u.s. surgeon general. on c-span3, the senate judiciary committee hears testimony on ways to produce -- to reduce gun violence. any hearing with the acting director of the u.s. census bureau, providing an update on the 2020 senses. -- some >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are supported by these television companies and more. ♪ ♪ >>m support, c-span alonmidco a front to democracy. >> coming up this morning on "washington journal," the senior

researcher talks about u.s.-china relations under the biden administration.later , communities in schools, we discussed the group's role in helping low income students during the pandemic. ♪ host: covering just 68 square miles, surrounded by virginia and maryland, washington, dc, district of columbia has over 700,000 residents, pay federal taxes, serve in the military, but do not have voting representation in either the u.s. house or senate. that would change under a democratic filled now under consideration by the u.s. house. good morning and welcome to "washington journal. simple question for you this first hour, should washington dc become the 51st state? if you say yes, the line is

(202) 748-8000. if you say no, (202) 748-8001. if you are a d.c. resident, the line is (202) 748-8002. and you can also send a text from anywhere, that line is (202) 748-8003. make sure you tell us where you are texting from and your name, of course. on twitter we are @cspanwj and on facebook it's facebook.com/c-span. we will get your comments and calls and the house hearing yesterday on capitol hill, but we want to start begetting the program talking about the mass shooting in boulder, colorado yesterday that left 10 dead, including a police. this is a headline from "the debtor -- denver post." to boulder and there publication , "-- 10 dead, including an

officer, are dead at a king soopers following a shooting on monday. police earlier in the day did not confirm the number of fatalities, the boulder police chief said at eight evening news conference that there were 10 dead, including a boulder police officer host: that's from "the daily camera." we will be talking about this story later in our program in the 8:45 segment, so if you want to call in about that later, that will be 8:45 eastern. lots of response from colorado lawmakers and others, including former representative gabby giffords, who tweeted this last night after the shooting in

colorado. she says that this is an especially personal tragedy, "i survived a shooting at a grocery store that devastated my beloved tucson. this is not normal. it's a tragedy in boulder, colorado. this past weekend there was a house party in philadelphia and last week it was an armed attack on asian women in the atlanta area. it doesn't have to be this way, it's beyond time for our leaders to take action." kahlo -- colorado leader ed perlmutter says "i'm devastated. as a two-time graduate of cu boulder, my heart breaks for those impacted by the -- by today's violence." he also says "gun violence is becoming too common in our daily lives and at all levels we must make the epidemic of gun

violence less easy, frequent, and deadly." this is the officer, officer eric talley. from the congressman, "rest in peace, you served your community well nbo you a debt that we can never repay." -- and we owe you a debt that we can never repay." our lead topic this morning about yesterday's hearing on capitol hill, democratic bill considering adding the district of columbia as the 51st state, washington, d.c. this is the reporting from "the washington post." making the case for d.c. statehood, "advocates and democratic lawmakers painted it as a matter of moral urgency and racial justice, pushing back against republican arguments

that the cause is part -- purely partisan and unconstitutional, with 51 star flags lining the city host: hearing yesterday held on capitol hill. if you say yes to d.c. being the 51st state, (202) 748-8000. if you say no, (202) 748-8001. for those of you who are d.c. residents, the line is (202) 748-8002. want to show you some of the opening testimony yesterday from the mayor of d.c., muriel bowser. [video clip] >> they say that our economy is not diverse enough, even though we are bigger by population then

two states and pay more per capita than any state. we pay more in federal taxes than 20 two states. they say that washington, d.c. can't take care of itself. this is simply not accurate. by many objective measures d.c. is a better governed jurisdiction than most states. we have balanced our budgets for 25 times in the last 25 years. we already operate as a state and perform the same functions as states do. during the coronavirus pandemic, for example, we have led covid-19 testing, contact tracing and vaccination efforts, just as states to. and we are treated like a state in federal law. again, two years ago we debunked those claims as thinly veiled attacks on our political

leanings and quite frankly on our diversity and history of black political power. today i come to urge this committee and this congress to move beyond the tired, nonfactual, frankly anti-democratic rhetoric and extend full democracy to the residents of the district of columbia. host: the hearing yesterday, should washington, d.c. become the 51st state? here's the headline on that hearing from "the wall street journal, saying statehood debate splitting down party lines. comments on twitter and facebook. of course, says doug. it's way overdue. republicans are so hateful that they will fight to keep d.c. citizens disenfranchised because they think the democrats are taking over. robert says that making d.c. a state is like making disneyland estate. matt from new york, good

morning, you are first up. >> yes, good morning. yeah, definitely no. it's ridiculous. it's a power grab. just like all the other bills they want to jam through. they know that in two years they will lose control of congress again because of all of the insane stuff they are doing. as far as statehood goes in being disenfranchised, that's very simple. the part that was originally maryland and the part that was originally virginia, they should be able to vote as a precinct for maryland or virginia towards national elections. it's that simple. anything else is ridiculous. it's an obvious power grab and what the mayor said, of course they are balancing their budgets. if they don't, congress is going to step in, like they did when they had that crack had mayor. host: columbus, ohio, saying

yes, d.c. should be a state. caller: yes, it should. to the other caller, everyone in the united states should have the representation. they may not want to go along with virginia with what they are saying that should suit their state. they should not be without representation and the only reason this went as far as it did is because back in the day they had people, poor people, that didn't, that worked for the capital and on the hill and they were not given the right to have their own legislation. thank you. host: sandy, calling from columbus, president biden is headed there today to talk about the anniversary of the aca, the new covid relief bill that he signed last week. the $1.9 trillion spending measure coming up on the c-span

networks later today, the president traveling to ohio. wanting to let you know what part of the legislation says, talking about democratic legislation in the house that is supposed to come up for a vote before the summer. this is a part of the language of hr 51, that's the bill. they say in the bill that the commonwealth shall consist of all district territory with specified exclusions for federal buildings and monuments, including principal federal monuments the white house, host: going back to the language in the con certainly bring it up, creating a federal district

in the constitution. it is in the constitution in article one, section eight that says congress shall have the power to exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever over such strict, not exceeding 10 miles square, as may be by cession of particular states and become the seat of government of the united states and exercise blanket authority host: d.c. as it is currently formed is 68 square miles. the original 10 square miles was the original, but that land in virginia was seated back. -- ceded back. virginia, frank, saying no. caller: i say no because it

would make a bad situation worse. it's already a problem with the ballot apportionment in the senate, with new york having the same representation as vermont and wyoming. why make a bad situation worse? i want to point something out, in the constitution it says this is the one thing you can't change by amendment, equal suffrage in the senate. it's an irreversible course to go on. ultimately i think we will have to turn the senate into something like a house of lords to correct this thing. but i would like to offer an idea that would create a new kind of entity that i would call the generic state. like d.c., puerto rico, guam, all the territories as part of a single state as far as congressional representation is concerned. something that could be made very, something that ultimately

might break it up so that maybe puerto rico would enter as a second -- separate state. put them all together and then you have a population perhaps justifying -- host: under your idea, frank, with those people get one member of the house and two senators? -- would those people get one member of the house and two senators? caller: as many congresspeople as warranted by the population, but then the senate representation would have enough population to justify it. d.c. is too small. why make a bad situation worse? it's already a bad problem that we have. let's not make it any worse than it is. host: you are saying it is too small in size, not population. the current population of d.c.'s like 705,000 or something like that. caller: right, but it is smaller

than the other 48 states. it's just going to make what i regard as a bad situation worse. host: frank, thanks for your call. we will go to the yes line to hear from duane in jamaica, new york. caller: frank is in a delusional state. how do you say something is small? if you are paying taxes and representing your state, why can't they be a part of the 51 states, the 50 states? it's ridiculous. they are upset because of washington, d.c. becomes a state, now you get two democratic senators, a democratic representative, that is what they are afraid of. that is what the republican party is afraid of. they will never have power. they have made it very clear that they would not have power if they became a state. d.c. is bigger and has more

population than wyoming and vermont but they are states. it just doesn't make sense. the argument was so flawed i was grinning just to get on to say that. host: we show you this headline a moment ago, more from "the wall street journal," statehood debate split down party lines. republicans argue that congress doesn't have the authority to make d.c. estate through regular legislation and it would require amending the constitution, a much higher bar that buyers ratification by three quarters of the states and they say that democrats want statehood to increase voting power in congress. one of those members, representative james comer from kentucky on the committee was at the hearing yesterday. let's hear what he had to say. [video clip] >> now speaker pelosi is stepping in with an unconstitutional bill to make washington, d.c. a city smaller than columbus, ohio and a city

that just happens to be 90% democratic, the 51st state. d.c. statehood is a key part of the radical leftist agenda to reshape -- reshape america along with the green new deal, defunding the police and packing the u.s. supreme court. many problems exist with hr 51. the first is that it's unconstitutional. don't take my word for it. take the word of civil rights champion robert f kennedy, who said 60 years ago that granting d.c. statehood absent a constitutional amendment was inconceivable and would produce an absurdity. take the word of all the justice department's from kennedy to obama. host: back to the constitution underpinning the debate, article four, section three about the creation of states, the

constitution says that new states may be admitted by the congress into the union but no new states shall be formed within the jurisdiction of any other state nor any state before by the junction of two or more states without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned as well as of the congress. on twitter thomas says this about making d.c. the 51st state, saying it gives a predominant black province more power than it should have had 100 years ago. i would love to welcome d.c. is the 51st state. the flag isn't an issue, add to balance the stars. i would have to say no, but we do need to find a way to fully enfranchise the scissors and residents and it doesn't make sense to turn what is essentially a city into a state. the district was part of maryland, return it except the white house and capital to maryland and that way we have full representation, there would

be 50 states and the capital would remain in independent of the states. one more from colleen, who says no, the founding fathers did not believe it should be. in somerville, massachusetts, donna also says no. tell us why. caller: well i'm going to change it and make it yes. i would like to have washington, d.c. come to a state, combine all the rest of the states and do it democratically. i'm going to change it to that republican idea of no to yes. i'm going to wish obamacare a happy birthday today. it's 11 years old. i want those television movie

star players brought under obamacare. which is everybody else has to come under obamacare. i would like to have joe biden bring those television players under the affordable care act laws, if he can take my advice. i don't know if he can do it or not, that's my idea. host: gary in georgia, on the question, should ecb the 51st state? you say no. good morning. caller: yes, sir. good morning to you. i'm not totally against it but i think my question has been answered in the first segment here where y'all read the requirements of it. host: host: the requirements to you affirm that d.c. should not be a state? that the district should be under the control of congress?

caller: yes, sir, unless they can go through the constitutional requirements to become a state, which all the other states have had to do, i would think that would be the way the founding fathers would want us to do it. i did have one question for you, though, it would be good if you could do a segment on this, here. i would like to find out, the five people that were let go from the white house administration exactly what color they are. host: which five people are you talking about? caller: there were five people let go for smoking marijuana. host: i'm not familiar with that story. reuther glen, virginia, is next. virginia. good morning. caller: i'm not necessarily

against d.c. statehood, but i watched the proceedings for a couple of hours and what was brought up is that it may not be legal for congress to do this in an up-and-down vote. while the democrats talked about that being the way that all other states were formed, yes or no votes through congress, those were territories. d.c. is not a territory, it's a federal district. the land was given by maryland and it was brought up that maryland would have to secede their property back into maryland and then give it back again for estate, which i understand is illegal because you can't form one state from another. i know that west virginia and vermont were formed by other states but that was a long time ago. i also question the fact that since part of the original district was seated back to virginia, with that also come into play for returning the full

10 square miles? with that have to also be considered for d.c. statehood? in other words, returning alexandria and arlington to d.c. to make it a part of estate. host: thank you for the call. george mentioned that he watched the hearing yesterday. d.c. has one representative in congress, longtime d.c. delegate eleanor holmes norton who testified at yesterday's hearing. [video clip] >> the constitution does not establish any prerequisites for these states and congress has generally considered a prospective commitment to democracy. their population is larger than

two states. the state of washington, d.c. would be one of seven states with a population under one million. d.c. pays more federal taxes per capita than any state. any state already in the union. already with statehood. paying more federal taxes than 22 states. the d.c. budget is larger than that of 12 states. 86% of d.c. residents voted for statehood in 2016. d.c. residents have been petitioning for voting rights in congress ever since the district we can the capital 200 and 20 years ago. host: the opening question this hour, should d.c. become estate? yes, (202) 748-8000. no, (202) 748-8001.

for d.c. residents, (202) 748-8002. this from the caller, "dozens of young white house staffers have been suspended, forced to resign or placed in a remote work program because of marijuana use, disappointing those who initially thought that recreational use of cannabis would not be disqualifying for personnel according to those familiar with the situation. the cult -- polling on the question, rasmussen, 55% oppose d.c. statehood in the most recent poll on the topic. good morning. caller: i'm a former resident of d.c. and i currently work in the city and i think what i'm

finding so interesting is when you are a resident in d.c., you are not thinking about the politics. you are thinking i don't have a vote, meaning i don't have a voice. you can go nba part of demonstrations, different things going on within the city, but without the vote you don't feel as though you have a voice and there are many other things happening in the district besides just the politics. there are citizens living their lives just like everyone else in the united states and it's easy to have a small snapshot of what's going on in the district but until you live here and understand that this isn't maryland and this is not virginia, this is now its own territory. its own area. you very much identify with that identity and not maryland or virginia. i would say for folks to please

consider the people who actually live here and not the politics surrounding the decision. host: jim is also yes, from locust grove, georgia. hello. caller: i'm voting yes, but i'm also saying that if they are going to do that for d.c., why do we not do it for puerto rico and guam? it's time that that should be changed. it should be different. they should be states. it's past time. doing it simply because of republican politics. thank you. host: jim, we read you the pole a moment ago from rasmussen. this goes to show the different polls have different results, from cbs, as congress prepares to take up d.c. statehood, national support grows.

they are polling on this as the house prepares to take up the issue of statehood for the district of columbia, the new national poll finds 64% of voters think that d.c. should be a state, a record high of support conducted by the data for progress progressive advocacy coalition for democracy for all of 2021, shared with cbs news, a couple of comments on social media where things are, people think of that question on d.c. becoming a state. this one says i have to say no but we need to find a way to fully enfranchise residents, more power per capita, power just want unfair power. virginia, maryland, or others. william in middletown, connecticut, chris in new jersey says that what's best for fellow citizens, if statehood is the best way to ensure adequate representation, seems like a no-brainer.

it should be estate, at least the area around capitol hill. there were hardly any voting residents then. part of it was part of virginia, yes, but it is a separate entity with half of a million taxpaying residents and it was one third black and more so since and as a result half the country has been adamantly opposed to its statehood since then. that was james. isaac is on the yes line. hello there. caller: i'm a native what -- washingtonian. the bottom line is you have 700,000 residents that are taxed federally and have no say in any bill, law, or statute that is used govern over them.

i ask any of your callers saying no if they could live their entire life under that rule and i don't think they would. it's 2021. chocolate city needs to become the 51st state. it's time. host: lexington, north carolina, ellen is a no. hello there. go ahead with your comment. caller: i just think the founding fathers knew exactly how to distribute equal representation throughout the united states and that is something that is unprecedented today and we should have equal representation. i voted no because 50 is 25 and 25, you've got to go 52 then, you have to have equal representation. caller: you think the founders anticipated, someone texted a moment ago, they anticipated

that d.c., the district, the federal capital district would become an area where people would live or would it be a temporary place just for federal business to be conducted? caller: i would think that if people were doing federal business, they would live within the district. i mean i've read the constitution and it amazes me how brilliant those fellows were way back when. the thing about it is, we, d.c. gets votes anyways. why would you not be able to be a part of one of the 50 states? that's the only thing i'm saying . it just makes no sense to me to be an odd number, because you would never, i think that you need to go back and read the constitution. host: thanks, ellen.

republican glenn grothman questioned witnesses on the economy of washington, d.c. here's some of that. [video clip] >> when our forefathers created this it was a city and not a state. what does it take to build a good economy, i have a friend who says you either have to manufacture it, grow it, or mine it. you can milk it, too, but i guess what he's saying is that is created by manufacturing, agriculture, or natural minerals . those are things that i think every state has two some degree. i would like to ask anyone up there if they have an idea as far as the number of manufacturing jobs in washington, d.c. usually in a big city it's substantial. talk about about the agriculture and washington, d.c. and of the

mining or the drilling, all three of which have to be very tiny compared to what we get in a normal state. so i will ask, oh, anybody want to take a stab at that? the people talking about the workforce of washington, d.c. >> thank you, this is mayor bowser speaking. let me just say that you referred to us as just a city and not really a state when the truth is, we function as a city, county, and state right now. in fact what we are is special. we're different. we are different in a lot of good ways and the ways that we are different that are un-american is that we don't have two senators. you say that what does it take -- >> i only have five minutes, i only have five minutes. >> let me answer your question about the good economy. we have a great economy.

even in the face of covid. >> your economy is based on government and your economy is based on tourism, which is a different thing, in other words retail, a different thing other than manufacturing, agriculture, or mining or drilling. host: responding to those comments, the council tweeted "if we hear one more time that we cannot be estate because we don't have enough fishermen, loggers, miners, or farmers, the last time we checked having a rural village people crew was not part of statehood. "washington democrats treat d.c. statehood like it's a shiny ball, but it is nothing more than a distraction, government control and intrusion into the daily lives of americans and it is a sham, says virginia foxx --

sham," says virginias stop -- virginia foxx. if you think d.c. should be estate, (202) 748-8000 -- a state, (202) 748-8000. if not, (202) 748-8001. good morning. caller: i'm a d.c. resident and i think that all u.s. citizens should have voting representation in congress. puerto rico, guam, and the virgin islands should be allowed to be states as well. the federal district, there was no minimum mentioned. the whole debate speaks to the inequality of the senate with vastly different population sizes getting two senators. host: clyde, alabama, he says yes as well. go ahead. caller: sure, it should be. then there might be that much more of a push for secession in this country. in two years we won't have a country anymore anyway. host: so, you think that this

would cause a further tomorrow -- further divide among other states? caller: sure, sure. in two years the democrats are going to seize power anyway. why not make it a state? host: other stories being reported in a number of publications, this in particular from "the washington times," biden to be presented with spending plan of up to $3 trillion. white house staffers are prepping plans to present to mr. biden as he prepares his next major legislative push, according to multiple reports, on monday. the white house says the talks are still ongoing and that mr. biden doesn't plan to lay out the details publicly this week, but the package under consideration could involve two parts. first, infrastructure and climate change, second is a sweet of domestic items he campaigned on, including universal pre-k and free

community college. he long planned to push for a build back better economic proposal after congress passed his 1.9 trillion dollars coronavirus relief package. the white house press secretary said that mr. biden is weighing different options and that he's interested in ideas like the ones he touted on the campaign trail, like infrastructure and caregiving. this comment from twitter -- caregiving." this comment from twitter, why should wyoming have representation when d.c. doesn't? mike says no on statehood, it would go against the constitution. d.c. isn't where it should be anyway, it should sit in the middle of the country, not the center of the 13 colonies. karen says these are american citizens paying the same taxes and doing everything you do

without representation. that's illegal. ask yourself why you are saying no. if it has to do with those -- the party of those you perceive to be against the -- the party of those not equal to your rights then you have a different issue. jordan says it will be politically disadvantageous for conservatives. joe, good morning. caller: i'm a big no on this one. they would have more senators than congressman. i small town of lebanon, tennessee is bigger than eight by eight. it's just such a tiny, they should vote with maryland for their senate representation. if they have a congressman i'm assuming they are able to vote for that congressman, right? host: they have a delegate.

eleanor holmes norton has no voting power on the floor of the house. she has voting power in committees but not on final passage of bills. caller: i see, i say. well, still, i think they should probably vote with maryland to get their representation there. i don't think d.c. really needs more power than it already has. i mean all the money, the top eight of the top 10 richest counties are right there in the d.c. area. how much more power do they need there? host: the city of the district of columbia city government has launched an ad campaign touting statehood. here's a look. [video clip] >> this is antoinette, born and raised in d.c., enlisted in the army, decorated with a purple heart. today she fights for states rights.

she doesn't have a vote in congress because she lives in the district and not the state. >> i deserve the right to representation, just like any other american in any other state. >> let's make d.c. the 51st state. host: back to your calls. rich in east smithfield. caller: i believe that they should have senatorial representation and the way to achieve that for maryland to take back the land donated in 1790 for the establishment of the district of columbia, as virginia did. here's another thing to think about. washington, d.c. is right now basically 68 square miles. 60 of it is land, eight of it is water. that means new york city, over 320 square miles, could split

into five different states and their population would exceed that of washington, d.c. host: ok, rich. mike, somerville, massachusetts, mike says yes. go ahead. caller: this is mike, yep. without a doubt. there's no reason not to do this . the people against this really have no factual basis, i don't think. it's all emotional. it's another thing with the republicans. everything is emotional, nothing is fact. i'm tired of it. we need to wipe that kind of sentiment out from government discourse. everything is a conspiracy with those guys. the only reason they oppose it is because it will lose them power. i think they should toughen up and, i don't know, bring some facts to the table. i don't want to hear about the emotion. thanks, bye.

host: to be clear, this similar legislation passed to the 116th congress and was never considered by the senate. it's changed now with the senate under democratic control and the support of the biden administration, according to the majority leader of the house, he would like to see it on the house floor sometime before the summer. it was in committee yesterday and we show you some of that. reporting on another hearing that we will cover today, this is "the wall street journal," with the headline "fed chief says recovery is far to go." "the recovery remains far from complete, despite recent improvements and the central bank plans to continue providing support. the recovery has progressed more quickly than generally expected and looks to be strengthening, but mr. powell said in testimony prepared for today in a hearing before the house financial services committee, the recovery is far from complete so at the

fed we will continue to provide the economy the support that it needs for as long as it takes, writing that the fed has held a benchmark interest rates near zero since the effects of the covid-19 pandemic slammed to the economy more than a year ago. the hearing that they are talking about, the house financial services committee hearing coming up at noon, we will have the fed chairman jerome powell and the treasury secretary janet yellen live here on c-span. it will also be available on the c-span radio app and at c-span.org. madison, alabama is next. good morning, frank. what are your thoughts? caller: i was born in d.c. at old providence hospital to give my bona fides. but i don't think they should get representation, they should give it back to maryland and

return it to 10 miles. host: born in d.c., how long did you live in the city? caller: for three years. i lived outside in maryland for 27 years. host: did you work in the city in those years? caller: for a couple years. host: all right, frank, appreciate that. nate is next in milwaukee. says yes, go ahead. you are on. host: thank you for -- caller: thank you for having me. it's an easy call. i support statehood for paris -- for puerto rico and guam as well . that's not partisan i think because i think any republican would win in guam. this is something that should be easy. i find it very interesting that the people who are usually complaining about too much power

are supporting the idea of keeping other u.s. citizens from having exactly the same amount of power in terms of the ability to have a vote that counts that they do. i would think that this is something that they would be ashamed to say when it comes to that. this is perhaps a reminder that people see partisanship more important than other citizens rights sometimes, which is sad. host: all right, this is a opinion piece that was actually published two weeks after the attack on the capital. it's in "the washington post," the headline saying that d.c. needs statehood more than ever and the capitol riot proves that ." "january 6 began with black choi and ended in white hate, like too many days in u.s. history.

i live two blocks away and was hopeful that the election in georgia would provide a path for my own congressional representation in d.c., but as the day went on i watched in horror as insurrectionists invaded the neighborhood and a treasonous mob invaded the house, initiated by the twice impeached president trump. the insurgency propelled me a real bowser to ask for help from the national guard, but because d.c. is not a state, all requests for the deployment had to be approved by the president and defense department. they deny the request as rioters proudly waived confederate flags inside of a building built by enslaved people. the d.c. government was forced to turn to states whose governors have unilateral powers to mobilize national guard. maryland and virginia sent in troops but it was too late, insurrectionists were in the chair's -- that shares of congress -- the chairs of

congress." new jersey, we hear next from pat. go ahead, pat. caller: thank you. i'm against the way people are thinking with d.c. wanting to become a state, you would have to amend the constitution to allow it. i believe it took the 23rd amendment to give d.c. votes for president, give them electoral college votes. what's going to happen, it's one city, smaller than new york city. new york city doesn't have its own governor. how many lawyers of government are going to have in a city that is smaller by area, land than most cities? host: do you think the people proposing this believe it's worth amending the constitution to do this? do you think they will go that route? caller: i would say to them that they are looking to do this by

simple legislation. if they believe it is right and good, let them propose a constitutional amendment. i don't see how this legislation would ever pass muster in the supreme court. caller: jeanette says yes, d.c. should be a state. caller: yes, good morning. i'm calling to endorse d.c. statehood. what people don't realize is that real people live here. they own houses, go to schools. we have colleges, churches. we are a community and we really have been kind of cheapened for so many years of the same rights of any other state. these people yesterday, i think it was jody heister something, saying that d.c. doesn't even have called -- car dealerships and no agricultural industry, but there is arts and culture and all of our you know, national museums that are here and beautiful parks.

it's not a requirement in the constitution to have car dealerships or be a mining town or something like that. we really should have statehood and its way too long. the gentleman that called about saying going back to maryland, there is no going back. we have our own culture and history here. d.c. is a great place and it could be even greater if it was a state. host: how long have you lived in d.c.? caller: my husband and i, we own our home here since 1997. i did live around the suburbs in maryland and he had lived in virginia when we met and stuff, but we love living in washington , it really is a wonderful place. everyone, people from all around the world come to visit. why are we just like a federal enclave and not a real state? host: thanks for your call this

morning. a lot of questions about the constitution and the d.c. mayor touched on that a number of times, including the chart that it would violate section one of the constitution. here's what she said. [video clip] >> they say washington, d.c. statehood is unconstitutional, even though constitutional experts have refuted this claim. article one of the constitution is not an obstacle. hr 51 makes it clear, a federal district will remain for the federal government. its buildings and its workings. the rest of the area where people live will become the 51st state. host: to follow-up on a story that we read about the january 6 attacks, reporting from "usa today" this morning. "a west virginia man accused of assaulting brian sicknick, who

died after the january 6 riot, was ordered jailed after the trial and a contentious court hearing where prosecutors presented video clips showing the officer and two other colleagues being doused with chemical spray and struggling to recover. describing it as surreal, the u.s. magistrate said that he was very satisfied with the evidence against george pierre tenney oce . he's charged, along with julian cotter of pennsylvania, they face decades in prison if convicted on 10 criminal counts, including conspiring to attack officers with chemical repellent during the siege. neither is charged with his death and they write that they have created a culture radicalized by hate and that there were no songs or joy and peace on january 6, nothing but hate and anger. i understand that this is a one-time event but there are people serving life sentences

for the one time of a and. they casted the video clips as small limited snippets offered to support a storyline. our question for you this morning about the district of columbia, should it either 51st state? comments on social media, donna says that it was meant to be the capital of the country, not a state and the capital was not meant to be in any one state. from california, no on making it a state, it is and always has been the capital. why are people all over the country so ready to change american traditions? absolutely not says bruce in ohio. what's next, new york city as the 52nd state? no taxation without representation, says this one. why is wyoming good for representation in d.c. shouldn't? this one says no, make that a code is one, problem solved.

newark valley, new york. david, also no one statehood. go ahead. caller: thank you for your show, is very informative. host: go ahead, you're on the air. caller: hello, everyone. host: don't listen to the tv, listen to the phone. or you will get confused. caller: all right. hello, i oppose washington dc as a state. from one -- host: you are getting a bit confused, sorry about that. lynn is in cumberland center, maine. also saying no. good morning.

caller: one thing i haven't heard about, how would protesting work? if it's state control, could they only allow protesters to be allowed within the city by whichever party has the governorship? host: let me go back to part of the line that you read at the top of the show. the language that defines the area of what would be the new commonwealth is what they are calling it. here's what part of the language says, that the commonwealth shall consist of all district territory with specified exclusions for monuments including federal, including the principal federal monuments of the white house, the capitol building, and the federal executive and legislative judicial office buildings located adjacent to the mall and capitol building and may not

oppose taxes on federal property, they are proposing an area and they would call it washington columbia, washington douglas i think. i'm getting it confused, but it would include the name of frederick douglass in what they are calling the commonwealth. a number of states are also known by commonwealth. kentucky, jason is next up on the s line. tell us why. caller: good morning. i personally believe that if washington, d.c. became a state, we can probably do it, but we would need to make the district. we could keep the district, but make it the metropolitan area estate, keeping the capitol building, the white house and all the governing area a district. that way we could keep it

somewhat constitutional while also giving them statehood and more representation in congress. host: the caller from kentucky. thank you, jason. james gomer was one of the members sitting on the committee yesterday during the hearing. let's hear what he had to say. [video clip] >> if washington, d.c. were to become a state and we will repeatedly make the point through this hearing, the minority will, that will require constitutional amendment, but if that were to happen, i wonder, do you think this would lead other states to split and try to create their own states? for example in california there has been a movement for many years to create the 51st state there. a lot of, the majority of the map of california feels disenfranchised because so much of the population lives in san francisco, los angeles, san

diego. they don't feel like the representation in sacramento or the representatives in washington represent their values. and by the way, conservatives would like it because it would bust up the california electoral college number and potentially elect one or two republican senators. i just wonder if you feel like that would lead to a movement among other states to do the same thing. caller: the people of the district sent me here for a singular purpose. that was to advocate for them. we know that the only way to achieve full inequality as american taxpayers is through statehood. the people of california who you mentioned have two senators. we do not. so, the situations are not analogous. host: the name of washington,

d.c. would stand for washington douglas commonwealth, and amash to frederick douglass, who lived many years in the nation's capital until the end of his life. his home in anacostia is a national historic site looming above that section of washington, d.c. michael in portland says suppose we did not know the racial composition of d.c. or the political meaning of its citizens. in this state of complete unknowing, how would we describe the issue? on the abstract principles, what is the verdict? donnie in louisville, kentucky says it should never be estate -- a state due to no one usually lives there. most people come there to work from other states where they live. i was therefore over a year and most people i ran into were from somewhere else. there are 705,000 residents of the nation's capital and that

one in a tweet says so as well. steven says that having a state fully populated by government workers simply guarantees latest devotion to the democrat party. nancy is in callahan, florida, who says no. nancy, mu your volume on that or it's going to feedback. -- mute your volume on that or it's going to feedback. all right, we go to paul in tennessee. caller: good morning, sir. we enjoy your program down here. i personally don't feel that washington, d.c. should become a state. per capita, the population of, of most cities is equivalent to the population of washington, d.c. per capita, i don't think it should become a state. host: let's hear from margie.

newark, delaware. caller: i don't understand. we fought a revolutionary war against england because of this, the fact of not having representation but we had to pay taxes. so, why cannot washington become a state and be represented if they pay taxes? it should become a state. host: thanks for your comment. ahead here on washington journal , we talk about issues facing the bite and administration when it comes to china and dealing with china, a follow-up to the end meeting from the secretary of eight. coming up next we will be joined by leaders talking about the challenges and opportunities with china, head. later we discussed how students in low income communities are doing in the pandemic. ♪

announcer: here is a look at our live coverage today. at noon, treasury secretary janet yellen and jerome powell at a hearing about the economy at this stage of coronavirus. at 5:00, president biden marks the 11 year anniversary of the affordable care act being signed to law at an event in columbus, ohio. on c-span two, the senate is back to debate and vote on alana young, white house deputy budget director. on c-span3, the senate judiciary committee hears testimony on ways to reduce gun violence. then, a hearing with the acting -- of the census bureau providing an update on the 2020 census. announcer: c-span is your unfiltered view of government,

created by america's cable television companies in 1979. today, we are brought to you by these companies to provide c-span2 viewers as a public service. ♪ announcer: "washington journal" continues. host: we talk about the state of u.s.-relations -- u.s.-china relations. we are joined by dr. weifeng zhong. guest: good morning. host: how would you describe the current relations between the u.s. and china? guest: the current relations are just as tense as when president biden -- former president trump was in office. this is a continuation of increasing tensions between the u.s. and china and the aspect of national security. the united states has been engaging, sort of in a romantic

way, in china economically. there has been increasing security concerns coming from china, and now last friday in alaska, the contentious meeting is on full display. host: that is part of the reason we are having you on, to check in on u.s.-china relations. this was the first significant meeting between leaders of china and the u.s. government could secretary of state antony blinken there, and the leader of the foreign affairs chief or the chinese communist party. he was there as well. what was the stated purpose of that meeting? guest: the purpose was because china was trying to make connections with the u.s. officials in charge.

the purpose has been for decades peaceful relations with the western world so they can rise as a global state. what is a surprise to many people was people thought the biden administration was going to be in some sense relatively softer on china compared to former president trump. those people will have to think again after this meeting because in my opinion, i think presidents in the u.s. do not matter to chinese policy. what drives china policy is the calculation between trading of economic benefits of engaging with china versus security concerns. while the chinese side certainly

wants to get some sort of reset with u.s. officials, remember all of these china measures put on by the trump administration, they are kept in place by president biden. the chinese side was wanting to get some reset to get certain sanctions removed and possibly tariffs taken down. that did not come true. this also underscores the security competition between the two nations. host: before we get to callers, you touched on this, you said they wanted to do a reset, the chinese, after trump. where do you think things started to grow wrong with the trump administration's relations with china? or, do you think we are in a stronger position? guest: i do not think anything

has particularly gone wrong in the past four years in trump's china policy because what we have seen so far -- as i wrote in the national interest -- presidents, whether democrat or republican, doesn't really matter to china because tensions have been increasing. that was going to happen regardless of a biden presidency or a trump presidency. the result would be the same. for a long time, when the u.s. was engaging with china economically, the assumption was there was a lot of economic benefit from trading with them, which has been true. in the beginning, when china first joined the wg outcome of the assumption was china was not going to impose serious concerns on the u.s., which also kind of

has been true. but, the problem started before former president trump came to office. during the second term of obama, the u.s. has become more aware of security concerns over the south china sea. what we have seen, including the first two months of biden is the continuation of escalation in those areas. host: we'd like to open up phone lines to hear from our listeners. if you are a democrat, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents and others, (202) 748-8002. you can pose a question by text, (202) 748-8003. before we get to calls and

comments, let's listen to what antony blinken, secretary of state had to say at that alaska meeting on how the u.s. plans to engage china. [video clip] >> our administration is committed to leading with diplomacy to advance the interests of the united states and strengthen the rules-based international order. that system is not an abstraction. it helps countries resolve differences peacefully, coordinate multilateral efforts effectively, and participate in global commerce with the assurance that everyone is following the same rules. the alternative is a world in which might makes right and winners take all. that would be are far more violent and unstable world for all. today, we will have an opportunity to discuss priorities domestic and global so that china can better understand our administration's

intentions and approach. we will also discuss our deep concerns with actions by china, including hong kong, taiwan, cyber attacks and economic coercion. each of these actions threaten the rules-based order that maintains global stability. that is why we feel an obligation to raise these issues today. host: how different is antony blinken's message from the message of the trump administration? guest: it sounds the same. which gets back to the point where i see more continuation in china policy than difference. not only because all of these china measures but ouch toward the end of the trump administration are still there,

but the rhetoric. they have been saying the same thing for years. the competition in china is no longer about trade deficit, but more on national security. all of these issue areas that secretary blinken mentioned, hong kong, taiwan, they are all of huge concerns of the ethnic world. to understand this, we have to think back 20 years since china joined wto. the past 20 years have emphasized the non-economic consequence of trade. why do i say that? trade has economic benefits, but the problem is sometimes they lead -- trading does lead to security consequences which is not economic.

if a nation trades with north korea, economically speaking, the companies involved in the bilateral trade would benefit commercially, but kim jong-un is going to get the surplus on trade and invest that in his nuclear program. this is a classic example of what in economic literature is called security externalities of trade. when the u.s. engagement with china -- the assumption was there would not be as such severe security externalities, but what turns out to be not quite true is that china has been getting stronger in its own model. this is why secondary blinken emphasized new international order because that is different from what the chinese government has in mind. host: go ahead and finish.

guest: my research focuses on analyzing propaganda talking points like this coming out of china, and from there we have been trying to predict what the thinking is behind the chinese government. what we have detected is that china has been -- conditions for the world. that is why the rule-based system is an obstacle to china. host: i would love to get the calls in a moment, what you heard in the comments by the foreign affairs chief or the communist party at that summit. [video clip] >> china is firmly opposed to u.s. interference in china's maternal -- internal affairs. we have expressed opposition to such interference and we will take firm action in response. our human rights, we hope the united states will do better on

human rights. china has made steady progress in human rights. the fact is that there are many problems within the united states regarding human rights, which is admitted by the u.s. itself. the united states has also said countries cannot rely on force in today's world to resolve challenges. it is a failure to various means to topple the so-called authoritarian state. the challenges facing the united states in human rights are deep-seated they did not just emerge over four years. black lives matter, it did not come up recently. for our two countries, it is important that we manage our respective affairs well instead of deflecting the blame on somebody else in this world.

host: to be clear, those are the translated words of yang jiechi. how different was his tone from a similar summit between the trump administration or the obama administration? guest: before i answer, let me point out, i was listening to the original words from mr. yang jiechi in mandarin. the interpreter mentioned black lives matter, but mr. yang was saying "massacre." the interpreter chose not to translate that term as is but chose to emphasize black lives matter. i thought that was interesting. the chinese official was certainly trying to take a harsh line in criticizing the u.s.. that is underscoring the -- of

china. as you may know, the chinese government has been publishing human rights reports on the u.s. for over 20 years, starting in 1988. they have been saying for a long time that the u.s. has human rights problems. i think this is the first time that chinese officials have -- are so openly and aggressively criticizing human rights records of the united states. the reason china is able to do that is because of the impressive rise in its economic power around the world. they have been able to gather a lot of allies from the developing world. that is what is supporting the much harsher talking points so openly in front of journalists. that is what we have not seen in the past four years when the chinese officials were talking to trump administration

appointees. host:host: how much should be keep in mind that a lot of messaging is aimed at people at home? people in china, or in secretary blinken's case, people in the united states? guest: what chinese officials were saying in alaska certainly scored a lot of points. the next day, if you check the website ali baba, the amazon equivalent in china, there were merchandise selling printing those words coming from the official's mouth. it is appearing tonight -- appealing to nationalism. as much as western nations are criticizing the chinese regime, the chinese president is still tremendously popular. host: we've got fran in

annapolis, maryland. guest: i am scared of china. -- caller: i am scared of china. they are large and powerful, and we are complacent. people say we are afraid of russia and this and that, but if they open their eyes and pay more attention to china. guest: i agree. i think engagement -- what u.s. policymakers and the american public have overlooked is engagement could enhance the practices we consider undesirable. forced labor. you would think that trade, when we think back to china's acceptance into wto, many people

thought that trading with china would change their minds because that would open them up to how -- works in the western world. what actually happened was that china has been having forced labor for a long time. in the old economy when you could trade with other nations, every country is going to focus on what that country can do better, relatively speaking. forced labor in open trade with the western world without restrictions or punishments or sanctions, you would focus on producing more cheap goods using forced labor. that actually enhanced the practice of forced labor that is considered undesirable by western values to actually make them more resilient in the system where china is fully engaged with western economies.

i agree with what the caller said that we should pay more attention to what is happening in china because we just assume the way engagement works and it is not necessarily true and the past 20 years has proven u.s. policymakers wrong. host: the wall street journal reporting, abusive -- abuse of uyghurs draw sanctions. a coordinated blacklisting has sparked the biden administration's efforts to forge coalitions against beijing. let's hear from andrew in fort monmouth, new jersey. caller: good morning. you do a wonderful job. first, i want to say that i do not trust the chinese government. they have had a track record of some of the worst human rights violations. also, there is evidence that when the vietnam war ended,

american pows were shipped to china and russia and these governments have never come clean. as far as i'm saying that we have human rights violations in this country, people who live in glass houses should not throw stones. china, the government, sponsors the worst human rights violations. when are they going to come clean? i do not believe they should have been allowed into the wto because this allowed all kinds of crazy stuff coming into this country, drywall with formaldehyde, dog food with chemicals, and who is answering for this? where is the united nations? i do not trust the chinese government. host: dr. weifeng zhong. guest: the caller points out something important,

international organizations such as the wto and others have shown us that the who has a similar problem, when a player enters such as china in a way that is irresponsible that damages the rules that nations in those organizations are abiding by, the challenge comes when that behavior considered violating rules occurs. how are those nations in the international organizations going to punish china? punishment is what we consider a public good. one nation publishing china will benefit other nations who also want to punish china but may not necessarily want to show the economic cost. the trump administration has been conducting an experiment to unilaterally punish china.

the trade war with china is certainly an example. it comes at a high cost to american consumers and american businesses. what the biden administration now is trying to do, including the news that came out yesterday about coordinated sanctions against forced labor in the uyghurs region of china, that is an example of the biden administration trying to sanction china together. such that the cost of sanctioning, economically, is not too high. i think it has yet to be seen how effective that coordination is because this is not the first time western nations are working between their allies to counter china. it has not been that effective in the past 20 years.

i think u.s. policymakers are going to have to work harder in terms of coming up with a more effective way to deter china in a way that preserves western values. host: uyghurs -- dr. weifeng zhong, george mason university. we welcome your call sent comments. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. for independents, (202) 748-8002 . i see in the information about you that you are building, or have built a large database of policy change index looking at propaganda and other information coming out of china. how do you put this together and what is its purpose? guest: this is an interesting development on my part because i was born and raised in china. growing up in china, i have been exposed to a lot of chinese propaganda.

what impressed me back then when i heard those talking points from state media was not really how not truthful the information was, but how effective even propaganda could change minds. a lot of people in china are actually -- were actually convinced by a lot of talking points given up by state media. if you ask a regular person in china whether they know about the uyghurs genocide, most likely they would have no idea. this shows how effective propaganda has been in a closed information environment. because propaganda is so effective, it has to be a policy instrument by the chinese government. if the things you say can manipulate people's minds, it you would think really hard on what you are going to say to benefit you from the

policymaking perspective, the perspective of the government. if somehow you could figure out how to analyze words coming from the mouthpiece of the government, which is what i do, we collect every single word ever published by the official newspaper published by the chinese comet's party and from there we figure out what is driving those messages and what the policy intentions the government has in its mind. that is why we were able to, with this policy change index program, figure out for a couple of years that china has been emphasizing harsher talking points to comes to foreign policy. this should come as no surprise to anyone if you are paying attention to chinese propaganda that china is taking hardline policies to overtake taiwan, which has been the forefront of a battleground between china and

the west. these kinds of important policy intentions can be picked out if you can "read the tea leaves." this is what i do in building computer programs to achieve that. host: let me ask you about the military challenges. the washington times this morning, former reagan administration official christopher -- "talk is cheap, but deterring china will not me -- not be." "biden bus send a clear message that america is prepared to fight." do you think that danger of war with china is real? guest: what we have detected, interesting you mention, we have detected during the second quarter last year in 2020 that china was showing unusual emphasis on military power in state media.

the chinese new paper -- newspaper was saying it was emphasizing readiness, the importance to be ready for battle. chinese media did not specifically say where the cinema would be, and based on what we have seen on the news this past year, there are several candidates. taiwan being one. it could also be the border between china and india which has seen conflict. what this shows is that china is more ambitious. i think western nations have responsibilities on them because when china was meddling with affairs in hong kong, western nations had not come up with effective ways to deter china. these are things -- these are where thing started to go wrong because when china's aggression in its own territories do not

face significant consequence, chinese policymakers are going to learn the wrong lesson. they will think that if they go further, western nations will not interfere. that is why i think it is important to monitor what is happening in taiwan. even if we think about it economically, without thinking about geopolitical conflict, thinking about taiwan economically, it is the leading producer of semiconductor chips in the world. if you think about electronics, semiconductors is just like crude oil for the global economy. from that perspective, we should think about taiwan and the way we think about the middle east. with time on sitting so close to mainland china, i think it would be a major concern that is worth a lot of attention. host: peter in franklin park, new jersey. caller: thank you for taking my call. just my thought on the events

with china and u.s. policy, my thought is that i never really thought u.s. policy or western policy toward countries like china have ever been influenced primarily to human rights needs. i think they are examples of where our foreign policy completely what against -- went against what the human rights needs were. not that i am in support of what china is doing to the uyghurs, but at the same time it is somewhat hypocritical that could be said about a foreign policy initiative for western powers to claim human rights as a reason to impose sanctions on china. i think it would be naive to think that is the actual stated goal backed up by what states -- that is my thought. host: i --

guest: i think the callers right. when the u.s. and other economies engage with china, in a way i would call romantic back when china entered wto, the primary motivation is economic. china is a huge market and engagement with china in that way opens up china to western companies. we have to keep in mind that american business has benefited tremendously from economic engagement with china. what went wrong -- of course, back then people were saying that opening up china would not only benefit businesses economically, it might also open up the minds of the chinese people. in the future, they may turn into a liberal democracy.

if that really happen, that would be great. that would alleviate concern for security, which means we could trade with china for even longer in the same manner because they would remain to not pose a security threat to western nations. it is not because they were engaging with china just to turn china into a liberal democracy, economic motivation was primary. what surprised policymakers was i think they did not foresee that considered a -- security concerns could rise so quickly. host: in arlington, virginia. how do we move china to greater transparency? joining the oecd? a question from erwin in madison, wisconsin, "relations with china influence the foxconn

operations in wisconsin." guest: it is important to note that to engage with china in a way that keeps china following worlds depends on what international organizations we are talking about. we engage with china and the framework of the wto, that didn't work out. i think it is regrettable that the u.s. did not join the transpacific partnership. that is a great opportunity to set a high standard that if china does not abide by, they wouldn't be able to join and be part of that economic surplus generated by the tpp. it is important for the u.s. to engage with its allies in a way that we create new surpluses in

new frontiers of the economy, such as digital trade. we need to aim at setting high standards, effective standards such that if china does not follow the rules, they will not be part of that new system. i think that would be a better way to counter china instead of just cutting off trade and initiating a new cold war. i think that would be tremendously costly to the economy. if we create new surplus in a way that would preempt china from damaging the new rules, that would be more effective. host: on the second question, foxconn, the chinese company that opened in wisconsin and has since delayed some expansion, what are your thoughts? guest: there are certainly economic damages from contentious relations between the u.s. and china. that would be an example of that.

this really gets to the point that punishing china, or changing china's behavior is never going to come without cost. the challenge for u.s. politics is to find what i would call the -- point. we need to find policy measures that would have the most effectiveness in terms of changing china's behavior. especially bad behavior, when it comes to genocide for example. measures that would also be less costly to consumers. examples like that -- it is certainly going to happen no matter how u.s. policy makers choose to -- china. one way to alleviate the damage would be that -- i think it would be wise for policymakers to explore other opportunities of trade. if we are not trading with china as much, or in the same way, u.s. policymakers should explore other trading policy in other sectors that we keep the u.s.

economy robust. if we think about semiconductors, that is in -- an intense competition. as u.s. policymakers, do we want to produce economic opportunities in the u.s.? i do not think that would be a good idea. i think the u.s. should trade more with taiwan. taiwan is the major chip reducer -- chip producer. u.s. companies focus on designing chips and taiwan companies make the chips. if the u.s. forged better relations with taiwan, it is better for the u.s. economy while the u.s. is working on confronting china. host: steve from hanover, maryland. caller: could you please speak to the time period following

world war i when woodrow wilson was attempting to form the league of nations and the issues in the shandong province that germany was colonial rising and a deal made between england, france and japan to hand to this area over to japan. this disrespected china, and they had a launched toward bolshevism in the 1920's. the following to this would be, is the mood -- are they afraid of western powers? has this created a bad feeling? does this last with the chinese people? you are the expert. host: thanks come appreciate it -- thanks, appreciate it.

guest: i have to preface my answer by saying i am not an historian. it is interesting when you mention world war i, a classic example of trade realigning across security lines. what i mean is that people think of peace and trade in such a conventional way that if we trade more, we will have less conflict. when we have more conflict, we have less trade. that is not really true during world war i, or the immediate aftermath. what happened during world war i was that we do not trade that much less, but we realign our trade relations. we trade more with allies and less with enemies. overall, the volume of trade didn't really declined by a significant amount. that is what really gets to the

key point i mentioned earlier that trade has security consequences. when trading with enemies, you have negative consequences. but when trading with allies, that is better. this is -- this is what is known in economical literature as externality sub trade. to get to your second question, is the chinese government averted the u.s., that is an interesting point. no longer, from what we saw in alaska. china pause rise is highlighted by a victim mentality. chinese, in terms of domestic propaganda, always try to emphasize that western society, especially liberal democracy, is the enemy against china.

why do they say that? that is the way the chinese policymakers could gather more power and command on the chinese economy. . in a time of hardship when other western nations are trying to contain us, that is why we need more power to lead you, from the perspective of the chinese government, we need great power on the hands of the few to lead the whole nation out of this difficult situation. there is political benefit to playing up a victim mentality. host: the caller did touch on history. the business section of the new york times this morning, the headline, "biden's china plans run to germany. they epitomize the deep divides.

the city is so tightly knit with germany, some people call it little -- after the german region where many factories, -- call home. germany has become more dependent on china, which could become a problem for president biden which has been isolating beijing on trade and geopolitical issues a major part of his overall strategy." "germany played a dominant role in hammering out an initial european union deal with china, despite objections from the incoming biden administration. angela merkel has defended the agreement as necessary to help european companies to make further gains in china. she signaled she does not want germany to take sides in a new cold war, telling the world economic forum, "i am not in favor of the formation of blocks." guest: right on. that province -- very common

among u.s. allies. many allies of the united states have deep economic ties with china. australia is a similar example. china has been sanctioning australia by controlling imports from australia. china has been achieved -- been a huge trading partner of australia, so it is hurting their economy. the reason china is doing that is because china is not happy with what australia has been doing on the international stage in terms of criticizing china. they were criticizing china over hong kong, genocide in the uyghurs regions, so china is not happy. a consequence of that is there is a lead change in terms of punishment. when china is not importing goods from australia, other u.s.

western allies were feeling -- filling the void by providing similar good so china. if you think about this issue from the australian government's perspective, you would think they would go tough on china by criticizing china, but you're allies in the business sector are not necessarily working with you on that front. when china punishes you, your allies fill the void by trading with china. making this less effective. host: let's continue with your calls. caller: good morning. host: you are on the air. caller: i just want to thank mr. zhong. he is well educated about the

chinese government. a lot of chinese have no idea what their own government is doing. we know little bit about it, living in a foreign country. we are more educated about the chinese government then citizens. people come here, i may conversation and i just want to know what young people think about their own government. they have no idea. host: -- guest: that is a good point. it is true that a lot of people who live in china, especially because of the great firewall of the internet, they have not been able to have access to free information like we do. certainly their views on the chinese government have been very favorable. the chinese president has been very popular, particularly in rural china.

that's not their fault, they don't have the same access information. this is also an interesting point, a lot of people in the u.s. when they think about chinese people is that sometimes they conflate the two. i do not think that is a healthy way to think about it. when it comes to policy questions, i tend to always think about the chinese regime and the chinese government instead of the chinese people because the people are innocent. perhaps they do not know about the atrocities in xinjiang because they do not have access to the information. people in xinjiang are certainly not part of the regime trying to oppress them. it is important to draw the line between the regime and the government. also, think about the innocent chinese people. host: what brought you to the united states? guest: i came for graduate school.

that is what many people do, that is the frontier of science and technology. that is where you go for higher education. there is beauty to the land of the free. people come from across the world and that's how the u.s. has been leading for so long. this is the place where people can achieve their dreams and become -- freedom of information and freedom to thrive. the u.s. should maintain this example so that people in the rest of the world can see, and perhaps -- host: do you think the relations between u.s. and china and covid-19 have thwarted efforts or dreams of people coming here for higher education? guest: i think also when it comes to immigration policy, u.s. immigration policy has often been less ideal. immigration is very important to the u.s. economy.

same with trade, going back to the subject. trade relations are also important because that is the basis of economic growth. i don't mean to say all this to suggest we should not trade with china, or not have any immigrants from china, what i mean is that when we engage with the great power like china that does not follow the same rules we follow, we have to think carefully about the ways we engage. not that we should not engage at all. host: iris in south line, michigan. caller: good morning everybody. welcome to america. i would like to know, all of those -- represented at the government, yet in this country even politicians like to wear colorful coverings on their face

, often black. i was wondering, do those masks they wear, china, are they made in china? are they made in the united states and shipped to china? we have a shortage of cotton masks and that is why they are going to the novelty masks. i think? if you take this seriously, something that represents purity and not darkness. could you enlighten us? host: final thoughts, if you choose. guest: i do not have strong preference on the color of mask. [laughter] on a serious note, at the beginning of the pandemic, there was a huge shortage of face masks in the united states. that is because of supply chain operations. they have been trying to buy up all these masks around the world

, that has been causing the shortages. that also triggers legitimate concern on the u.s. part, sometimes we need to rethink whether our supply chains are resilient against this kind of threat. we do not have up endemic every year, but when it does happen we want to be safe. i think there is well justified concern. host: dr. weifeng zhong, george mason university. guest: thank you for having me. host: more ahead. we are going to focus on the deadly mass shooting in boulder, colorado that left 10 dead including one police officer. just by coincidence there is a hearing coming up in the senate on gun violence. we would like to hear your thoughts on both issues. lines of the same democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independent, (202) 748-8002.

we will get to your calls momentarily. ♪ announcer: visit c-span's online store to check out the new c-span products. with the 117th congress in session, we are taking preorders for the congressional directory. every c-span purchase help support c-span's nonprofit operations. announcer: the senate judiciary committee holds a hearing on how to reduce gun violence. watch live coverage at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span3, online at c-span.org, or listen with the c-span radio app. today, a hearing on covid-19 economic relief with treasury secretary janet yellen and federal reserve chairman jerome powell. this house financial services committee hearing begins live at

noon on c-span, online at c-span.org, or listen with the free c-span radio app. announcer: "washington journal," continues. host: a mass shooting yesterday in colorado left 10 dead, including one police officer. the alleged shooter was arrested and is in custody. your comments, cost, and they hearing coming up today in the senate committee on gun violence. we will tell you about that, which gets underway this morning at 10:00 eastern. (202) 748-8000 is the line to call for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. for independent and others, (202) 748-8002. one of the local papers out of boulder is the daily camera. there headline this morning, "tragedy." we will read some of that in

just a moment. nancy pelosi has issued a statement saying the hearts of all americans are with the boulder community and loved ones of those killed in yesterday's horrific shooting, including a boulder police officer. we offer prayer swallows impacted ingratitude to the heroic first responders. she says that for the second time in a week our nation is being confronted by the epidemic of gun violence. too many families are being forced to one door this unfathomable pain and anguish. let's get your calls. cj, in the nation's capital. caller: thank you. as a country, we need to start finding a well regulated militia. any potential nutcase with access to unlimited rounds of emanation, is that a well regulated militia?

the uprising on january 6 -- kind of ironic the national guard shows up. can we even trust them? 99% of the time we can. culturally, it seems we are at that point where it's like, if i have an individual right to any amount of weaponry, it is not going to work out so well. i am not saying take away all of your guns, we're just talking about body counts. let's limit it to whatever a hunting rifle or for your protection at home. to have this culture forming on the far right is not a good thing because it will be matched

by a separate culture on the far left. it would be easier if we took this down a notch. all of the arguments that have allowed free-flowing perpetuation of the right-wing argument -- you don't want the government coming in and taking over. first guns, then what? well, we have already gotten to "then what." as a society, let's look at each other, take it down a notch, get our sense of humor back and realize we are all brothers and sisters. it -- i still get to go -- go crazy, go to a drugstore and shoot the place up. now we're just talking body

count because you can't regulate human nature. i have never touched a gun in my life and i never would. probably for just about any reason. host: (202) 748-8000 free democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. all others, (202) 748-8002. the governor of colorado's statement saying, "today, 10 lives were tragically lost including a boulder police officer. the officers served more than 10 years with the boulder police department and lost his life at the age of 51 while working to save the lives of others. the daily camera, the local reporting of the -- the local newspaper, there headline, "10 dead, including officer after shooting at boulder grocery

store." one police officer killed. we appreciate your calls, and texts as well. if you want to send us a text, at c-span debbie j. --@cspanwj. "gunman kills 10 at king soopers . in the denver post, here is their story -- sorry about that. we jumped ahead. "suspect was taken into custody, but there were few answers in the following hours. official said it would take days to investigate the large crime scene and to notify families that their loved ones had been killed. the workers at chapters -- shoppers who survived fled the store anyway they could. if they couldn't, they looked to take shelter inside.

it seemed like all of us had imagined we would be in a situation like this at some point. ron is in palm springs, california. caller: there are two facts. one is that we have the most lax gun laws in the world, more gun ownership than any other country. the other fact is that we have by far, by eugene numbers, the most killings. it does not take a genius to figure out that those two things are connected. not only do we look at these mass shootings, these 10 people at a time, or eight people in atlanta and say, this is horrible. what we don't talk about is that every single day we have killings all over the country. one person, two persons, 3,000 a year are dead because of guns.

they say it is because of inactivity in washington. it is not an activity in washington, it is inactivity by the republican party. republicans refuse to put common sense gun laws are complicit in these. they are accessories to murder. where the majority of these -- people in this country by far say there should be less guns and more heavy-duty gun laws, republicans keep locking it. they block it because of money. money that comes into their campaign from the nra and from crazy gunowners could until week -- gunowners. until we change that and say we are going to be like every other country in the world and not allow ar-15's, these goofy people to run around open carrying in the street so that

the cop can't even tell if someone's got bad intentions or not because they are open carriers, until we straighten these republican party out, we are going to continue having deaths. if that is what people want, our kids to get killed in schools, our mothers killed in supermarkets, that is what we are going to have. why republicans are complicit and are accessories to murder, i have no idx or for money. host: you can send us a text at (202) 748-8003. steve says, "i would like to see as much coverage of inner-city gangs shootings as been shootings happens in flyover country." "another case brought to you by a weapon of mass murder. time for gun laws." gun violence will be the subject of a senate hearing today. it is coming up in just over an hour. they will hear testimony from

public health officials, law enforcement and community advocates. watch that live over on c-span3. we will stream it live at c-span.org. followed on the c-span radio app. also, additional hearings we are covering included covid-19 economic relief hearing with janet yellen and jerome powell. house financial services, today at noon on c-span. the status of the 2020 senses with acting director -- and government accountability officials will testify before this hearing at 2:30 on c-span3. tim in the nation's capital. caller: seems to me that we are going to have a problem until the country decides to actually move as one, rather than piecemeal.

talk about rights and freedoms in the country, we have a right to travel freely between states, but we cannot do it in certain types of vehicles. we must buckle up when we are traveling. we cannot do better it at certan speeds. why can't we approach some sort of common sense of the right to gun ownership, with some sort of regulation, similar to how we regulate other rights and freedoms? that is basically all of got to say. host: lutherville, maryland is up next. alan on the republican line. caller: thank you. i am bailey -- i am a retired lieutenant colonel. in 1873, cold came up with the pistol called the peacemaker. we come from a frontier nation where there were a -- there was a certain amount of lawlessness. i like the -- i get the idea

that we want police response but there are examples without police response. for those democrats who keep asking what our justification is. we want to be able to defend ourselves. i served three times in iraq. i have been in places that raise my hair because i thought there was the possibility i would die serving my country. i don't want to be pulled out of my car in baltimore by somebody who decides they can take my life or the life of my family. i support the police and i also support civil rights. final point, i am a cognitive and behavioral therapist. people have to believe there is a response for violence -- response cost for violence. if people don't think there is a response cost, they will inflict violence upon me. i am happy to wait a month and i'm happy to have a pistol that is only a six shot pistol where i have to pull the hammer back each time.

i don't need a high-capacity magazine. i just want to say in conclusion, i appreciate c-span. i'm not sure why we started with three democrat callers in a row. bless c-span. thank yusor. -- thank you sir. host: members of the colorado congregation with this tweet, saying there are no words to describe the pain my community is experiencing tonight. i am heartbroken, and praying for the families of those we have lost. this cannot be the new normal. we must address the gun violence crisis in our country. -- our hearts go out to everyone in the boulder area. we cannot continue to live like this. we have to do more to protect our communities from the constant threat of gun violence. we have to come together and collectively declare enough is enough. a gop representative saying as we continue to hear the news

coming out of boulder, i am praying for the police, first responders and those affected by this tragedy. they god be with us as we make sense of this violence and may we unify and not divide during this time. to idaho, next up on the independent line. it is darrell. caller: yes, i am looking at the fact that we've got one big problem. people do not know the evilness of human nature. the scripture very clearly says what it is. the heart is desperately wiki -- desperately wicked. to goes on to say it is deceitful. you've got one party against another party, each accusing the other of this tragedy or that thing that takes place. i was in the marine corps and the whole time, they are telling you you have to be ready to out

think your enemy or you will be the one on that lawn. entertainment comes from mayhem and destruction but once you get captured, this guy will probably be in the prison system for 20, 30, 40 years and the scripture says because there is not swift punishment, you get the continuation, so you have people going out maybe killing somebody and saying i will have a nice free life and get to eat -- get to meet some interesting people. human beings have to realize that we are incomplete and we are incomplete because look at our religions. you have thousands of different ideas and so until we get a return of the creator of the universe, good luck to all of us. host: the city of boulder had passed some new legislation that was going through litigation

even as of last week. this is the associated press reporting on that gun legislation. the headline, judge rules colorado cities unable to enact gun restrictions. boulder, the right has been blocked from enforcing its two-year-old ban on assault weapons in lark -- and large capacity magazines in the city, potentially providing the state supreme court an opportunity to review whether the state's cities can create their own gun ownership restrictions. boulder county district court judge andrew hartman ruled last week on friday, that the city cannot enforce the band because under state law, local governments cannot prohibit the possession or sale of firearms. let's go to daytona beach, florida, democrats line. this is debbie. caller: hello. host: go ahead. caller: this is interesting, hearing all of these different sides. all i can think of is the

definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over and expecting different results. i'm turning 65 this year. as a senior and a woman, i feel more vulnerable than i ever have in my entire life. covid-19 has really shown our weaknesses, even more so. the fact that donald trump became president for four years. i still can't get over that. i'm glad it was a quick four years. this proliferation of guns and the fact that we have 50 states and want to add two more. we already have basically 50 countries because each state does its own thing. the laws are lax in the south,

so they come down, steal the guns or by the guns and then go up to new york or wherever they are prohibited and sell them. host: thank you. another view from william on our republican line. caller: thank you for taking the call. people that jump on here and berate the nra, i've got one thing to tell them. if they would look things up, they have never seen a mass shooter who is an nra person, never. don't blame the nra. it is just stupid crazy people, and they need to find them. thank you very much. host: frostburg, maryland, we will hear from robert on the independent line. caller: good morning.

every time i turn on the news, i see some crazy white man with a gun who has gone and killed a bunch of people. yesterday in colorado. going to kill a bunch of people at a jewish white -- a jewish worship service in pennsylvania. a crazy white man with a gun, out in las vegas, and yvonna. he killed 59 people plus shooting at 500 people. a crazy white man shot gabby gifford and killed a bunch of people around her. a crazy white person with a gun in charleston, south carolina killing a bunch of black worshipers. crazy white man with a gun killing a bunch of children in florida in school.

a crazy white man with a gun. host: you made your point with that. a couple comments on social media. via text, it is (202)-748-8003. renee says in georgia, a known mentally disturbed person purchased a gun and used it to killed eight people that same day. what restrictions are there? none, apparently. -- there should be a maximum waiting period. the decision should be appealable. rick says i will leave this here, you can register same day and use a gun today. in america you cannot register to vote the same day. this one from peggy says i'm sad to say nothing will change regarding gun control. gun industry is too strong in the senate is unwilling to do anything. we will have to live with these tragic events, which is very sad.

in indiana, we say hello to clayton. caller: a lot of people are forgetting where you have these gun laws. i understand we have the mental health aspect and the gang violence, but we cannot be held accountable by our u.s. laws for the actions of other people. that is what i wanted to say. host: michigan, next up, greg. caller: good morning. sad but we have to point out that it is the human heart that causes people to do this kind of murder. people are not going to obey laws they don't care to follow. there are people who are proposing we disarm ourselves. that is not going to happen. when you get disarmed, things

happen like venezuela, and other countries where the government can just run you over. it is not right. it is said that people kill each other -- it is sad that people click to the like this. any attempt to take people's guns will split the country and have permanently. host: the senate confirms boston mayor marty walsh as the labor secretary. he will be sworn in by vice president harris, as will liam burns, the cia director. capital hill producer tweets about other nomination news on the senate side. they will vote on the deputy director of the white house office of management and budget and the u.s. surgeon general. next is texas, george on the independent line. caller: hi, c-span.

you guys do a great job. i just have a question. did you see the videos that were circulated from cell phones the victims in this shooting? host: i have not. have you? caller: yes, and i'm just curious. i'm also familiar with police murder scenes. i'm curious why there is no blood on the bodies or the ground around the bodies. host: i don't know. i saw the one photo of the suspect being led away, who was allegedly an apparently covered, at least part of his leg in blood, so we will see if we can find that photo. i have not seen those videos you have mentioned. mike is in carolina, republican line. caller: there was one thing i would like to say.

does any other amendment to the constitution have "shall not be infringed upon"? host: we will go to steve on the democrats line. caller: i saw a couple of those comments from congressman about needing to pray to god or whatever, but the point i'm hearing is god made the decision to let those people die, so i don't know what they are praying about. i guess that's it. host: we mentioned the photo and i'm not sure of the source of this. this is a fox news picture of the alleged suspect, being led away by police after the shooting yesterday, with what is apparently blood on his right leg. rosetta is in virginia, democrats line. go ahead. caller: good morning. i think it is a shame that our

world is in such a mess with all that is going on. these people with rifles that are killing and shooting, shooting. something ought to be done about it. i don't think they should sell these guns. if they want to fight, let them go overseas and fight over there. something ought to be done about this. host: red creek, new york. it is carl on the independent line. caller: yeah, just a couple things, listening to your previous callers. a bunch of uninformed people. foreign countries, often the ones with the strictest gun laws are the ones with the highest levels of violence. look at mexico. if you look at the department of justice statistics, most of the

violence in this country is going on in inner cities. it is a cultural problem, not a gun issue. host: whether it is in the city or a mass shooting like this in also a city, boulder, do you think the city violence and the mass shootings like this are calls for something to be done about our gun laws? caller: there are plenty of gun laws in this country, that often are not enforced. i think that is the biggest thing that needs to be done in the future, enforce the gun laws. that's about all i can say. host: a couple other comments from ohio. this one says it is sad being a young person in this country and

seeing mass shootings being committed and then having no fight for common sense gun laws from both parties. change needs to happen and it should be bipartisan. this one says shootings happen every single day, what is new? this has been going on for decades. what is new? next caller in connecticut, democrat. caller: i am urging the american people to call their representatives in congress, speak up against these assault weapons. these assault weapons mow down a large number of people in seconds. let's stop the nonsense. speak up and call your representatives. host: the boulder police officer, the police officer this tweet, a father of seven, rest in peace, your service will never be forgotten. "washington journal" continues

momentarily with our final segment, looking at how students are doing across the country in the pandemic, now that many are coming back to in person or partial in person. we will hear from rey saldana, the president of communities in schools. we will talk about how students from low income communities are doing and how schools are helping them. ♪ >> -- anniversary of the herbal care act being signed into law. live coverage begins at 5:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> on thursday, president biden holds his first official news conference since taking office. watch live coverage on c-span, online at cspan.org or free on

the c-span radio app. >> today, the status of the 2020 senses with the acting director. he and government accountability officials testified live before a committee. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we are joined by rey saldana, president and ceo of communities in schools. here's -- he is here to talk to us about how kids are doing in the pandemic in school. good morning, from san antonio and welcome to washington journal. guest: it is a pleasure to be on. host: tell us about your organization. guest: at communities in schools, we are a national nonprofit and our mission is simple. we work inside schools and we surround students with a system

of support. what that looks like is that we have 4100 staff deployed all across the country, who are invited to be inside schools in normal circumstances. what we are doing is assessing the need that students can needs thing -- need things as simple as access to food, shelter, clothing, all of these elements that sometimes need to be stabilized in a student's life before they can begin the process of learning. we are a best friend to teachers and schools, in many cases doing a case management to make sure students have everything they need to be successful in schools. those are in normal circumstances. i leave the organization today, but i am also a pro -- a product of the program in san antonio, texas. that is really the secret sauce.

host: take a moment and tell us about that experience that led you to the work you are doing today. guest: absolutely. i grew up in a community that often times was looking for ways to support young people. i am a first generation american. i graduated high school and college. oftentimes what is difficult in circumstances like mine is may go home and have aspirations to graduate and go to college, but we don't know how to do that on our own and sometimes, some of our schools are so overburdened that there is enough on the shoulders of teachers and counselors for we say you also need to be a social worker, psychiatrist and therapist. my school site coordinator word i had everything in terms of paying for college and paying for my applications and helping me prep for my tests.

in many ways, a site coordinator is trying to find the specific needs of students. host: you are with us from san antonio, texas. what other cities is your organization operating in? guest: we are in 121 communities across the country, 26 states, in urban, rural and suburban communities, as diverse as atlanta, chicago, los angeles, west virginia, rural ohio or even seattle and rural communities in washington state. host: in the numbers of students that you typically would work with, say prior to covid, how many would you be working with? guest: that is an excellent question. the psych coordinators we work with, they usually don't want to have more than 30 to 40 students per caseload. that allows you to build a

strong relationship with that student and track them year after year through their journey. today, we are serving 1.7 million students across the country with our support and being invited into schools, especially in these difficult times. host: take us back before things started to change. how did your organization respond initially? guest: you have to remember that the schools and the communities and the students and families we work with are oftentimes disproportionately impacted by any change or crisis. the last 12 months, everything that has been thrown at our families has been a crisis. the first few months when schools were closed, the work did not stop. the case managed schools we meant -- had to continue, so oftentimes that relationship that we had developed with a

student who was -- we were now deployed into the field and that is the bottom line to our work, but there is no shortcut to build relationships. when schools shut down, we had to stand in line at grocery stores while things were being stocked and restocked and there was a scarcity of resources. we were managing food lines, delivering technology and wi-fi connectivity so students could connect. oftentimes they didn't have a device at home, or they were the last to find out about resources that existed in their communities to support them. host: a couple topics we can explore further. i want to invite our viewers and listeners to call in and talk to rey saldana about how kids, particularly in low income communities are doing in school with the pandemic. (202)-748-8000 for students and parents.

for educators, the line is (202)-748-8001. for all others, it is (202)-748-8002. let's fast-forward to today, some of the data that is coming out on how kids are faring in school and some of the most striking data reported from the organization, the mckinsey consulting group. most students are falling behind but students of color are faring worse. they are looking at comparing historical's wars -- historical scores on several groups. a fairly sharp fall off. rey saldana, how are those kids going to catch up? guest: thank you for that question and for acknowledging that we all know to be true which is there are students who are more deeply hurt by the impact of closing schools and going through this unwanted experiment we have gone through. the mckinsey study you pointed to clearly points out that

students of color, living in poverty, are going to be six to 12 months behind in their learning. the strategy we are considering at communities in schools and in partnership with our district is ensuring we are expanding learning opportunities beyond what we have seen during the normal course of the school year. you will see a lot of support in the summer and removing the stigma that summer is only about remediation. it is going to be an acceleration of learning and there needs to be a level of grace for our teachers. we need to care for the caregivers and the way we support them is ensuring we don't burden them with all the responsibilities that students are going to be coming back to school with. there is going to be some unpacking and trauma informed care that we need to support students with, and their families, while teachers are focused on learning. that is why we find ourselves to

be best friends and partners with school leadership, so they can -- ongoing continuum of resources from inside the school and outside in the community. host: you touched on wi-fi connectivity. a tweet from a viewer says up north in wisconsin, we have no choice but to go to school. there is scant wi-fi infrastructure. guest: a great question to ask and pose for anybody who is interested and wants to support public education and how difficult these changes can be. we have a similar situation in rural west virginia where we work or even in rural texas where we are working on transportation issues for some of the students who just don't have access. for us, we are trying to identify ways we can meet student needs. if that is connectivity, if that is a device, sometimes we are

playing the role of i.t. specialist. we have to really fit the needs of the students and customize, whether you are in a rural community or urban setting. host: this may seem counterintuitive. the mckinsey report also says black and hispanic students are more likely to be learning remotely. they compared to the average, 60% remote learning, 49% white, and 71% of hispanic students. why is that? caller: a really important point belt -- guest: a really important point that a lot of us is trying -- a lot of us are trying to understand. what i know from talking to my staff, it is oftentimes difficult to get over this barrier of trust, specifically our communities of color, who having lived in these neighborhoods and going to the

schools, oftentimes these schools were built in the 1940's and have not been upgraded and have huge obligations for debt that needs to be paid for hvac and circulation systems. there is a deliberation that parents, especially in communities of color are going over whether they can keep their students safe. my speculation comes from conversations i've had with staff, that we need to ensure we are working and pulling down on building relationships with our parents, especially those who feel the need to ensure there is confidence in the school system and support for their children. host: let's go to paul in california. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to know where the funding comes from, for who mr. saldana is working for. this has been the biggest social

injustice of our lifetime, what is happening to the kids. to me, watching the school unions fighting to keep the kids out and can't open, and every single kid, it doesn't matter what color they are, i am so sick of the color division. kids are struggling and so our families. my daughter is a teacher, and even the kids she thought would be all right, the quote unquote, stronger kids, are failing. all you people can meet and discuss and have meetings and throw billions of dollars of this -- at this education system while every single family and child in america is completely getting screwed. guest: thank you so much for calling in and for your question. i want to lift up something we talked about earlier in the program. this mckinsey study really

reaffirms what you described, which is that every student is going to be behind, when we reopen schools or come back to a sense of normalcy. the fact pointed out that whether the students were white, black or brown, everyone is behind. the way that we are supported at communities in schools is we get supported by local school districts who are able to tap into state public dollars as well as federal title i dollars designated to those students who are living in low income communities or below the poverty line so that we ensure those students who need our work the most have the individual customized support they need with a coordinator in their schools who are also supported by foundations in philanthropy. it is a mix of public and private to make sure we can subsidize costs.

host: our caller was calling from california. the washington post did a feature piece on a high school in california, which is south of palm springs in the coachella valley. about 2100 students. the assistant principal spends a good part of his week each week going out to find kids that have been missing from school. that is part of his role each week. they write in the story about that, the school had been closed since march 2020. as the months dragged on, the vice principal began to worry about his students whereabouts and what their absence could portend for the rest of their lives. it is too early to measure the ongoing legacy of a pandemic. test scores in some parts of the country were down by as much as 7%. chronic absenteeism for students

of color had doubled. education experts were forecasting rising in equity. a decade of falling graduation rates for at risk students and at least 3% decline in lifetime earnings for students of color. what that meant at the high school was the middleground ground had all but disappeared, when the assistant principal studied the grade reports and almost never saw any c's. students in stable homes got mostly a's and b's, and hundreds of at risk students falling and failing at historic rates. guest: thank you for bringing that story to light. it describes something that the assistant principal, it sounds like he is doing the work that a lot of our staff at communities in schools has been doing. we were triaging first, finding the basic needs of our students.

then it became something we are working through, finding students who are not showing up to virtual learning throughout spring, summer or fall and did not show up to in person. some of the statistics are just frightening. in texas, some of those early stats were 250 thousand students unaccounted for, who did not show up in virtual or in person, 90,000 in florida and what you saw with the assistant principal , what we had to do, knock on doors and if you have ever knocked on doors, oftentimes it is difficult to get some but he to answer, but it is doubly difficult in a pandemic when there is concern of who is coming to the door. that is why relationships are so incredibly important. we have benefited communities in schools where students have known us for years. the difference between somebody answering and somebody telling you what to do is they need -- what it is they need.

that is what it has taken for us to find students who have gone missing. host: our lines for -- good morning. caller: good morning. host: make sure you mute your volume so you don't hear us and feedback. go ahead with your comment. caller: yes or. i just when to say thank you for having -- i worked for communities in schools, and thank you for having rey on, so he can share about what we do. two kind of piggyback on some of the things you were saying, you showed a chart dealing with black and brown children in the large number of them staying at home. what we are finding out in the field is a lot of them are staying at home not only because there may be a distrust about

things dealing with the school system. there is now a need for the same child to potentially work. we find a lot of our students are working, 20, 30 hours a week to help bring funds into the home. a lot of our students are being housed in different households, because of rent issues or families becoming homeless during this time. we found that some parents have had to leave their children with extended family so they can go and work outside of their communities or even outside of the state to bring in some earnings. some of our children are having to care for younger brothers and sisters and also the ill in the home. there are a lot of issues that are amplified in these communities.

as a site coordinator, we never stopped. we stayed on the ground, we continued to work with our families, to find whatever resources we could find in any capacity. we were the ones out there in the food lines, out there in the community. i appreciate the opportunity and i appreciate you having rey on so he could share, and hopefully this brings greater light to the need of the organizations and also the funding that will support what we are here to do. thank you. host: we appreciate your call. rey saldana. guest: thank you so much. i want to lift up two of the pieces that our friends from atlanta have described. this is the moment we are living through, we are learning in places like atlanta and l.a., another reason students in

poverty are not showing up as often is because they are oftentimes having to take jobs because a parent has lost their job. the other is having to take care of other siblings. what i think that tells us is that the virtual or distance learning may not be going anywhere. it may be supplemental to what we do public education and communities and schools but more than anything, and tells us that public education does need to change, to meet the needs of students, and we haven't been doing a great job of that to make sure we are meeting the needs of every student. host: let's hear from melissa in iowa. caller: thanks so much for taking my call. i have the biggest question in the world because iowa, south dakota, we never shut down our schools. i want to know why we have so

many parents that say it is tough for the kids and this and that, when it is the parents' responsibility to take care of the kids, to make sure those kids go to school. but when we have a government that says these kids can't go to school, that is ridiculous. all of these kids are getting left behind, because of this virtual teaching. the teachers don't even show up half the time. it is ridiculous. i want to know why there are so many parents and so many government agencies, as far as yourself self goes, why are you guys not going against the teachers unions? they are the ones keeping these kids out of school? host: melissa in iowa. rey saldana, any thoughts? guest: thank you for the question, especially coming from a community like iowa. virtual learning was never the

option, schools stayed open after a few weeks being closed down in march. we have to find ways to respond to the local context. that may mean that some schools returned 100% in person, some are still in a hybrid fashion. that tells us if you want to get to some version of stable, there has to be some way to support students. here is the bottom line that we have learned over four decades of work. oftentimes, we place the burden and responsibilities exclusively on what happens at home, that that needs to be right and we need to make sure the parents are showing up, we agree with that and we engage with families. we also know that we work with students in foster care systems, students who don't have a mom or dad at home, working with overburdened grandparents. we have to come up and show up for those students who may need

-- you have a lot of issues. you have to get turned onto living before you get turned on to learning. that means building a relationship with somebody who you trust will support you when you need them. host: looking at a report from indiana, usa today. schools check in on struggling kids and they focus on sarah scott middle school in terre haute. they gave students laptops to use at home but internet access could be problematic. sony people are on the internet, it shuts down all the time. even when the internet works, keeping kids on task at home isn't easy. heather said she often cries from the stress of trying to make her eighth-grade daughter engage online. it seems like we are always

butting heads over this. rey saldana, are there specific policy recommendations that your organization is calling for, particularly on the lines of wi-fi access and technology access for kids in underserved communities? guest: pulling back from what it is we will learn from this experience is that there are equity issues. if you turn the switch on, which we did around sending everyone home and saying let's try to connect virtually, you discover issues of equity. some communities and neighborhoods just don't have access. in a rural or urban setting, they don't have the infrastructure. we have been letting a lot of students behind on purpose and the reason i say on purpose is because we learned in the first few months that you could do this, that a large telecommunications companies along with private partners

could set up the infrastructure to deliver devices and then set up connectivity, but even then it is not a question of putting a device in a home. there has been so much asked of our teachers and staff. supporting students and parents who just don't know how to work the system and the infrastructure. there has to be investment. we are calling for support, digital equity. as you pointed out in this story, no one has felt like this has been the best experience. what students are continuing to feel is going through a traumatic experience. when you go through a traumatic experience, you will have post-traumatic stress. there is going to be a mental health crisis for our students when we return to school. we are preparing staff and teachers to welcome that. host: a couple posts on social

media on this topic. lee says as long as quality of education is determined by your zip code, it is hopeless. margaret says -- as they have a teacher shortage, however there are teachers they won't hire, for example a young teacher with a history degree will not be placed unless that degree is paired with a coaching degree. i am told she remains unemployed. the learning gap is getting worse for students, as students rely on remote classes, especially for students of color. that is from time magazine. to maryland, we will hear from carolyn. caller: i appreciate everything communities in schools is doing. i think it is necessary but i also think that some organizations should be promoting and letting parents know, if you have a child that

is a year behind, it is ok to repeat that grade. all the stopgap measures that we are putting in place, i think it is hurting children without communicating to the community so for example, my daughter when she was in first grade, going to second, she was six months behind. she repeated that grade and it was the best thing, it filled all of her gaps. i think we need to change the conversation and add a year behind cannot be made up in the summer.

this is an opportunity to transform where your job is. repeat the grade. guest: thank you for your call. i appreciate that story because it speaks to the level of advocacy we are hearing and experiencing from parents across the country. some of the early research and survey findings, what we know is that parents don't want to completely do away with school. they want to send their students back to the system they were in. this is not a turn the table over moment. we at communities in schools want to see public education done better, and specifically we know there are students who are oftentimes left behind, not just because they have to repeat a grade, although there was a lot of science and good policy and research behind what it looks like to ensure students are getting and fulfilling their needs without having to feel like there is a pressure around

a test or a measure that indicates whether you can move or not. we think the change run public education because we are on the subject and talking about what can we add as a component of the architecture of public schools is ensuring there is somebody on that school campus who is building a relationship with students who might be falling or at risk of not realizing their potential. at communities in schools, we are not trying to save students or throwing out life rafts, we are ensuring students are able to write their success story and that means that needs to exist at the place we believe the closest version of a social safety net which is public schools. 75% of young people who get mental health support get it at school. that tells you about the level of support we can provide on the school campus. host: i have to ask how you connected with shakeel o'neil.

you two put out an opinion piece on usa today, 3 million kids missing from school because of covid-19. how did you get together? guest: shakeel o'neil is also a supporter of another national nonprofit we partnered with, the boys and girls club. he has been on the national board of communities in schools for over a year now. recognizing that students like him who grow up in communities, based on your zip code oftentimes determines her future. we pinned that op-ed, talking about how we could be one of 3 million students who have just fallen off the radar without more connection to a person on the school campus or some buddy who could connect us to all the resources around us that we didn't know how to navigate. we could have been one of the students who had fallen behind.

she and neil has been an incredible supporter. he walks the walk with our nonprofits to support students. host: let's go to our educators line. this is david in new jersey. caller: i just want to make three quick points. the first is that what you are trying to do is great, and it is helpful, but you are trying to replace the parents. for 50 years, we have had a breakdown of the family in this country, and that is the source of all of these problems. government cannot replace two parents at home raising these kids. whenever we try to get around that and sugarcoat it, we wound up with all of these problems. the second point is your zip code doesn't necessarily mean

the equity you are going to get. what we need to do is, if the schools are failing year after year like chicago, where i grew up, then we need to give these kids school vouchers. you will never come out and say that, because i don't feel you are there, but why should these kids be trapped in failing schools? why is it that the catholic schools have been open all along? yet the public schools in places like chicago, the teachers unions really run the school district, not even the superintendent. we've got to deal with the family issue, and none of this will be solved no matter how much money we throw at it, until we have two parents dedicated. when i grew up, my parents told me your only job is to go to school and get an education. host: appreciate the call.

guest: thank you for that call. there is a lot of important sentiment there, that we can agree with but one i want to lift up is i think the point is a correct one. when we can support parents, we have plenty of examples across the country where at the end of the day, mom or dad, they need support as well. i know the in the case of my own family and the families we work with, especially during the pandemic, families who didn't know how to navigate the resources that were available to them, access to health care options or the food pantry, every once in a while, mom or dad was supporting young children and they could use a hand, whether it is navigating an eviction notice or how to plug into local community resources to avoid having to move, i think the parents need our support.

when there are parents to support, we do that and when there aren't, we develop a strong relationship with that student to make sure they trust us. the bottom line is programs don't change in people's lives, relationships do. that is what we try to do at communities in schools and that is what our staff is tasked with doing. host: back to the experience of the assistant principal in southern california, finding students amidst the pandemic, half of those students live with family members who had gotten stick -- gotten sick. at least 350 students were regularly failing to attend classes at a high school of about 2100. the assistant principal decided to spend every wednesday driving to homes across the coachella valley to find missing students and offer help.

let's hear from dawn in durham, north carolina. caller: good morning. i think covid just snatched the blanket off of a series of socioeconomic problems that students face at all levels. i work in the schools. i subbed for eight years. the racial issue from administrative on down, there is a lot of cultural insensitivity. principles and teachers -- principals and teachers, they come from different backgrounds and sometimes don't know how to teach children of color.

they have degrees and some of them have compassion but they are coming from outside in and i was working as an assistant and a lot of times, there is a two tiered system on how teachers and administrators teach. they should make it easier to get their teaching license while working. they should make it potentially available for people -- we can't stop our lives, we have to -- they should make lateral entry easier for when they make -- for when they have racial inequities and any people of color and diversity to come in and work with populations that sometimes

white teachers are out of touch with. they want to work and they got the degrees but they are just insensitive and just don't know. host: are you still in the educational system in north carolina? caller: no. i am black, female and i was getting harassed and forced to make up time and human resources wound -- host: rey saldana, do you want to address some of her previous points? guest: absolutely. thank you so much for the call. i think what you experienced, to translate it to what our students can and do feel when they feel like there is not a connection or a climate, we call it, at the school that is welcoming to them.

we see that a lot where we are coming into communities and schools, where the claimant whether it is the leadership or the curriculum, it is not -- they did not see the connection to themselves in those programs. we try to reflect that in our staff because it does mean something for a student to be able to connect with adults they feel like they can trust. not to say they cannot, but it creates an environment or a climate that i think allows us to address meeting students' nee ds. that is what we learned about the science and development of how students learn is ensuring they feel welcomed in their school environment. we work case management one-on-one but we also focus on the school climate. host: richard is next, a parent

in florida. caller: hello? host: you are on the air. caller: my question is, i wonder why it seems like everything that is involved with these children, everybody keeps throwing back the race thing. it has got nothing to do with race. it doesn't matter if you are black, brown, green, orange or purple. if you've got a child that doesn't want to learn, that doesn't pay attention, they are just dragging down every other student in that classroom, and their parents should have to find them a different solution, to go to school somewhere else if they can't get them to go along with the program. host: rey saldana, is this a racial issue? guest: richard points out something that we have to rely on, the science and research of what we know happens with students and the statistics we

have seen is that oftentimes, students who are left behind whether you are measuring academic performance, attendance or graduation rates, we know that our black and brown peers oftentimes fall behind their white counterparts. that is something that we talk about what can we change, we talk about the impact of students, often we need to refer to issues like discipline issues around the pipeline of educators and coming into these programs. for us, we agree there is not a -- there is a direct impact we want to have on communities in schools so oftentimes what are working with is students who are suffering from barriers that don't need to exist and site coordinators i speak with who are working out in the field say oftentimes we are walking -- working with students with just a little bit of support, we can

level the playing field and that is the promise of public education and that is why we do our work, to ensure the space to do their work and that all of these issues a student may coming to school with is addressed as well because that is just as critical to learning. host: this is susan in michigan. caller: hello. a grandma from michigan, i just wanted to say that i think the whole problem here with the schools and teachers and all of this stuff going on is these adults are all addicted to technology, to their phones, tv, they have used it as a babysitter and one third of the children are overweight and they lay around because the parents are laying around and they need motivation and those parents need to motivate their kids in school. i get up at 5:30 in the morning

to get my eight-year-old granddaughter off to school everyday. we do spelling words, we read, it takes a whole family and a whole village to raise these kids and parents have got to do better. get your kids outside, feed them right, motivate them and shut off the technology. host: we've got one more call for you, rey saldana. educator in arizona. seymour, you are on the air. caller: thank you. i wasn't educator late in life, teaching at a high school, title i in glendale, arizona. i started teaching at 60 and i substituted afterwards and i can tell you, the title i kids are the kids that in the 1950's were from europe, trying to get ahead, moving up. these kids take courses at

glendale community college while they are still in school. i would talk to everyone of them. i am very positive on these kids, they need to be together and i would talk with every one, once a quarter and make sure they were on track. parents are all over the place and this is a complex situation that is not easily solved but it is solvable. getting kids back into class is a good thing. host: rey saldana, final thoughts on his comments or of your own? guest: i want to say thank you to the grandmother who called in and talked about how it takes a village and to seymour, talking about the fight that some of the students have to get ahead. as a first iteration american, my father came to this country from mexico, wanting to find a better life. we agree that public education is the great equalizer. it is the best chance we've got commode to think about the

village -- we've got, but to think about the village it takes, sometimes it feels like you need a phd to navigate all of the resources that exist on a school campus or in a community. that is why we think the value of staff in communities in schools working one-on-one with leadership to provide the kind of specifically students you have left behind -- that have been left behind. we are excited, we are in 2900 schools. demand for our work is increasing now support students outside of school and jan to make sure they are unlocking their potential. host: the website for more information is community.leader s.org.

that will do it for this morning's program. we are back tomorrow morning. our live coverage continuing. we will take you to a health care advocate -- a hearing with health care advocate who will be talking about prescription drug prices with a committee from the sent. desk from the senate -- a committee from the senate. >> -- they can raise their prices any day they want. pharmacists are turning them -- are telling them prices for medicine have gone up. drug companies are an industry which make huge profits and they pay their ceos large packages. it is an industry which is significantly