>> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. >> broadband is a force for empowerment. invested billions, upgraded technology, empowering opportunity in communities big and small. charter is connecting us. >> charter communications support c-span as a public service along with these other television providers avenue a front row seat to democracy. coming up this morning, we will get your reaction to president

biden's first address to a joint session of congress. you could join the conversation by phone or text message. you could also send a tweet using our twitter handle at c-span wj. washington journal is next. president biden: after 100 days, america is ready for takeoff in my opinion. we are working again, dreaming again, discovering again, leading the world again. ♪ host: not technically a state of the union speech, president joe biden address the joint session of congress last night was a snapshot of the nation at his first 100 days in office. the president laid out a spending, tax, and policy proposal that are not only significant to those from the trump administration, more progressive and more costly than

anything proposed during the obama administration. it is thursday, april 29, 20 21. welcome to "washington journal." we will spend the entire program getting your thoughts on the reaction to the president's address to the joint session of congress. for republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents and others (202) 748-8002. you could send us a text at (202) 748-8003, include your name and where you are texting from. on twitter we are @cspanwj. we will look for your facebook posts as well. the new york times this morning has the president's proposals. the $4 trillion economic plan in one chart. 1.8 trillion dollars was introduced last night -- 1.8

trillion dollars was introduced in that last night. throughout the morning we will play you comments from the president last night outlined his proposal. we will play that throughout the morning. we look forward to your calls and comments. our colleague is looking first at some of the numbers from last night including the length of the speech and what he talked about. >> some by the numbers for the joint address last night, 64 minutes, 58 seconds long according to fox news. president biden interrupted for applause 57 times during his speech. the topic most mentioned was the issue of jobs. the word jobs used 43 times in his prepared remarks. actually 44 times in his remarks as he gave them for delivery. including mentioning the word jobs four times in two sentences

. president biden: for too long we use the most important -- we failed to use the most important word when it comes to eating the climate crisis, jobs. jobs. jobs. [applause] when i think climate change, i think jobs. >> some more mentions noted last night, this from the huffington post. a potential sign of the focus is shifting, covid, coronavirus, virus, vaccine, those words got a combined 24 mentions. on the foreign policy front, this from cbs news, china, four

times during the speech. beijing, one time during the speech. in a sign that all politics is local, this is the front page of the pittsburgh tribune-review. president biden name checks pittsburgh in speech in congress, talking about wind turbines being made in pittsburgh. after the speech there is always the debate about what did not get mentioned. this from kevin brady saying here's what he forgot to mention. on day one he revoked the border wall construction, return to the failed obama era set -- era policy of catch and release. some criticism on the border issue coming from the democratic side of the aisle. senator mark kelly sang while i share the urgency in fixing our

broken immigration system, what i did not hear was a plan to address the immediate crisis on the border. i will continue holding this administration accountable. the freshman senator from arizona there. walmart that did not get mentioned, this was congress alex money -- from west virginia. all human life should be a bipartisan issue, built -- biden failed defending life in his address. we mentioned the length of the speech, 64 minutes, 58 seconds. the comparison to the first address to congress by other presidents, president trump back in 20 with his first address coming in at 60 minutes, 12 seconds. president obama, 51 minutes, 37 seconds. george w. bush had just 49 minutes, 10 seconds p on the way back to 1993, 1989, 1981.

host: thanks for that, john. senator john cornyn of tennis -- of texas said so much for mr. moderate. biden just gave the most ideological, ambitious speech of any president in generations. political headline, biden just gave most ideological ambitious speech of any democratic president in generations. we will touch on that. your thoughts on the address last night from president biden to the joint session of congress. first up is tony in brownsville, texas. caller: i agree with biden, it will bring millions of jobs and infrastructure. it is very obvious the democrats

are for the american workers and the republicans are only for the rich. the buildings here are collapsing. other countries have better airports. it is true. they look like they are from the 1970's. it will bring a lot of jobs for american people. i agree with that 100%. host: we heard some comments from a republicans, the president didn't touch it much on issues of migration and issues at the border, do you think you think he should have? caller: we could debate on immigration, we are all

immigrants. we are all ancestors. he broke federal law separating kids from others. trump's trump, he could do whatever he wants. he was protected. the only person i know that separated kids and mothers was -- that was wrong. hundreds of kids and mothers. he just did it so other people would sam not going to go over there, i want my kid. host: lake geneva, wisconsin, next up is tom on the republican line. make sure you mute your volume, go ahead with your comment after you do that. caller: you never broadcast the

republican response, why is that? host: we will show some of that this morning, we have three hours ahead of us, what's your talk -- comment? caller: terrible, c-span is full of democrats. host: to james on the independent line. james is in hastings, nebraska. caller: i enjoyed the speech. i thought it was a new vision for america. everybody talks about how much we are spending. there has been a lot of spending and defense and that. the people of nebraska will

always or member the meatpacking workers in the state. they didn't really go in and see what is going on quickly. first they give out hairnets to cover their faces. they kept them cutting meat, they would get sick. i guess you would have to check. about 15% of the county there. a high death rate per capita there. it is the area in the top corner of nebraska. overall, biden was just laying out a vision.

if you divided over the years, these figures get cut down. that is over $2 billion a year. they said they will use 9 -- apple computer said they would use $90 billion to do stock buybacks. is that an investment in america or an investment in the company to prop up the stock? the trump administration, the national debt went up $9 trillion in four years. host: to alan next in brooklyn, new york. caller: i have a reaction to the biden speech in the response.

i was disappointed tim scott carried water for his public agenda. this informing the public about so many things. he was basically doing their bidding. he opened the speech by saying biden seems a good good man, but. he has basely been a fine public servant his entire life, that sets a very negative tone for everything else he said. the efforts to block voting in georgia and other states. he overstated about the severity of the covid crisis that the private president -- prior president neglected. he did not acknowledge the reality of -- reality of the climate threat to the country. to make people thick more about

the religious space and rely on some private solution instead of dealing with our problems on earth. i think biden could've shared some of the limelight in talking about climate expenditures. focus on the biggest future for our children. there'll be more about the information about the cost we will be avoiding by shifting to clean energy in terms of quality of life. it can't only be about jobs for present citizens. this would not preserve the climate future, we have to focus on both. host: he mentioned tim scott response given last night after

the speech by joe biden. we posted that at c-span.org. we promise you we will play a segment or two certainly during the program from tim scott. he laid out his accomplishments in what happened so far in the first one hundred days, let's take a look. president biden: we kept our commitment, democrats and republicans of sending $1400 rescue checks to american households. we have sent 160 million checks out the door. it is making a difference. for many people, it is making all of the difference in the world. a single mom in texas wrote me and said she could not work but she said the relief put food on the table and saved her and her son from eviction from the apartment.

a grandmother in virginia who told me she immediately took her granddaughter to the eye doctor, something she said she put off for months because she did not have the money. one of the defining images from this crisis has been cars lined up for miles. not people barely able to start those cars, nice cars lined up for miles waiting for a box of food to be put in their trunk. i don't know about you but i didn't think i would ever see that in america. all of this is through no fault of their own. no fault of their own these people are in this position. that's why the rescue plan is delivering food and nutrition to

americans facing hunger. hunger is down sharply already. we are also providing rental assistance, you all know this. the american people want to make sure they understand. keeping people from being evicted from their homes. providing loans to small businesses to reopen. keep employees on the job. during these 100 days an additional 800,000 americans enrolled in the affordable care act do that. 800,000 during that period. we are making one of the largest one time ever investments in improving health care for veterans. critical investments to address the crisis. maybe most importantly thanks to the american rescue plan we are on track to cut child poverty in america in half. [applause]

the process, while this is all going on the economy created more than 1,300,000 jobs in 100 days. more jobs in the first 100 days than any president on record. host: getting your reaction all morning. some reaction on social media, deborah tweets this, most people support the policy. the 17% who disagree have 50% of the senators for this one says biden is still riding trump's coattails. actions speak louder than words, i question where the future will lead us. tim scott's response is amazing, give credit where credit is due.

one more from john who says the president speech was thoughtful, well-written, and well delivered. i may not agree with his proposals but the speech was forward-looking and optimistic. it is what the nation needed. our calling taking a look at headlines, looking at the speech and other news this morning, good morning. >> we have learned over the years once the speech ends it is no different this time around with this joint session. the headlines in the hill newspaper, he will be traveling to georgia today with first lady jill biden to hold a drive-in rally marking is 100 day in office. in duluth, georgia is where that is taking place, just north of atlanta. we will be hearing about c-span two, 6:00 p.m. eastern.

the president tomorrow heading to pennsylvania to commemorate the 50th anniversary of amtrak. the limit journal-constitution, president biden says he'll meet with former president jimmy barton -- jimmy carter during that swing. biden and carter have a long relationship. biden was a first-term u.s. senator from delaware when carter took office. the georgia democrats as he was the first and most effective supporter. he has been my loyal and dedicated friend. carter says during an emotional endorsement at the democratic convention. he understands honesty and dignity are essential traits. more than ever, that is what we need. that was the former president talking about the then candidate for president and now president

biden. one more on the tour, it is officially called the getting america back on track tour. that is how the white house is selling this series of events. the president is expected to be in baltimore today to mark the 100th day of the biden administration. she is expected to be in ohio, doug emhoff set to visit north carolina on friday. cabinet officials also expected to span out across the country. host: today in georgia, president biden and the first lady in duluth, georgia just outside atlanta for their drive-in rally. coming up today at 6:00 eastern. back to your calls, saint augustine, florida, here's francisco. caller: hello, sir.

good morning. i wanted to point out a couple of points regarding the speech last night. if i may. host: go ahead. caller: the president, i don't want to disrespect the office of the presidency. i am more of a conservative. it looked like he was going on his rhetoric to keep the country going. everything he spoke about, the needles in the arms with the covid deal, that was by trump. he's riding the coattails of a different president in my point of view. thing is, right as we were getting over that little hump he

was elected and down we go again into the left side of the building or so to speak. the other thing was the border aspect of the speech, what's going on down there? i grew up in arizona, i got family on the others of the border. i believe president trump was doing right. now just reversing those actions, it is getting worse. a gentleman i spoke to before, kids getting taken away, that was an obama policy. we need to really get real. we just keep on going in the wrong direction. hopefully we could stop with tim scott and listen to his side, see the good parts about that.

caller: i knew i had been to a circus when i saw the purple hair. that is unbelievable for a distinguished person like that. joe goes to georgia, he should swing by arkansas and visit his two-year-old granddaughter. he has disregarded her completely from his life. you need to take out the family bible and put her name in there, let's be real. don't do another situation like we had with thomas jefferson where 100 years from now, did joe have another granddaughter? yes he did. host: vivian in tennessee on the democrats line. caller: good morning, number

one, our country would not be in the shape if it is today if donald trump hadn't have lied to us about the virus. i'm sick and tired of people sticking up for this business man. over 500,000 people died because of him. we need to get that straight and hold him accountable. joe biden is trying his best to unite the country. he's trying to work with republicans and with independents. everything they do is no, no ,no. children are hungry, schools closing, jobs lost. everything the republicans say it is no, no, no. they don't care about american people. it is about time we get that stimulus money. they have been sending money overseas to other countries supporting wars.

joe biden spoke out. i liked when he spoke about race, it feels true. gun reform, it is true. white supremacists, that is true. they talk about abortion. this is my body. host: senator scott from south carolina gave the republican response. here is some of that. sen. scott: this administration inherited a tide that had already turned. the coronavirus is on the run. thanks to operation warp speed, our country is flooded with safe and effective vaccines. thanks to our bipartisan work last year job openings are rebounding, why do we feel so divided?

the nation with so much because for hope should not feel so heavy laden. should not be pushing agendas to terrace apart. the american family deserves better. just before covid, we have the most inclusive economy in our lifetime. the lowest unemployment rates ever recorded. a 70 year low merely for women. wages were going faster at the bottom then at the top. the bottom 25% saw their wages go up faster than the top 25%. that happened because republicans focused on expanding opportunity for all americans. we've had opportunity zones,

criminal justice reforms, permanent funding for historically black colleges and universities for the first time ever. we rebuilt our military and cut taxes for working families. our best future will not come from washington's aim for social streams. it will come from you, the american people. black, hispanic, white, asian. republican and democrat, ralph police officers in black neighborhoods. we are family. we are all in this together. we get to live in the greatest country on earth. host: south carolina senator tim scott and the republican response to joe biden's address to a joint session of congress. let's get back to your reaction. california, don on the republican line. caller: i want to thank tim

scott for saying america is not a racist country. on joe biden speech, joe biden says he is putting kamala harris in charge of the infrastructure. he put her in charge of the border i don't know how long ago and she is yet to go down there. i'm not very confident in that part. joe biden speech, energy is going to get more expensive under this green energy plan. the so-called rich corporations raise their taxes. somehow, this is going to create jobs. on what planet? this is the weirdest map i have ever seen in my life. the speech was pure fantasy, pure pandering.

why is nobody pushing back on this? the greatest lie is what i saw by the president. host: to rolando in texas. caller: we watched with the family. what we thought, you told us the american people are on the mend, we are ready. the faith in the american people was wrongfully elected in 2021 -- in november. we saw was the president who is focusing on the people, the american people. the american people are ready for it. the infrastructure needs to be taken up quickly. get this country back to where it needs to be on the right path.

the right will always say socialism, socialism. what they don't tell you is the truth, there is a -- the truth is we are regulated, social democratic society. we do not have schools, roads, medicare, different things to help you? and then what we also saw from president biden was he also focused on the threat that the united states is facing right now in regards to terrorism. we saw what happened on january 11, 2020 one. we cannot forget that. -- january 11, 2021. we cannot forget that. my family got vaccinated finally. we are so happy we got vaccinated. we can see our parents, who we had not seen in a while because we did not want them to get sick, nor did we want ourselves to get sick. we are very happy on that. in regards to what mr. scott

said, i found it very amusing. actually, i am kind of just said. mr. scott -- he said, give examples of racism that he has experienced by people. but then he says we are not a racist nation. that is a complete oxymoron that didn't make any sense whatsoever. i just want to let the american people know, america, we are going to get there. we are on the way to greatness, even better. host: more of your calls and comments coming up. john mcardle last night, not just with the proposals, but the look last night. john: yeah, only about 200 people in the chamber, only one justice of the supreme court, chief justice john roberts -- john roberts. a different look last night, but also a history making night as well.

on the dais there, the nation's first female vice president, in an elbow bump with the first female speaker of the house. that moment of that history making elbow bump before that joint session, president biden acknowledging the moment last night at the outset of his speech. this is what he had to say. [video clip] pres. biden: thank you all, madame speaker, madam vice president. [cheers and applause] no president has ever said those words from these that from this podium. no president has ever said those words, and it's about time. [cheers and applause] first lady and her husband,

second gentleman. john: that reaction to that moment, members of congress. this is congresswoman alma adams on twitter last night. president biden is standing in front of two history-making women last night. this from senator debbie stabenow, honored to be in the room, so exciting to see the two women behind him. history is being made tonight. one more from the congresswoman from alabama, saying when women succeed, america succeeds. and a photo to just before she entered the chamber, that is the vice president, vice president harris walking through the rotunda, this sure -- this picture catching her there, framed by the west doorway as she walks through the center of

the rotunda. the former freshman senator now leading the senators to that joint session. one more tweet as well, this from julie surkin of nbc news. she was able to catch the vice president in the hallway just before entering, apparently asking her the question, what is the significance of two women sitting behind the president tonight? the answer that the vice president gave -- "normal." host: appreciate that, john. we will touch on the analyses out there and reviews of last night's speech, john harris, the founding editor of politico. he says president biden's address to a joint session of congress was the most ambitious, ideological statement made by any democratic president in decades, couched in a language as making it sound that he was not making an ideological argument at all. he was. he called for trillions in new spending and a robust extension

of government control in ways that would have been impossible to contemplate during barack obama's presidency. he plunged into subjects, racial and class inequities come a wee gratian, and gun violence that were rubbed raw until bleeding in donald trump's. this tweet -- mike -- mike in sioux falls, biden had a decent speech. the question is, what are they actually going to do? all the back writing and lying keeps the parties in power so they can serve their true masters. may wilson in west virginia, did i miss it? joe biden left out millions in his speech. and carl says, negative, we have seen in the last year what the cold barbarism of capitalism is and how little government is willing to do for regular people. everything biden said was shrouded in america first 2.0

and was not aimed at addressing the crisis of capitalism. to lily in st. louis, democrats line. caller: i hope i don't get cut off. i thought joe biden did a good job last night. he said you all can do better, just work with me and we will work with that. and this tim scott down there. he only does what they say. he is not for the people. he brought up his mother. we all have mothers. he said i'm a black man. so what? i don't think he's a good guy. he is putting joe biden down. talking about what he did, he brought tax breaks. the republicans didn't say anything about that. they didn't talk about anything joe biden did. he has done everything he can do for us, for the poor people, for the working people.

even the border, he said if you all have ideas about that, bring it up and we will work on that, too. what else can he do? host: this is darrell, maple heights, ohio, republican line. caller: how are you doing today? i have to say that speech was horrid. it was a smorgasbord of government promises over the years. how many government promises, just throwing money at it, and we just make government bigger and nothing changes. he talked about taxing the rich. i mean, this is the mantra from the left all the time. and i always wondered why the middle class and the lower class don't say, don't tax the race -- don't tax the rich, tax us like the rich. why don't you tax us like the rich so we can spend more money and grow more wealth?

we pay taxes based on what we spend, our sales tax. if you get paid $2000 a week to get to keep $2000 and pay taxes on what you spend, that is more wealth for your family. look at what rich hollywood liberals do all the time. all of them own production companies. they don't cruise -- they don't produce anything, you know why? there is a tax haven. $5 million for a movie, they don't pay taxes off the top. it gets paid to their production company so they don't have to pay taxes. all of this stuff of tax the rich, again, it should be tax us like the rich so we don't have to pay taxes right off the top of our money, but still we have to give all this money to government, down the lack hold of government, and do nothing but waste trillions and trillions of dollars.

making the same promises of biden, and doing nothing. host: this is james in brooklyn, independent line. caller: hello, i hope you give me a chance to speak because you guys always seem to cut off anybody that is anti-democratic party on here. it is so obvious. i was hoping that when he addressed the gun issue last night that he would have brought up his son who committed a felony on his application about his drug addition. also, bringing up his son, having child pornography on his computer. joe biden is not our president. the election was stolen. maybe c-span can do something on the air, maricopa county, with account that is going on. host: on the democrats line, your thoughts about the present's speech last night. caller: i thought his speech was right on, and so far he's doing

exactly what he promised when he was campaigning. we did not have people just going to play golf every week, it seemed like, what trump did, nothing except tilled the wall, which people are coming over -- except build the wall, which people are coming over. the republican response was ridiculous. host: $1.8 trillion in spending. the so-called families plan, a total of $4 trillion proposed by the president so far. a look at the chart in "the new york times," in the green colored side is the families plan, which includes child and family support, $225 billion for child care. president biden frame some of the details last night. [video clip] pres. biden: the american families plan will provide access to quality, affordable childcare.

[applause] i guarantee -- what i proposed in the legislation, a guarantee that low and middle income families will pay no more than 7% of their income for high quality care for children up to the age of 5. the most hard-pressed working families will not have to spend a dime. third, the american families plan will finally provide up to 12 weeks of paid leave and medical leave, family medical leave. [applause] we are one of the few industrial countries in the world. no one should have to choose between a job and a paycheck, or taking care of themselves or their loved ones or parent or spouse or child. fourth, the american family plan puts directly into the pockets

of millions of americans -- in march we expanded tax credits for every child in the family come up to $3000 per child if they are under 6 years of age -- excuse me, over 6 is of age. and $3600 for children over 6 years of age. with two parents, two kids, that is $272 in the pockets to help take care of your family. that will help more than 65 million children, and help cut childcare poverty in half. [applause] we can afford it. [end video clip] host: the washington times headline this morning, biden says 1.8 trillion will help families. president pushes congress to move on priorities after his first 100 days, marking that last night with the speech, john mcardle with more of those first 100 days. john: plenty of wrap ups in the

various papers and news websites. in president biden's first 100 days. here is one of them from npr, a look at by the numbers. some of the numbers they point out, bill signed into law by president biden -- 11. the number of executive orders -- 42. the number of trump orders reversed -- 62. dobb approval rating -- 53% -- job approval rating -- 53%. on cbs news, it was at o'keefe with his wrap up as well, some of their stats, on your screen. what some of those stats do is compare it to the trump administration. on approval ratings on his 100th day, president trump was at 41%, former president obama at 68% on day 100. we said 41 for biden, for trump at 100 days, for obama it was

19. in terms of the number of interviews done, six by president biden at this point in 100 days. for trump at 100 days it was 35. more of the wrap up with cvs statistics -- of cbs statistics -- trumped by this point had done nine, eight joint, and president obama had done 12, 6 solo and six joint press conferences. members of congress using their reactions last night to talk about the joint address and president biden's 100 days. senator john barrasso, a member of republican leadership in the senate. this is what he had to say. [video clip] sen. barrasso: president biden's speech last night may have called for unity and good jobs. his action in his first 100 days has been anything but that. he's lost all credibility when it comes you -- when it comes to

unity, turning over the keys to the most livable -- the most liberal factions of his party. these are people promoting big government and the path to socialism. republicans are going to fight for american values, the values which have built this country and made it strong are going to continue to stand up and fight against these tax increases and massive borrowing and spending. the joe biden and liberal left party continue to do in a way that i view as radical, extreme, dangerous, and scary. [video clip] john: senator john barrasso last night. also mentioned the president's first one hundred days from the other side of the aisle. senator michael bennett, the democrat from colorado. this is what he had to say. sen. bennet: i just listened to joe biden's 100 -- joe biden's speech. it has been a great 100 days.

president biden cutting child poverty in this country by almost 50%. host: we are spending the entire program this morning getting your response to the president's address to congress last night. 202-748-8001, the line for republicans. 202-748-8000 for democrats. independents and others, 202-748-8002. in cleveland, reggie on the republican line. caller: yes, i'm a republican, and yes, i consider myself -- yes, i am happy with the president and his speech. and i am happy and proud of what he has been trying to accomplish in trying to help america. we may need this tax hike. we may need other things to come

through, to help refurbish and rebuild america and heal the nation. the main thing i will say is heal the nation. republicans need to step back and try to heal and be honest. for him to say -- for tim scott to say that this is not a racist country and his family experienced racism, i'm amazed by it. all i say is heal the nation. host: let's go to medford, new york. this is paul. good morning. caller: good morning, sir. i have to say that our president, joe biden, was anti-american, antiwhite, anti-taxpayer, and just anti-republican. i believe the gentleman needs to promise to do what he promised

and to pull us together. that is all i have to say. host: ricky is in muskegon, michigan, on the democrats line. what did you think last night? caller: the president did a fantastic job. he's doing a good job with the economy, and you know something, i like that republican guy before that other guy who was a republican. he said everything that joe biden is trying to do, and he is a republican. why can't the republicans help joe biden? but, see, what the republicans want to do is the same thing that donald trump tried to do -- divide us. and something else, when they stormed the capitol. the republicans know and the republican people know that it was all president trump followers who stormed that

capitol. thank you, c-span, and, you know, i'm glad joe biden got up in there. i took the j&j, and then they came up with that stuff on it. but i feel fine, and we are doing great. i hope these people start doing what the professionals say and the -- and that joe biden said, to go get that vaccine so we could get out of this. host: on the attack on the capitol on january 6, trump supported found guilty of threats to kill lawmakers after january 6 riot. a trump supporter who called for killing members of congress after the january 6 insurrection was found guilty wednesday after making a death threat against elected officials. the jury, which took three hours to reach a verdict, found the comments made in a disturbing

video posted online days after the capitol riot amounted to date general threat -- to a general threat to murder lawmakers in washington. he has been sentenced to prison. his case is believed to be the first of those charged in connection with it to go to trial. we are covering a hearing this morning on c-span, a house hearing coming up that -- a senate hearing coming up 10:00 eastern on domestic terrorism. back to call. we hear from grant in new york city. good morning. caller: good morning, c-span. the center to use the word "scary," where joe biden and the democratic party are going, it is very scary. there are so many people. stalin once said that we will take over america. we will not have to fire a shot, we will use "useful idiots."

in a very short period of time, america will be in tears when they finally see what the plan is because there is a master plan involved here. part of the plan is to separate the people, and that has been done successfully by the lie that america is a racist country. that is a lie put forth by biden and the democratic party. it has been successful because 90% of the news media and all of the network, net people repeat the lie. so people believe it, just like so many of your democrats have been calling in. this country is headed for a one-party system. that is the plan. that is what is scary. that is what the senator was talking about. we will be a one-party system ruled by the democrats, who will

then show their cards and what they are. every country in the world that has been taken over by socialist/communists has always used the same chaos. for instance, almost two years now of chaos, black lives matter, tearing cities apart, earning down police stations with the police inside come all the rest -- the news media gives them a pass. nothing happens to them. host: in the speech last night, president biden laid out reposes on infrastructure talking about climate change as well, and -- talking about proposals on infrastructure and climate change as well. pres. biden: some of you are wondering -- so many of you, so many of the folks i grew up with feel left behind, forgotten, in

an economy so rapidly changing, it is frightening. i want to speak directly to you. if you think about it, that is what people are most worried about. can i fit in? independent experts estimate the american jobs plan will add millions of jobs and economic growth for the years to come. it is an eight-your program. these are good paying jobs that cannot be outsourced. nearly 90% of the infrastructure jobs created in the american jobs plan do not require a college degree. 75% don't require an associates degree. the american jobs plan is a blue-collar blueprint to build america. that's what it is. [applause] and it recognizes something i have always said, in this chamber and the other -- good

guys and women on wall street, but wall street didn't build this country. the middle class built this country, and unions built the middle class. that's why i'm calling on congress -- two tech -- to pass the right to organize act, to send it to my desk so we can support the right to unionize. and by the way, speaking of sending things to my desk, let's raise the minimum wage to $15. no one -- no one working 40 hours a week -- no one working 40 hours a week should live below the poverty line. we need to ensure greater equity and opportunity for women.

while we are doing this, let's bring the paycheck fairness act to my desk as well. it has been much too long. if you wonder if it has been too long, look behind you. [video clip] host: president biden, part of a speech in congress. stephen said we need to work on infrastructure but also pay our bills. i just think it is too much at one time. this one says plenty of money to bomb other countries, but not a dime for working americans. from our democrats line, this is emilio -- sorry, this is emilia. go ahead. caller: president biden did an excellent, excellent job. for those ones that called to say that the president is riding trump's coattails, that is not true.

the first country that had the vaccine was england. not the united states. please do your homework. trump didn't do nothing for the vaccine. when they ordered the vaccine, they only ordered 50 million. so england had the vaccine, then we had it second. the republicans, what they have been doing for years and years has been sowing fear in the american people. they have been calling the democrats radical. they say the same thing when the democrats fought for medicare and social security. they disagree, they did not agree. it was people. but they don't do anything for the people, they always work for the rich and corporate. as far as the taxes, trump made permanent tax cuts for the

corporations, and for the people it will expire in 2024, 2025. so please do your homework. all these people who call to talk about racism doesn't exist, please ask the people, when the black folks were doing these things, they went and killed all these people. so please don't -- if you don't experience racism, don't speak about it. host: let's go to kansas. xavier is next, independent line. caller: thank you for this time. i am an independent, where i try to pick the president -- it doesn't matter if he is a republican or democrat, i try to pick the best one for this country. i have to say that what biden said last night was right on point to me. when i look at what biden did

and what trump did, you have seen the chaos in trump, and now with biden, he is trying to -- i thank him for that. the second point of it is that for the senator after the folks who came on the republican thing from south dakota, i was appalled about what he said, because i know that there is racism. the last part of it is this. we have white america -- never won a war for america by themselves. you could never have won any type of war without blacks, hispanics, asians, and everything. i the same token, when i have served my country and i am back here, i get racism. when have you served -- when has

white america ever won a war that deals with america by themselves? however, it is racism. host: we are spending the morning getting your thoughts and comments on the president's address to the joint session of congress last night. 202-748-8001, the line for republicans. 202-748-8000 for democrats. independents and others, 202-748-8002. we will play more from the speech and more from the response by governor -- by senator tim scott. one notable republican member said hello to the president yesterday. john mcardle? john: that moment getting a lot of attention. here is the picture of it, the fist bump between republican liz cheney of wyoming, the third ranking member in the house, and republican leadership, fist bumping the president as he entered the room. here is the headline story about

it from politico, the headline noting cheney's actions likely to draw criticism from the trump wing of the party, while she continues a frosty relationship with senate leader kevin mccarthy. getting negative attention from the former president. one of 10 members, republican members who voted to impeach the former president. it was jason miller, one of the top aides for former president trump, one of his main spokespeople on twitter, asking this question last night, showing a picture of another angle of that now famous fist bump, saying how long do we see this playing in wyoming? talking about the republican primary challenges liz cheney is facing. a few other notes on liz cheney from reporters in the chamber. casey hunt saying mike particular advantage point -- my particular vantage point has a good view of liz cheney.

when president biden declared america was on the move again, she stood up to clap. mccarthy applauded but remained seated. and from cnn, mitch mcconnell and liz cheney shook hands before the speech. he had stood behind her amid her feud with trump. if you're interested in what liz cheney had to say about the speech itself, this from her statement that she sent out on twitter last night, saying that the policies president biden has advanced in his first 100 days, outlined this evening are bad for wyoming and bad from america. -- bad for america. growing the size and scope of the federal government, requiring more to send their income to washington, d.c. she said the power endorsed are not standard liberal ideas, but reflected that the left is in control of our policies.

one more tweet, note on this topic of liz cheney, and that is from jake sherman of that new congressional newsletter, punch bowl news. this is what jake sherman say about it today, they will publish an expert -- and of the new podcast liz cheney, in which she talked about the primary challenge, hauling an interesting stuff if you are a subscriber, this would be back and forth between cheney and sherman in that interview, sherman saying that the mentioning of his last question in that interview about her primary challenge, saying you think you are going to win that? clearly you would not be doing it. she said i'm confident i'm going to win. it is going to be a challenging win and i'm prepared for that right now, seeing she has multiple opponents. she response, i look forward to whatever that primary looks like , whoever i'm going to be up against.

if you want to read more on that interview, punch bowl news this morning. host: these speeches, the text of the speeches released a couple hours before the speech itself, gives reporters and others a chance to craft their reaction, their response, their writing. some reaction and analysis so far. this is jim from the new york times. his analysis, biden calling for big government on a nation tested by crisis. he writes that president biden's $4 trillion economic agenda might have seemed unthinkable as the united states was emerging from its recession, when austerity politics ruled the capital come and even a democratic president was reluctant to push a huge acting -- and the rich. but president biden has a chance of signing at least a large chunk into law this year, that big death that the government

can speed efforts to dv prices. he writes what the president is promising of the government in years to come as a long list of tangible improvements in americans' daily lives. cheaper childcare, cleaner and more reliable electricity, more years of free schooling for toddlers and young adults, paid the leave for workers whose lives are upended by illness. those sweeping spending plans which mr. biden made tender peace -- centerpiece in his address before congress wednesday would be paid for by raising $4 trillion in tax revenue from high earners and corporations. read more at nytimes.com. we will get more editorial responses this morning. let's go to circleville, ohio, republican line. caller: you are my favorite host, and thanks to c-span for allowing us to speak our minds. i have a couple of things. i'm a senior citizen. i hear a lot of people attacked

the previous administration, but people who realize what happened in the 1960's when lbj put us in the first -- in the worst war we have been in. we spent how much, how many trillions of dollars back then? what did we get out of it? that was the worst mistake. that changed our history. then we had lbj change social security. they used the trust fund for a piggy bank. there is no money in that trust fund. people don't realize it. we spend trillions of dollars now for this, and there is no money in that trust fund. host: let's hear the president's comments last night. pres. biden: american leadership means ending the forever war in afghanistan. we have --

[applause] we have, without hyperbole, the greatest fighting force in the history of the world. i'm the first president in 40 years who knows what it means to have a son serving in a war zone. today we have service members serving in the same war zone as their parents did. we have servicemembers in afghanistan who were not yet born on 9/11. the war in afghanistan was never meant to be an undertaking of nationbuilding. we said we would follow osama bin laden to the gates of hell to do it. we delivered justice to bin laden. we degraded the terrorist threat of al qaeda in afghanistan.

and after 20 years of value, valor, and sacrifice, it is time to bring those troops home. [video clip] host: back to your calls, to saint stephens, south carolina. renda, good morning. caller: good morning. i think president biden did a great job last night. to some of the republican colors, i don't see how they say -- of the republican callers, i don't see how they say the election was stolen. the american people did not like the direction the country was going, the division and the hatred. a lot of people voted for joe biden. another thing, with tim scott, i don't understand what he was saying -- he is living in an alternate reality. what is he doing for me in south carolina? nothing. he went up there to try to paint a pretty picture of what the republicans did, but on january

6, that opened up a lot of people's eyes to the direction that america was headed and they did not like it. another thing, to me the republicans do not focus on the low income to poor people in the people in poverty. the only thing people seem interested and concerned about is the wealth, the wealth and abortion. they talk a lot about abortion like that is the only thing. what about the people that are losing their jobs, losing their homes, don't have food to feed their children. abortion is not the only thing to be concerned about. to me, my impression is that the republican party cares about the rich. i hope and pray that when the next election comes up, that these republicans -- because i'm pretty sure that -- i did not hear any of them returned that stimulus to joe biden. he did that to help them.

i hope and pray that when the next election comes that they will vote for some representatives that will help them and not about their pockets. host: we will play some of the comments from tim scott here later this hour, his response. he was the gop response, the republican response to the president's speech last night. to wayne city, illinois, and carla. good morning. caller: good morning, how are you doing today? i thought he was blowing a lot of smoke because he was saying the same things he has said before. it is nothing that we haven't already heard. his plan to whatever he is going to have kamala harris do, she can't even follow-up to check on the border crisis, and he's going to assign her to do something else? she's not going to follow through on it. and people saying that republicans, you know, are

starting all this stuff because of trump. trump didn't even get a chance to start doing anything because they had him in court and fighting him all the way. right now with what is going on, he can talk about white supremacy and the racism, and every time you turn around it comes out of his mouth or kamala harris' mouth or nancy pelosi's mouth come and that just keeps us going because it fuels it. if they would stop advertising it as the president and vice president, i think maybe we could probably come to some agreement where we are not constantly fighting over racism. but when you get that from a president, people listen to it. host: onto hendersonville, north carolina. this is cindy. good morning. caller: good morning.

thanks for taking my call. it has been a long while since i have called. i only call once a month. i just would like to make a remark about plagiarism provide an. no one has talked about -- plagiarism for biden. no one has talked about that. he talked about in his speech last night about buying american , putting american first. wasn't that trump's line? you know, putting america first? i think we should all put american first as american citizens. as far as kamala harris and joe biden on the border, this is a catastrophe. nothing was said about that, nothing is being done about that. they are giving out trillions of dollars to these poor children. they talk about trump taking

children out of the arms of their parents. host: what do they do? cindy, you're breaking up a little bit. from the washington times, the republicans are falling all over themselves to take the corporate tax rate to 28%, which while lower than before, republicans enacted the 2017 tax cuts and jobs act, would still be higher then commonest china. that is not a way death and communist china. it is not awake -- that is not a way to -- here is the president laying out his tax proposal. -- let's start by what i will not do. i will not impose any tax increase on people making less

than $400,000. but it's time for corporate america and the wealthiest americans to pay their fair share. just their fair share. [applause] sometimes i have arguments with my friends in the democratic party. i think you should be able to become a billionaire and a millionaire, but pay your fair share. recent studies show that 55 of the nation's biggest corporations pay zero federal tax last year. those 55 corporations made in excess of $40 billion in profit. a lot of companies also evaded taxes through tax havens in switzerland and the cayman islands. and they benefit from tax loopholes and deductions for off shoring jobs and shifting

profits overseas. it's not right. we are going to reform corporate taxes so they pay their fair share and help pay for the public investments to have biz -- that businesses will benefit from as well. [applause] we are going to reward work, not just wealth. we take the top tax bracket for the wealthiest 1% of americans, those making over $400,000 or more, back when george w. bush's presidency started. that is what it was when george bush was president. we are going to pay a lower tax rate on their capital gates -- on their capital gains. we are only going to affect 3%

of americans by the .3% of americans. and crackdown on millionaires and billionaires who cheat on their taxes. it is estimated to be billions of dollars, by think tanks left, right, and center. i'm not looking to punish anybody, but i will not add a tax burden, an additional tax burden to the middle class in this country. they are already paying enough. i think what i propose is fair. fiscally responsible. and it raises revenue to pay for the plans i have proposed to create millions of jobs that will grow the economy. and enhance our financial standing in the country. host: we want to remind you that the president's speech, the response from center to tim scott, all that available on c-span.org. the reaction to the speech on social media -- this from jersey girl says the disproportionate

share of the nation's income, why shouldn't they pay a disproportionate share of the nation's taxes, given that it refers to federal income taxes. to deborah, he did a great job, the absolute mess that he has inherited by what's his face is finally being addressed, finally being american. can't wait to see what the next 100 days brings. keep going, joe. shelby from north carolina. president biden provided to direct plan. spent the last four years waiting for republicans to give us their plan, and we never got it. tim scott only divided us even more, and that was only lip service the republican base. calls in albany, georgia. we hear from larry next up. good morning. caller: i am so disappointed. i heard a man saying that president biden was riding on trump's coattails. that's a lie. i would like to say this.

those 21 years old to 45 years old that did not know about biden and harris when the economy was down. president biden, with president obama, started a plan to bring back the economy, and we were doing 190,000 jobs a month. we read that $100,000 a month, two 2017, when donald trump took over, he would already there. all that was done. i would like to say this to the republican party. the republican party of citizens -- they have saved the economy twice by voting democrats full-time and georgia, they voted along with democrats to fire donald trump because they found out the truth about donald trump, and now we are in a pandemic that was -- donald trump did not do anything for the vaccine because the vaccine

was not approved when he took over office. it was all on biden's watch, and he did all those things. and the american citizens -- i'm talking about democrats and republicans -- are not divided. we are standing with power. the speech that biden said last night was telling you about what we have accomplished in these first 100 days, that we have done great together, because of the pandemic, something that came all over the world, it is in the air and it is still killing people. host: just a reminder to our viewers and listeners, we will be president -- we will be covering the president's trip to georgia. john on the independent line in paterson, new jersey, go ahead. caller: good morning, c-span. i want to make a comment. joe biden in his speech last night said that trickle-down

economics does not work. this idea came out of reagan, and i believe in the campaign for republican nomination, george w. bush -- george h.w. bush called it voodoo economics. the republicans are still clinging to these voodoo economics of trickle-down. it does not work. that is the comment one time that i wanted to make. the other comment i wanted to make about the republican response -- tim scott is an embarrassment to black people. i heard him on an interview saying he was pulled over eight times for driving while black. and he does not support his own people?

this is an embarrassment. i don't want to use the term out of the book, "uncle tom," but i am a white person and i can see it. host: we will hear from senator scott, who gave the republican response to the speech last night. let's check in with john mcardle. john: several callers this morning mentioning former president trump. he was on foxbusiness this morning, less than a half-hour ago, with maria bartiromo. here is the herald newspaper, wrap up of his appearance on fox, saying former president slammed -- a raid on president trump's attorney, giuliani, apartment. trump's comments coming a day

after federal prosecutors church giuliani's apartment, and law offices in new york city. investigating whether the former new york man illegally lobbied. in that interview, former president called it a double standard in the treatment of former officials in his administration, compared to democratic figures. if you want to read the story, the hill newspaper. speaking of just earlier this morning, it was about 15 minutes ago that president eitan and his that president biden and his hooded team tweeted out this video of his first -- president biden and his twitter team tweeted out this. we will play you the first minute and 30 seconds so you can get a sense of what the president has done in his first

100 days in office. [video clip] >> thank you for joining us on this historic day. pres. biden: i joseph biden do solemnly swear. we will get to work immediately. one year ago, no one could have imagined what we were about to go through. now we are coming through it. >> president biden announced that the nation has administered 50 million doses of coronavirus vaccine. >> we reached our 100 billion shots in just 150 days. >> about to deliver the 200th million covid shot since he took office in october. pres. biden: that is an important --

>> so excited to get the vaccine. >> what are you doing here? >> right now we are reopening schools safely so that kids can get back to their classroom and learning with their teachers and their friends. host: some of the video tweeted out by the president's came this morning. one take on the speech last night from politico. biden embraces his inner robin hood. the president didn't shy away from regis tribbett of governance. in fact, he leaned into it. -- from redistributive governance. in fact, he leaned into it. caller: i thought it was a good speech. don't you think it is refreshing that people in his administration really care about the agencies they head up and really care about the

constitution? that people just forget about all that, and women and minorities be damned? as for senator scott's response, it was sort of embarrassing. as long as i can remember, we have always been a racist country. asians, blacks, and even women. and we are like 10 to 20 years away from a new generation, and in changing the demographics, it will tell us that minorities will be in charged and whites will be in the minority. i think the republican party knows this, and they have been fighting for years to pretty much turn this around. that is why you're seeing all the restrictions on voting against minorities right now. host: charlotte, north carolina,

republican line. caller: yes. host: go ahead. tom in north carolina, you are on the air. caller: yes, my name is tom mason. i'm just amazed what is going on in this country. first of all, joe biden is now the president, and i -- joe biden is not the president, and i find amazing all the lies that are told to the american people every day and every night, 24/7 around-the-clock. it's amazing the clowns in this country believe about the democratic party. host: bobby is in st. paul, minnesota, democratic line. caller: thank you for taping my call -- taking my call. obviously if you are on the left, he hit it out of the park. if you are on the right, he did not. senator scott i thought had a good rebuttal. we had one caller on the left

pretty much called him an uncle tom. but i really think that, you know, he has done a fantastic job with the virus and the distribution of it. he was handed the baton from president trump, with warp speed, to get him the medicine to distribute it. i give him an a for that. i have to give him a u for unsatisfactory. with the immigration, with the border. it seems to me that -- he seems to me to be kind of passive about it. well, i don't know if i'm going to go to the border, not go to the border. i will let vice president harris take control of that, and then all of a sudden it has redefined what she does. she doesn't seem to be very

enthusiastic about it. seems to be excuses that keep coming up. well, it's because of covid that i cannot do this, well, it's going to be a long race thing. i would think you would have to be enthusiastic and have to have calling people from the border -- mayors, governors, people who deal with it, have a summit or a conference. have a news conference about the progress you're making. you don't hear anything. there was that one call -- excuse me if i have the right country -- but nicaragua, one of the three countries come i'm not quite sure which one it is. and that's been about it. if i may just add this. i think what president biden should do is put a tax -- put a task force together, similar to what they did with covid. get a group together, bring them all in, and please, please, take some ownership.

president trump is gone. he had some immigration rules that did not work and he had immigration rules that did work. so take ownership and let's grab the bull by the horns. host: next up is elizabeth in san marco's, california. caller: good morning, c-span. i think joe biden is a breath of fresh air for this country. he is the perfect person for this time. he really cares about the everyday person, and he doesn't have a lot of ego to go with it, which is the exact opposite of the golden idol worshipers of the last administration. his focus on getting the middle class up and running economically is so important. i just want to remind people that -- i think it was in late

2017, or thereabouts, a study came out that said 40% of americans could not come up with $400 if an emergency arose. i think it later became 40% could not come up with $1000. but that is the condition of the middle class. they had these challenges like childcare and health care. trump wanted to overturn obamacare. thank god he didn't do that. but biden is really focusing on getting the middle class healthy , and that is one emergency this country has. the pandemic is the other emergency he is dealing with. and i think the immigration that she will turn to that once he gets the other things going. but i wanted to make a comment

about republicans and racism. i hear a lot of republicans saying there is no racism. they need to watch the other channels on c-span. there is some wonderful history happening over there, and just this evening they had the cities tour on tulsa. everybody should watch that because the perks of this person gave a fabulous -- it gives a little history about the voting voting obstacles laid down against african-americans in the 1960's. they had to pay a full text. they had to pay money. they would also have a poll test in which they were asked questions such as "name all the judges in the county" or the state, or "how many gallons of

water flow through the local rivers?" guessing the number of jellybeans in the jar -- that's what african-americans have had as an obstacle in the 1960's. that is in our lifetimes. host: appreciate your comments, and thanks for mentioning the cities tour, the one on tulsa in particular. that is part of american history tv the cities tour, on c-span.org. if you search tulsa on c-span.org, you will find it there, a program we did last year. about tim scott and his comments and the response last night on racism -- tony says this. why are democrats so eager to have us regarded as racists? racism is on display with their reaction to tim scott. it does not make us a racist nation. here is what senator tim scott had to say in part of his response to the president. sen. scott: when america comes

together, we have made tremendous progress, but powerful forces often pull us apart. 100 years ago, kids in classrooms were taught the color of their skin was the most important characteristic, and if they looked a certain way, they were inferior. today, kids are being taught that the color of their skin defines them again. if you look a certain way, they are an oppressor. from corporations to our culture, people are making money and gaining power i pretending we have not made any progress at all. by doubling down on the divisions we have worked so hard to heal. we know this stuff is wrong. hear me clearly. america is not a racist country. it is backwards to fight discrimination with different types of discrimination, and it is wrong to try to use a painful past two dishonestly shut down

the present. i'm an african-american who has voted in the south my entire life. i take voting rights personally. republican support making it easier to vote and harder to cheat, and so do the voters. big majorities of americans support early voting, and big majorities support voter i.d., including african-americans and hispanics. common ground. but today, this has collapsed. the state of georgia passed a law that expands early voting, preserves no excuse mail-in voting, and despite with the president claimed, did not reduce election day hours. if you actually read this law, it's mainstream. it will be easier to vote early in georgia than in democrat-run new york. but the left does not want you to know that.

they want people virtue signaling by yelling about a law they have not even read. host: the president and vice president will begin their tour today talking about proposals laid out in their speech last night. first, today, responding to what senator tim scott said. [video clip] >> just wanted to note one of the members of congress' rea ction, vern buchanan tweeting a little while ago, declaring that america is not a racist country. senator tim scott said a powerful response, the first black senator from south carolina. he called out president biden for stoking division in this country. vern buchanan, a republican from florida, with his tweet. the members of the biden administration taking up this issue as well by president harris on "good morning america"

was asked about tim scott's comments. >> said america is not a racist country. what do make of the warning about fighting discrimination with more discrimination? v.p. harris: first of all, i don't think america is a racist country, what we do have to speak truth about the history of racism in our country and its existence today. i applaud the president for always having the ability and the courage, frankly, to state the truth about it. what we know from the intelligence community, one of the greatest threats to our national community is domestic terrorism manifested by white supremacists. these are issues we must confront. it does not help to heal a country, to unify us as a people, to ignore the realities of that. the president has been a real national leader on saying let's

confront the realities and let's deal with this, knowing we all have so much more in common than what separates us. the idea is that we want to unify the country, but not without speaking truth and requiring accountability as appropriate. [and video clip -- [end video clip] host: let's hear from fred in california, republican line. i'm sorry, fred, in san ramon. where are you? caller: good morning. i would like to say why can't we leave 1600 troops in afghanistan to make sure that the taliban does not take over and establish sharia law? we have 50,000 troops in germany since world war ii. do we call that a forever war?

we have 30,000 troops in the korean peninsula, and that is not forever war. the war in afghanistan is not forever war. the war is over. we defeated taliban, and we just leave 1500 troops as an advisor to the government of afghanistan to make sure the democracy flourishes in that part of the world. host: earl, uri, pennsylvania, independent line. earl in pennsylvania, make sure you mute your volume, and go ahead with your comments. you are on the air. caller: ok. the question i have -- he wants to waste taxes on the wealthy who make more than $400,000. you know what is going on instead. businesses don't pay taxes. when you raise taxes on people

making money, if you've got a million dollars, think about how much interest -- when you raise taxes on business and everything , you know that when you go to the store, when you buy a can of beans, when you go back, that can is going to cost a dollar and $.15. gas prices go up, that hurts the middle class. big business ain't going to pay no taxes. they are going to just add more, in the middle class has to pay for that stuff. america really is not racist. the racism comes from people. it's the way the people think. host: stephen in washington, democrats line. caller: let me just say first of all that guy definitely had no

idea what he was talking about, the previous caller just now. literally he did not hear the president say he is going to tax the loopholes that keep corporations and wealthy people, the ultra-wealthy, which he said is like 0.3%. the capital gains tax scales upwards from 400 thousand dollars. it starts little and goes up. certainly, they are paying an equal amount to it. you are getting lower as you go down. the speech was absolutely fabulous. , harris -- kamala harris is fabulous. she killed it in the interview you had. tim scott, look at his history. not even just his history, but being the first black senator in the republican party. obviously, there is still way schism there. all the rest are white. they are all white women. there are no trans, no gay, no

lgbtq communities, no hispanics, no latinos, nobody. just him. just the one. what can you expect from him? thank you for c-span and have a good day. host: here are some of the details of the american families plan. $800 billion to permanently extend the child tax credit. $225 billion for child care for low and middle income families. $225 billion for national paid family and medical leave rogue rooms. universal preschool, $200 billion for that. $109 billion for two free years of community colleges. $85 billion of pell grant's over the next two years. about the president's speech, the lead opinion piece in "the washington post" this morning. mr. biden's new proposal would

greatly strengthen the social safety net, but at what cost? mr. biden pledged not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000 per year. meantime, the federal government is running huge deficits even as new census numbers show the united states is aging and population growth is slowing, which will strain already expensive federal old-age programs. climate change, future recessions, and other issues may require spending on a scale policymakers cannot anticipate. though many in washington set aside concerns about the debt, and the nation is still entering uncharted physical territory. mr. biden can keep his tax pledge or create a strong, sustainable federal safety net. he probably cannot do both. here is kevin mccarthy with this tweet this morning, saying the president has adopted the radical left's agenda to control every aspect of your life.

cannot tax and spend our way out of our problems. we will not stand by as he takes us down the path of socialism. to aiken, south carolina, on the republican line, this is lee. caller: good day. i am calling in because i am so tired of people criticizing the voters that voted for donald trump. president trump is the best president we have ever had in my lifetime. he did more for this country than any president in the past. and it is just causing further and further division when the mainstream media does nothing but criticize and call us stupid , and say we do not know what we are talking about. i'm an educated middle class white women. this is just outrageous. it just continues every time. even his speech last night, all

of the programs that he is wanting to put in, biden -- it's going to cost middle-class people tons of money. we are seeing it in higher grocery costs, higher gas at the pump. he says he is not raising our taxes. everyone in congress makes $400,000 or more, because we have made them rich while they are there. so let them pay their fair share and let them go on the same health plans that we have. host: lee talking about higher prices. another caller mentioned inflation. the fed holds interest rates near zero. it means faster growth and higher inflation. it declined to let up on its easy money policy despite an economy it acknowledged is accelerating. the central bank decided to keep short-term interest rates anchored near zero.

in anderson, south carolina, carol on the independent line. caller: i want to make a comment. i understand the death of george floyd and the outcry. but putting him as a hero, as changing the world, no. go into our public schools right now, volunteer, take a look. officers have to come in their daily -- there daily and polite junior high kids because of their disrespect, their anger, and everything when there is no parenting, black, white, all colors. a teacher walk out. don't care. we have a problem with the young

people in this country. they are not being taught respect. they are not being taught respect of the law, their elders, their teachers. our president wants to put someone on a pedestal that was committing daily crimes on the street. no, let's keep making this a hush-hush issue, and say the real problem. host: the president spoke last night on the need for police reform and for congress to pass the george floyd justice in policing act. [video clip] pres. biden: my fellow americans, we have to come together to heal the soul of this nation. a year ago, i spoke with george floyd's young daughter. a little tight. i kneeled down to talk to her so i could look her in the eye. she some -- she looked at me and

said, "my daddy changed the world." after the conviction of george floyd's murder, we can see how right she was, if we have the courage to act as a congress. we have all seen the knee of justice on the neck of black americans. now is our opportunity to make some real progress. the vast majority of men and women wearing a uniform and a badge server communities. they serve them honorably. i know them. i know they want -- [applause] i know they want to help meet this as well. fellow americans, we have to come to met -- come together to

build trust between law enforcement and people who have served and our criminal justice system, and enact police reform in george floyd's name. it passed the house already. i know republicans have their own ideas and are engaged in very productive discussions with democrats in the senate. we need to work together to find a consensus. but let's get it done next month i the first anniversary of george floyd's death. [/video clip] host: it would prohibit facial profiling, ban chokeholds and no luck -- no-knock warrants, require body cameras, and make it easier to prosecute offending officers, and would enable individuals to recover damages in civil court. it would also collect data on police misconduct and use of force. the speaker yesterday telling --

representative karen bass is leading the effort in the house. tenant -- senator tim scott has performed his own police reform bill in the u.s. senate, propose last year after the death of george floyd. let's hear from jerry and chester, virginia. democrats line. caller: i watched parts of the speech last night. i did not watch the whole thing. it sounded pretty good. but how is he going to pass these two large bills without getting rid of the filibuster? i don't know if mansion and senator sinema -- if mansion -- if senator manchin and senator sinema are going along with this. are they willing to pass this? publicans are not going to vote for this.

they are not even going to get up and clap during the whole speech. forget the republicans. are they going to get rid of the filibuster, is my question, do you think? host: thanks for asking. we will have to wait and see. to florida, independent line. caller: good morning. did you get a chance to get the vote right in dealing with race relations in north america? the president's speech, i think historically he hit it out of the ballpark. he said everything that we are facing. i don't know if we can get it all done, but he had rested. and he addressed it in a presidential -- but he addressed it, and he addressed it in a presidential manner. it made me just smile. he is going in the right

direction. america's past, my goodness. and tim scott, i don't know what university comes from. i know i was born in virginia. attended an all white preparatory school. the bottom line is racism has been part of the country since the beginning. it continues in subtle ways, and if people do not understand it and recognize it, i would ask that the leaders take the opportunity and run in my shoes. go out and go to a library. look into the shelves. find material that tells you specifically all of the racist issues like the dred scott situation, the fugitive slave law, the rebellion that blacks living in the south had to face.

i heard something say somebody about it who called tim scott and uncle tom. uncle tom was actually a good guy in the black community. that name has been used -- it was actually sandal who was the trader -- traitor, so get that right. africans and blacks have contributive to this world. people come in, immigrants come in. please let them have a chance to learn the history of african-americans, because a lot of people come in here with preconceived notions that black skin is something wrong or something negative. what tim scott was saying, i don't appreciate it. host: jeff on the republican line. caller: i find it amazing about

all these people that dump on trump. it seemed to me that he was the one that instigated the virus, got the vaccine. did joe biden have his shot in his arm before he was sworn in? he takes a lot of credit for the vaccine, but maybe he shouldn't -- maybe he should give a little bit of credit to the people who got it for him to take the credit to. host: more of your calls coming up after -- the morning after the president's address to congress. >> among the many folks on this joint address and state of the union nights are fact checkers. no difference last night. let affect one of those fact checking organizations. -- politifact, one of those fact

checking organizations. a statement that there is a broad consensus of economists and they agree that what i am proposing will generate historic economic growth. here is the fact check, saying it is exaggerated. many economists support the proposals but there are notable dissenters. the info structure plan concerns economists, particularly about the corporate tax height to pay -- tax hike to pay for the new spending. larry summers, the economist who helped bill clinton and barack obama, said the large price tags were risky, potentially spurring inflation. that is just one of the fact-checks. president biden -- tim scott's response. republican support everything you think of when you think of

infrastructure, roads, bridges, waterways. we are in for all that. less than 6% of the president's plan goes to roads and bridges. this is what politifact says -- this leaves out the other items that have long been considered infrastructure by members of both parties. while spending on roads and bridges are about 26% of that proposal. they note the bill includes funding for public transit, passenger freight, airports, ports, high-speed internet, tower infrastructure, drinking water supply. the republicans have criticized biden's plan for including items not historically thought of as infrastructure, including access to long-term home infinity based care under medicaid. if you want to read either or

all of those fact-checks, p olitifact.com. host: you may not -- this says, you may not agree with everything biden said, but at least there was no bragging and airing of grievances. joe said, i just returned from a business trade event with manufacturers who are frustrated because no one can get employees to come back to work. people are getting more and more payouts for sitting home. it is destroying any incentive to work, the essence of what created this country. anne tweets it was an excellent speech. those who deny systemic racism exists need to look in the mirror, where they will find it. they are showing their privilege by denying it. this one says, i refuse to raise taxes on the middle tax -- middle class. we will all pay our fair share with increasing bills on food and services.

and we are protecting a country that has d-roads and bridges, a failing education system on a world standard, infant mortality very high on the list, rokita health care system, and citizens who are impoverished. back to calls. in illinois, this is betty on the democrats line. caller: good morning. i am 82 years old, born and raised in greenville, south carolina. i enjoyed the speech last night, and it was really good to see two ladies sitting on the opposite side of the president. my other -- i have not seen president biden on the golf course. my family, children and everybody, was able to watch the speech last night, because there

were no profanity language like trump calling black football players s.o.b.'s, so my whole family was able to watch. for republicans who always talk about abortion, they worry about the kids in the womb but they don't worry about the kids out the womb. have a good day. mother's day is coming up. i wish every mother a happy mother's day. i was going to say i have five children, but one of them just passed away. thank you so much for listening. host: betty, thank you for calling. in michigan, tom, go ahead. caller: why is it the elderly are always forgotten during all these campaigns? you know how the elderly are struggling on social security,

medical costs. this guy, biden, said when he was running for president, i'm going to give every person on social security $200 a month during the pandemic. it is just another lie from a professional liar. he needs to put his money where his mouth is. host: part of the infrastructure spending in terms of the elderly -- home care, in this chart on the spending proposals from the president. in-home care for older adults and those with disabilities, $400 billion. this is larry, independent line. go ahead. caller: i listen to vice president harris speak minutes ago on your program, and i think something she said is very important to understand this point. she says we need to tell the

truth when appropriate. that is very telling. we have not heard the truth very often coming from this administration. as far as the release of criminals out of jail, i have been involved in that system pretty heavily in my working career. and it really boiled down to controlling populations in the local jails and had nothing to do with politics at that point. it was just control the population. it worked because the judges controlled the policies, not the politicians. i don't know. that was 25 years ago. but as long as we keep the

politicians out of that system as much as we can and leave it up to the judges -- the judges ran the program in oregon very well and controlled populations in the jails. the right people were in jail, and the people that needed to be released were released. i had to speak up when i heard vice president harris speak about telling the truth when appropriate. host: thank you. about an hour left in our program and a chance for you to weigh in on president biden's speech last night to a joint session of congress. for democrats, independents, and others, we welcome your text messages and calls. some of the headlines across the country on the president's speech. piney is next in berkshire, texas, on the republican line.

is that you? caller: yes, good morning. how are you this morning? host: i'm doing fine. do us a favor. make sure you mute your volume and go ahead with your comments. caller: i listened to the speech last night of the president. he lied right out of the gate on that, and him speaking of the pandemic, when he could open of the border and allow immigrants to come in and infect what was already infected. the democratic party wants to destroy america and wants to see america as a socialist nation like china. he does not say anything about china because china is president item's boss. the entire democratic party are

against america, against this nation. he -- with the kind of policies he is putting in, that is not going to help america. he said he wants jobs. trump in office -- he killed 11 million jobs for people on the pipeline. saying he wants jobs for the people, he don't want nothing, especially for the black people. that is why he is allowing all these immigrants to come into this nation. host: jim rich with a tweet moments ago saying this. what the president did was lay out a comprehensive vision on how to change from capitalism to socialism. we must not be swept up in this current. this is bill. hello, there. emma crestline.

-- democrats line. caller: thanks for taking my call. first of all, i am want to encourage all of us as americans to pray for this country, to pray for our leaders. the comment so many people are making are based on disinformation. they are not lies. the senator from south carolina got up and the fact check thing you showed -- he said 6% when it was actually 26%. flat out lie. biden got attacked for talking about -- he is the first president i have ever seen, and i am so glad he is there, that has called out racism in this

america. and he got criticized for it. and when kamala harris was talking this morning, she said when appropriate -- it was appropriate for him to say that when he said it. they were picking and choosing when they wanted to say things. and if we really do want -- do care about this country, we will stop talking about democrats and we will stop talking about republicans, and we will start talking about america. the truth of the matter is he is not going to get republican support the same way obama did not get any. it is not because there is anything wrong with the policies. they have done a great job of dividing us as a people. and as long as we allow our local officials who are supposed to be honorable and supposed to

be here to support us to do what they are doing, they are going to continue to do this. this is the play to knock everything down. and joe biden said he wanted to unite the country. they do everything they can to keep us divided. let's pray for the american people. host: here is the atlanta journal-constitution. when president joe biden arrived in georgia today, he will be commemorating his first 100 days in office. he will also be taking a victory lap in the state that put his expensive legislative agenda within reach. biden is set up to visit former president jimmy carter in his hometown of planes and headline a driving rally in gwinnett county the day after rolling out

a sweeping $1.8 trillion plan to expand access to education and bolster family assistance programs that will be partly financed i higher taxes on the wealthiest americans. that is coming up tonight, that driving rally coming up life tonight. you can follow it live on the c-span app. reporter: i want to keep you updated on the news. the associated press about 10 minutes ago, the number of americans applying for unemployment benefits dropped by 13,000 last week to 553,000, the lowest level since the pandemic hit last march, and another sign that the economy is recovering. this also from the associated press.

the recovery from the pandemic accelerated. those numbers in the news today. you will likely hear more about them and reaction from members of congress to them. bring it back to last night's joint address, some other tweets you might have seen or mentioned from last night -- a good follow if you are not, c-span's howard moorman. he talked a lot about the republican response to the president's address. in the previous job, the parties response to the state of the union, the other three were ford, clinton, and bush. this is a picture of a mask larry was candid as he went to the floor of the house. a masking handed out to members of congress at the direction of the democratic leadership.

tone deaf are not strong enough words to describe it. it is disgraceful. what is on that mask -- made in china is what he was focusing on. the freshman republican congresswoman lauren boebert getting a lot of attention last night for unfurling one of those space blankets, as they are called. she retweeted this comment from a republican running for congress in colorado. this is what he had to say about that moment. joe biden did not bring up the border crisis, but lauren boebert brought out the mylar blanket to remind him of the kids he has locked up on the southern border. this is how it is done, said that republican congressional candidate. and one more from this morning -- one of the targets through

2020 has been senator ted cruz. the lincoln project focusing on the cameras perhaps catching ted cruz perhaps dozing off, re-cutting it with music and sending out this tweet this morning. >> ♪ birds singing in the sycamore tree dream a little dream of me same night -- say nighty night ♪ >> the lesson learned is to always keep your eyes open on the floor of the house. cameras are everywhere. and they are not c-span cameras necessarily in that case. our tweeters this morning picking up on the same thing on senator cruz. to be fair, some have pointed out nancy pelosi had her eyes closed for a bit. ted cruz might have stayed home if he were going to nap through biden's speech. thank you, john.

in maryland on the independent line, go ahead. caller: three short thoughts. a caller earlier stated that senators take home $400,000 a year. the salary is half that. senator scott said america is not a racist country. senator harris said that racists and racism are a problem in the country. she did not directly respond to his claim. third, the president in his speech called for banning high-capacity magazines. he said there is no reason for someone to need 100 rounds in a magazine. there is bait and switch there. the magazine limit measures that have been enacted and supported throughout the country and by the democratic party are for limits of less than 20 rounds, 10 or even fewer. i think that if president biden

supported and the congressmen put together a bill banning magazines with more than 100 rounds, that might go somewhere. but to say in the speech 100 rounds is a problem and to call for bans on 11 is a trick. host: here are the actual words of president biden from that speech on his gun proposal. [video clip] pres. biden: gun violence has become epidemic. the flag at the white house is still flying at half mast for the eight victims of the mass shooting in georgia when 10 more lives are taken in a mass shooting in colorado. week in between those two events , two hundred 50 other americans were shot dead on the streets of america. 250 shot dead. i know how hard it is to make progress on this issue. in the 1990's, we passed

universal background checks, band high-capacity magazines with more than 100 rounds that could be fired off in seconds. we beat the nra. mass shootings and gun violence declined. check out the report. but in the early 2000's, the law expired and we have seen daily bloodshed since. i'm not saying if the law continued, we would not see bloodshed. more than two weeks ago in the rose garden, surrounded by some of the bravest people i know, the survivors and families who lost people to gun violence, i laid out several of the department of justice actions that are being taken to impact on this epidemic. one of them is banning so-called ghost guns. these are homemade guns built from a kit that includes directions how to finish the firearm. the parts have no serial numbers , so they show up at crime scenes and they cannot be traced.

the buyers are not required to pass any background checks. anyone, from a criminal or terrorist, could buy this kit and within 30 minutes have a weapon that is lethal. but no more. i will do everything in my power to protect the american people from this epidemic of gun violence, but it is time for congress to act as well. [applause] look, i don't want to become confrontational -- we need more senators who are republicans to join democratic colleagues to close the loophole on background checks of purchases of guns. and don't tell me it cannot be done. we did it before, and it worked.

talk to most responsible gun owners and hunters. they will tell you there is no possible justification for having 100 rounds in a weapon. do you think deer are wearing kevlar vests? they will tell you there are too many people today who are able to buy a gun which should not be able to buy a gun. these kinds of recent reforms have overwhelming support from the american people, including many gun owners. the country supports reform, and congress should act. and no amendment to the constitution is absolute. you cannot yell fire in a crowded theater. from the very beginning, there were certain guns, weapons, that could not be owned by americans. certain people could not own those weapons, ever.

we are not changing the constitution. we are being reasonable. i think this is not a democrat or republican issue. i think it is an american issue. host: the tweet from democratic senator sheldon whitehouse. the supreme court tees up a case to strike down common sense gun protections, which shows just how far the republican appointed justices will go to back the nra and the gun industry. back to your calls. this is beverly, democrats line. caller: hello and good morning. i do believe that the people need to get together. that republican and democrat stuff, that is just a copout. all these republicans need to get on the stick and make the

laws available for the people. take the guns away that the people are using them in the wrong way. it is all about money. money, greed. all these are publicans are so greedy. they don't know where to put the money in the right sources -- the people. good jobs. host: thanks, beverly. steven in new york, republican line. caller: my response to joe biden's speech thing is on his raising of taxes. when he raises taxes, it helps china. it helps russia. when we don't have nuclear weapons or anything else, we are not in the best interest of the good of the united states are our allies or anyone else.

this is a plan to destroy america and destroy the world. host: stratford, connecticut, next up. nancy, hello there. caller: good morning. the republican men who are calling in saying they are scared and afraid and they fear 80-year-old nancy pelosi, and they fear vice president kamala harris, and they fear immigrants -- they sound so afraid. it is embarrassing. republican men, you will be ok. thank you. host: milford is with us in north carolina, democrats line. go ahead. mildred, i'm sorry. caller: thank you for accepting my call. i definitely want to say that i think god for the speech last night from our president. and i want you to know that i am a child of god.

we need to lift the name of the lord more. and also, president joe biden is the person of the hour for the presidency. we have prayed and prayed that god would supply the need for america. i want you to know that we have got somebody over every soul in the world, and that is jesus christ. one day, we are all going to have to stand before him, everyone, because we are all going to have to leave this world one day. and i want to say to c-span i listen to you all all the time. and i want you to know it would

be good if you had more people that would lift the name of jesus, the pastors and others, because one day everybody's going to have to stand and give an account of the deeds done in their bodies. host: appreciate your call. the president addressing many issues last night in his just over an hour speech, including immigration. here is what he said. pres. biden: immigration has always been essential to america. let's and are exhausting more on immigration. for more than 40 years, politicians have talked about immigration reform, and we have done nothing about it. it's time to fix it. on day one of my presidency, i kept my commitments and a comprehensive commitment bill to the united states congress. if you believe the need to secure the border, pass it, because it has a lot of money for high-tech order security.

if you believe in a pathway to citizenship, pass it. there is over 11 million undocumented folks, the vast majority here overstaying visas. pass it. we actually want to solve a problem. we have the ability to take a close look at it. we have to get at the root problem of why people are fleeing, particularly to guatemala, hunter's, el salvador , hunger, hurricanes, earthquakes, natural disaster. when i was president -- when i was vice president, the present asked me to look at the root causes of migration, and to help keep people in their own countries instead of being forced to leave. the plan was working, but the last administration decided it was not worth it. i asked vice president harris to lead our diplomatic effort to take care of this. i have accident -- absolute

comfort -- confident she will do the job. look, if you don't like my plan, let's at least pass what we all agree on. congress needs to pass legislation this year to finally secure protection for dreamers. they have only known america as their home. [applause] and permanent protection for immigrants who are here on temporary protected status and came to the country as set by mandate. as well as a pathway to citizenship for farmers who put food on our tables. [applause] look, immigrants have done so much for america during this pandemic and throughout our history. the country supports immigration

reform. we should act. host: president biden last night. our colleague with reaction and follow-up. guest: finding a bit more of the reaction coming in, including from hillary clinton. this tweet this morning marking joe biden's hundredth day in office. 200 million shots in arms. relief checks. getting started. thanks, joe biden. back on the cable news channel, the georgia governor, governor kemp, was talking about the georgia voting law talked about in the respective addresses last night. this is governor camp on "talk to the press" this morning. [video clip] gov. kemp: when you have the

president of the united states getting four pos ---- pinoc chios, they are this far-reaching, woke cancel culture movement driven by people like stacey abrams and the white house. it backfired because they simply did not read the bill. guest: governor brian kemp on "fox and friends" this morning. we have seen -- we will see plenty of polling of reaction to this. this from cbs news, saying their poll watchers found that more than eight in 10 of those who watched approved of biden's speech. most said it made them feel optimistic about america. congresswoman loewen boebert throwing cold water on that. cbs says 85% of americans

approved. run up to 100% at this point. we all know it is utter bullcrap, was her tweet this morning. we put up our own poll last night, not scientific, a twitter pole. go ahead and weigh them. well over 200 individuals have when it came to the question we asked, what was your overall reaction to president biden's tweet. 68%, almost 69%, saying they had a very positive reaction. 10% saying they had a somewhat positive reaction. 5% saying somewhat negative. almost 17% had a very negative reaction. host: thanks for that, john. we have been reading some of the editorial response, analysis from writers. this is the washington post, the headline "at 100 days, biden seat to leverage narrow majorities to reverse the reagan

era." a speech to the nation wednesday. the scope and applications of his domestic agenda have come sharply into focus. they represent the most emetic shift in social welfare policy since ronald reagan was elected 40 years ago. the small government philosophy resulted in a decade-long squeeze on the federal government, especially domestic spending, and on tax policies that mainly then offended the wealthiest americans. biden ultimately gets his way, and that is a big? , those policies would be replaced with one's that would directly address long-standing economic, racial, and gender inequities that have only become more apparent during the coronavirus pandemic. read more at washingtonpost.com. the viewer response on social media -- this one says "great speech addressing real issues." boomer says i am worried about earmarks and infrastructure will

collide into another era of crony capitalism. it was so great to hear actual policies from a normal human being, says deborah. and it was great to see an american president being presidential and not encouraging separatism and bigotry. we can disagree without demonizing each other. let's hear from decatur ville, tennessee. this is bridget. hello there. caller: i'm from the south and i am white, but we are not all racist. the south, more black people are racist than white people. if you are a good person and you are nice, they totally accept you. but when people keep talking about white supremacists -- she said white supremacists was in america, the terrorists. new york city, they did not run into the pentagon, they did not

shoot up a nightclub in florida. what they are saying -- what they are not saying is white supremacists and the kkk and groups like that are dying out. quit calling us all racist. and a caller said the president has not been on the golf course yet. what i voted for president obama, and he went golfing all the time. and i voted for president trump. i vote for whoever i think is going to run this country the best. host: vermont. caller: i love that last caller. that girl has more commonsense than all the democrats i heard put together today.

host: tom, are you still there? caller: yes. host: he is in baltimore, maryland. caller: i want to say that president biden spoke well. he is for the people. it seems the republicans always complain about anything the democrats do to help the american people. they sat last night as biden was talking about giving safety for the kids and jobs. they did not have any position in any of that. and they -- calling out names of people, if you are a person who is in charge of the election board, how can you run for an office? to me, that was suspect. host: go ahead, you are still on the air. caller: for him to talk about somebody else complaining about

the voter thing, remember he was in charge of the voting on the office when he was running for the office and purged votes. to me, he has no say in this. i believe he did cheat in his election. you look at 85% of the american people today agree with biden. i think we really need to come on board with what he is trying to do for the american people. biden, he always sees the american people. everything he does, he has the american people in mind. and also i believe -- host: thank you for that view. charles in fort collins, colorado. caller: yes. i hear a lot of people talking today on tv, and they are talking about it seems like a

tree full of apples, everybody, you know, they are pointing out little things that are the problem. my belief is the problem is not the politicians, it is the systems within they work and at the way our system has become so corrupt. and i wish the american people would read hr-1, or on c-span watch at the hearing on hr-1, because that is the bill that is going to take away money from corporations to make decisions. and it will create gerrymandering especially. my opinion of gerrymandering is the republican senators can be put in a district that is 90% republican, because it has been gerrymandered. and if he speak out against anything republican, your

district is going to turn on you and you will lose your election. however, if districts will balance 50-50 democrat-rep ublican, it would give politicians the freedom to speak out on what they believe, because you are going to get people from both sides saying, ok, but -- trump is a perfect example. if you're in a district and you are in a 90% republican district and you speak out against trump, he comes to your district or he tweets and says you are a rhino -- boom, you are out. hr-1 addresses all of this and takes care of creating a democratic society that works well for the people. thank you. host: sean in new york on the republican line.

go ahead. caller: good morning. how are you? host: fine, thank you. caller: i want to address three things. on immigration, i was on a conference call with congressman jacobs, who went down to the border at the invitation of congressman gonzales. and the crux of it is the american people, and congress, we need to listen to border patrol agents on the line. they are doing a difficult job and and they need help. that's 1.i wanted to make to the american people. -- that one point i wanted to make to the american people. talk to the border patrol agents and see what the issues are. i think that would solve issues at the border. when it comes to an ar-15, i think people do not understand what it is. they stand for an armor light

rifle, a semi automatic that shoots one round per pull. one other thing i want to address is just do your research, you know, before you speak. that is what i tried to do. i tried to do my research before a form an opinion. look at both sides and then you can form your opinion. take care of yourself and have a good day. host: you do the same. there is a headline, "right wing erupts after speech." the president addressed voting rights in the country. [video clip] pres. biden: we need to protect the sacred right to vote. [applause]

more people voted in the last presidential election than any time in american history, in the middle of the worst pandemic ever. it should be celebrated. instead, it is being attacked. congress should pass the hr-1 and send it to my desk right away. the country supports it. and congress should act now. [applause] look, we have gathered here tonight after we saw a riot in this capital, it remains vivid in our minds. your lives were put at risk. lives were lost. courage it was so mad it was in existential crisis, a test on whether our democracy could survive. and it did. but the struggle is far from

over. the question of whether a democracy will long endure is ancient and urgent. as old as our republic. still vital today. can our democracy deliver on its promise that all of us have a chance to lead lives of dignity, respect and possibility? can our democracy deliver the most pressing needs of our people? ca ourn democracy overcome the lies, anger and fears that pull us apart? america's adversary, the autocrats, are betting we can't. i'm promise you they are betting we can't. they believe we are too full of anger, division and rage. they look at the mob that assaulted the capitol building as proof. but they are wrong. you know and i know it. but we have to prove them wrong. we have to prove democracy still works, that our government still

works and we can deliver for our people. host: that was president biden last night. he was talking about the january 6 attack. there was a notable presence on the house for last night. >> an interesting tweet, noting that capitol police officer eugene goodman, who led writers away from the chamber during the insurrection. he stood guard last night at one of the doors. and i wanted to catch up on some of the homework throughout our three hours this morning. some confusion on annual salaries by members of congress. let me get you the numbers, this from the congressional institute. the annual salary of rank-and-file members, $174,000 a year. congressional leaders earn more because they have additional response abilities. this picker receives $223,000 -- the speaker receives 223,005 a dollars annual. and the majority and minority

leaders in both chambers receive $193,000 annually. some confusion from viewers on how much or if joe biden had golfed during his time as president. this from business insider, their story about it, joe biden having golfed one time, his first time being on his 87th day in office. by contrast, former president trump played golf with 15 times or 15 days into his tenure in 2017. and he played nearly 300 times during his time as president. so that from the business insider story, if you want to read more on that. and a note from chad -- of fox news, as we have been talking about tim scott, on whether he would run for president. he said, i am not running for the presidency of my

association, i do however want to be reelected as a south carolina's junior senator. a tweet from chad pergram, noting the house hearing today, a appropriationsn -- an appropriations committee meeting this morning just after our program. so, stick around on c-span. you can also watch it on c-span.org and listen to it on the free c-span radio app. host: thank you for that. we have about 22 minutes of your calls and comments. let's go to matt in virginia. democrats' line. caller: listening to the comments this morning, as a teacher i can hear three things. one, fair of change. -- fear of change. i think that joe biden has to work on helping people understand that our society is

changing whether we wanted to were not. we cannot go back to the 1960's and 1950's of, you know, giant unions where a lot of people work with one job and a family structure, that is out the window. we are in a world where we are dealing with other countries, fighting for the same resources as them, we are creating trade deals across countries and we have to compromise with them to create those trade deals. i think that people want this american gemini that cannot exist in a global world. so, helping people understand that change, and also making sure we understand the change and we are working to be ahead of that change, so we do not have massive job disruption or massive social disruption. making sure that our resources are, like you said, focused on r&d so we can develop new jobs to replace the ones leaving us

behind. at that is part one. host: what grade level do you teach? caller: elementary. we are speaking media literacy to our students to make sure they understand what is real news and fake news. we teach that there are many websites that have the word news on them, but they are not actually news, they are blogs with opinions. we have to show them, when you are looking online, some things look like news but they are not news. that distinction is important. host: you said change is coming, whether we like it or not, so what grade level are you at, how do you teach them about the change that is coming here in the united states and and the world -- the changes happening now? caller: one way we do that or one thing we talk about is 21st century skills, we are not teaching students to be workers

in the 20th century, we are teaching them to be creative, to be online, and to be technologically savvy. we are trying to give them skills, but i will be honest, the education sometimes plays a trailing game. we can only do the best we can with what we think is going to be the future needs, but we could be wrong too. i think it is year-by-year doing the best we can to do that. host: are you back in the classroom now? caller: yes. host: thank you for weighing in. glen falls, new york -- larry, hello. caller: as a middle-class american, i've never paid much attention to the race, until this year. he said the most americans ever voted. i'm looking at this president, he looks weak. i liz raised t -- was raised to respect our president, but this

man is making us look weak. that's my opinion. host: steve, good morning. on the independent line. caller: how is everybody doing? you guys are doing a good show. i want to make a comment on the speech last night that was televised. it was in all -- in all -- when you look at it, it looks like a state of the union address. when he does do his date of the union address, let's take notes and compare if it will be a carbon copy of what we saw last night or if there is going to be something new to come down. um, we've had good callers today. and that is all i want to say for now. host: here's the majority whip, dick durbin of illinois, "the american families plan,

introduce yesterday, is an investment in america's children and students, it will level the playing field and seeks to ensure that every child starts their life on equal footing. it has my full support." joan, good morning. caller: i have a new name for the 1% corporate america with all of them money in the country, they are robber barons. th takeey -- they take all their money, everything that has made them wealthy, and -- the charts. that is what we do, the people in the street and the people that work every day. i think we need to look at what we can do, or whether they can do, and not be shaming themselves by lying and telling stories. the republican party has worked

so hard to try to get to the top, because they have not done anything to earn it, so they have to lie and tell stories about it. so, i think with the people of this country need to do is quit looking at each other and thinking what we each did wrong and say, what can we do together and take the word fear out of our vocabulary. because there is a lot of things we can do if we get the courage to do it and not keep looking for blame. at the guys at the top, the supreme court, they ought to be ashamed of what they are doing to this country. and i think that's all i have to say. host: a text from kevin, an independent in california, "the most underreported story is the influence of bernie sanders, who is being mean -- was beaming

after the speech, realizing how much of the grassroots movement he led has shifted the democratic party towards socialism." blake, go ahead. caller: i want to say one thing. it's really sad because i do not see anything focusing on the fact of the true plight of african-americans, who built the white house, who about mid-america, the most powerful nation in the world, and the same homeland where white counterparts have 18 times their 12. -- their wealth. and we are getting killed. they killed martin luther king, they killed hampton in chicago. i'm a veteran, i would die for this country. but it is a damn shame that we

can obliterate europe, but we are not going to give african-americans a land of their own. we had to purchase as a result of -- the 50,000 soldiers, so america, as large as it is, it is due to those --. so there is land to give african-americans if you're not going to share the wealth. but what do you do? you -- in poor neighborhoods, you take our businesses. do not tell the whole world give me your tired and huddled masses, and send them to my neighborhood where you have your foot on my neck. host: the president to talk about inequities exacerbated by the pandemic lesson. here is what he said. [video clip] pres. biden: you have heard people say, we do not want to raise taxes on the 1%.

ask them, whose taxes do they want to raise? what are they going to cut? the big tax code of 2017, remember, it was supposed to pay for itself. it was supposed to generate vast economic growth. instead, it added $2 trillion to the deficit. it was a huge windfall for corporate america and those at the very top. instead of using the tax savings to invest in research and development, it poured billions into the pockets of ceos. in fact, the pay gap between ceos and workers is among the largest in history now, according to one study ceos make 320 times what the average worker in their corporation makes. used to be in the low 100s. the pandemic has only made things worse.

20 million americans lost their jobs in the pandemic, working and middle-class americans. at the same time, roughly 650 billionaires in america saw their net worth increased by $1 trillion, in the same period. 650 people increased their wealth by more than $1 trillion during the pandemic. and now they are worth more than $4 trillion. my fellow americans, trickle down, trickle down economics has never worked. it's time to grow the economy from the bottom and middle out. [applause] you know, there's a broad consensus of economists, and they agree that what i'm am

proposing will create millions of jobs and develop economic growth. these are the highest investments we can make as a nation. host: back to your calls. greg in dayton, ohio. caller: hello. host: good morning. you are on. caller: joe biden speaks of -- it was the largest election turnout in history. the next thing you hear him talk about is voter suppression. it's like a wow, where did that come from? he spoke of lead in the water lines. he has been in office since the turn-of-the-century, why wasn't that a problem when he was in office? he speaks of the rich do not pay tax. it's impossible for them not to pay tax. they own things, they employ people, property tax, business tax -- you know, he needs to

worry about hunter's tax. how is he making more money than a ceo? it does not make sense to me. he's full of hot air. host: on the democrats' line, this is helen. caller: how are you? host: fine, thanks. go ahead. caller: i appreciate c-span. the one thing i wanted to say is joe biden never has taken responsibility or accolades for medications. he's the only one whose gone to the american people. but, see -- before the insurrection, trump was pissed because he had lost. he spent time doing whatever he was doing to set up january 6's insurrection.

by the way, the insurrection, what happened to the two cops who supposedly committed suicide? i have often wondered about that. host: let's get another check on last night's events and follow up with our colleague, john. john: we have been showing reaction from members of congress to last night's speech. we did it after the speech last night and after the response. if you want to continue to follow reaction throughout the day, a good way to do that is to go to c-span's twitter page, click on members of congress's lists, which you can follow. that is a key way to find reaction, like we have been bringing you throughout the program. more on our twitter page. senator ted cruz saying that joe biden provided zero solutions to the crisis at the border that he caused.

"he pretended it did not exist." congressman andy biggs from yesterday, saying he is preparing for the next 100 days under joe biden, reading george orwell's "1984." and from the democratic side, eric style while saying, here are the things that republicans refused to clap for, ensuring everybody has clean drinking water, lowering prescription drug prices, buying american, and jobs. and from the congressman from minnesota, saying that the two policies that have been progressive sponsored bills for more than a dictator are being pushed by the president of the united states, including free pre-k, taxing the rich, paid family leave, childcare into school meals -- that's the power

of organizing. let's keep going. that was from last night. one more story to let you know about this morning. this is from axios.com, a coalition of groups in this country calling for the president to form a disinformation task force. that would crackdown on deliberate disinformation campaigns in ways that do not limit free expression. the letter from those groups saying the prevalence of propaganda and conspiracy theories related to the 2020 election and covid-19, and at the recent insurrection, illustrates the clear and present threat that disinformation poses to our democracy and national security. that in a letter that was obtained by axios.com, some of the groups that signed on to the letter include the senate for american progress, the electronic frontier foundation,

the center for democracy and technology, and others. if you want to read that reporting from axios this morning. host: thank you for all of your work. lots of details and added information for our listeners and viewers. the wall street journal opinion writers saying, "the cradle-to-grave government, the latest plan rejects the old social contract of work for benefits." you can read more on their website. in norman, oklahoma, this is leo on the republican line. caller: good morning. you're doing a good job. you let people call and give their opinion and is greatly appreciated. two subjects i want to talk about. i'm a 73-year-old environmental chemist. i want to address the oil and gas. and the second will be worldwide environmental issues.

i have conducted audits across the united states, mexico, venezuela and communist china. but i look at the facts, you can clarify this if you go to the energy information administration's website, there are 93 countries that produce oil and gas. the u.s. produces 11 million barrels a day. and the other 92 countries produce 65 million barrels of oil a day, oil and gas. i want my fellow americans to know that we are not the polluters of the world, we are not responsible for the green gas dealer -- other and all the omissions. the planet has about 7 billion people, there are 330 million of us. the other 6.7 billion other people on this plane are still driving cars, and they will continue to drive cars that use gasoline and diesel. the other 93 countries producing

oil and gas in the world are not going to stop producing oil and gas. and if god almighty himself came down and turned the u.s.-backed into a pristine nation, the environmental issues would still be there. that's all i have to say about that. now i want to talk about the environmental. i was shocked when i went into this, because i was a chemist for a facility at that time, had 123 clients worldwide. so, when i went into a mexico facility, the venezuela facility, and the chinese facility, and i wanted to go over there with guidelines and laws, that they do not have any. none. america, you need to know that. and you have, um, you have a new environmental director there in washington, and i wish he would have him come on and explain to

the american people exactly what we do in the united states. we are 50 years ahead of everybody else in protecting the environment. we have the experience, technology, and the american people -- we have geniuses in this country and they have simplified some of these environmental systems. they are so easy to run, that somebody with a haskell education can do it. i have trained people and i have written programs for different treatments, and treatment systems throughout the united states, and i wanted the american people to know thataree polluting the world. host: thanks for that. kevin is next, democrats' line.

caller: thank you for letting people put their input in. i saw something on axios yesterday, it said some investments are worth the deficit financing. he said it's only when -- when there are progressive priorities, everybody freaks out. and i wanted to respond to you putting the lincoln project ad on. liberals gave the republican -- the lincoln project thousands of dollars. a guy has a thing called the jelly poster, he is a critic of the lincoln project. and i think regular citizens have input, too. i met the woman who moderated

the debate and told her the vernacular from donald trump's performance -- i said he does not let anybody get a word in. she became my hero link she adapted it and used that word in her comments afterwards. host: thank you. we are waiting for the start of a hearing on violent extremism and domestic terrorism, coming up momentarily here on c-span, c-span.org and on the c-span radio app. comments on social media, text from james who says, "wish biden would have spoken on black crime, guns and murder on the rise. probably will not agree with tim scott, but biden getting votes

-- maybe scott can wrestle the gop from the hands of the proud boys." he talked about issues that by --it's past time for their publc and controlled senate to listen and act on policies citizens support. here is jeff in columbus, ohio. independent line. good morning. you are on the air. caller: good morning. in terms of the presentation i thought it was refreshingly presidential without any ranting or braggadocio. the program seemed to be constanza -- comprehensive, fairly prepared and ultimately meshed well together for the benefit of the american society. i was a little bit upset about the pandering to the ibew

without mentioning the effective climate change on usw, of the umw or the uaw. and their respective communities. i think we can work through this if we have faith in ourselves and faith in the government. host: to delray beach, florida. caller: i'm not someone who would be considered a biden program -- biden supporter per se. i'm critical of both parties and feel like i'm moderate. something in particular talking about extremism. i'm what's called a men's rights activist. kind of considered part of the alt-right and we are very often accused or lumped in with groups like the proud boys or these

extreme alt-right groups and it's really not true at all. but biden was talking about some women's issues last night with agri -- which i agree with. it would be nice if a president rugged to consider some men's issues. young men are less likely to go to college, less likely to be employed, less likely to own a home, more likely to be homeless, in prison. so instead of lecturing young men and having this hostile approach over your toxic masculinity, this is privilege on your part, may be listening and understanding why do some of these young men get these kind of extreme ideas and why do these young men get siphoned off to the all asphalt right. what's the message they are getting. i think maybe it would be a good idea to gate commission on women and girls but maybe also consider a commission for men and boys. host: tell me again the name of

the group you are affiliated with and its purpose. caller: i have my own group if you go on youtube. the men's rights subreddit on reddit and the official discord for that. i've written for the national coalition for men and i have written for men are human, it's an organization. host: appreciate your call this morning. that will about do it for us as we wrap up the program for the calls and comments. we are back tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern as we are every day. we will take you next to a hearing with the house appropriations commerce subcommittee looking at the mastic terrorism and violent extremism hearing from judiciary -- from the justice department officials and it's just getting underway. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncic.o