>> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. including buckeye broadband. >> buckeye broadband supports c-span as a public service, along with other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> coming up on today's washington journal. linda feldman previews the week ahead at the white house. kevin gosar, with the american enterprise institute, on louis dejoy's plans for the future of the postal service.

and we will hear from alexis, a staff writer for the atlantic on his covid tracking project. we will take your calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. washington journal is next. ♪ host: good morning everyone. house and senate lawmakers are back in their home states this week as congress takes a recess for the easter holiday. president biden will be pitching his administration's plan to spend billions on infrastructure in the country. more on that coming up. we begin this morning with voting laws in your stay and how are they working. if you are a democrat, dial in at (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002.

you can join the conversation by texting us at (202) 748-8003. or, put the handle at c-span wj in your tweet to us. you can go to facebook.com /c-span and post your comments there. we will get your comments on voting laws in the state and how they are working in just a minute. as you all may know, starting today, in minnesota, the murder trial for derek chauvin, in the charges and the death of george floyd begin today. here is the headline. derek chauvin, his trial represent a defining moment in america's racial history. george floyd pleading for his life under the knee of a minneapolis police officer has become a defining moment of our time. what began 10 months ago at the corner of 30th street and chicago avenue has transformed into nothing less than american reckoning on justice, racial

equity, the proper rule of law enforcement and the historical wrongs society has perpetuated on black people. monday morning, that moment leads to the 18th floor courtroom where a jury will begin to hear a murder and manslaughter case against derek chauvin. the trial itself is about what happened that may evening but it will be a sector where society -- vessel where a splintered society places its rage, anxieties and hopes. you can also listen with the free c-span radio app. every night, at 8:00 p.m. eastern time, we are going to show you that days trial on c-span2. 8:00 p.m. eastern time. now, back to -- starting with our conversation on voting laws in this country, we begin with what happened in georgia last

week. from the new york times, the fight over voting rights is emerging as one of the defining conflicts of the biden era. georgia fired the opening shot with restrictions that will determine whether republicans retake congress and the white house. president biden called georges lou -- george's new law an attack on the constitution. more than 24 states are advancing bills in a broad political effort, the most aggressive attack of the right to vote since the civil rights movement in the 1960's. here is president biden. >> are you worried if you don't manage to pass voting rights legislation, that your party is going to lose seats and possibly lose control of the house and the senate in 20 22? pres. biden: what i am worried about is how un-american this whole initiative is. it is sick. it is sick.

deciding in some states that you cannot bring water to people standing in line, waiting to vote? deciding that you are going to end voting at 5:00 when working people are just getting off of work. deciding that there will be no absentee ballots under the most rigid circumstances. it is all designed and i will spend my time doing three things. one, trying to figure out how to pass the legislation passed by the house. number one. number two, educating the american public. the republican voters i know find this despicable. republican voters. host: president biden, from his first news conference on friday on the georgia voting rights law. that is the conversation this morning. what is going on with voting laws in your state and do you believe they are working?

democrats, republicans, independents, start dialing in now. we will take your text messages well. lindsey graham was on fox news sunday and he responded to what the president had to say. senator graham: you know what is sick, the president of the united states has played the race card continuously in such a hypocritical way. he said the filibuster was a relic of the jim crow era. he made a one-hour speech when he was the senator, suggesting the filibuster was the best thing for the senate to make it different in the house. this is a letter signed by 61 senators in 2017, when we had the house, senate and white house, 27 democrats saying please keep in place the filibuster. what is sick is hr one. utter lysing state elections in our constitution, the states are supposed to run elections. hr one is the biggest power grab in the history of the country. it institutionalizes valid

harvesting. it does away with the voter id requirement. it would take over every election in every state. it makes the federal election commission a partisan commission. it would no longer be bipartisan. that is the power grab we are standing up to. to my friends in georgia, they had the highest turnout in the history of georgia. we had 150 something million people vote. every time a republican does something, we are a racist. if you are a white conservative, you are a racist. if you are a black republican, you are a prop or uncle tom. you use -- they use the racism card to advance a liberal agenda and we are tired of it. hr one is sick, not what they are doing in georgia. host: lindsey graham on fox news sunday. he was talking about hr one, which passed in the house. a slew of changes to voting laws on the federal level. according to reporting, in washington, that bill will likely not pass in the senate.

s1 is the equivalent of that bill in the senate. the brennan center for justice has put together a compilation of changes to voting laws in states since the 2020 election. this is from their february roundup, where they found thus far, this year, 33 states have introduced, prefiled or carried over 165 bills to restrict voting access. these proposals primarily seek to limit male voting access and impose stricter voter id requirements, slash voter registration opportunities. they are -- arizona leads the nation in proposed voter suppression legislation in 2021, with 19 restrictive bills. pennsylvania comes in second with 14 restrictive policy proposals, followed by georgia

with 11 bills and new hampshire has 10 bills. this is from the brennan center for justice. before we get to calls, let's listen to brian kemp defending the state's new bill during a signing ceremony last week. governor kemp: in contrary to the hyper-partisan rhetoric you may have heard inside and outside this gold dome, the facts are this new law will expand voting access in the peach state. every county in georgia will now have two mandatory saturdays of early voting and the option of two sundays of early voting. georgians will no doubt be soon overwhelmed with tv ads, mailers and radio spots packing -- packing this commonsense reform measure. host: brian kemp, defending that law. we turn to all of you. what are the voting laws in your stay and how are they working?

richard in tennessee, a republican. you are up first. good morning to you. caller: thank you for taking my call. we are in a small town, where i am at, we have no voting issues. my daughter is in medical school in south carolina. she applied for her absentee ballot because she could not make it back. had a rigorous identification process. she voted absentee. my wife and i, we vote in person. i voted early. my wife voted on the day off. -- day of. one of my points is i am disappointed in c-span this morning because you all have taken a slant that is purely partisan and you are only looking and repeating things that are negative about these

voter laws. there is a lot of people out here that are questioning how the last election went. the biggest way that you can dispel anything is to shine light on everything. if the democrats want to point fingers and call names at republicans, they need to prove us wrong. let us go in there and look at the ballots and see how it is done. i am a veteran. i believe that every citizen has a were spots billy to vote. one man, one vote. host: richard, before you go, you said your daughter had a rigorous identification process to vote absentee. can you tell us what that was? caller: she had to contact the election board in athens, where they requested a ballot.

they sent her a questionnaire and a verification. she sent that back. after that, they sent her a ballot. host: ok. let's go to willie in cincinnati, ohio. what is it like in cincinnati, ohio? what are the voting laws like? caller: the voting laws are mainly the same. there have not been great significant changes in the voting laws. the thing i am concerned about, we need to address one thing. the lie. the lie is that donald trump did not win, he lost. all of this -- all of these changes are fabricated on a lie. until we address the lie, why don't you open up the truth about the election?

the georgia senator down there was stern and now he is trying to amend his ways so he can get on the good side of donald trump i putting these harsh rules -- by putting these harsh rules in. voting rights are for the people. one vote, one person. and we have social security to clarify the people living in this country and its citizens. and we have signature laws. all of these are verifications -- all of these verifications are hindrance. what else do you want? blood tests? come on. host: all right. take a look at fox news' hea dline about the georgia law with the former president praising it and the former president's -- current presidents to cry -- decry of the georgia bill. s1 and its companion are

massive, sweeping pieces of legislation of the report, that bands states from requiring photo id to report. it raises barriers for states to clear voter rolls, requires states to offer drop boxes 45 days before an election, reshape the fec and much more. it represent a vast expansion in the federal government's role. heritage action, the conservative advocacy group associated with the heritage foundation, has labeled the bill for the people act the corrupt politicians act. as this debate happens in washington about what to do on voting laws and voting rights in this country, states are taking action. we want to know from you, how was it working where you live? susan in germantown, maryland, a democratic caller. caller: how are you doing? host: i am doing fine. caller: in maryland, i had no

trouble voting. i got a form from the board of elections. i filled it out, i sent my id card and i received my ballot. we are a blue state. we may not have any trouble to my knowledge. what i see in the voter suppression is it is basically killing minorities rights -- rights to vote. we are seeing changing demographics in my society. slowly, the white middle-class ruling folks that trump and his supporters -- they are slowly seeing their way of life disappear. i think that by 2024 and on, it will be a different america and they want to suppress this vote now. you have all of these states, republican states working to suppress these folks from

voting. host: you said you believe that these new loss are to suppress the minorities. why do you believe that? caller: because i see it all around me. i see it on television. i see it from many white folks, supporting, particularly in rural america, that support the republican party. the republican party, in many ways, has become the party of white grievance. in time, i think these will be fought in the court. hopefully, minorities, which will be the new majority by 2040 and on, we are already seeing it in the census bureau. host: ok. susan, for you and others, listen to the alaska senator, dan sullivan, a republican, he

was on abc's this week. he says democrats are not willing to work with republicans on voting laws. >> in alaska, a republican state, we have policies like no excuse absentee ballots. in essence, automatic voter registration that is much more open to voters. many blue states, like delaware, new york and connecticut. we are not arguing that relative to nebraska, they are pushing jim crow laws, but to your point, normally when you look at the history in our country, individual voting issues in states is not normally the reason that the impetus to bring major bipartisan, national federal legislation, unless

there is strong bipartisan support for this. i think that is the key issue. right now, hr one, the pelosi bill from the house, it not only does not have support from republicans, it does not have support from many democrats. host: alaska senator dan sullivan, a republican. more of your calls coming up in just a minute on voting laws in your state. we will continue that conversation of how they are working in just a minute. joining us is linda feldman. she is a washington bureau chief. she is here to talk about the president's week ahead for you let's begin with wednesday. the president heads to pittsburgh to talk about infrastructure. what do we know about what he plans to announce that day? guest: washington -- at washington, infrastructure week has long been seen as a joke. we have a new president.

he will try from his perspective. he is going to propose programs to improve highways, bridges, water supply, rural broadband. it is the next big bite of the apple that president biden is taking. it is a genuine effort to improve infrastructure. in his press conference last week, he mentioned that she cited a statistic that the u.s. is 13th in infrastructure spending per capita. he compared us to china. there are many ways of measuring infrastructure spending. anybody who travels in this country and goes to an airport has experienced add water and knows the country needs an upgrade -- bad water and knows the country needs an upgrade. there are two things he will propose. one is the infrastructure, the physical infrastructure, plus broadband. coming up in april, social

programs. childcare, health care, paid family leave. home care assistance for older adult. -- adults. all told, these two big programs together are going to cost between $3 trillion and $4 trillion. after the last big legislation, the covid relief plan, which cost $1.9 trillion, that passed with no republican votes. the hill to climb on this next plan is very steep. host: trillions. you said $3 trillion to $4 trillion. we are talking to trillion dollars over what they just spent on the covid-19 stimulus money. you alluded to it. what is the likelihood of this getting passed through the house and senate and why? guest: as of right now, it looks like there is zero chance. the plans for this one, the last

big package, the $1.9 trillion, they tack that on the debt. the plan is to pay for it. the question is how to pay for it. president biden is talking about increasing the corporate tax rates. he is proposing raising the tax rate to 28% and raising taxes on wealthy americans making more than $400,000 per year. the big question is if you can get democrats on board with all of this, let alone 10 republicans, which you would need to break the will of buster. -- filibuster. we know that joe biden is not willing to give up on the filibuster. same with senator joe mansion -- joe manchin.

in a 50-50 senate, even to pass something on a majority vote can be tougher you have to get all 50 democrats plus kamala harris to break the tie. this is joe biden presenting a big vision for the future of the country to really get us beyond the covid era, which is far from over. and really have a vision for a nation that is modernized and more family-friendly, frankly. host: the president today will be talking about the covid 19 response and vaccination. what do we know about what he will tell americans? guest: to reiterate his announcement of last week that the goal is now 200 million shots in 100 days of office. that comes on the 30th of april. he will beat that. that program is well underway. people who are not quite

eligible will soon be eligible. so, he will also talk about, i think, states that have released all of the mandates. no more mask mandates. they have reopened businesses. we are dealing with the variants . what joe biden wants americans to do is remain vigilant. while we should be optimistic that the pandemic is ending, in terms of our ability to function in a seminormal way, by no means are we out of the woods. people need to be vigilant. they need to keep wearing masks. guidance is to wear a mask even if you have been vaccinated. keeping people with the program on covid, everybody is sick of this. he is sick of it. he wants people to know that they have to stay with the program and stay vigilant. host: on the sunday political

shows, there was a discussion about gun legislation. what is the president expected to do on this debate? guest: it is not clear when that is coming. sometime in the coming weeks, they reportedly got a three-point plan in the works for executive action. again, it is very difficult to get something through congress on this. this is one of these evergreen issues that does not come close to passing. one would classify some firearms as ghost gun's, which are kits that allow a gun to be assembled through pieces. there is a piece of community violence intervention programs. and then, third, is an effort to strengthen the background checks. we have been dealing with this for a long time. it is a tough one. it has been said to -- we have

had many recent mass shootings, two particularly that are horrific in boulder and atlanta. getting anything through congress is, i would say impossible. host: for all of these debates in washington, follow the reporting of linda feldman by going to csmonitor.com. thank you as always. guest: my pleasure. host: back to our conversation about voting laws. how are they working in your state? the phone lines are on your screen. keep dialing in. roy has been waiting in las vegas, a republican, you are next. caller: thank you for taking my call. host: good morning. caller: the question i have is how serious are we or should we be that american citizens should

vote? i understand in mexico you have to have a voter id card. should we keep the voter registrations up-to-date? in our digital age, it should be simple to do something like that if we make an honest effort at it. given the covid shots require so much identification, how seriously should we take it that only american citizens should vote in our elections? thank you. host: do you have to have identification in nevada when you go to vote? caller: yeah. you have to show your drivers license. i have voted for 20 or 30 years so i am always on the voter rolls. it is pretty standard. i get the voter information in the mail and fill it out and

show my id at the voting place. i don't know how closely the procedure is adhered to. you don't hear a lot about that. host: all right. joe in ohio, an independent, good morning to you. what is it like they are? caller: -- host: what is it like there. ? caller: in response to the gentleman who called from ohio, he was a liar. they do not require social security numbers or anything like what he was saying to vote in ohio. i see all of this stuff. basically, what i see in that democratic bill is a total stealing of the american

election system, so that they control everything. host: you're talking about hr one in congress omma in washington? -- congress, in washington? caller: yes. it is so corrupt. it is pathetic. i watched your program frequently, just to see the commentary coming from the sides. i am always amazed at the ignorance of most of these people that call, that don't know the facts, don't do any studying. all they do is repeat what they hear on cnn, msnbc. i am listening, joe. -- host: i am listening, joe. caller: it is ridiculous. most of the stuff is incorrect. host: where do you get your information, joe?

where do you go? caller: i am online. i usually go to five or six different sites every day to see what the commentary is. and i will admit, it is newsmax. oan, one american news. fox news -- one america news, fox news, and i check out cbs, abc and nbc. the distortions, when you look at the facts, you go to the government websites and what you are seeing on some of these new sites are totally opposite of what the facts are. host: ok. joe in ohio, and independent. paul in fort lauderdale, florida, a republican. good morning to you. go ahead. what is it like in florida when you go to vote? caller: ok, so the number one question in america today is do

the people of america have faith in the national elections? and the answer to that is no. so, what do we do? we have to do everything we can to restore faith in our elections in the united states. we should first answer the specific questions backed up by affidavit and testimony to the questions about the last election. do x number of illegal immigrants vote? do x number of underage people vote? these specific questions need a yes or no answer and we are not getting them. the other part of this -- host: before you go to the other part, have you gone to fact checking websites to see if they have taken on those questions? caller: why does someone have to

go to a fact checking website? why don't we have an official investigation by a bipartisan commission to answer these specific questions and restore faith in our elections? i'm sure i'm very very much like millions upon millions of other people. so it if it takes voter i.d. as a start, go ahead and start there. why is it that black people can't get an i.d. for voting? but white people can or black republicans? or hispanics? would somebody explain that to me what it is about the laws that they're passing to restore integrity actually prevents somebody from voting? host: ok. in the georgia law does include the one that was passed last week and signed by the governor, voter identification from the

associated press, what does georgia's new g.o.p. election law do is and they write this the 98-page measure revive brian kemp makes numerous changes to how elections will be administered including a new photo i.d. requirement for voting absentee by mail the law gives the state election board new powers to intervene in county election offices and to remove the law gives -- let me start over here. including a photo i.d. requirement, the law gives them new powers to intervening officers and remove and replace local election official. it makes it a midst to hand out any -- misdemeanor hand out to anyone standing in line to vote. -- is the new law was aimed at

the re-election campaign next year? you are the first black man from georgia and the first black democrat from a former confederate ever eck led to u.s. senate. you have to run again next year to keep your seat. do you think this law restricting voting rights in your state is a backlash to your election specifically? >> well, you know, i am very clear that this is not about me. this is really about preserving the voices of the people and their democracy. and i honestly think, dana, that politicians focus on their own political ambitions. it's what's gotten us here in the first place. you have legislatures who are running scared and so rather than having the people select their politicians and politicians trying to cherry-pick their voters, this is an assault on the across nnt

that we have and it's my job to protect it. host: from cnn's state of the union yesterday. robert in indianapolis, independent. robert, when you go to vote in your state, what is it like? caller: yeah, it runs pretty smooth. it's got a voter i.d. you have to have a picture i.d. which i guess the minority communities, they don't need picture i.d.'s to fly. they don't need picture i.d.'s to go to the hospital. they don't need picture i.d.'s to, you know, bank. they don't need picture i.d.'s for this and that. i guess indiana's just, we use picture i.d.'s, which is fine. and it amazes me, this empty seat in the white house now. they're using excuses back during the election, covid this and covid that. let's put out a million drop boxes. let's go by the nursing home.

let's go buy anywhere we can to pick up a blatt and to pick up a vote. -- ballot and let's pick up a vote. no wonder there's no trust. if you're going to open up the whole system to people that are energetic enough to cheat the system and the idea that they want to call trump the big lie on the vote -- but check those states out. i mean, there's been enough on some of the media outlets to really question what happened. but you've got your mainstream media that just calls it the big lie. host: ok. caller: and i think they don't want to put the leg work in to really check these states out or they don't really want to, you know, ruffle the bushes because

it's all about funding. and it comes down to money. and the democrats, they want to own the central seats of government, you know, and -- forever. host: frank in florida, an independent. we'll go to you next, frank. caller: hi. host: good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for having more on. so i'm a former new yorker, now in the state of florida. i reside in bratwood county. and voting in the 2020 presidential election year was an absolute breeze. i voted early on a saturday. and just simply walk in, show your driver's license and be

given a ballot and, you know, cast your ballot. the big question that i have and i'm not so much in the camp of saying that the election was stolen. however, i'm also not in the camp of ignoring that there were many irregular this that took place around the country. host: in what state? caller: just to throw out one comparison, one question that i have, if florida, 11 million people voted in florida. and the votes were counted and tallied and the results in on election -- end on election night. why does it take a state like pennsylvania, for example, that

had, you know, about seven million votes, why did it take days and days and days to come up with -- to count the ballots and come up with the results? that's a head-scratcher to me. host: frank's thoughts there in florida, an independent. associated press reporting a georgia law passed last week, what's next? three groups have filed a lawsuit late thursday to try to block the law. the georgia project black voters matter and rise ink say the law violate the first and 14th amendment of the u.s. constitution as well as parts of the federal voting rights act that says states cannot restrict black voter participation. opponents are also looking to congress which is considered nationwide voting standards as we've been talking about. now here is the governor brian kemp explaining more about this law from last week. >> we quickly began working with the house and senate on further

reforms to make it easy to vote and hard to cheat. the bill i signed into law does just that. first and foremost, sv-202 replaces the signature match process with a state issued i.d. requirement to request and submit an absentee ballot. when voting in person in the state of georgia, you must have a photo i.d. it only makes sense for the same standard to apply to absentee ballot as well. for example, the november 2020 election saw a 350% increase in the use of absentee balloting. over 1.3 million absentee ballots total when compared to election day in 2018. this obviously led local election workers to have to process far more ballots using a time-consuming labor intensive and at times, arbitrary process.

by moving to a state issued i.d. requirement instead of a signature match, georgia will dramatically streamline the verification process on absentee ballots. sv-202 secures all ballot drop boxes around the clock, speeds up processing to ten sure quicker election results, requires security paper to allow for authentication of ballots and allows the bipartisan state election board to have more oversight over counts -- counties who fail to follow state election law. host: the georgia governor there. the atlanta journal constitution calls them sweeping changes. we're asking all of you this morning what are voting plus a like in your state? and do you think they're working best and in evanston, illinois,

a democratic caller. good morning, go ahead. caller: hello. host: hi, beth. caller: hi. hi. well, i just want to say that in illinois, we just show our voter card and turn up and vote. and we have a lot -- many days of early voting where it's not crowded, you get right in. and it's been great so far. and the people that talk about this big lie, it is. in georgia, they recounted, i think two or three times and they didn't find anything wrong with it. so i don't understand why georgia is changing things when everything ran smoothly. sol the only thing that you can point to is the fact that more african-americans voted and they didn't -- the republicans didn't get the candidate that they wanted. and i just want to say one more

thing about people that are non-citizens. i just don't understand why people who are quote-unquote living in the shadows in the united states would risk, you know, being caught by going to vote. it just doesn't make sense. they just wouldn't go to the poll being places. host: all right, beth. adele in springfield, illinois. democratic caller as well. good morning to you. go ahead. caller: good morning. how are you? >> i'm doing well. what is it like when you go to vote in illinois? caller: it's a blue state. and so like this woman from evan son say, it's very secure and very safe. i want to make 10 comments. you've got a lot of republican callers that need to be set straight. just a brief history. in the beginning of this country, the only people that could vote are white, property

owner men. everybody else could not vote. free speech got a right to vote in the 1970's. native-americans, they got to vote in 1924. because of certain confederate states, that lawfulness of the war, they were convincing black people to vote some the federal government got involved in this. and that's why you had jim crow's law that prevented people to vote. what happened was when the u.s. supreme court and in 1965, the voting rights had -- it was made easier for african-americans to vote. what happened was it was moved until then. the supreme court under robert

supreme court, shelby holder -- and said everything's back to normal. now that we have a democrat that was elected in some of these states in georgia, texas, and you know this. some of these states are mainly red states. blue states aren't having this issue. but because of the demographics changing these states, they are now impose being certain restrictions on people of color. and you asked susan why do you think that's the case or what why do you think that's the idea? well, you know that black people tend to vote on sundays. they're restricting that you know in the precinct, they're making less and less opportunities to vote. there's less and less of them. they're reducing that in the urban centers. if you look at these issues, then you could see that the federal mandate of allowing people securely, that's have a

federal law that has people -- says people should know how to vote, make it easier for them to vote. why is it such an issue for red -- blue collar or red states to have an issue of making it easier for all people to vote? it's not just republicans and democrats. independents can vote. and i don't understand why it's such a big issue for republicans, especially in -- host: ok, i'm going to continue with your history lesson because kevin blackistone where is a piece in "the washington post" about the history of georgia. and ivan allen jr., one of the first southern mayors to testify about that civil rights act that you talked ann. and he -- about he where is that he was a white businessman who was elected major of atlanta in

1961. he beat a restaurateur who is infamous to serve black would-be diners. "i could promise all i wanted about the future but none of it would come about if atlanta failed to cope with the racial issue." two years later the city had an nfl franchise and major league baseball moved a club there from milwaukee. and in 1968 the nba relocated the st. louis hawks to georgia tech's downtown coliseum. in short, atlanta became one of our country's leading sports city largely thank to allen daring us to champion racial inequality at the south starting at the voting booth but this month, reactionary georgia politicians acted to shove their state in atlanta back in time by passing draconian laws to threat on the protections. with his actions, ultimately

attracting our national sports industry which is symbolically representative of the meritocracy which most of us strive to live. until further notice, what sport brought to atlanta? it should take away. and he says that should start with the all-star game scheduled for july at the atlanta braves ballpark. that's kevin blackistone's opinion writing in "the washington post." sports brought atlanta so much. as voting laws change, it is time to take something away you can read more of that "the washington post." angela from virginia, a republican, your turn. caller: yeah. first of all, your little history lesson that you just did, it was a bunch of nonsense because this is all the democrats ever do is use black people and history for their corrupt laws. now hr-1, you couple that with that $1.9 trillion that they passed which we know is going to

fortify the democrats election and every place in this country. we know that. we're not dumb. and then you pull out this dumb history, well, the history isn't dumb you pull out history, 40, 50, 60 years ago. what in the world does that have to do with black people having an i.d. card and going to vote? and i'm sick of white people pretending that black people are so ignorant that if we can't vote on sunday, then we can't figure out how to vote. democrats, historically have always tried to use the backs of black people to make sure that they maintained power and i am really sorry that so many black people allowed themselves to be used. now, if this country becomes a one-party state, one-party country, look at california. and look at a lot of these other democrat districts and that's what the country will become. and i am a black person. i am sick and tired of you all

digging up history like we never has a country tried to correct and we have. there's nothing wrong with anybody pulling out a photo i.d. to go and vote. host: and angela, have you always been a republican? caller: yes, i am. host: ok. and where does that conservatism come from? caller: that's not the point the point is that democrats could useing black people to fortify their vote. i got news for a lot of white people out there. you may as vote voice your opinion if you're republican or if you're a conservative. because it doesn't matter what you say or do. in the minds of these sick people, you're always going to be a racist so you may as well stand up and fight. host: i understand the point "the new york post" with the headline "georgia governor kemp slams president biden after jim crow dig at the state's voting laws." christopher in florence, alabama, independent.

christopher. caller: good morning. i would like to say this. my last name is sign on the declaration of independence. my family has been here for an extremely long time. what i would like to suggest, you can't send e-mails. you have to write in and put a note on the republic put on the ballot absolutely for every election, absolutely no power of attorney authorized. no power of proxy authorized. that's what they're doing. they're saying they legally represents you. and then like on the preliminaries or where you're allowed to be able to put multiple candidates on the ballot, we are shove down our throats as for who's going to be vice president. for instance, if you're a democrat, your told you cannot be able to put your name on the ballot for the vice president. you are dictated to by a

republican. now there are other individuals out there that just want to know how the illegals are getting to vote. two methods. one, all -- all anybody has to have is a electricity or a look alike electricity bill and go register for the city elections. then, because of that databases are not separate, that databases rose turnover the county and they give you out a voter i.d. card. host: and christopher, let me pose to you the question that that viewer posed, which is why would an illegal immigrant take that risk? caller: well because you can't tell the difference. because they have the credentials to look exactly alike me and you because what they're doing here is when they come across the border. you'll see up there when they be to d.h.s. in order for them to pay the money, under d.h.s. and also

social security, homeland security, there's even a fund there under the state department and also under the presidency that has a special fund when you look at the budget. host: ok. so christopher, what evidence do you have that this is happening? caller: director put it out in the treasury department. they're paying out to them. host: christopher -- one second. what evidence do you have that this is happening? caller: what evidence? it's right there written into the law. [laughter] host: ok. christopher in alabama. many of you have mention the national debate happening here in washington over changing voting laws, making some federal standards. hr-1 passed in the house. s-1 is the companion fill in the senate has not come to the floor yet. there was a hearing on it recently and you can find that on our website, c-span.org. but the white house press

secretary was ask about whether or not the president would work with republicans on voting legislation. >> well, the president is absolutely open to the idea from republicans, from democrats to make any piece of legislation better and stronger. but what he's not going to allow for is efforts to make it more difficult and harder to vote. and efforts to do that, people should question whether they have -- why they would be doing that. if they have the best ideas, they should make it easier for people to vote. >> but none of these laws -- >> republicans want to come on the table and discuss about what kind of package they can support to make voting more accessible and easier the president's absolutely open to having that discussion. host: from "fox news sunday." the white house press secretary. the brennan center for justice has a side by side comparison of state voting laws. and you can find that on their

website. there it is on your screen if you'd like to compare for yourself. jeffrey in woodbridge, virginia, democratic caller. hi, jeffrey. caller: hi, good morning. first off, thanks for taking my call. honestly, where do we begin? there's so much. first off, you know, president trump said back in the summer, if you allow people to vote, then republicans would lose. more people who are loud republicans would lose. second i would say regarding the fact of the red mirage cover by bloomberg news regarding one of the mail-in ballots come in. republican producers set that precedent in michigan, pennsylvania and wisconsin saying you can't start count the votes until election day is over unlike places like florida, those states cannot start counting until election day was over. republican state legislatures set that rule.

as far as the last election goes and the big lie that has happened and people citing facts from news max and fox news, there's a reason. because they lied about the election. the president lied about the election. that's why he wouldn't concede. that's why we had a riot on january 6 at the capitol because people believed in this lie which is unfortunate and there was no peaceful transfer of power in the democracy and people believe the current president is illegitimate and it is very sad that people actually believe that. beyond cyber security director back in november say this is the most secure election that we've ever had. and what happened as a result if he got fire because he stood over country over party. and one more thing i'll say regarding the voter suppression laws that are happening and they are suppression laws. they don't want people to vote. georgia giving the power of the

state to overturn county election officials, very dangerous precedent some if they don't like the results, the state can overturn the election? what country are we living in anymore? you know, hr-1 has to pass. this is vital to democracy. are we going to say that folks just because we disagree with their politics will not be allowed to vote? and that's exactly what's going on in this country and unfortunately, you know, this is a dangerous path that we're going on. host: well, jeffrey for you and others, you can learn more about that georgia law if you go the associated press as we've been showing you today. they have an explainer about the georgia law. what does in the new g.o.p. election law do? and you can find more forbes there for you and -- forbes for crow and others. dale ya, a republican. caller: good morning. i want to say something that the

other calls on the floor did not say. in florida, yes, you need a driver's license. but there's also an i.d. given by the state of florida, ok? which is a legal i.d. that doesn't cost any money. many elderly and many minorities who do not drive have it. it doesn't expire and you need that in order to vote. and i know for a fact that if you check a driver's license in florida, your government employee like i was, you can check and see if the person is here illegally or is the person -- well, legal, you cannot have a driver's license, but you can find out if they are citizens or not. host: ok. from the "new york times" reporting georgia g.o.p. fires open being shot in fight to limit voting the "new york

times" report on what's next. and they we and another crucial conflict looms this fall the fight over redistributing for growing and changing populations and the gerrymandering that will allow majorities to limit the impact of votes by packing or splitting up population centers. the dispute will determine the look of the house and dozens of state legislatures, in many cases, locking in majorities for the next decade. jessica anderson, the executive director of heralded action for america, the political arms of the conservative heralded foundation say georgia was serve as model. the country was watching closely in what georgia would do. she said in an interview. rodney in elk grove village, illinois, republican. rodney, good morning to you. are the voting laws in your state working? caller: good morning, greta. well, i'm curious about the election. you know, obama in his best year in 2008 got 69 million votes.

biden this last go around got 281 million votes we got 11 million more than obama ever got in his highest account in 2008. but biden won 17% of all counties in america. biden won 509 counties. trump won 2547 counts. that is a fact the only way that the democrats won and biden won was elias law firm that just got sanction by the fifth circuit, by the way, that went around and changed voting laws with stacey abrams in georgia and then in pennsylvania, they went around and they had no signature verification. they had extended voting for weeks. they did not -- they did mass mailout ballots and i think that if the media would ever check on

mark elias and all the efforts that he did to subvert the last election that people would at least get some comfort in what went on in the 2020 election. host: ok. let me go to john who's in pennsylvania. democratic caller. caller: yes. yeah, i just seen recently had the vaccinations to keep white people from going down to philly and get vaccination, you had to show an electric bill or you had to show your driver's license. seeing that the for instance had no problem finding an electric bill or a driver's license to get their vaccinations. so i don't understand why we have to change election laws. i'm here in pennsylvania months before the election, ok? to rig it, just like the one gentleman said. do you think that we believe that joe biden outperformed hillary clinton and barack obama? i mean, seriously ask yourself that. host: we're going to take a break. when we comewhen we come back, n

enterprise institute's kevin kosar will discuss postmaster general louis dejoy's 10 strategic and business plan for the u.s. postal service. we will take your questions about the postal service as well. later, covid data and efforts to fund the covid tracking project. we will be right back. sunday on in-depth, a live conversation with harriet washington. her most recent book is carte blanche. >> when companies use profits to measure their success in the medical arena, the problem is that we cannot expect the companies to care about us. we cannot expect the companies

to make less money because they care about our health. they have already shown us they don't care about our health. our government, the people we should expect to care about our health and should defend us, our government should be forcing them to develop things that will fit the public needs, and it is not. >> join in the conversation with your phone calls, facebook comments, texts, and tweets sunday at noon eastern on c-span2. go to c-span.org/coronavirus for the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic. if you missed our live coverage, it is easy to find the latest briefings. use the interactive gallery of maps. go to c-span.org/coronavirus.

>> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us this morning's kevin kosar, a scholar at the american enterprise institute in washington. he is here to talk about the future of the u.s. postal service. we will have a third line for postal workers. we want to hear from you. before we get to calls, let's talk about the financial state of the postal service. what is it? guest: it is not good. the agency has been running structural deficits for many years. last year was particularly bad. it swelled up to $83 billion driven by responses to the covid situation. the debt last year was $9 billion. host: why is it in this financial situation? guest: there are a few factors at work.

paper mail volume has gone down 40% since the great recession in 2008. for the most part, that is where postal revenues come from. we have seen a surge in the quantity of parcels, but it has not been enough. postal service is an expensive operation to run. it is huge. it covers all of continental america, alaska, hawaii, puerto rico, american samoa. it has a global reach and a huge workforce, mostly unionized. there are somewhere around 640,000 employees. it is expensive to run. with demand for service declining, this is why it has been hitting deficits in recent years. host: what sorts of benefits to postal workers get? guest: they are federal employees. folks mistake the postal service

as a public-private partnership. they are full government employees. they participate in the government health benefit plan. unlike most other federal workers from postal workers are unionized, and they collectively bargain over wages, compensation, and working conditions. host: how does the postal service have to run its budget compared to other agencies? guest: since 1970, it has been designed to be a self funding government entity. it is one of about 18 self funding federal entities. other popular ones are the tennessee valley authority. these are government agencies that don't go to congress every year to get taxpayer dollars to fund their operations. they engage in commercial enterprise that generates the

revenue to cover the costs. the postal service has a lot more operational freedom from congressional oversight and intervention in its day-to-day affairs. host: i want to show our viewers what the president's spokesperson jen psaki had to say when she was asked about confidence in the usps leadership and recent nominees to the board. [video clip] >> yesterday, he nominated three extremely qualified individuals to fill the empty spots on the board of governors, anton hi jar, amber reynolds, and ron instrument. i think we can all agree that most americans would agree that the postal service needs leadership that can and will do a better job.

not everybody knows, it is up to the board of governors, of which we just nominated three individuals to serve, to determine the future of leadership there. we leave it to their discretion. >> sounds like you are signaling the board to take a look at it. >> i think the president is certainly familiar with the process. he thinks the leadership can do better. we are eager to have the board of governors in place. host: what does that say about the future leadership of the future leaders of the postal service? guest: it says to me that they will continue to be a lot of pressure on the postmaster general to joy -- dejoy to improve services, which for the most part declined last year. the postal service did a terrific job of delivering ballots by mail. they had a 99% on-time delivery

rate. there is no indication that the postal service failed in a way that had an impact on the election. delivery time performance has been low. you have a lot of constituents that are upset. people are wondering where boxes are. small businesses are frustrated. they sent things to customers that never got there. it is the job of the board of governors to decide whether the postmaster general is performing adequately. host: what is the future of dejoy? guest: it remains to be seen. the board of governors has six of its nine members. it is chaired by a democrat named rod blum. he has said he has confidence in louis dejoy. confidence is subject to change.

it is about performance. we will have to see how the postal service does over the course of this year. host: what is the postmaster general saying about the strategy going forward? guest: he is saying that a lot of hard choices were put off for many years, that postal service leadership, previous leadership did not fully appreciate the fact that paper mail was going away. this has huge ramifications for the business. the postal service system, trucks, machines, post offices, sorting facilities, they were designed to handle paper mail. when paper mail goes down and is replaced by parcels, that is going to create serious operational challenges. last year, we had that massive surge in parcels hitting the

system because so many people were shopping from home, and the system broke down. louis dejoy thinks change needs to be embraced. paper mail is going to keep fading away and parcels will keep going up. postal services will have to invest in new trucks and facilities. it just has to change itself fundamentally. host: he has put out a 10 year plan, delivering for america. it includes designed to save $167 billion over 10 years, raises prices, cuts air transportation to carry 12% of first class mail, does not include widespread layoffs or closures of local post offices. when you look at the details, what do you think? guest: there is a lot.

this thing runs about 60 pages. it has a breadth of types of reform that he wants to enact. he's looking to save $160 billion over the course of 10 years. he is going to need help from congress to do it. he needs their help to pass a law. that will save $60 billion over 10 years. he is hoping to raise prices to generate $60 billion in additional revenue. he has to be careful because if he raises rates too quickly, he will drive more mail out of the system. he has got a slew of logistical changes. one of them involves a mail

piece, when it enters the system, there is something like 11 different touches in the course of that process. he wants to reduce the number of those touches. he wants to protect the postal service from operational disruptions that come from relying on airplanes. the postal service does not have its own fleet. it contracts with fedex to put mail on planes. that is expensive. if fedex is disrupted by covid or serving other customers, the postal service operation gets disrupted. host: the wall street journal writes, the plan confronts the opposite course is its key businesses have been on for years. annual revenue from first class mail is down since 2007. revenue from packages has nearly

tripled with the explosion in online shopping. neither trend is expected to stop. kevin kosar here to take your questions and comments about the postal service. if you live in the eastern part of the country, (202) 748-8000. mountain and pacific, (202) 748-8001. postal workers, we want to hear from you, (202) 748-8002. let me kick it off with this text from jan in illinois. how many entities other than the u.s. postal service are required to pre-fund retirement benefits 75 years in advance? guest: next to none. i should add the postal service is not required to pre-fund 75 years. that is something that started circulating on the internet not long after 2006.

the pre-funding mandate was onerous. it said the postal service is promising benefits when people retire, and you are only funding some of that. you are not funding retiree health care benefits. you are expecting to be able to reach in your pocket and bear this expense. with huge numbers of postal service workers retiring, the idea was the postal service should pre-fund. the way the plan was drawn up by congress was not good. it was too aggressive and enacted just before the great recession, which caused revenues to go down and created a situation where the postal service after a few years just quit paying into the pre-funding. it has not done any pre-funding since 2012. host: mike in ohio.

caller: good morning. you just got caught in a lie. they did force the postal service to pre-fund their benefits 75 years in advance. this was a concerted effort by the right, including american enterprise institute, the heritage foundation, to destroy the postal service. louis dejoy was put in there to help that by destroying mail sorting devices, what have you. the right cannot stand that this is a unionized workforce, and once it is gone, people will see , as fedex, ups, all these private companies take over, and the people that will get hurt the most are people in rural areas, heavily republican, and

when they are told that if you want your mail, you are going to have to drive 10 miles to pick it up because ups, fedex, and what have you cannot afford, or it is too expensive to deliver the mail at your home, and we are going to get what we wished for here. it is really a shame that a thing that was created by franklin -- excuse me, benjamin franklin, who probably people like you today would consider him a communist by having a government entity to deliver mail. host: i'm going to jump in so we can get a response from kevin kosar. guest: just to be very clear, i do not advocate privatizing the postal service. i have actually advocated

strengthening the postal service. i advocated that access to absentee ballots be increased so that more ballots could travel through the mail, which is more convenient for individuals, which is very secure. as for the postal service, i have been working on capitol hill for 18 years now. i have not seen a single bill that aims to privatize it. the reason is because very few people want to do that. republicans out in rural areas, they don't want to privatize the postal service. they want to ensure the postal service can still deliver well. they depend on the postal service for prescription drugs. i don't know where it is coming from, this idea that there is some sort of right-wing plot to destroy the postal service.

it is just not accurate. host: your thoughts on carolyn maloney, democratic congresswoman from new york, and her proposal to reform the agency. she would like to repeal the pre-funding mandate for future retiree health care and allow postal workers to enroll in medicare. guest: it has been around for years. they have been trying to work out the logistics to it. it is a different way of dealing with the pre-funding issue. i much prefer that to the previous response that democrats had to the pre-funding mandate, which was to abolish it and pretend the postal service does not owe these benefits to their retirees. my own preference is that we continue pre-funding, but we decreased the amount the postal service has to pre-fund each year.

we do as at least one of the postal unions has advocated, allow a portion of the money refunded to be put in index funds, the same weight employees saving for retirement have money put in index funds overseen by a nonpartisan board. if you did that with pre-funding, you could largely solve the pre-funding problem. host: david is a postal worker in maryland. welcome to the conversation. caller: thank you. good morning to you both. i am a retired postal worker. i get real tired of hearing comments from the likes of mr. kosar and the republicans on the right. i cannot remember, is aei bipartisan or conservative or democratic?

what is its makeup? guest: it is nonpartisan. we are a 501(c)(3). we do not hire on the basis of political affiliation. i am a registered independent. it certainly leans to the right. caller: i want to echo the first caller's comments. the dagger in the heart was the proposal to pre-fund health care health benefits for retired postal workers. as it has been said, no other agency and the government, no other company in the united states pre-funds, is obligated to pre-fund their retirement benefits in the form of health care. host: let me go to pete in pennsylvania.

caller: i used to work at the post office. i am retired. if you look at your mail, on the right-hand corner of the letter, you see a lot of business letters are nine cents, $.11, these should be double or triple that. you are spending $.50 to send a letter to california. businesses send these out for nine cents, $.11, and the post office needs revenue, but they are not charging. host: let's take that point. guest: pete raised a very good point. in the past year, the postal regulatory commission, which has authority over the rate system the postal service pass to within, it has released a new system which changes the

previous pricing system. under the previous size some -- previous system, most of what gets mailed, rates could only be raised at the rate of inflation. that rate is going to be increased. louis dejoy and his plan is counting on using that authority. he's looking to bring in $50 billion over the next 10 years in additional revenue through increased rates. host: layla from colorado sends us this text, most of us are going paperless with banking, bills, everything else. the post office needs to get creative. guest: yeah, no, i fully appreciate that perspective. i think a lot of americans look to europe and other nations. they do all sorts of different activities that are non-postal.

it has been the american tradition that the postal service is first and foremost a postal service. at one time the postal service was involved in banking from 1920 to 1970. it got out of that business. the margins got worse, and the competition got more intense. the postal service was not created to be a parcel deliver. now that is a major part of its business. louis dejoy is looking to capture more of that market by making it easier for consumers when they shop online. they should be able to return it through the postal service or easily. host: barbara, manchester, maryland. caller: i have a problem with the post office. i am in my 60's. i am on a limited income.

i have always paid all of my bills through the post office. at the beginning of the year, i found out my bills were not getting paid even though i sent them ahead of time. i ended up with a lot of people calling me saying they had not received their money. i stopped using the post office. i have lost faith in the post office. i don't want to use them anymore. host: what do you do? how do you send your bills? caller: i call on the phone and make a direct payment. that is usually the way i do it now, or i go in and pay. host: kevin kosar. guest: i have heard that complaint many times. last years service plunge, particularly late november and december through january, that was terrible. that cannot happen again. it is going to drive people away from the mail. that is not good for the postal service.

host: janet, dayton, ohio. caller: thanks for taking my call. my biggest issue is the leadership of louis dejoy. how can you take someone seriously that also has a vested interest in his competition? we saw what he did during the election, delaying our mail. he has a vested interest in other package delivery companies. how is that possible? how are you allowed to keep your job and run this post office and have a vested interest in the competition? i don't understand how that works and how that is allowed. guest: there has been at least one previous look at dejoy's financial holdings, whether they are in violation. i understand the u.s. postal service inspector general is looking into additional concerns

raised about that. i anticipate the anxiety it creates. is this guy trying to use this government office to create an improved side hustle or something like that? it is not clear to me exactly how that is happening. he is not the owner of a private company. he is not doing things that cause the postal service to lose business and private company to gain business. the delivering for america proposal he put out, he is explicitly calling for the postal service to grab a larger share of the parcel market from the private sector, which is kind of shocking. host: donald in south bend, indiana, postal worker. caller: i am a letter carrier. i just got back because i had to take my car to the shop. i'm not sure what the

gentleman's position is on the post office. if he is talking about privatization, that is not going to work. the post office does a good job. i know we had some problems this past winter, but that is because some people were out because of the pandemic. we had people that were sick. things are going to get better. there is more weather coming. -- warm weather coming. everybody is working. the postal workers, the letter carriers, they are phenomenal. i'm in awe of them. there are people that have been working straight 30 days, 10 hours a day. forget about privatization. it is not going to happen. it will not work. the post office does the job. we do the job. host: let me ask you what it was like during the pandemic when numbers were high and you were

losing your coworkers? they were out sick because of this. what was it like for others who had to pick up and work those extra hours? caller: it was kind of rough. you get through it. i got to say, the post office came through. i give the post office kudos. they did come through. they gave us stuff we needed to keep ourselves safe. host: are you vaccinated? have you been vaccinated through the postal service? caller: i am getting my second shot tomorrow, and i cannot wait. 6:00 p.m. tomorrow eastern time, and i cannot wait. host: was that organized through the postal service? caller: no, it was done through the state of indiana, which i must admit has done a great job. host: they prioritized you? caller: not really. i waited my turn because i am

59, and i waited my turn. that is ok. there are other people who need to get the shot who do more, like the nurses, first responders. it is cool. i wear my mask. i wash my hands. i use sanitizer and everything. i'm ok. i'm getting my second shot tomorrow. i just want to say, you know, the postal workers can do it. we can do it. host: thank you for calling in. kevin kosar, what did you hear? guest: one of the underreported facts is that when the covid situation had, more than 120,000 postal workers had to quarantine. their workforce is 640,000. that is a huge number. that is intensely disruptive to operations. the fact that the postal service has been able to keep doing what

it is doing is impressive. when you consider the fact that they got slammed with a record number of parcels last year, you had private companies turning away parcel volume the postal service took on. if you don't have machines designed to sort parcels, that means people have to do it by hand. that is postal workers rolling up their sleeves and doing it. we owe the postal service workers a great deal of thanks. host: kevin kosar, here is a tweet from one of our viewers. "more robotic sorters would expedite delivery. louis dejoy is negligent." is that in the future? guest: one of the plans is to acquire more than 100 new sorting machines designed to

handle parcels. there was a lot of anxiety over the postal service bawling paper sorting machines last year. that anxiety was misplaced for the most part. the postal service is only utilizing those machines something like 50%. paper mail volume has been plunging. the postal service has been saying it by two a lot of the infrastructure it uses to sort paper mail and hello to parcels. host: robert in greenville, north carolina. good morning to you. robert, greenville, north carolina. caller: yes, thank you. sorry. dejoy, he was hired by mark

meadows and donald trump, and he is a criminal. that is who is running the postal service. he is not going to do anything that is going to help the people of the united states of america. we have a running the postal service. host: do you have any thoughts on that? guest: dejoy really has gotten -- slapped upon him since last year. in part this happened because of president trump. yes, the fact that dejoy was a fundraiser for republicans made him an easy target. dejoy was attacking voting by mail, attacking amazon, saying all sorts of things that were factually inaccurate. it created an environment where

any postmaster general comes in, and it is hyper partisan. i have been doing postal politics for 18 years. i have never seen anything like this. i have never seen a postmaster general so demonized. he has got a lot of work to do to break out of that image. we will see if he can get it done. host: you have been looking at the postal service for almost two decades. what have you done in the past? guest: what have i done in the past? jeez. i started my postal career at the library of congress, a nonpartisan research institute. i had a supervisor who asked me to back him up and under study. two years later, he decided to retire. i became the lead postal guy. it was a fascinating area. i found that members of

congress, left and right, always needed help dealing with postal issues because the postal service is that one government agency at the federal level that touches members of the public in their homes and at their businesses five or four days a week. caller: hello hot -- aloha. i had a question. i reported this to police about six years ago. it was from a deceased person. it looked like a collection company, first class express notice, paid dcph. i'm just wondering. i received two of these in my box even after i filed a police complaint.

this person has been deceased. they even notified these creditors. for whatever reason, it looks like just a bunch of letters cm bus6, because we verified this person was deceased, it was addressed to my box. is it legal for me to open the mail to find out who to contact to stop these mailings? guest: i would be hesitant to open it. i would be inclined to take it to my local post office and ask the postmaster at that post office. if that did not get me an answer, i would write return to sender on the envelope and drop it back in the mail. if the male keeps coming, you might consider filing a

complaint with the postal service inspection service. they have people who keep an eye out for fraud and kiddy smut through the mail and all sorts of stuff. host: a text saying this, the postmaster general has a constitutional mandate to build infrastructure. is that true? host: -- guest: under the constitution, congress may create post roads, post offices, but otherwise, there is nothing in the constitution about that. under postal law, the postal service is supposed to run an efficient system of mail delivery. this is why they were given authority to put facilities where they think facility should be as opposed to putting

facilities where members of congress might prefer. host: another message, this one on twitter, "ask mr. gosar what the logic behind forever stamps is. i bought $100 worth, and i will probably leave them to my children." guest: it is a convenience to consumers. you don't have to go back to buy a new stamp to attach to an old stamp. the postal service has your money and doesn't have to give you service until you demanded. it is a cost savings for the postal service. their clerks do not have to sell you three sent stamps. they can sell something with a higher margin. host: welcome to the conversation good caller: i just

want to say i recently retired. the postal office is a good organization. i worked as an electronic technician. the reason you are not getting the mail as fast as you should receive is because they have taken away the machines. the machines are the efficiency of the post office. the post office to you very well. host: what machines are you talking about? caller: barcode sorters, asfs, flat sorting sequencing machines. they sort magazines and so on, large envelopes. they tracked the mail very well. they really do. they have a very technical aspect to the sorting of the mail.

when it is finished with the sorting, they go out and deliver. they do it in sequence. to make it short, the post office is a very good organization. the problem with the post office is basically upper management. there are a lot of people that do not have any fair knowledge of electronics and maintenance. i was in the maintenance division. this is the weakness in the post office. the upper management is the problem. host: kevin kosar, take that point. guest: upper management is something that is targeted in dejoy's plan. he argues the way it is structured right now, you have supervisors who have to brought a range of -- too broad a range of responsibilities. he wants to rearrange things to have things more focused on particular response abilities in

the hopes it will lead to better results. host: bill in florida, question or comment about the postal service? caller: i got questions cards -- christmas cards that were postmarked december 13 that i did not receive until january 20. they want to push my vote through the mail. my vote is too important to be trusted to the post office that has proven recently that they are not as efficient as private industry. that is my comment. host: that was built. i just want to add to what bill was talking about with ballots. granny rich sends us a tweet, once the post office has your ballot, you cannot get it back.

if it is not received, it is gone. how can i trust usps to get it there in time when my utility bills arrive after they are already due? guest: when it comes to ballots in the mail, the postal service gives them extra care and attention. this is why in the past election despite these ballots coming out, despite covid, they were able to deliver 98% of those on time, which is higher than your average mail, or magazine, which is delivered on time something like 70%. caller: i am a retired postal employee. host: go ahead. caller: i would like to know what happened to those machines they took out. i would like somebody to track

those. the government gets free mail. they don't have to pay for it. you attacking the postal service, but you are getting free mail. in some small towns, the only government agency in those small towns are the post office. why are you trying to get rid of the post office? guest: one of the things that surprised me in dejoy's plan, i assumed he would want to cut down the number of post office is by a huge number because most do not bring in enough revenue to cover their costs. instead he is talking about reimagining them as go to destinations for government services. the idea that the postal service can provide things more than postal service is big many of them provide things like passport related services. he is talking about doing more.

in rural areas, post offices are often a key service center. host: another two topics, what happened to the machines? the government not having to pay for its mail. guest: more than a decade, the postal service has been removing mail sorting machines. it has not been doing these for people purposes. legally, it is required to run an efficient mail network. mail volume has been going down, down 40% in 2008. there are studies that go back as far as 2012, government accountability office studies saying the postal service has too much mail sorting equipment. postmaster generals have been

removing these machines because they are not needed and are expensive to maintain. as far as the government getting free mail, i'm not sure what the caller means by that. agencies do use the postal service, but they do not use it freely. when they pay to send out a bunch of notices, they have to pay the postal services, but then again the agencies are typically compensated through taxpayer dollars. host: what about lawmakers and correspondence with constituents? guest: oh yeah, that still happens. it is a rounding error. the postal service, i believe they bear some of the costs related to that, but it is a tiny amount of mail. host: we will go to gary in

newport, kentucky. caller: hello. how are you? it looks like the post office would learn a few things from fedex and ups about how to run more efficient and everything. i'm pretty sure the post office is already being privatized a little bit because they are kind of doing business with fedex. they are delivering some of their ground packages anyway. i like my mailman. i like the post office. i would like to see everybody share the wealth. it does not seem like the post office is getting their cut of the pie. guest: the postal service has a collaborator and competitor relationship with private delivery companies. the postal service wants to beat them, take more packages and

deliver them faster, but the postal service uses the private sector and vice versa. the postal service uses fedex to fly at because the postal service does not think it is efficient to have its own fleet of airlines. private shipping companies often use the postal service as delivery for the last mile. it is a complicated relationship. host: if you go to aei.org, kevin kosar, resident scholar for the american enterprise institute. we appreciate the conversation this morning. guest: thank you for having me on. host: we are going to take a break. still had this morning, atlanta staff writer alexis madrigal discusses covid data and his effort to found the covid tracking project. health officials are warning about another possible spike in covid cases this spring as it states ease restrictions and

more americans began to travel. are you concerned? your calls ahead. ♪ announcer: hear from three women reporters featured in elizabeth ecker's book you don't belong here tonight on c-span. at 9:00 p.m. eastern, hear from three women reporters about their expenses covering the vietnam war, kate webb, and frances fitzgerald. >> go to c-span.org/coronavirus for the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic. if you missed our live coverage, it is easy to find the latest briefings. use the interactive gallery of maps to follow cases in the u.s. and worldwide. go to c-span.org/coronavirus. >> today, watched live coverage

of the trial for former and atlas police officer derek chauvin, charged in the death of george floyd. watch the trial live on c-span2, or listen on the c-span radio app. 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 television companies that bring c-span to viewers as a public service. "washington journal" continues. host: cases rising again in the united states. vaccines safe and effective for babies, and studies show according to covid-19 updates.

no daily cases of covid-19 are rising slightly in the united states. public health officials are slightly concerned. daily totals not seen since mid february according to data from johns hopkins. dr. wilensky said she was deeply concerned about the trajectory of cases in the u.s. and most recent seven day average of cases, up about 7% from the prior week. hospitalizations have increased slightly. europe is seeing a surge in infections. italy reimposed lockdown measures last week. france and poland reintroduced partial lockdowns this week. the czech republic voted to extend its state of emergency. we are asking if you are concerned about a spike this spring. let's listen to dr. anthony fauci on cbs's face the nation

yesterday. [video clip] >> the variants are playing apart. but we are likely seeing is because of spring break and pulling back on the mitigation methods you have seen. several states have done that. i believe it is premature because as i have said to you, when you are coming down from a big peak, and you start to plateau, one to stay at that plateau, you are in danger of a surge. that is what we are starting to see. we got stuck around 50,000 new cases today. 60,000 the other day. that is a risk. we have seen that in our own country. that is exactly what happened in europe and several countries in the european union where they started to come back. that is why we say it is almost

a race between getting people vaccinated and having this peak. we don't want to see that. it is not just the variants. we take them seriously and are concerned, but it is not just the variants. host: prediction on the number of covid cases rising in the spring. are you concerned about it? that is our question. if you live in the eastern part of the u.s., (202) 748-8000. mountain and pacific (202) 748-8001. if you are already vaccinated, (202) 748-8002. catherine is up first in minnesota. are you concerned? caller: i am concerned. i want people to be willing to go out and get the vaccines. i have a condition, and i have not been able to get a vaccine yet. i thought we were going to be prioritized, but we have been told that as of the 30th, we

will be able to sign up. a lot of us have not even been able to go in and try to get vaccines yet. i know a lot of people who are eligible for the vaccines but are refusing. i am suspicious about why they are refusing. host: what are they telling you? caller: they are kind of telling me that they do not believe the science. i get a feeling from them like they don't care. they don't think it is going to be a big deal if they come down with it. they think they will survive it and be fine. i think that is naive. i want them to be willing to receive the vaccine. i think most people want the vaccines. i am concerned that in the inner city areas, when they stop forcing everyone to social

distance, and the ease up on these restrictions, then people start again like they are comfortable, and they act like this is not a concern. i have got to tell you, we take this seriously. so does my spouse's employer. he has one of the two vaccines. i am disappointed to see some of the people don't take this very seriously. i think that affects how they respond to the virus. host: according to the cdc, more than 25% of this country is vaccinated. take a look at the latest numbers from johns hopkins university. we will go to ishmael in hamburg, new york. you are vaccinated? caller: yes, i am military, disabled veteran. i got vaccinated already. host: are you concerned about a rise in cases this spring? caller: i tell you, a sickness

is a sickness. when you go back to 1918 when the spanish influenza hit, many people died. what are you going to do?\ host: laura, you are vaccinated as well. welcome to the conversation. what are your thoughts? caller: all viruses evolve far more quickly than humans or any other species. they adapt and overcome as long as they have warm bodies, and the more we expose ourselves to it carelessly, the longer this is going to last. the vaccines at least reduce the rate and keep us out of the

hospitals. the herd immunity is accomplished through vaccinations and denying the virus the ability to infect us. it's very simple. host: headline in one of the papers this morning, to achieve herd immunity, children are going to need to get vaccinated as well. let me show you from the white house covid-19 briefing that they are doing three times a week. the director of the cdc urged americans to be a little more patient this spring as the vaccine continue to be rolled out. [video clip] >> this has been a long year. i know people are tired. they don't want to hear that it

is going to take us a little while longer. it is going to take us a little while longer. we are vaccinating quickly. we are asking people to hang on a little longer in terms of the mitigation strategies so that we can get the majority of people vaccinated. we have done a lot. we have a mass mandate in federal buildings, at the interstate level. we are on weekly governor calls encouraging them to hold on longer. this is an individual choice. people can practice these mitigation strategies with or without government efforts. we have seen so much evidence that our vaccination strategies are working. people are getting vaccinated in our health care and older communities. we want to make sure we don't end up in a surge that is

avoidable. host: dr. fauci responded to dr. walensky. [video clip] >> when you see travel, and whatever we see surges in travel around the holidays come around christmas and new year's, other holidays, you get congregation of people. even if people are wearing masks on the plains, when you get to the airports, the check in, food lines, boarding, those are the kinds of things that increase the risk of getting infected. that is what she was referring to. the travel phenomenon in general does that. host: expressing concern over a rise in covid cases this spring. are you concerned? we go to gregory in california. good morning. caller: good morning, c-span.

i love you guys. i am the least concerned on this coronavirus. i will tell you why. if the majority of the listeners would go back to the clip that you have with dr. cory, the u.s. senate hearings, just recently, he shows 100% cure for covid. it is simple. it is a drug that has been around for over 40 years and no adverse effects. i am not concerned. as far as this mask is concerned, if you watch the hearing with rand paul questioning dr. fauci, it is a

joke. the size of the virus when you compare it to the knitting on a mask, it's like a baseball going through a gigantic hoop. there's no way in the world a mask is going to be able to protect you from the coronavirus. host: here's a tweet from one of our viewers, i am concerned with the prospect of authoritarian politicians and bureaucrats using an increase in cases as an excuse to revoke the rights of citizens in the name of public safety. fred in ashford. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i'm not a republican. i'm not a democrat. i am a self thinking independent.

i want to let you know that it does not matter about the vaccine, whether you take it or not. the way the southern border is being controlled now by this administration, we are going to have more vaccine necessity then we will ever see again. all kinds of diseases and problems coming in over this border until they close it down and control it. i'm not worried about your vaccine. host: christine is vaccinated in petersburg, indiana. caller: hi. how are you? host: i am doing well. how are you feeling after being vaccinated? caller: i am doing well. it has given me a new lease on the future. greg is not correct on what he is thinking. i am keeping my mask on when i am around family units. i am keeping

future planning, and that is what this is all about. host: and what are you going to do when it is all over? caller: i don't believe, myself, this is just my opinion, this will ever be over. we had at least six viruses prior to this that they have tamped down. they are still out there. and they have taken care of them and we were really on spot when these viruses broke out. this 1, 1 of them was going to get us one way or another. this just happened to be the one. but we all have to do our due diligence to keep this so we can all have a future and do things in this country. this is a pandemic worldwide. i want to get out and see my friends, i want to go to a

restaurant. i want to do things, and i have done those things for people who are vaccinated. i have a cruise coming up in 2022, and the cruise line won't let anybody on without a coronavirus affidavit saying i have had the shot. host: a vaccine passport, if you will. caller: host: absolutely. that is the headline on the front page of the washington post. vaccine passport are on the way, but developing them won't be easy. they reported that the biden administration and private companies are working to develop a standard way of handling credentials, often referred to as a vaccine passport that would allow americans to prove they have been vaccinated against the novel coronavirus is as businesses try to reopen. kathleen and elizabeth, pennsylvania. kathleen, are you there? one last call let me go to

chicago. nick is watching us. good morning, nick. caller: yes. living in chicago with my stepdad who is 65, my father is going to turn 60. i, myself, have a pre-existing condition and i'm slightly concerned because even though we are all encouraged to get this vaccine here, we are still having a lot of trouble getting it. obviously, if we are having trouble getting it, that i think inevitably, there is going to be a second wave, which is very concerning. and i highly encourage everyone to try to get the vaccine, but every website that i go to, my family goes to, everything says that no appointments are available and i find that very troublesome.

host: cnn aired their documentary last night. dr. birx, all debts over first one hundred thousand could have been mitigated. listen to what she had to say. >> when you look at your data, and you are saying ok, had we actually paused and done it, how much of an impact would that have made? >> i look at it this way. the first time, we have an excuse. there were about 100,000 deaths that came from that. all of the rest of them, in my mind, could have been mitigated or decreased substantially. host: cnn's covid wars documentary. you can find more on cnn.com. all debts over the first 100,000 could have been mitigated. a tweet from one of her viewers. their thoughts on concerns over

the rise in cases this spring. this person writes america is going to be forever covid land. the treatment will forever mix new variants up and create a new vaccine have resistance claimant next fall and we will have to do this all over again and again. new york, you are vaccinated. are you concerned? caller: yes. good morning, c-span. i am concerned. i am concerned about, like, the mutation. i am so happy i actually got the johnson & johnson vaccine, so it was on shot, one and done. my husband got the pfizer, my sister got the johnson & johnson. new york has really brought this out beautifully. i won't say beautifully because there is nothing beautiful about it, but i wish that more people, i don't know how many people have to die for people to realize this is real.

almost 600,000 people. it's heartbreaking. ain't you, c-span, and stay well. host: thank you. paula, florida, good morning. caller: i am concerned about the fact that we have got all these people coming over the borders that have all sorts of ailments, including covid, and we don't know where they are going and how it is going and how it is affecting our children because they will be going to our schools, probably. host: so what do you think? what do you want to see done on both of those fronts? caller: i just want to know what can be done because we've got people coming into this country that are not being checked. nobody knows if they have it or not, and where they are going. post: and what do you mean by not being checked? caller: they don't know if they

have it or not. they are coming across the border, places that they can't control. it is getting free and going all over the place. host: alonso, alabama. color: good morning. yes. i have been vaccinated and it is just part of being art of this human race of doing your part. i just heard the color before me stating about being concerned about the people coming across the border, which is true, but we've also about to be concerned about the people who are your neighbors who have not done their part in helping out with vaccinating themselves. this is a war. do your part, become vaccinated, and you mentioned about the vaccine, vaccinating passport. that is one thing but also include the importance of getting it, because you get a

card when you get vaccinated. that's another thing, it can also get you one other things, making more people comfortable being around you, but you have still got to do your due diligence, be able to social distance, until everybody has this and can receive community. this is just part of being part of the human race. post: you might be interested in what jeff had to say, the head of the president's covid-19 task force. he talked about the state response the vaccinating. >> do your first question, i think states across the country have done a good job of prioritizing the most vulnerable and i think that being at 71% of individuals 65 years and older across the country having received at least the first shot is real progress. 45% of those seniors are fully vaccinated, but we have to keep prioritizing the most vulnerable populations.

and if there are states that are lagging behind, we are working with those states to ensure that they continue to prioritize the most vulnerable populations. that said, with the increase in demand, we think it is a good thing that states are opening up eligibility to all americans no later than may 1. host: from friday's white house covid-19 briefing, we are asking you this morning, are you concerned about a spike this spring? mark stone sends us a tweet saying concerned about all these students going on spring break and spreading the virus and then going back home for back-to-school. kelly in west virginia. are you concerned? caller:: not so much. of course, i think the vaccinations, the more people who are vaccinated, the better off we are. but the thing that concerns me is i think you need to put out some information where it is documented that breathing into these masks is doing more harm

to your body than wearing the mask. host: ok. gregory, wellington, connecticut. your thoughts next. caller: good morning. i am all about the data. for me, wearing a mask is really about keeping my germs to myself. and by keeping the germs to myself, therefore, the person standing next to me, if i'm standing in the store, a likelihood of them breathing in my potentially bad air, they are protected. so the mask is really about keeping my germs to myself. so we will see what happens in texas. the rates go up, that is where it is starting to happen, in florida, obviously, where all the kids are. in other countries,

substantially, they have done substantially better than our country. so i would like to know how we compare to other countries in this pandemic. host: in what way? as far as vaccinations? caller: outcomes. outcomes in new zealand are substantially better than ours. what did they do to prevent the spread compared to what we did? culturally, maybe we can't do the same things as other countries. but it is worth looking at and understanding. host: so what do you think about lockdowns, gregory? caller: well, completely, in my mind, a much safer venue. but close contact indoors i think is problematic. exactly as dr. fauci just said, but he is not one of my favorite

advisors, but getting in close contact to human beings, that is where the risk is hugely increased. that is where i'm coming from. host: i'm doing fine. are you concerned about a spike this spring? caller: i am more concerned about the democratic party and their media, which they own 95% of, fear mongering and making people scared of this virus, is what i am more worried about. post: in what way? what are they saying, the media, democrats, that is fear mongering? what part of it? caller: just everything. there is nonstop coverage of so many hypochondriacs in this country and everybody who gets their information from cnn, abc, nbc, cbs, pbs.

even c-span. why are you guys so democrat-driven? democrat party taken over this country and the airwaves and they are just brainwashing people just like the last guy that was on. he's saying america is doing horrible compared to the other countries. you know who says that kind of rhetoric to mark cnn. abc, nbc. they are all saying that and it is brainwashing americans. host: alright, michigan. candace scott send a text saying i'm concerned with people not listening. that is why covid-19 is spiking. clarence in charlotte, north carolina. caller: how are you doing today? i was vaccinated just friday. i am still suffering with my lungs from that. but i want to say this.

i got the shot, johnson & johnson. and i read the paper that they gave me. they said to shot does not guarantee that you won't catch covid-19. and it also said on the paper that we don't know how long they shot view covered from covid-19, and we are still studying that. and i said to myself, if you don't guarantee me, why are we pushing everybody to take it. i believe in my heart that they still don't know enough about covid-19 to be around each other. i promise, they don't know what it is all about. dr. fauci, he is doing all he can to say i don't know. there's a lot of things that we don't know about covid-19. it is very important that people read the information on the sheet. i promise you, it will scare

you. host: clarence, are you comforted to know that the vaccine, as the experts have said, they claim it would help you, that it would lessen the strength of this disease. caller: they said it would help prevent it. but then they said it would not keep you from getting it. that is what the papers say. it prevents you from getting it, but it will not keep you from getting covid. and i read the whole paper, three pages they gave me. i think a lot of people don't read that. i think it is a false sense of security and medicine going to be a problem in the future. host: clarence said we don't know a lot about covid-19, and one of those details is the origins.

animals likely the source of covid. from there reporting, a joint world health organization china study on the origins of covid-19 says the transmission of the virus from bats to humans to another animal is the most likely scenario, that a lab leak is extremely unlikely according to a copy obtained by the associated press. the findings were largely as expected and left many questions unanswered by the report provided an in-depth reasoning behind the team's conclusion. further research in every area except proposed further research in every area except the last week's hypothesis. the washington examiner, robert redfield says covid-19 most likely came from the wuhan lab. from there reporting, the chinese government worked investigations into the origins of the virus which has killed 2.7 million people worldwide.

dr. robert redfield, the director for the centers of disease control and prevention under former president donald trump, said covid-19 likely originated through an accidental escape from the wuhan institute of virology. joining us on the phone this morning is a reporter with the washington examiner who reports on the justice department. jerry donley b, what evidence does dr. redfield have of this? guest: much of the evidence would be circumstantial evidence but there is some circumstantial evidence that it would have come from an accidental escape from the wuhan institute of virology. we know from state department cable back in 2018 that the u.s. was concerned about biosafety. they lacked standards for a level 4 lab dealing with highly

contagious and dangerous viruses. and the state department released a declassified stat sheet in mid-january laying out some more interesting details, data research being conducted at the wuhan lab, secret military experience -- experiments. the wuhan lab apparently collaborated with the chinese military and the lab itself also apparently was in possession of and studying covid-19's closest known genetic relative as well. so circumstantial evidence, to be sure, and certainly not proven in any way. that sort of evidence does suggest it is a plausible

hypothesis worth investigating further. it is kind of an interesting and disappointing thing that the who team would say it is not worth looking into further. host: why would dr. redfield say accidental release? guest: that's a great question. the intelligence community did weigh in on this in sort of a railway last may, -- rare way last may and basically said that the intelligence community largely agreed that this was not a man-made bioweapon or that sort of thing. but that they were taking seriously the possibility, of course, that it was natural in origin, that it came from some zoo not ask source jumping from animals to humans, but that the idea was also taken seriously, the possibility that there was an accidental leak. because it looks like that lab

was studied -- studying some dangerous viruses. it is known for its vast coronavirus research. it is known for seemingly having some lax biosafety standards and if the u.s. intelligence is correct on this, it has also been engaging in secret experiments with the chinese military and data function research which is research that is done that increases the transmissibility or lethality of a virus with the purpose of hoping to find vaccines for such a virus. but there is always the chance that a virus could escape and viruses have escaped from chinese labs before. sars, in fact, most recently has been known to have done that. host: what evidence to the world health organization .2 when they say that it is most likely the scenario that the virus came from bats to humans?

guest: i believe that the theory that they have been saying is most likely, and they have been saying this since they came back from their heavily stage-managed trip back in february, they have been saying that their most likely scenario is a jump from bats to some other animal source to humans. but they have, they looked at the wuhan seafood market, they have tested a bunch of animals and so far, there is no direct evidence of whatever that intermediary source may have been, and they have not found the bat that may have been the reservoir as well. a lot of this does just seem

like it bit of guesswork at the moment and it is important to keep in mind that this who study was done in collaboration with chinese government scientists and chinese government scientists were weighing in on the final report. host: is there any entity doing an investigation about the origins, getting access to chinese officials, but not in this way of a joint collaboration like the who? guest: unfortunately, there is not. that has simply not happened. you know, china, from very early on in the pandemic, the chinese government tried to silence doctors, they were worried about what was happening, silence whistleblowers, destroy viral samples, refused to let the cdc

in on the ground. they did not report what was going on properly through the international health regulations that they were required to do. and they really have, then, for the past years, forded a true, -- thwarted a true, independent investigations of this joint study is the closest that we have. but it can't really be said that it was truly independent, and they really did not get access to the sort of data and they were not able to talk freely to the people that they really would need to truly understand what was happening in the early days of the pandemic in late 2019. host: you can follow more of jerry dunleavy's report on

the washington examiner website. jerry, thank you very much. guest: thanks for having me on. host: back to your cause. are you concerned about a covid-19 spike this spring? allen in michigan, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i just wanted to relay something that happened to me about three or four weeks ago. as i rolled up to a traffic light, i started to smell cigarette smoke and i couldn't figure out why because i don't smoke. as i got to the traffic light i smelled it even longer and i looked over at the vehicle next to me and the guy was smoking in the vehicle next to me on a very cold, still morning. within 10 seconds of me arriving at the traffic light i could smell his cigarette smoke. so if you think that wearing a mask and social distancing is going to get rid of that, he was in a sealed vehicle, i was in a sealed vehicle and i could still smell his cigarette smoke. guess what, if smoke can travel

like that, so can the virus. host: are you concerned? caller: not at all because i'm not going to get a vaccination. 99.7% of the people survived this, that is really good. thank you for taking my calls. host: new york, jeff. caller: thank you for taking my call. i'm calling because listening to the conversation this morning, it appears to me that people are not taking into account that following the data and science is the way to get to the truth of the best way to mitigate a pandemic. the virus doesn't care whether you are republican or democrat or whatever. it responds exactly in accordance with the way the biology works. and examples of nations that did well, like south korea, for example, they did well because

they followed the data and the science. and that has been developed over years of public health practice all over the world. and if you take a look at that, you will see that, for example, the south koreans prevented the widespread dissemination of the virus early by asking very, very vigilantly very early in the pandemic to stamp out outbreaks as they arose to prevent the exponential explosion of this viral transmission. host: with lockdowns? caller: as far as lockdowns go, in the case of south korea, for example, there was never a nationwide lockdown. they were locked down for communities in isolated instances where there were outbreaks, but not nationwide. and as you saw, they count their dead in the hundreds. we count them in the hundreds of thousands.

these are orders of magnitude of difference in counting. and lots of economic losses because they didn't have a nationwide shutdown. it is true that there are some nations that don't operate with legal democracies, they have to lead with totalitarian countries like china. but either way, whether you are a totalitarian country or a democracy, those countries were able to stem the transmission. of course, we are a democracy, so we are having lockdown everybody. in wuhan, whether you like it or not. but that is why we need to have trust. trust is the absolute key in a liberal democracy to allowing the science and the data to actually be implemented. you see what happens when you politicize this. host: i am going to jump in and

we will go to patrick in naples, florida. caller: thank you for taking my call. host: morning. caller: i first was going to talk about how when we take our kids to school, they have to be vaccinated. we have cards with different slots for which they have been vaccinated for. i live in florida. the thing that scares me to death, all these kids coming, especially in miami, that voted republican, and they go crazy over there. but then they come back to the west coast or they go up north, we are going to see a little bit of an uptick. those that don't want to get vaccinated, not to bother us. but i was listening to dunleavy and something he said he was talking about, honestly, i

thought he was talking about trump and the investigation into the russian interference in our elections. and that goes to another thing. i have heard every republican on every channel say how this is china, china, china. they did the same thing about the elections. they said china was involved in our elections, china was doing this, and we all know, and the fact is proven, that it is russia. to say this could not have started in a russian lab, that is all i've got. host: brian in massachusetts. are you concerned about a covid spike this spring? caller: yes, i am, thank you. first i would like to say, i have heard some people say that c-span is partisan. i don't believe the channel is partisan in any way.

also there was a guy who said that wearing a mask could be a problem. a mask is just something that is common courtesy. i socially distance even with my family to this day. my sister, she is a home worker. even being around my niece and nephew. you never know. like the guy with the cigarette smoke. smoke does travel. but still, everybody cares about each other, as americans, we should do the best that we can to make sure everyone stays healthy. host: can i ask you, when are you in line for the vaccination? caller: i believe march 1 in our

state they are going to have people under 60 or whatever. host: april 1, you mean? caller: the first of may, i believe. host: under 60 will start in the state of massachusetts. caller: i believe so. host: do you have to register with the state? caller: i'm not sure. my brother is a police officer in dallas and he wore a mask. he tried to socially distance at work and he got covid. and he didn't think it was bad, he was home for a while. he gave blood, they ran the tests, they found out like two days later, he came back positive. he stayed home for a few days because he was feeling lousy but then it hit him like a ton of bricks and his girlfriend had to the emergency room. he thought he was going to die. he more or less had his girlfriend and a friend that

would like a justice of the peace to marry him so she could get his pension and stuff like that. she didn't get it, but her father got it, her brother got it. some family members on her side of the family, they don't believe in masks. it's like it is a hoax or whatever. it is not a hoax. my good friends mother sister got it. it does hit home. thank god no one has died that i know, but i have known people. a good friend of mine in tennessee, he socially distance. he got it. and he didn't go to the hospital or anything. but he is still feeling the effects like a month later. host: brian in massachusetts. john, michigan. are you concerned? caller: and my for myself? yes.

the general public, yes. i'm 66, i've had bypass surgery. i've had problems, so i'm concern for myself. i think everyone has got to take personal responsibility when it comes to this. host: so how do you do that? caller: i go to the store during the week when there is less people there and i don't go to the bar and i don't go to restaurants. but that is my personal choice. last summer here in michigan, when it first came out, you could go out on a boat with no motor on it but you could not go out on a post with a motor on and nobody could explain to me how the signs showed it was more dangerous to go on a boat with a motor. you could not buy a can of paint at home depot. nobody could explain that to me. that is what my problem is. now with these passports they are talking about, they are not

asking for passports for people at the southern border. and i am an immigrant. i immigrated to this country. the foreign nationals coming to this country illegally aren't immigrants. which is a misconception, misinformation by the media and politicians. there are foreign nationals in this country legally. they aren't required to have passports, but they are going to make americans have passports to be able to travel around? that is nonsense. that is getting into totalitarianism in the extreme. host: jacqueline in philadelphia. caller: hi. i'm worried about my daughter who is in her 50's and has an 11-year-old child. i realize she is very into politics so i said are you an anti-vaxxer? and she said yes. and i was shocked and i am so

concerned about my grandson. they don't wear masks. i mean, it is really concerning to see some people just not do anything about it, and nothing happening, and they aren't following the rules and i am scared to death. host: jacqueline in philadelphia. lee says yes i am very concerned about a spike, what are we doing at airports to prevent variants from entering the country? only obsessing about the southern border is ridiculous. doug in virginia. how do you feel about covid-19 right now? caller: right now i think everybody should be taking the vaccines and trying to get this thing under control, but i agree with everybody else. you can say it and wear it out about the southern border, but these people are coming across with covid. host: how do you know that they are coming across with covid?

how do you know they have it? caller: southern border people have said that. and if more news media would cover what they should be covering, they are beating a dead horse, there. trump is not president any longer, so why don't you make it where america's first like it used to be, take down the fence around nancy pelosi and put it up on the border. the country in the world, there is no country in the world you can cross into without getting arrested. if we cross into mexico illegally, you go to jail, you might not see a judge free year. so why are we being stupid about this? this cancel culture we have got going on needs to stop. host: columbus, ohio. loretta, what you think about a potential spike in covid-19 cases this spring, and are you concerned? caller:caller: my concerns are

the origins of this. you can say it is from an animal, it is from this, it is from that. but when the obama administration came up with the funding and wanted to elaborate on this virus, covid-19, that is the 19th strand of this virus. why would they even entertain trying to look into this? after president obama it down, the united states taxpayers funded it for an additional three years. but you never hear anyone talk about this. why was it even started? that is my main concern. host: why was what even started? caller: the research that america funded in the wuhan lab. why was that even funded? host: i see. chris, atlanta, georgia. caller: good morning. i'm calling in about spring break for college students and

their parents should not let them go on these trips and make them stay home. that would help a whole lot to keep from spreading the virus. i am 89 years old. i've had my shots. many years ago, the people in japan and china, back in those days, 50 or 60 years ago, they wore masks way back then. that is all i have to say this morning. chris, you are vaccinated, you said? caller: yes. host: how did you respond to the vaccine? caller: no problem whatsoever. host: have you changed the way you go about your life since getting the vaccination? caller: not whatsoever. host: are you still being cautious, still staying inside, or are you getting out a little more? caller: i get around the neighborhood, i don't get out too much.

and i would like to say that when i was in the military, i went to a lot of foreign countries, and i was vaccinated by all kinds of vaccines, you know what i mean? never had any problems and i don't understand why people won't accept the things the doctors have to say about it. host: chris, 89 years old in atlanta, thank you very much for calling in. we are going to take a quick break. when we come back, we will talk to alexis manager go -- alexis about his data and efforts to fund the covid-19 tracking project. we are going to learn more about that. we will be right back. ♪ announcer: today, watch live coverage of the trial for former minneapolis police officer derek chauvin, who is charged in the death of george floyd. watch the trial live at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span two, on

demand at c-span.org, or listen on the c-span radio app. 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 television companies to provide c-span2 viewers as a public service. sunday, april 4 on in-depth, a live conversation with science writer and author harriet washington. her most recent book is carte blanche. >> when companies use profits to measure their success in the medical arena, the problem is that we can't expect companies to care about us. we can't expect the companies to

make less money because they care about their health. they've already shown us they don't care about our health. but our government, the people that we pay, we should expect to care about our health and should defend us. our government should be reining in these companies. our government should be forcing them to develop things that will fit the public needs and is not. announcer: joined in the conversations with your phone calls, facebook comments, texts and tweets for harriet washington, sunday, april 4, at noon east. washington journal continues. host: each monday in the last hour of the washington journal, we are taking a deep dive into different aspects of the covid-19 pandemic and response. this week we are taking some time to talk about covid-19 data when it comes to the coronavirus infections, debts, and vaccinations.

our guest is alexis, a staff writer at the atlantic and cofounder of the covid-19 tracking project. what is this project? guest: it was an effort and remains an effort to compile data from all of the states. at the beginning of the pandemic, we didn't have national summary statistics. even today there are some things that are missing from our national data that you do find in other countries, and we had a methodology to go around to each state and to pull the number that we could from that state's death board or other kinds of files. host: why did you think this was necessary? guest: well, the truth is that the data that are federal authorities were prepared to present to the public was actually not with the public expected to see. the public expected to see the concept that you would see in singapore where you actually know who was infected and how and all this kind of

epidemiological information. but that actually wasn't what our pandemic preparedness plan had in the cards. they sort of didn't build a plan even though there were many, many people -- those data pipelines that would say the things that americans wanted to know, that they would continue to respect the public health dictates of the country. host: so how did you go about collecting the information? what data did you want to collect that you think the federal government was collecting? guest: it really began with testing. in this country, we don't really collect negative test results. like if you get tested for something and it is not a positive case, it doesn't really get sent to the cdc. we don't even really count flu debts comprehensively except for people under the age of 18. we did not do the best tests, we

didn't really have a national system for keeping track of how many people were hospitalized. but we didn't really have a true comprehension system for creating those national statistics and also giving a national responders a way of knowing which hospitals were in trouble of where the hottest of the hotspots were around covid. our method was actually quite simple. we made a call for volunteers, we tied up with a data scientist and another woman who had run large-scale, distributed journalism projects. we started using hundreds of volunteers to gather data from the states, like in our system, our federal system. a lot of the response really happens at the state and county level. so we were able to pull from a lot of different kinds of state dashboards and we were able to sort of standardize as well as we could and states that information together into not

just raw data, but also sort of interpretation in providing people and understanding of what was happening in the pandemic, particularly at a time when the cdc was muzzled and other health authorities were quite influenced and attenuated by the trump administration. host: the website that we have been showing you is covidtracking.com and you can also follow the project on twitter. what kind of information when people get by following you on twitter? guest: we put out interpretive updates on twitter. we take a look at the data, we understand the facts, the things that are not real in the data, but look that way. and we tried to give people a very reasonable, very straight interpretation of pandemic data and on the website you can find many weeks worth of that kind of

interpretation. i think we've done a very solid job of staying very close to the data and only saying what we really could. host: he said at the beginning that the united states was missing data. as the united states still missing data? we had a caller earlier talk about where they can compare what is happening here with other countries. guest: i would say for the latter question, the financial press has done a pretty good job of comparing the basic metrics on different countries and finding the best way to do it. i think when it comes to the u.s., it really depends on what missing is. relative to what we could imagine the kind of data that we would have data about outbreaks, precise data that will offer comparisons between states, cities, counties, and a lot of that still is not available in

an easy to consume or met from our national authorities. more importantly, perhaps, at this time, we know that there are variants of concern. mutations of the virus that may have different properties from the original recipe. in other questions -- countries, particularly the u.k., created a surveillance network for being able to track the way that the virus is mutating and it's possible, functional changes, making it more transmissible or even more deadly. in the united states, we didn't really do an effective job of that. even though we are sequencing a lot of genomes here in the united states, if you wanted to know what percentage of the virus is circulating at a particular place concerning the original virus, you would actually have a pre-hard time figuring that out. and so there's a lot of people right now, people there we have talked with, who want to build a

better dashboard, want to build a better understanding of the interaction between these variants, peoples behavior, vaccination levels, all the other things that go into what this outbreak looks like on a particular place. host: while we wait for calls, i want to show our viewers a hearing from may of 2020. the congressman talking about your covid-19 tracking project. here is what he had to say. >> mr. chairman, one of my great frustrations has been the failure of the cdc to provide simple testing numbers. i would like to submit a letter for march that i read. they have taken things like the covid-19 tracking project to give us the data that we would expect from the cdc.

at the research and policy center, we work with the covid-19 tracking project to build a data tracker with the most conference of resource for covid-19. can you tell us why that matters? >> it matters because it didn't exist. the federal government was not collecting this data, making it available at a national level. just as the covid-19 tracking process itself knows that the federal government was not collecting and releasing testing data, so did we feel the need to create this national resource, so that people in every state and every community can really understand which communities are the most vulnerable and create policies that can reduce the effects. host: went to the government start using your data? guest: i would say probably

close to the very beginning. but what we have discovered in later months, we know that both the trump and biden administrations have cited our numbers for various things. we know that states use the data to compare what was going on themselves to other states nearby. this is not ideal. our mission has always been bashar position has always been that the very best place for this data collection for a whole variety of reasons is the federal government. we didn't want to create some pseudo-cdc. we wanted the cdc and hhs more broadly to create the kind of data that lawmakers expected, that the public expected, that would allow us to understand which communities are the most vulnerable, and that changed through time. i think it is important for people to understand that tracking rates and data allows you to really understand another dimension of this outbreak.

at certain times in california, latinos were the most affected, and people in the latino community like myself wanted to know that. at other times, in other places, it has been the white communities that have been hit hardest. it is important for people to understand that understanding those health disparities is a really important part of understanding the actual movement of the pandemic. i was listening to some of the collars earlier, they might be saying, why aren't we tracking this race data? and the truth is, in some narrow biological sense, yes, we are all susceptible in the same way. however, if you were to look at something and say, about what age have 90% of the deaths occurred? it is actually different because there are different social vulnerabilities that people have. again, in california, as an example, there is a lot more overcrowded housing, particularly in latino

communities, and because of that, there has been a lot of i ntra-family spread. there have been some latino communities that have been hit really, really hard here. all of this data is just reason for all these projects and civil society groups to get involved because there was a fundamental mismatch between what the national government planned to provide, and what people actually wanted. and that is a lesson that we can take not just for the rest of the pandemic, but for teacher pandemics. in this kind of situation where we are asking people to take pretty severe countermeasures, where at this point, probably close to 600,000 people if we had an accurate count, have died from this disease, people expect data. and the truth is that is not the expectation at cdc and other associated bodies who were connected to federal public health. host: let's listen to what our

viewers have to say. i have a caller: question about the most recent reinfection's rate about after you get vaccinated. yes, you are going to get the covid-19. not understanding it is 90% that you want develop. you're going to get the covid-19, but because you get the vaccine, you have a 90% chance of not developing the symptoms. the one gentleman about the covid passports, that is not the government, that is not totalitarianism, that his businesses in private industry giving you these passports. my question was once the most recent data about the reinfection rates after you get

vaccinated? the timeframe? and before you answer that, to the one gentleman about the cancer culture -- host: i'm going to stop there and have alexis answer your question at reinfection rates. guest: sure. there is a lot that we don't know. is actually one of the big questions of how the next few months of the pandemic are going to play out. let's just say in a ballpark we have a certain amount of confirmed cases but we also know that we didn't confirm every case. let's call it a big round number, one under 10 million or 120 million americans have been infected. so, can those people get reinfected by a different variant or even by the original virus that behave like the original? reinfection can happen, but with the original virus, the rates were astonishingly small. it was going to happen to

somebody, but it really wasn't going to be a population level problem. the big questions, particularly with this zillion -- brazil variant, it appears that reinfection rates can be higher, although there is a lot of questions about that. and i think one of the reasons to stay safe, to sort of keep ourselves in a cautious posture even though vaccinations have gone pretty well in the united states is that we need a couple more months to get a lot of people vaccinated and to tamp down the spread of this virus within the united states, to give us a chance. i think reinfection, the most likely thing based on how most viruses of this type work, is that there won't be huge amounts of reinfection, but some of

these variance of concern, that is why they are of concern. that would be my answer. host: kansas, stephanie is next. good morning to you. guest: good morning. i would just like to say, first of all, all praise to -- as they are celebrity passover, glory to god first. second, the information that is being let out is horrendous. to anyone that is listening, please, look up u.s. patent 1 013070182. also a-61k39 -- guest: i don't know if you are trying to say that sars cov 2 was a patented virus, i don't

know, this doesn't make any sense to me and i don't think that most of the people or really anybody in public health sectors are talking about this. it's just not really the core issue here. it's a deadly virus that has killed 600,000 people, that likely came from that. that is it, that is kind of the story. i hate to cut you off, color, and i appreciate passover as well, but we've got to deal with the real issue here which is that there is a deadly virus that has played out in unexpected ways coming from animals and humans and that is really what this is about. host: you probably heard or saw the quote from dr. redfield that he believes it came accidentally from a leak from that virology institute in china. guest: i think that is kind of a header and opposition. is that complete the out of the question? of course not. but we know that this kind of virus is present in bats and

this sort of thing has happened in the course of human history and i don't think it requires any crazy explanation. this is something that people literally expected almost exactly this kind of thing to happen for decades, so it is not like we are talking about something that was a shock in any way. we have sars, the original sars. we have seen these things happen. people are searching for these explanations and i think it makes sense to me, in some ways, the reason it makes sense is the overall situation we find ourselves in is so unprecedented that people would like there to be somebody to blame. but, like, we live on this earth with other organisms and viruses and this sort of thing has happened throughout human history. it doesn't require a bad actor, it doesn't require a conspiracy.

that actually is and of itself, terrifying. so it makes sense that people might want to find a conspiratorial solution or a bad actor to blame. host: winchester, tennessee. caller: yes, good morning. host: morning. caller: i would like to make a comment about the school systems. they have opened all the schools without any precautions. the kids are not using spacing, they are not having to wear masks. they haven't had to receive any objections -- injections, and that causes me great concern. and in addition, one other comment, i have never heard anybody -- any studies that have been done about these foods that we purchase in our stores, especially fresh foods.

could we be picking up viruses from the foods we eat? guest: i'm going to take the schools question, if that is ok with you. host: go ahead. guest: the school debate is really complicated. you've got teachers you want to protect, there's older teachers in schools. at the same time, you've got kids who are having trouble at home, maybe difficult or abusive situations at home, maybe they don't have access to the tools of learning that they need. here in california we have the opposite situation where schools are closed at least here in the bay area. it's very difficult for kids and parents. one answer to this is vaccination, vaccination, more vaccination, for the teachers. for kids, it is not really going to happen yet.

another answer is basic hygiene and precautions. the main body of scientific research, particularly younger ones, may be less likely to get infected and alsobut, the jury n particularly older kids. i think we are balancing -- it is a really tough trade-off there, right? a really tough trade-off. it is one that has been going on for a long time. this wasn't something that went on for a few weeks. this is something that is a years worth of closed schools in some places and also a lot of fear and risk being taken on in other places. my hope is and what i keep saying to people is we need two months, basically. at times, recently, we have been vaccinating 1% of the united states in a day. you figure, you give that a

couple of months and you have gotten a large chunk of the back -- country vaccinated. i think we could all breathe easier. host: final call, bob in michigan. caller: i will ask you the simplest of simple statistical questions. have you checked the deaths from march 1 of 2019 to march 1 2020. versus march 1, 2020 to today? and what is the discrepancy in the total amount of deaths in the united states? guest: sure. it is a pretty big number. the excess deaths are what the statistical measure is. it takes the historical measure. how money people died, how many people do we expect to die? and it looks at the difference between that expectation and what happened. if you look at excess deaths in the united states, starting in

march, they are extremely high. far above baseline levels. it is a little tricky because they fill in overtime. you don't have a time measure of this. it takes some time to do the specifics. you are talking 600,000 or 700,000. it is a lot of excess deaths and people sometimes, who are trying to minimize the disparity of covid cooked the books on that one. people who know what they are doing with excess death numbers can show you there was a massive number of excess deaths that tracked very closely with a surge in the virus. host: our viewers can learn more if they go to covidtracking.com. you can follow the project on twitter at covid-19tracking. we thank you for the conversation. guest: thank you. host: an update on the suez

canal. the traffic is resuming after the cargo ship is moving again. they dislodged the bow of the 1300 foot evergreen at dawn this morning. it is a 21 mile waterway. $9 billion worth of goods fell through that canal every day. -- go through that canal every day. that does it for today's washington journal. we will see you back here at 7:00 a.m. eastern tomorrow. enjoy your day. ♪ >> today, on this national vietnam war veterans day, we are goin