the clerk: the honorable the speaker, house of representatives. madam, pursuant to the permission granted in clause 2-h of rule 2 of the rules of the u.s. house of representatives the clerk received the following message from the secretary of the senate on june 18, 2021, at 4:23 p.m. that the senate passed, senate 1340. appointments, senate delegation to the british-american interparliamentary group conference during the 117th congress. signed, sincerely, cheryl l. johnson. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to section 11-b of house resolution 188, the house stands adjourned until noon tomorrow for morning hour debate and 2 p.m. for legislative business.

host: and also involved on the booster for the covid vaccine. dr. lyke, welcome to the journal. guest: happy to be here. host: you are running the study for the nih on a covid-19 booster. in general for vaccines, why and when is a booster deemed necessary? guest: two reasons. number one, we are only about a year out from the first trials that began to study covid vaccines, so we are learning as we go whether the immune response to the vaccine continues to be robust, so, number one, the vaccine could

start to diminish in immunity over time, but the second reason is because of the variants and the strains are changing, and just like the flu vaccine, it may be that we need boosters. host: windage or study begin and how many people are taking part -- windage or study begin and how many people are taking part? guest: it is a study where we add groups as we come up with new questions. the study began at the end of may. it is slotted to go for up to four years, which means as new variants come along or other questions arise, we will add more groups and move through. our first results should be rolling in in early august and what we hope is we will be able to make some good decisions about boosters as soon as this autumn. host: when the nih -- this is in nh study.

-- this is an nih study. how does that process go? is this something the cdc would say, yes, we recommend booster shots for the vaccine? guest: yes. all these trials are done with the fda overseeing, and so they are well aware of our trial design and we give them results as we move through, so it may be that the fda decides that a booster that is produced by one of these companies may be a can to -- may be akin to the influenza shots we give each year, so it does not have to go through a full review each year for licensure, it would just need to be attended. -- be updated. we are testing people who have

already been vaccinated under one of the approved vaccines in the u.s., which is the j&j, moderna and pfizer, so we are giving the boosters. one of them is to see, if you have the mrna and get another, does your response boost? another interesting question is if you had johnson and you get a different platform, like mrna, do you have an even better response? so we are looking at what we call the mix and match. we are switching platforms to see how we can best boost the immune response with a single dose. host: is the dosage amount the same as would have been in the original vaccine? guest: yeah. except that getting two additional doses, likely you will just get one, but it will be the same dose. one question we had is whether we can reduce the dose.

that might be another question we could feed into the study later. guest: we would like to -- host: we would like to hear viewers on their questions. if you have been vaccinated, the line is (202) 748-8000. not vaccinated, the number is (202) 748-8001. our guest is dr. kirsten lyke with the university of maryland medical school and also doing the vaccine booster study at nih. you said, dr. lyke, you would see early results in august, but this study goes on for you think four years. guest: correct. we are adding new groups and boosters as we go. all the companies and groups making boosters targeted toward some of the variants, for instance, the south african variant, so we hope to be testing those boosters as well, but as new products come along, we will add them into our study. host: the individuals being studied, how does this work? you get the booster and how does

in ih, how does your group -- how does nih, your group, determine the efficacy? guest: this is all about immune response and safety, not so much efficacy. we are assuming that all the massive trials with 30,000 to 40,000 have already proved these vaccines work, so our objective is to look at the immune response and to compare it to people that, according to their previous response after they got their initial dosing. so we are enrolling people at 10 sites throughout the u.s. and asking them to donate blood so that we can monitor their immune response over a year to see how they responded to the boosters. host: how large did you say the survey is at this point? how many have you enlisted into the survey so far? guest: our initial trial began at 400. then we are adding another 152 that.

-- another 150 to that. we hope to go up to 1250. host: how far -- let's go back to the polio vaccine, major vaccines like that, where they typically needed in those cases? -- that, were they typically needed in those cases? guest: it depends on the infection you are treating. for instance, tetanus. it is easy to immunize against, so therefore, typically, after you have received your initial series, you don't have to get another for 10 years. same with yellow fever. but there are some viruses like influenza that change. and because they change so much, we have to get new vaccines year after year, so coronavirus, we don't have a lot of experience. we never had a vaccine before this year and it doesn't mutate as fast as influenza, but

clearly, it is mutating, so really it is an open-ended question as to whether we will need boosts, but if we do, it may need to be focused on particular variants like the delta variant that is rearing up out of india. host: and as opposed to a broad statewide rollout of a vaccination program at large sites, could you see this potentially becoming something that's just administered at a dr. visit -- at a doctor visit were small health centers? guest: yes. if you have already gotten the initial series, you have that foundational immune response and our job is to boost that by giving another injection, and so it would most likely go down to the street level, you know, your neighborhood doctor and the drugstore around the corner. it wouldn't -- we would need to be having these massive rollouts -- we wouldn't need to be having

these massive rollouts. host: some manufacturers are gearing up for the potential likelihood of a booster. this is from a new york times piece, the headline of which said we will probably need booster shots for covid, but when and which ones? and that, the head of media relations for pfizer said that our current thinking is until we see a reduction in sars-cov-2 circulation and covid-19 disease, we believe it is likely that there will be a third dose needed to improve protection against covid-19. your study, dr. lyke, is trying to see if one could take a booster of another type, not necessarily the original one someone may have gotten. host: we are testing the original -- guest: guest: we are testing the original one and that is our comparison group. that is our foundational group. then we are looking at other platforms so we can see if we can do an even better job by

having two different types of vaccines. and it may be that, as pfizer mentioned, that we need to give a booster that is targeted against some particular variant, and we want to be able to see if you have gotten in -- an mrna in the first place, if we follow with a booster variant, can we get your immune response to mount after that injection? so lots of questions and subtleties to those questions, but we will likely need boosters. host: a question from jeff on twitter, who asks this. the emergency use authorization, the fda authorization, will that encompass covid-19 booster vaccines? guest: it is an interesting question. pfizer and moderna are going up for full licensure, so it may be

that by the time we rollout boosters that they have achieved licensure already, so at this point it is unknown. i suspect that many of these companies will have licensure by the time boosters are rolled out. host: let's hear from some of our callers. we go first to cary in pennsylvania. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? host: i am fine, thanks. caller: just a question. i had both doses of the pfizer vaccine. about two months ago. i am still sick. i did not do well at all. i have had multiple symptoms. i was perfectly healthy before, but i thought i should just go get the vaccine because, you know, i figured i am going to need it. and i just want to know, what recourse do i have?

there is no liability for these manufacturers, for these pharmaceutical companies. what -- and i am hearing from so many people now who are having these terrible reactions. what recourse do we have? there is nothing to do. they are not held liable, from what i understand, for anything. host: dr. lyke. guest: actually, you can -- [no audio] host: we may have lost dr. lyke. cary, thank you for your call. we will work to get dr. lyke back on the phone with us momentarily. i think the line dropped. we will get her on. linda in connecticut, hang on. we will get to your call momentarily as we try to reconnect with dr. lyke on

washington journal. this is from the wall street journal on the persistence of covid. covid-19 seen in background for long-term. u.s. is entering a new phase of the pandemic as people settle back into normal life thanks to the vaccines, but public health authorities are preparing for americans to live with the disease lurking in the background. many health professionals believe reaching herd immunity is a distant goal due to both highly varied vaccination rates in the u.s. and uncertainty about how much covid must be suppressed to stop its spread. instead, they are focused on how to make it a manageable disease with steps like surveillance and response to rapid outbreaks -- and rapid response to outbreaks, particularly in vulnerable populations. masks could return too to control flareups. back to dr. kirsten lyke.

sorry about that. i think we dropped you. guest: thank you. host: you are back on the air. we will go to linda in cromwell, connecticut. sorry -- this is vicki in austin, texas. go ahead. caller: i had both pfizer vaccinations and i would like to get to any boosters that would come along. i am calling because i had zero reaction to the vaccinations, zero. i had only a sore spot on my arm where the shot was given, but even that didn't last long. so i have been worrying -- you hear people complain about the side effects they get, and people explain, well, that's just your good immune system kicking in. i am wondering, do i have a bad immune system and it didn't kick in, because i didn't have any old effects? -- any ill effects?

how do i check to see my immune response? guest: first, congratulations for getting your pfizer. about 50% of people will have that reaction where you feel flulike. it knocks you out for about 36 hours. then most people recover pretty well. you are one of the other half the didn't have symptoms. i did not have any symptoms to my pfizer vaccine either. so it doesn't seem to correlate. it doesn't seem to mean that your immune response isn't kicking in. your antibody response is probably just as good as anyone's, so we don't recommend that you check your antibodies primarily because there are so many different tests that you have to know what you are doing when you order one because you can order the wrong antibody test. and it comes up negative and it is not giving you the right information. host: now to linda in cromwell, connecticut. caller: i was going to ask about the antibody tests too but you

already answered that. one of the questions i do have, i was given two moderna shots, march and april. the first shot was given what might have been outside of the deltoid, towards the back. and had no reaction. the second shot, it happened to be the same administrator, same docotr, and i said please give it to me, and i watched a video on google of exactly where it is supposed to be given, and i said give it to me there, and he did and i had quite a reaction to the second one. my question is, if the first was given incorrectly, would it make sense to have a booster shot to be on the safe side or to make sure i developed immunity? guest: sure, linda. so it is probably fine that they may have been out of that triangle, because the main

objective is to get it into the thick of the muscle, and if it was a little bit to the right or left, it is likely fine. more people complain that if it is off the middle that sometimes it can nick a nerve and you can have quite a severe reaction to that, but your experience is pretty typical, where you have more response after the second vaccine, so that tells me that the first one did its job and you were mounting a vigorous immune response and just experiencing some symptoms. host: we will go to victoria in roseville, california. go ahead. caller: good morning, dr.. i wanted to ask you -- i wanted to get the covid shot but i had two really bad reactions to the flu shot so i don't get those anymore.

i hate walking around all my life with a a mask on. guest: i don't know which vaccines you had a bad reaction to or if that is something you always have to vaccines. so i think what i would say is expected to have about 36 hours of flulike symptoms. if you are worried about getting two vaccines, the johnson is one and done, so that is an option. all work against severe disease and hospitalization and death. so even though it is one vaccine, there's a few more mild covid cases in the johnson. they all work against what we are worried about, death and severe disease. host: your group is focused on current vaccines. where do things stand with the novavax vaccine and the astrazeneca vaccine, which has

been used overseas, obviously? guest: the novavax, we just finished up, actually, and that was conducted at maryland as well as 100 and some odd other sites, so they have reached their objective. they had greater than 90% vaccine efficacy and they are working on their package to submit to the fda, so we should be hearing about that more towards the end of the summer. in terms of astrazeneca, i am not sure where that stands in the u.s., although they did conduct trials here in the u.s.. obviously, it has been rolled out throughout the world and it is probably the most prevalent vaccine since the serum institute of india has produced. whether that comes up for licensure in the u.s. is not clear. it is not clear to me where it is going here.

host: if the novavax vaccine gets the fda emergency use authorization, will you include it in the nih study? guest: we would love to. we are already in discussions with them. it is a protein vaccine, so a different platform than the ones currently in use, so it would make an excellent booster for some of these other platforms. we would love to study that. host: a few more minutes with our guest dr. kirsten lyke of the university of maryland school of medicine, on the panel researching and studying covid-19 vaccines as a booster. we would love to hear from you. (202) 748-8000 if you have been vaccinated. if not, (202) 748-8001. want to play some of the perspective of dr. anthony fauci on the factors to be considered in studying boosters. [video clip] >> two ways to approach boosting. one is boosting against the

original wild type for which the person was originally vaccinated and the other is a variant-specific boost. we are approaching both, but the one thing we are noticing that's important is that the higher degree of your immune response against the wild type, the greater the secondary coverage you have against a wide array of the variants, which is the reason why, as we have reported in previous press briefings, that when you look at particularly the double doses, primary and boost of the amount -- of the mrna vaccines, which is the group for which we have the most data, there is spillover protection against multiple variants. so you can boost against the wild type and still include variants, including 617, so we

are studying a buddhist for the wild type -- studying a boost for the wild type. we have now you donate study on a 617 -- we have not yet done a study on the 617, but it is likely you will get a boost for that from the wild type boost. host: how do you factor those into your study? guest: there's surveillance going on. we are carefully watching them. not every mutation really affects how the virus is spread, but every now and again, some rise to the top. we all heard about the u.k. variant, which is now called the alpha variant. we are giving them sort of greek names now so that we don't target them to a specific place in the u.s. -- and the world. but he says the 617 is the one we are worried about, so what he is saying is that, even if we don't have a booster that's targeting the specific

variant, just being able to boost the immune response to a very high level sometimes can overwhelm those variants and can be sufficient for protecting you against covid-19, so he is exactly right and he is well aware of our study in that we are looking at both just boosting the response with the same platform, the same thing you got the first time around, and then seeing if we can do an even better job if we use different platforms. host: a reminder to viewers and listeners about our coverage on vaccines. later today, in about 30 minutes, we look at the rollout of covid vaccines. this is a program by the center of strategic and international studies at 10:00 p.m. eastern on c-span two. here's james in lafayette, louisiana on our unvaccinated line. good morning. caller: go ahead. can you hear me/

? host: we can. go ahead. caller: i am unvaccinated and my biggest -- host: i apologize about that. one more question for you in terms of the study itself. what in your background brings you into the study? what have you done in terms of studying the vaccines and used -- and booster vaccines in the past? guest: my focus has been global health and, because of that, i do dengue and malaria vaccines, but because of different outbreaks, such as the ebola and zika vaccines, i have rolled into looking into breakout vaccines and looking at different viruses that have popped up, particularly with this one, and the pandemic.

-- so that is how we got involved, although i would say that pretty much every vaccine researcher is focused on covid. host: one more call. mary lou in new jersey. caller: good morning, bill. good morning, dr. lyke. thank you for c-span. i want to follow up with a previous call from pennsylvania. a woman called and she was asking you about liability if there is an issue with the vaccine. now it is my understanding that if there are any negative reactions or, heaven forbid, someone dies as a result of the vaccine, there is no liability on the part of the federal government, the pharmaceutical companies, or even life insurance companies should you die as a result of the vaccine. my concern is that they are not explaining what the negative

aspects of this product can be. they are simply hyping up what they think the positive reactions are. can you answer that for me and the woman from pennsylvania, who did not get an answer? host: hi. -- guest: hi. first of all, i am not legally trained so i don't have maybe all the answers in terms of liability. it is true that the government does protect vaccine developers because of -- the overarching need from a public health perspective to have companies develop vaccines. it is not particularly lucrative for them to do so and so we need companies to produce vaccines across a wide array. now in terms of liability to things that are happening due to the covid-19 vaccine, i am not aware of specific capabilities

of suing companies because these are produced under emergency use and for a pandemic, so that may not be the most satisfactory answer. i would say that the severe effects have been incredibly rare, and those to get featured in the news and so they take on an outblown importance because we hear about the negative effects much more than the positive effects, so i don't think anyone is trying to hype positive effects and suppress the negative effects. it is true that there are, rarely, negative effects, particularly, as we heard recently, with the adenoviral vaccines, astrazeneca and johnson & johnson, having a rare

effect on blood clots. host: your opinion on the three covid-19 vaccines in use in the u.s. is that they are safe. guest: they are incredibly safe compared to getting covid. host: dr. kirsten lyke, university of maryland medical school professor and also with the nih looking at covid booster vaccines. thank you for being with us. guest: thank you. host: morehead on the program. we open up for phone calls this monday morning. we will be right back. ♪ >> this morning>>, a discussion about lessons learned from the rollout of covid-19 vaccines with public health officials hosted by the center for strategic and international studies live at 10:00 a.m.

eastern on c-span two, online at c-span.com, or you can listen on the c-span radio app. >> later this morning, before a month strengthening the public trust in presidential election results hosted by the american enterprise institute live at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span, online at c-span.org, or listen for free on the c-span radio app. >> c-spanshop.org is c-span's online store. there's a collection of products. browse to see what is new. your purchases will support our nonprofit operations and you will receive the congressional registry. go to c-spanshop.org. >> washington journal continues. host: for the last half-hour of the program, we will open up the phone lines for your calls and comments.

(202) 748-8001 the line to call for republicans. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. independents at others, (202) 748-8002. we started the program talking about whether you were resuming pre-pandemic activities. one of those activities, preplanned, delayed from last summer, are the tokyo olympics, and here's the headline from the new york times. the headline says "tokyo olympics plan to allow domestic spectators. it indicates a growing certainty that the games will go ahead despite concern that they could become a super-spreader event." that's from the new york times. from the washington post -- we touched on this earlier on the piece on the economy post pandemic -- "the economy is not going back to february 2020. fundamental shifts have occurred." i want to read a little bit from

that. that's the headline. inside that piece in the washington post this morning, the writer writes further about the economy, how it is affected, including inflation. she writes "then there is inflation, which hit a 13 year high in may and is widely viewed as the biggest risk that could sink and/or stall the recovery's progress, although the fed suspects this will be short-lived. consumers and businesses are already changing behaviors. companies are shrinking how many towels are in a package or cat food in the same amount. homebuilders are refusing to guarantee prices in fear that material costs will go up more. because there are now so many retirees, i think there will be more political pressure to tame inflation, says lisa cook, an economics professor at michigan state university.

the general public has gotten used to low-inflation. all of this coming at a time," they write, "when workers demand more pay, better working conditions, more flexibility, more opportunity for workers of color, and better understanding to mental-health and childcare needs. companies are paying attention because they desperately need workers. there are a record number of job openings now, and several million more than the nation has seen before." that is from the washington post. (202) 748-8001 belied for republicans. for (202) 748-8002 (202) 748-8002 -- (202) 748-8002 for democrats. and for all others, (202) 748-8002. reading about one of the effects of opening up -- writing about one of the effects of opening up

in new york city is the scene of washington square park. whose park is it? residents and revelers clash over washington square. a woman sat with a perched parrot on her head and surveyed the scene at washington square as if assessing the damage of a tornado. the iconic arch had been scrawled over, the fountain gurgled with detergent stuffed into one of its nozzles, and pizza boxes littered the ground. one day earlier, saturday night, police swarmed the marble arch to clear the park of partying visitors who had overstayed a new 10:00 p.m. curfew, but the revelers, dancing and drinking as music boomed from amplifiers, did not want to leave. a raucous fracas ensued.

eight officers injured. "it felt like a war," said ms. sumner, the head of the washington square association whose family has lived in her house for nine decades. complains about noise, drug use and crime around washington square park and a deeper dispute about public space and who gets to use it. some residents are bracing for months of chaos and sleepless nice, while some visitors question why those who live nearby should be able to make the park off limits to them. some of the effects of the pandemic on post-pandemic life. this is the main editorial in the washington post. "there forever virus. celebrate reopening day, but the pandemic is not over. the pandemic has not ended either here or abroad, nor will

it come to an abrupt end. in a perceptive article titled the forever virus published in the july/august issue of foreign affairs, the co-authors caution the virus will not go away and cannot be eradicated. they say rather than die out, it will rather ping-pong across the globe for years to come, they say, generating new variants that could threaten our normalcy. they say that 500,000 cases are reported each day. every person harbors billions of virus particles. the sheer quantity creates a pressure cooker for new variants and outbreaks." the post concludes by saying "toast the reopening, but don't lose sight of the forever virus because it will not lose sight of us." that's from the washington post this morning. our phones are open.

(202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. and for independents and all others, that is (202) 748-8002. we welcome your texts as well. that line is (202) 748-8003. one story we haven't touched on this morning but it is affecting a great deal of the country is the drought out west. this is from usa today. they are reporting on it this morning. experts concerned drought in the west may worsen. spring rain storms weren't enough to fill utah's reservoir or rejuvenate the soil, so governor spencer cox took his plea to twitter. "fix your faucets, stop long showers, get rid of the lawn and pray for rain. the crisis is not unique to utah. about 40% of the u.s. is

experiencing drought conditions. drought has been a consistent problem in the southwest for about two decades and it is increasingly creating an existential question -- does the west have enough water to go around? huge reservoirs are drying up as drought threatens farms and fuels wildfires. cox warned that the drought puts crops, wildlife and the state's food supply and really our way of life at risk. it is happening at a pace that's surprising and alarming.experts some worn. -- and alarming experts. some warn that without conservation the west is facing drastic shortages. the problem appears to be too big, too strong to be reversed by above average rains for a few

above-average years of precipitation." your calls. first, david from charleston, west virginia. go ahead. caller: you were talking about infrastructure and jobs. both parties in the senate and house ought to get off their butts and do the bill as regards electricity, infrastructure. we don't need to worry about global warming just yet. but there are millions of people out of work and this would create jobs. you also made a stipulation in there to create jobs -- you need a stipulation in there to create jobs for blacks and stuff? i thought there was a federal law made in 1964 that companies had to hire so many blacks versus white employees. does that not a law? host: i don't nope i don't know that i referred to that.

one of the republicans offering an alternative to the present's infrastructure proposal is centered or portman of ohio -- is senator portman of ohio. here is what he had to say. [video clip] >> there are people saying do not trust republicans. mitch mcconnell will pull the rug out. you have enough republicans and then the deal dies. how committed is this group of 11 republicans to stick by this deal even if mitch mcconnell says he cannot vote for it? >> we are absolutely committed to it and i think there's a number of others as well on both sides of the aisle. last week, i heard from a lot of my colleagues saying i just need to look at one other issue. can you do this, that? but there's interest in a bipartisan proposal. chuck, this is ruling the vote from the middle out -- chuck, this is rolling the vote from the middle out, so congress is more likely to be

successful doing that. we did a covid-19 package last year after, really, almost a year of no activity on something that was necessary. this is the same thing. everybody wants to do infrastructure. president biden proposed in his campaign. this helps him keep that pledge of having infrastructure package but also his pledge to do things across the aisle and get something done. host: bernie sanders was on state of the union yesterday. a headline from politico. "sanders won't back infrastructure deal with more taxes or electric vehicle fees." david, republican line, go ahead. you are on the air. caller: i hope that this country finally gets a president and vice president that know what the hell they are doing because

what we have now doesn't work. thank you. host: all right. david in wisconsin. a piece from the washington times this morning on the u.s. pullout in afghanistan. this is an interview with the former president, hamid karzai, from the associated press, part of which is printed this morning and the washington times -- morning in the washington times. "afghanistan's former president said the u.s. came to his country to fight extremism and bring stability to his nation and is leaving nearly 20 years later having failed at both. in an interview with the associated press just weeks before the last u.s. and nato troops leave afghanistan, ending their 'forever war,'hamid karzai said extremism is high and they are leaving behind a disaster. 'the international community came here with a clear objective 20 years ago of fighting

extremism and bringing stability, but they failed,'he said. still, mr. karzai, who had a complicated relationship with the u.s. during his rule -- a soldier said they need responsibility for their own future. he said 'they will be better off without our presence. they need to look after their own lives. we don't want to continue with this misery and indignity we are facing. it is better for afghanistan that they leave.'" troy is next up in brownsville , pennsylvania. good morning. caller: good morning. in reference to the drought in california, i had an idea. the mississippi river dumps about two miles wide in the ocean. can we put pumps, giant pipes

pumping freshwater to california, where it is more water to feed the crops and water wherever you need to water? there's an abundance of a two mile wide delta of freshwater. host: neil in arlington, virginia, independent line. go ahead, neil. caller: continuing on the water crisis going on in the west and the colorado river basin, this is a multilayered problem where, when you hit a critical point, it will turn into four or five different issues that will be critically important to the population of that region. the situation of lake mead, where it is somewhere below half of its capacity right now, and once it hits its empty point, which is something like 900

feet, it stops producing hydroelectric power through the hoover dam, which basically kills the power for the city of las vegas, so what that water -- so once that water has hit a critical level, it will turn into an electric crisis? and aside from that, the problem will in fact hundreds of people in that area, and it will create a massive demographic shift from one region to another that's going to really cause a crisis across the country and that something that i don't think there is enough focus on and, you know, sense of urgency about what kind of problem we face. host: you are obviously calling us from the east coast, so what will have to happen in this story? we were reading about the drought. you mentioned lake mead and the potential for power loss to cities like las vegas. what will have to happen to make people east of the mississippi, say, pay attention to how serious the drought is in the west?

caller: that's a great question. general education. i don't know. on a day-to-day basis, outside of the major cities of the west coast, i don't think they understand the source of their water and how critically endangered it is. it is taken for granted that you can turn your faucet on, shower as long as you want, multiple times a day if you want. they need to have a shift in perspective through education that this is something that will drastically be much more onerous if we don't act now, and i think, you know, we take a lot of printed -- we take a lot for granted on the east coast too, but there is an abundance of water. lifestyle changes need to happen across the board in our country. we need to live in a way that is not going to be a major detriment to the earth we live on. host: reaction on social media.

you can send us a text. here's one from michael in portland, oregon, who says, a topic today could be hugely increased crime and violence. in oregon, we are seeing more vehicular scofflaw recklessness, shooting incidents. michael in deerfield beach, florida says booster shots won't be embraced if the vaccines aren't approved. to promote herd immunity as public policy is the definition of genocide. another -- no border, no country, mallorcas and

kamala have failed the country. caller: i am calling because i believe that all these shots and vaccines, they are still experiment drugs, so how can they, like -- department stores, people going to work -- how can they make it mandatory to give the vaccine when it is only an experiment ultra and -- an experimental drug and forcing nursing home residents and employees to get the vaccine and still wear face coverings? it is wrong. it is a form of abuse by the cdc and needs to stop.we need to get back to open, like south dakota, florida and texas. host: michelle, are you mandated to wear a mask and/or be vaccinated at your place of employment? caller: yes. i have to wear a mask and so do the residents to even go up and down the hall, even to go to the

dining room. host: this is a piece from a radio host in the dallas area and the dallas morning news, published yesterday. "conservatives want vaccine choice. that means businesses have the right to require vaccines. it is understandable why people are wary of being told what they can and cannot do in this era. it is also easy to understand why republican politicians have leaned toward earlier exit ramps then there democratic -- ramps than their democratic counterparts, but the issue has become more complex. as various businesses seek to stretch their liberty legs in the area of vaccine policy, they are finding conservative opposition from elected officials and the public.

from their seats as america's go to conservative governors, greg abbott of texas and ron desantis of florida, seem happy to say that businesses cannot require masks. freedom gives individuals the choice of whether to get vaccinated, and, here is the surprise for many, supports a business in establishing conditions for customers." in pennsylvania, to pat. good morning. democrats line. caller: good morning. i am concerned about the water situation. i saw a documentary about water use and california -- in california and the regulations that have been wiped out. a pound of almonds takes 19 gallons to produce. a pound of strawberries takes 11,000.

1900 gallons for almonds. it has to be more restrictive. we saw something, that the ural see, which i remember -- the ural sea, which i remember learning about in school, has disappeared completely. global warming is here. i cannot get over how these regulations have been rolled back by the corporations so that they can rake in all the profits from such like this. you know. host: all right. frank in west virginia. good morning. in the pennant line. caller: good morning. these people in congress, democrats and republicans, if they cannot come together on stuff, i think they need to be fined and maybe they will get off their butts and start doing

something right for the american people. host: if they don't get something done by a certain amount of time, they would incur a fine. caller: yeah. they need to be fined. they sit in there and sleep all day when they should be doing something. they should be fined. maybe they would stop sitting on their tail ends and start doing something. and sending money to other countries, they shouldn't be voted for. host: we saw the house earlier in a pro forma session. back tomorrow for work. we will take you to a discussion this morning of the american enterprise institute forum on strengthening the public's trust in presidential results coming up at 10:00 here on c-span. until then, we continue with your phone calls and comments.

our phone line for republicans is (202) 748-8001. for democrats, it is (202) 748-8000. for independents and others, it is (202) 748-8002. from mississippi, linda, you are next. go ahead. caller: yes. i believe a person that has a business should be able to tell what you can do and what you cannot do. the people that don't want to take the covid shot, then they don't have to take it, so when they get a temperature, run to the dr., field hospital -- run to the doctor, fill the hospitals simply because they don't want to get a shot. absurd. host: in appleton, wisconsin, hi there. caller: i would like to correct the previous caller.

the vaccines are not in an experimental stage anymore. the vaccines are approved by the cdc. if they weren't, i would not have gotten them. that's all i need to say. host: from the usa today, their money and life sections, the headline -- rents are rising again after the pandemic as the coronavirus wanes and businesses returned to cities, increasing by 17.5% over the past two years according to a report by realtor.com. monthly rents rose 5.5% year-over-year in may to an average of $1527 across the studios -- across the studios, one bedroom and two bedroom apartments. in the top 50 cities, a median increase of -- of the 50 largest

areas, 43 saw there median rent increase year-over-year in may. in alabama, hello. caller: joe biden. i want to ask him one thing. white supremacy. has he looked at the color of his skin and the rest of his staff? host: all right. douglas in alabama. president biden today meeting with financial regulators and also later this week we will be traveling to north carolina, talking about vaccinations and getting the vaccine numbers up to what their goal was, 70% vaccination by the fourth of july. let's look at the front page of the wall street journal this morning and more about the employment situation in the country, the job situation. "tight labor market returns upperhand to workers. low-wage workers have found

something unexpected in the economy's recovery from the pandemic -- leverage. job openings in fields that require little education combined with a shrinking labor force are giving low-wage workers perks previously reserved for white-collar employees. it often means bonuses, bigger raises and competing offers. average weekly raises in leisure and hospitality, the sector that suffered the steepest job losses in 2020, were up 10.4% in may from february of 2020, outpacing the private sector overall and inflation. pay for those with only high school diplomas is rising faster than for college graduates according to the federal reserve bank of atlanta. 'it is a worker's labor market right now, increasingly so for blue-collar worker,'said the president of staffing for the firm the manpowergroup.

'we have plenty of demand and not enough workers.'" jennifer in cincinnati. jennifer, good morning. caller: hi. yes. i was calling about a couple things, one in regard to vaccines. i missed the previous doctor. i have multiple sclerosis and because of the medication i'm taking i am not able to get vaccinated until next month, and i don't know how that will affect things, but also, in regard to all the statistics about people who were unvaccinated and vaccine hesitancy, i think it is important to remember that sometimes people are on medication, that the timing of when they can get the vaccination is affected. other than that, i feel it is perfectly safe, like one of the previous callers was talking about. they are no longer experimental. they were just on emergency use to get it expedited.

i'm tired of the political fighting. there are big issues like climate change in the economy that need to be addressed right now. as somebody who is disabled from working, i have struggled to find affordable housing. i was not able to get benefits from any of the covid rental leave. i was told i was not eligible for the cdc moratorium on evictions. i ended up being evicted in the middle of the pandemic. it has been very difficult. i was not able to get an apartment in my own name. there are big issues that affect everyday people. i am hopeful congress will start -- stop fighting and work

together to get something done that will benefit everyone. host: have you been able to find a new place to live? caller: i did. a family member had to rent it in their name so that i could live there. i am paying them a subsidized amount. i have three children. there is no way i would be able to find an apartment that i can afford. i'm just on ssi right now. i used to be a teacher. host: good luck in the weeks and months ahead it. thanks for all your calls this morning. we are back tomorrow morning at 7:00 eastern. we will take you to a discussion been hosted by the american enterprise institute looking at strengthening america's