced the administration to restrict who was separated. it was over 5000 families that were ripped apart and there was no system to track them. groups have worked hard to reunite families -- there are still over 600 kids who are not with their parents many years later. what the new administration has said is we will form a task force headed what the director of the department of homeland security and we will use an all government approach to try to put these kids back together

with her parents and make recommendations on where they should be reunited -- back in the country they fled from or in the united states? this is one of those open wounds in america that his yet to heal. we want to make sure we reunite the kids, provide the kind of support the families need, and let's hope that the task force succeeds. i know they will get a lot of support from groups outside government. host: phone numbers are on the bottom of the screen. frank sharry of america's voice. we are talking about immigration policy. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002.

we have a special line for undocumented immigrants, (202) 748-8003. on to changes related to migrants and asylum seekers. what does the president want to do? guest: it is an interesting approach. for half a century, many central americans are leaving countries weather have been widespread human rights violations, violence, government corruption and instability, coming to the united states. there are waves of people who come, and the reaction when they show up at our border, but the biden administration's vision is to have a regional approach for which the first priority is to try to improve the conditions that give rise to the people leaving. it is to invest in those countries so they can, over

time, make migration a choice rather than a necessity. second, create legal channels to come into the united states so they don't have to make the dangerous journey to the border to apply. refugee status. third, work with the united nations commission for refugees and our allies in the region to provide protection closer to home. make sure the people who show up at our border have a fair asylum process. not everyone who shows up is refugee, but everyone has a chance to apply in the process is fair. a high percentage will win their cases. it is quite innovative. it will take some time to put into place. they are walking into a situation that is my characterized by curel policies -- cruel policies and chaos on

the ground. there have been people forced to wait. there is an urgent need to deal with that. there are situations where we have over detained people just seeking freedom and they have family and community groups willing to support them. the biden administration has the right strategy. what will be complicated is they have inherited such a mess. it will take a fair amount of patience on the ground and alacrity to put the pieces in place and form a coherent strategy. host: let's get a call in from mike in houston, texas. you are on with frank sharry of america's voice. caller: what is a moral and reprehensible it -- immoral and

reprehensible are the economic systems in south america. they make four dollars a day. we do not have an immigration system based on the words on the social america -- on the words on the statue of liberty. we had an 80 percent reduction in immigration in trump's ears. we need to know who is coming into our country. maybe he did not do it perfectly, but i am really -- we cannot accept everybody. we cannot save the world and it seems like people just by virtue of them showing up at our border, we have to step aside and let them in. we cannot afford to do that. host: let's hear from our guest. guest: i agree with most of what you said. we need to address the

conditions in south america so people can stay home, which is what most people want to do. if you cannot make him -- make enough money to feed your kids, have been racked by hurricanes, when you cannot feed your family, when you are best set by gangs controlling your neighborhoods -- are beset by gang brotherhoods, it is a dangerous situation. those of us who are parents understand in that situation you would do it everything possible -- do everything possible including leaving the country. we cannot accept everyone, but we can have fair systems and they can be humane into they can be fate -- be fate -- be based

on functionality. we can at the same time reduce the need to leave, expand the legal pathways so people can come to an orderly process with limits and we can provide protection for people who genuinely need it closer to home. i understand that is frustrating and i understand that trump may have been a little rough but he got some things done. what he really dead was you repressed what is -- what was happening. for showtime -- look at the number -- in fact, in terms of the human misery it caused, in terms of undermining the programs in south america that ameliorated the root causes of immigration, in terms of bullying our neighbors and gutting the asylum system, i

think we can have a fair and humane system and do it in a way that is safe and orderly. host: unto aurora, colorado now. this is right 00 onto -- onto aurora, colorado now. this is roy. caller: thank you for allowing me to to elaborate on my ideas about immigration. i am a registered libertarian. i strongly believe in increasing legal opportunities to enter the country. i want to ask you about the immigration court system. obviously it should be independent of the attorney general. what i am wondering is what form should that take? i also came across canada's

immigrant appeal system. interestingly enough they have a alternative dispute resolution integrated into their system. host: let's hear from our guest. guest: many are jealous of the canadian system. they are so fair and humane. the court system is a mess. it has over one million cases in the backlog. it was politicized under the trump administration. what we have to do is a wholesale reform. my colleagues working on this think we should have an independent immigration court system that is based on fair rules and not the political flavor or the political -- of the political appointees driving the decisions. part of what is broken is we need a system that is not only humane but efficient.

we can make determinations whether someone qualifies for refugee status are not without putting them in a four or five year backlog. the american people are prepared to be generous if they know that the system is just. we -- i do not believe in that myth. as a libertarian, i don't suspect you do either. how do we bring good governance to the management of the process so the american people know their representatives are taking care of business, are making sure people are getting their day in court but doing it in a way that does not result in such inefficiencies, inequities that we cannot guarantee the american people that their

immigration system is consistent with their values. that is one of the many pieces the new administration has promised to work on. they are walking into a war zone in which the buildings are smoking and there are snipers in some of the buildings. it is a tough situation. we are going to push them as fast as possible to stand up and immigration system i think is much more consistent -- an immigration system i think is much more consistent with america as a welcoming country. host: we are taking your calls on the biden administration's immigration policy. lewis is calling from syracuse, upstate new york. caller: i am calling to talk about joe biden's new executive order he signed to end the

renewal of private pruitt -- private prisons. with that he left out a big chunk of immigrants, you know, detention centers. we are talking about lipoma -- la palma, farm bill. -- la palma, farmville. what would it take for biden -- i know he said he was looking at it but it would take convincing to take that action. what will it take for him to pull the plug and start ending contracts? guest: that is a good question, lewis. as a candidate, joe biden committed to ending the use of private for-profit jail systems.

i think most americans would be surprised to hear there is a sprawling immigration detention, much of it in private hands. the idea of profiting to detain people, many of whom are families or people seeking refuge, is something the previous administration and the administration before that relied on too much. we need to dial back the prison populations. many have become covid hotspots. we could make determinations whether someone qualifies for refugee status are not. we should put families with their families -- refugee status or not. we should put families with their families. people comply with their court hearings, but they are able to enjoy the support of loved ones. the alternatives to detention is

one of the areas where most advocates will be pressing on. biden's work on private incarceration in the criminal system needs to now -- we need to bring it and he needs to keep his commitment to doing so with the immigrant private detention system. that is long overdue. we can deal with immigration without locking people up, or separating families. it is high time we get on with it. host: some criticism of the biden administration -- here is senator thune talking about border security. [video clip] >> the administration has plans for sweeping immigration reform but does not seem to be placing much emphasis on border security . they have reduced the wall to a symbol of the trump administration and have placated

activists by halting construction without offering adequate ways to secure our border against a flood of illegal immigration. host: frank sharry, electronic surveillance. how much effort and money should be put toward that at this point? guest: we currently spend $25 billion a year on immigration enforcement. that is more than all federal law enforcement expenditures combined. trump made a signature issue of replacing the border wall with a taller wall, $450 -- 450 miles. the united states has to manage who comes in and who does not and we have to manage this in an intelligent way, but the idea of a wall does not make sense to

me. it is costly, ineffective and offensive. it is a signal to the trumpian base that we do not want these kinds of people. to me, republicans have so little to run on nowadays that they seem to be following trump to emphasizing nativism, immigration is a threat, be fearful of immigrants. that may have worked in 2016. it didn't work in 2018 when trump couldn't talk about anything but caravans. they won the vote in the house by the largest margin in history. in 2020 trump ran on xenophobia and racism and that didn't work so well for him either. i think the republicans are

going to this issue because they do not have solutions on wages, health care, covid, and so forth. we used to work with republicans. we used to work with john mccain, jeff flake, jim colby, many who thought the republican party needed to compete for diverse voters and reach out for an american majority who once change -- who wants change. it was about -- the last four years were about immigrants, deporting and detaining them. the good news from our point of view was trump's demonization of immigrants backfired. we have seen through al up -- gallup there has never been more

support in america for immigrants. they forced america decide, are we going to be a welcoming nation are not? by strong majority the nation decided to be a welcoming country. building -- ending the muslim ban, popular, restoring fairness to our asylum system, popular. the wind is at the back of biden and the democrats. while the republicans speak to a cul-de-sac of a white grievance base, they continue to bleed suburban voters. host: tim is on the line for independents. caller: it is a good segue for me playing mr. thune's commentary.

my question is, coming off of what you just said, my question is what is your -- once your policies are in effect and we are becoming a welcoming nation, you made clear some things you did not like in the trump administration, when people who are documented -- when people who are undocumented, there is an insinuation that people will come here and abide by the laws. my question is, more of a law enforcement question. a program that is federal law enforcement, say there is an undocumented person who got through the channels, but they are still undocumented, and a crime is committed.

where i live, in several elections of new sheriff's, most are elected democrat sheriff's. time will tell how they do law enforcement. but they come in and drop this program. my question is, we hope that the people under your policies are going to come here and abide by all the laws and did do what they need to do. and sb welcoming. -- and us be welcoming. we should be looking -- hey, a gentleman is here, he got himself a serious felony charge, he was undocumented, he went through the channels. i'm sure your think tank helped get back guy here. the sheriff is saying " those policies are racist or they are

not good for the committee." it should be a political -- or they are not good for the community." it should be a political matter. guest: let's start with america -- in america right now there are approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants based on the best guesses and -- approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants. most are in families. what researchers called mixed status families, where some have legal citizenship and some do not and they live together. when an undocumented immigrant doing essential work in the fields, packing, construction, delivery, cleaning, caring, etc..

we have 11 million people. many are designated by the federal government as essential workers. at the same time, they are subject to deportation. you are essential, but deportable. there is a debate about what we do about that. one of the rim of -- there is a debate about what we do about that. one of the ramifications of that is what do you do with undocumented immigrants who afoul of the law? if you're driving without a license, which is possible, they should be picked up, handed over to the police and handed over to the immigration authorities for deportation. there has been a push back i many law enforcement who say " wait a minute, if we are seen as an arm of federal deportation agencies, it will be hard for undocumented immigrants to serve as witnesses."

there are trust policies, which say until the fed decides how to deal with 11 million people here in a humane fashion, and only the feds could find a solution to putting people on a path to citizenship, which our group strongly supports. in the meantime, you are seeing a lot of sheriff's, local law enforcement saying " people want us to go after immigrants, but that hurts our mission of public safety." the biden administration has come in and said, " look, these programs have been used to terrorize immigrants and undermine law enforcement. let's come up with federal priorities that deal with safety, those genuinely at threat in the community should be -- a threat to the community should be targeted for the

rotation, but we should not go after moms or dads taking their kids to school." it is very controversial at the local level. i know there are a lot of strong passions on both sides. the symptom that we as a country have not said " there are 11 million people here, most are paying their taxes, can't we find some way for them to apply?" there is no line for them to get into now. how do we create daily path -- create a path to citizenship? dealing with the border, dealing with the source countries, setting up legal channels. the big challenge in the next 20 years is to change the immigration system and turn it into something orderly and

well-managed. we are big supporters of being here legally, but you have to change the rules so people can apply. host: our next caller is from houma, democrat -- from oklahoma, democrat. welcome, randall. caller: i want to speak to the children who were kidnapped and we have lost track of them. there should be an active congress grant -- act of congress granting citizenship to the parent, uncle, guardian, whoever. this will be a stain on the previous administration for decades. we should make right -- it is a stain on our owner. host: thank you for calling, randall.

let's go to sam. sugar land, texas, republican. caller: my question -- correct me, there are a few things in this argument. it is like a house. we need a border wall to keep good people and bad people out. the other thing we need to recognize is just like you mentioned, a wall is not applicable to the 21st century. a 14th century idea of our country being a land for asylum-seekers is old. we cannot open the doors for everyone to come in. we need an immigration policy that -- by keeping the borders open, i do not think we are getting the best people in. host: thank you for calling from

sugar land, texas. caller: we do not have open borders. this is a slogan that has been used by the right to say that we need to keep people out -- kick people out. we do not have a functional 21st century immigration system, and as a result you have a lot of people waiting in line becoming backlogged. right now under the trump administration, they stopped most illegal immigration by using the public health concern. we have a cyst -- we have got to have a system where not everyone can get in, but we live true to the fact that when we have been opened up people around the world, every wave that has come has been denigrated by the

people here as no good. ben franklin criticized the germans when they came, the chinese were targeted for racial violence on the west coast in the 1880's, the jews and the poles and eastern europeans were considered swarthy and unworthy. what happened in america is every wave of immigrants has come in and not only transformed themselves, but transformed america into a stronger nation. when you tell me immigration is not very good for america, look at our history. look at our history. it is the magic formula. it is the secret sauce for me. that does not mean it is unlimited. it should be well-managed. should be legal instead of illegal? yes. are we beset with the

situation right now and we need to put in something -- put something in place that is legal and humane? yes. if you hate immigration -- not to imply that you did -- but if you come from a put a party that sees immigrants as a threat -- a political party that sees immigrants as a threat. a democratic coalition that won -- should we be a welcoming country and to do it intelligently? there has been a huge referendum on this. the idea of america is welcoming that referendum. the democrats are looking for every opportunity to improve our system. i think we can islands and integrate -- can balance and

integrate. when people, it is -- when people come to america, it is an incredible complement. i am confident the backlash against the current waves of immigrants from haiti, africa, the middle east, in years we will have parades honoring their traditions. -- honoring their contributions. i will -- host: more of your calls in a moment. i want to go to your website where you talk about the notion of undocumented immigrants receiving stimulus checks. do you favor that? caller: -- guest: we do. 5 million work in essential

jobs. the idea that we can test and vaccinate people without taking into account such a large group of people is full hearty -- fool hardy. the idea of people who have been thrown out of jobs or are struggling to feed families being cut out of any relief -- we think we should have inclusive relief for all of us. our basic view is we should have a " we the people" approach that includes all of us. host: arizona, independent caller. caller: i have a question and a comment. i live two miles from the border. in fact, i am looking at it right now. i can see the wall. it stopped right here, directly from my house.

i have been here five years. i came down here because it was so nice and isolated. we are taking care of rescue horses and things like that. i am a vietnam veteran also. as far as the name-calling, i have gone through that. i came home from there. it seems like because i am white or whatever, i have the same thing going on. as the -- i have the same thing going on. i do not care who is president. i would like the gentleman, have you talked to any of us that live here? guest: thank you for your service, sir. arizona, texas, these are heated, strong debates and there are people on all sides of it.

there are people on the border who believe the border wall's main impact is to rip apart fragile ecosystems and do untoward damage. there are people who think we need agents instead of walls. there are people who think we need technology more than agents and walls. i believe sovereignty for this nation is a responsibility of the federal government, and we need to exercise that. the question is how. i do not believe a wall is the best response. i do not think doing at nothing to deal with central american immigration in the region is smart. we need to deal -- we need a rigel strategy -- we need a regional strategy. we need to take pressure off the border. the idea we have zillions of people crossing the border is a

myth. there are struggle -- smugglers and traffickers who are criminals, trafficking people in a way that is a danger to the migrants. it needs to be met with a law enforcement response. if we think of the border is the only problem and therefore it should be solved at the border, we are missing the fact that migration starts somewhere and comes to america because of pull factors. you have a" keep out -- " keep out" sign on the border but we have a " help wanted" sign 100 yards in. you looking at violence in the neighborhood threatening your children. you can come to america and work. that looks pretty attractive. can we bring some order to that system? that is the challenge.

this" keep them -- this " keep them all out," or " let them all in," debate is not -- if asylum seeker's want to come in, do not come only -- come illegally. come to a port of entry. host: palmetto, florida from -- on airline from -- palmetto, florida on our line for undocumented immigrants. caller: i would like to make two statements -- immigrant haters, ask them how they think the indians feel back when all -- people came from other countries and it took over their land and killed them. host: anything else?

caller: that is it. host: let's hear from wendy in iowa. caller: you could not have put me on that a more perfect time. i am sioux and navajo. i am for legal documentation. i think the problem starts at the border. my husband's family came from another country too 80 some years ago. they stopped him at the border. they had to be quarantined for so long before they even came in. they were proud to be in america. they wanted to work here. nowadays it does not seem that way. i want to talk to you -- you keep dogging on trump for the camps and stuff. the guy that is on homeland security right now is the same guy that was on homeland security for obama, and they had

him, a republican governor had him on record because he said ' obama is the one who set this up.' he did not want to say yes at first. he says " i wanted on the record -- want it on the record" before they voted him and. -- him in. host: when -- guest: when the family separation atrocities became known, it became a huge right wing talking point that obama did it. i have lots of criticisms of the obama administration and its handling of immigration. i think they relied too much on deterrents and deportation.

more deportations than under any president. in my informed view, both sides of trump and obama is really unfair. , mayorkas, the new dhs secretary did work for dhs under obama. he was primarily involved in the service or benefits arm of the agency. he set up the daca program where most of us came to know him. look, the idea that trump only did what obama did when it came to ripping families apart is a lie. being -- he detained families unfairly. he relied on deportation. i could go on. what trump did with stephen

miller whispering in his ear is to wage war against immigrants. they took the idea of the rules of law and twisted it, distorted it into a vehicle for terrorizing people. i think that is un-american. i am sure we disagree. the point is the trump era led america to say " we do not want divisiveness. we want a reasonable system that is common sense, well-managed, legal and creates policies that transforms and modernizes our immigration system." most republicans say " keep them out, unleash law enforcement to do what they want to immigrants."

that is what led to local communities saying " no, we want the people who work in our communities to do their work. they should be able to live without fear." until the federal government gets its act together, let's make sure those -- host: let's squeeze in one last call from patrick from denver. caller: does anybody know that in 10 years the ground crops industry, human beings being used for this job will not be a thing anymore> --a thing anymore? look on youtube and see what they robotic pepper picker -- what a robotic pepper picker looks like. i am a millennial, i am a

democrat. we need the immigrants right now. what do we do with them 10 years from now? we need a jobs program that will look at those working for us right now and keeping us fed and making a job/image -- job/ citizenship program. caller: we -- guest: we are proponents of -- over one million farmworkers are undocumented. the idea of giving them a path to eventual citizenship is the best. those who work on the farms moved to the cities for better jobs. i'm confident hard-working farmworkers and their families will be able to take care of themselves. i meet people in the

professional ranks whose parents and grandparents were firm workers and their social mobility is a story that will bring tears to your eyes. there is a lot of talk of mechanization in fieldworkers -- in fieldwork, but until then, our entire fruit and vegetable industry depends on undocumented workers risking their lives to pick our food. the pandemic has put a focus on a central workers doing so much for america. a conservative columnist for the wall street journal wrote " boy look at all the people doing so much to save our lives and keep us at home -- we should give them citizenship immediately." at a time when we are depending on the undocumented workers to keep us alive, it seems time to at least reward them with a path

to citizenship. host: frank sharry is the head of america's voice. we appreciate your time this morning. we will take a short timeout then round out this saturday edition of washington journal the same way we started the program -- tell us about vaccination rollouts in your state. we want to hear about how things are going and whether you are vaccinated or have an appointment. here are the lines -- eastern and central, (202) 748-8000. (202) 748-8001, mountain and pacific time zones. and if you have been vaccinated, (202) 748-8002. we will be right back with your calls. >> book tv on c-span two has top nonfiction books and authors every weekend. coming up at noon eastern on in-depth a live conversation

with robert barry, editor-in-chief of congressional quarterly. his most recent book is president mckinley, architect of the american century. other books include sands of empire and taking on the world. join the conversation with your calls, texts and tweets. before the program make sure to visit c-span shop.org to get your copy of robert merry's books. afterwards, amelia pang. watch it book to be on c-span2 -- watch book tv on c-span2. >> the senate impeachment trial

of former president donald trump begins tuesday with senators deciding if they former president should be convicted on incitement of insurrection. watch our lied coverage -- live coverage on c-span2, c-span.org or listen free on the c-span radio app. if you miss any of the proceedings watch any time on demand at c-span.org/impeachment. >> washington journal continues. host: asking you how vaccine rollouts are going in your state. some images from the washington post -- the metro section, shots available at six flags. you can see shots being administered, people lining up in prince george's county outside of washington. " maryland testing site becomes vaccine center." the camera can move to the left -- a couple of other photos

here. a national guard soldier, enforcing socially distancing guidelines waiting for shots at yankee stadium in the bronx. also in londonderry, new hampshire, man administering the vaccine to a man in his car. on the line for those who have been vaccinated already, jim, tell us your story. caller: my wife and i got our first vaccination approximately three weeks ago. it was well-run. there was law enforcement on the ground there. it was very smooth. about 45 minutes. they called us yesterday for the follow-up appointment, for the booster. that will be accomplished tuesday afternoon. the comment -- and there is a

facility in gainesville, florida. she got her second shot friday. the comment is, the national media hates ron desantis, our governor because he was a supporter and ally of trump. this is a great example of fake news. this is a great example of florida spinning. florida is ahead of the curve. our governor is a great governor. he is very well-liked. he saved my mother's life. early in this process, irrelevant of donald trump, he put into place policy in the state of florida closing down the nursing homes, a clfs, care

facilities. they account for over 50% of the fatalities. look at new york for example and the incompetence of governor cuomo. he saved my mom's life as well as thousands of elderly folks in florida. our demographics are that we have the highest percentage of folks over 65 in our state. just a comment on how well it is going for my wife and i -- it is not perfect, but we are getting people vaccinated. our businesses are running and opening up. god bless america and god bless conservatives who know how to run the show. host: virginia now, lucas is on the line. caller: here in virginia, so far about 1,022,000 have been

vaccinated but only 170,000 have been -- have been fully vaccinated. i have not been vaccinated my work ways contacted me and asked me if i was interested in the vaccine. i said yes but they are not sure when they will get the vaccine. host: so a couple months -- how will -- how does that make you feel? caller: it doesn't make me feel nervous so to speak, nor worrisome. i am doing what i can on my part, wearing my mask, wash my hands and all that. i do not feel nervous. host: thank you. teresa come point pleasant beach, new jersey -- teresa, point pleasant beach, new jersey. caller: i have tried to get the vaccine for weeks now, going to

different websites. there are always no openings. i am registered with the state. i do not think we are doing a great job here in new jersey. host: thanks for calling. covid. cdc.com has some of the raw data -- 58 million total doses have been administered so far -- distributed so far. the number of people receiving one or more shots -- 28 million. just about 29 million have received one or more doses. seven and a half million people have received both doses. let's hear from karen in leesburg, virginia. good morning. caller: i want to make a comment and put this in perspective.

330 million americans in the country -- the vaccine was rolled out in december. the people who do not get a chance to get the vaccine should be grateful because that could have been you in 2020. be careful how you complain about how our state is running things. it is a miracle they got it off the ground. in new jersey when the virus first hit, new york, all due respect, they were the guinea pig. the nursing homes, in the city, governor cuomo and murphy did an outstanding job to prepare everybody. when people start complaining about what happened in new york -- in virginia we are getting

it together. i am grateful i have not been affected. i am sorry for those who did not make it. i think we need to be patient and to be grateful. we need to talk to our elected officials. i wanted to add some clarity to that. people talking about who is doing what, our governor and all that stuff. 400,000 americans did not make it. host: thank you for calling. judy is on the line from oklahoma. you have been vaccinated -- is that correct? caller: i completed the final one yesterday. host: tell us about your experience, judy. caller: my experience has been wonderful. they're efficient, pleasant and most of the people there were

elderly so they could not hear. they had lots of issues the staff or dealing with and they were absolutely -- were dealing with and they were wonderful. host: the covid vaccine tracker, how is each jurisdiction performing? they say some have been more efficient than others and administering their doses from the federal government. it is interesting to note that some of the territories here, american samoa, the northern mariana islands are up on top, 20% of americans -- percent of people in american samoa have gotten their shot. 4.5% of people in alaska have got in both shots. in guam, 3.2%. these are the percentage of

people who have gotten at least one shot so far. west virginia is up there. 4.9% of folks in west virginia have gotten both shots. mike is on the line now. caller: i am a disabled veteran from the veteran -- from the vietnam war. my health care is with the feds. i have to go to pittsburgh-- i live next to the ohio border. i came up -- they told me to come up february 2 for my first shot. i drove 90 miles, had to five and -- find a place to park, i signed in, got in line, then they ran out of vaccine. they said come back march 4. i had to drive all the way back home, 180 miles to get back

home. the da ran out of vaccine. -- the v.a. ran out of vaccine. i trust them a lot, i have been written -- with them since 1970, but it seems they have been going downhill. even the appointments i have, some get canceled, some you have to wait forever. i'm not happy with the v.a., driving up there. it was 10:30 in the morning, my appointment. i waited in line for a good hour and a half, then they said " come back march 4." host: we are asking how the vaccine rollout is going in your state. our next color is from dayton, ohio -- caller is from dayton,

ohio. caller: i am 65. i am do to get my shot this week. i looked on our department of health, and they said they would be updating it friday. everything was full in terms of setting up appointments. i did go back on a friday, and nothing was updated. i have gone to several hospitals and various places that are supposed to be giving the shots. all of them say they are full. there is nowhere for me to sign up. host: what are you going to do? caller: i really do not know. i have been trying to find a phone number because i have been doing most of this on the computer. i thought maybe i can get a hold

of a person who can tell me " just show up somewhere," or whatever. we are hearing lots of little stories like that. if there is vaccine left over at a site they will give it to folks at a kroger grocery store or whatever. i've gone to cbs, walgreens -- cvs. walgreens -- c walgreensvs, -- cvs, walgreens, and i have not found anything that does not say "full ." host: the defense department will send active duty personnel to support mass vaccination sites. the pentagon approved a request from fema to provide military aid for five centers as an effort to meet the president's goal of vaccinating 100 million

people within his first 100 days. around february 15, added missions soon to follow. we have john from alamo, california. you have been vaccinated. tell us your story. caller: i am a v.a. vet and i had an experience of having an appointment on january 26. i got a call on january 25, the saying they were out of vaccine and i didn't drive up. they set up a vaccine operation and they have a system where people can be put on a list. that is how i got my vaccine. it worked out fairly well. what i wanted to comment on was back in the day i was involved

in registration at a local communication -- a local community college. we ran that thing 24/7 because we did not have the staff. it would be a little different -- have the staff. it would be a little different. we found the no-show rate was high so we could pump people through appointments. they were able to come in on a walk-in basis, not that it would match this vaccine thing, but when i went to get my shot it was at the tail end of the day, and they had a fairly good sized staff. if they would look at a staffing arrangement where they ran 24 hours a day and they took maybe the next tier of people who will

be eligible for vaccination, and have people sign up on a priority to come in and be vaccinated if there is a no-show, and have a small group of people waiting, you can turn this problem with the vaccination where we see on the tv screen, there are like 40 million vaccines and 20 meal you and people back -- 20 million people vaccinated. we have this excess supply. we need to get all this vaccine used and start getting people in that second tier who want to come in and once we get to this backlog, we can do this walk vaccination without appointment and start pushing this stuff through. host: thank you for your participation this morning. connie is on the line, waiting

in jacksonville, florida, also vaccinated. caller: i live in jacksonville, florida, and our mayor has done a great job in terms of running out to the vaccine in the beginning. he worked at some cakes -- some kinks. now he is working with city council people in order to get the vaccine -- people have trouble with transportation. i am thankful i live in jacksonville, and that he is our mayor. host: you have had one shot and waiting for the second one? caller: i have had both. host: were you within that 14 day window? caller: i am. host: will you change anything about your routine when those 14

days are up? caller: i will feel freer even though i will have a mask. i will feel better. maybe i can hug some close friends who have already been vaccinated themselves. host: on to patty now. patty is in new york. what town are you calling from, patty? caller: town is catskill. our governor is matt cuomo. he has done a pretty good job. i have been vaccinated wants. -- vaccinated once. i live in an assisted government facility. it is not assisted living. we have our own apartment. we have a lot of people in this country, and this just hit us.

we are doing -- i think they are doing a pretty good job, but i hear different things. people cannot get on lists, people cannot get vaccinated. public health came to us two weeks ago. they were wonderful. that is who should handle this more. the public health nurses are absolutely wonderful. we filled out a form and we had it in our big room, and everything was organized. it was wonderful. we get our second shot in another week and a half. they were so professional. that is what they are trained for, to help in this country. i think there is a lot of -- i think we need more people to give the vaccination.

our local drugstore -- i live in a small town -- this is a moderna in the next couple of weeks. if we can get it here in this town, i hear of things all over. one relative of my friend called up the number, she lives out on long island, she was told to go to utica, new york. host: that is a long trip from long island. thank you for calling and everyone who weighed in. we will be back tomorrow, just like every day, for another edition of washington journal. 7:00 every morning. enjoy the rest of your saturday.

we will see you back there tomorrow. ♪ [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2021] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪ >> 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 by these television companies, who provide c-span to viewers as a public service. >> the senate impeachment trial of former president donald trump begins tuesday, with senators deciding if the former president should be convicted on incitement of insurrection.