banking committee to testify on monetary policy and the u.s. economy. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government, sponsored by these television companies and more, including charter communication. >> broadband is a force for empowerment. that is why charter has invested in upgrading infrastructure, technology, and communities big and small. charter is connecting us. >> charter communications supports c-span as a public service, along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> coming up this morning on "washington journal," amy matsui from the national women's law center discusses the new child tax credit immense, which start rolling out this week. then the ceo and president of smart approaches to marijuana,

kevin sabet, on his group's efforts for legalization efforts. join the conversation with your phone calls, facebook comments, text messages, and tweets. "washington journal" is next. ♪ host: good morning. it is thursday, july 5 teen, 2020 18 -- july 15, 2021. we will talk about the child tax credit and the efforts to legalize marijuana, but we will begin with inflation, with the fastest rising consumer prices in 13 years reported this week. is inflation impacting your family finances? if you say yes, the number to call is (202)-748-8000. if you have not felt the impacts of inflation, (202)-748-8001.

you can also send a text this morning, that number, (202)-748-8003. if you do, include your name and where you are from. otherwise, catch up with us on social media, on twitter --@cspanwj on facebook -- facebook.com/c-span. good thursday morning. you can go ahead and start calling in now as we take you to the numbers on the topic of inflation from a labor department report from earlier this week. the labor department reporting the consumer price index, a key gauge of inflation rose .9% in june and 5.4% in the 12 months leading into last month, the highest rate since 2008. while consumer prices were widely expected to keep rising, they said it spiked faster than the .5% increase projected by economists. those numbers lead to concern, especially among conservative news outlets on the state of the u.s. economy. here are a couple of those

headlines the past 48 hours from the daily caller, the numbers are in, biden's inflation is not going away, and this from townhall.com, bidenonmics, americans see massive jumps in inflation. here is how it played out on the front page of today's "wall street journal," "powell said the fed would raise great save inflation risks persist," although he repeatedly emphasized during his testimony that he expects price pressures to ease later this year. from that house financial services committee hearing, here is an exchange between jerome powell and republican congressman brian style. [video clip] >> in fact, the impact of rising inflation, i brought this up last july, last december, and in those meetings, you continue to suggest you are not ready to take action to head off and patient. yesterday -- head off inflation.

yesterday, we see more prices are continuing to rise. inflation is not an abstract number. the biden administration can claim what they want, but families are seen rapid price increases with their eyes. i know it isn't your role to comment on fiscal policy, but i am concerned with president biden's spending plans and its impact on inflation. last month, and increasing consumer prices, the 5.4%, was the largest jump we have seen since august 2008 before the financial crisis, and used cars have gone up 80%, plane tickets 24%, shoes up on a 7%, increases in coffee, sugar, propane, all double digits, and the higher material costs has added $36,000 to the price of a new home. responded to inflation concerns by saying that price increases are temporary and they will subside if supply chain and

labor markets return to normal after covid, but even if inflation expectation may be changing and rising the prospects of a more persistent impact, in fact, a poll conducted recently showed that 87% of americans said they are concerned about inflation. on monday, the new york fed reported that consumers expected to see higher inflation over the medium-term. can you comment on how the fed responds to signs that consumers are beginning to expect work assistance inflation? >> sure. we think inflation expectations are very, very important in the way of businesses and households inc. inflation should be 2%, they probably will be because they will expect and demand that. so, we monitor inflation expectation and surveys of households, experts, the market, as you know, you can get inflation compensation readings,

difference between regular treasuries. we look at all of those things. they all went down as a group at the beginning of the pandemic, which is not good, and they have all moved back up about to the level that i would say is consistent in the range of consistent with our 2% inflation goal over time. we watch this very carefully, and we would be very concerned if they were to move persistent slowly and -- persistently and interiorly about 2%. [end video clip] host: if you want to watch that hearing in their entirety, you can do so on our website at c-span.org. we are talking about the issue of inflation, asking has it impacted your family finances? (202)-748-8000 if you say yes, tell us how. if you say no, (202)-748-8001. that is our question this first hour of "washington journal" this morning. we will start with don out of vero beach, florida, up first.

-- donna out of vero beach, florida, a first. no ahead. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. inflation is a big thing in our family. we are in our mid-70's, but we thought we prepared nicely for retirement. do inflation, -- due to inflation, our money on reserve has gone down. we are people who believed in saving, but, today, you cannot save, and you cannot live on just social security. if it goes up 1% and the average goes up 5%, obviously, you are in trouble. host: where is this specifically hitting you? what has cost more than it used to? caller: insurances that are necessary, your homeowner

insurance, car insurance, gasoline prices are even affecting a lot of us, and groceries especially. you know, there is no dime coffee anymore, let's put it that way. host: when was the last time we saw dime coffee? caller: probably when i was 20. you know, so almost 60 years ago. i mean, i know things go up, but we used to say when we were young, these prices are terrible, our parents would roll over in their graves if they knew. now, i am of that age and i am saying, what has happened? when you are on social security, your income does not go up. host: donna out of florida.

this is dustin from georgia, says, no, has not seen the impact of asian. -- impact of inflation. caller: no, it has not impacted me up. i live extremely frugally. by the time school starts, we will have problems. the economy is going to spiked because people went crazy from being stuck inside from covid. but gas has doubled. it was $1.67, and i bought a car and now gases over four dollars a gallon. it has not affected me at because i live under my means, but i think everybody in the united states is in for a big shock. who is going to hit? lower, middle to upper middle class people, unless you live way, way below your means. i actually just bought an e-bike

to compensate for what i know is going "hit the fan." host: we do still buy the car that requires premium gasoline if you had to do it again? caller: yeah, i have actually turned the car -- i driving on eco-mode. you can control it with computers and the speed and everything. host: dustin in suwanee, georgia. this is michael in marietta, georgia, good morning. you say you are seeing the impacts in marietta. caller: yes, i would just like to say to all americans that the antichrist movement is a lie in our democratic party. host: michael, a different topic, do you want to talk about inflation? caller: i think it is hurting all americans and christians all over the united states. until we expose the antichrist movement. host: that is michael in marietta, georgia.

we will try to stay on the topic of inflation, asking you how it has impacted your family's finances. (202)-748-8000 if you say yes. (202)-748-8001 if you say no. having this conversation as "the washington post" puts it on the front page of their newspaper "president biden is revving democrats for a massive spending package, a pep rally aims at uniting the party on a budget package and infrastructure, a $4 trillion in new spending if you combine all of what democrats are looking to spend," yesterday at the white house, jen psaki was talking about the president's rally on capitol hill with senate democrats. this is what she had to say. [video clip] >> ask senator sanders said last night, this is the most significant piece of legislation passed since the great depression. we agree with that. what we have seen come out as the current framework is

reflective of the president's priorities and what was in his budget and american families plan, and also the components left out of the bipartisan agreement that was in the american jobs plan. we recognize there are additional steps to come. that is why he is up on the hill. we feel this is working exactly as it should. the president of the united states proposes a bold agenda, as he did in march. congress works out an agreement on where things look. that is what is happening now. now, he is going to engage and advocate with members, the american people and communicate, and sell the package and why it needs to move forward. that is exactly what is happening. [end video clip] host: jen psaki yesterday from the white house. today, we are going to hear more from the president, specifically about those new enhancement child tax credit payments that are hitting bank accounts today. we are expecting to hear from

the president at 11:45 eastern today. check c-span for those remarks. and then a joint press conference later today at the white house with angela merkel, the german chancellor, in town to visit the president of the white house at 4:15 eastern, so another busy day at the white house. coming back to that budget package, we spent a lot of time on it yesterday. the top line number, we $.5 trillion number, is what refocused on yes -- $3.5 trillion number, is what we focused on. "the washington post" trying to dig into as many details as we know. they report the budget package would pave way for hundreds of billions of dollars including eldercare, homecare, childcare, pre-kindergarten and paid family medical leave. on health care, it would open the door for millions of seniors to obtain asian, dental, and hearing coverage on medicare -- obtain vision, dental and

hearing coverage on medicare and would extend the child tax credit, benefits which are starting to be paid out this week. the plan would allow for substantial sums to reach the president's clinical, incentivize clean energy, and set up electric vehicle charging stations nationwide. some of the spending money would be to address emissions, which had previously been put forward in the context of an overlapping debate about the infrastructure reform, but the aid did not become part of that bipartisan infrastructure package. that package coming in at about $600 billion, a package that leaders in the senate are trying to move alongside this budget package. we will see what order they do it in. that is the debate and that movement expected to play out over the course of the next several weeks. back to the question this morning about nation in the midst of that labor department report about inflation, about the consumer price index

spiking. we went to hear whether it is impacting your family's finances. this is barry, williamsburg, virginia, go ahead. caller: good morning. yeah, inflation is definitely affecting people of modest means, but what i would like to talk about is the actual term inflation. see, there is no such thing as inflation in the economy. you have the politicians repeating the word inflation, but it is really rich people deciding, ok, now i am going to take more money. the cost of goods has not gone up, the wages has not gone up, nothing has really gone up. they just all of a sudden say, i want more money. host: that is barry in virginia. this is terry in cleveland. good morning. you are next. caller: ok. this is terry from tennessee.

they are giving all this money to the people who have got kids, what about the people on social security and disability? i have got four dollars over my bills every month. whatever he going to do? that is not counting gas, food, or anything else. and i have cut bills off that i have paid. where is that $1300 that biden promised everybody on social security? host: you started by talking about the child tax credit. that is hitting bank accounts starting today. we are going to be talking more about it diving into the various requirements, how much money it is with amy matsui of the national women's law center. but i get the sense you are not in favor of that enhanced child care tax credit? caller: no, i am not because the people are going have to pay it back.

our people that already do not have kids that we are going to have to pay taxes on it forever until we die. and it is not going to help the american people. host: barry in tennessee. that conversation with amy matsui at 8:00 a.m. eastern, about 45 minutes on "washington journal." this is david out of chicken. good -- out of michigan, good morning. caller: me? host: that is you, david. caller: that is me? host: yes sir. caller: my food price, i am single on social security, my grocery price has gone up one third at least. my gas has gone up one third. fuel has not even hit here yet because it is just coming on. i hate to see when that will go up. people that are on a fixed

income, i don't know how the heck we are going to make it in the future of this keeps going on. i am not even talking about medical bills for some people. i'm a veteran, so i get the v.a. to cover me, and as long as that covers and, i am all right. i do not know what is going to happen if this keeps going on. and by then needs to get it together -- and biden needs to get it together and start lowering these prices. and i don't believe our country going into debt is helping us people that are on social security. host: david in michigan this morning. the phone lines if you would like to join the conversation, let us know if you are seeing the impacts of inflation in your area. is it impacting your family finances? (202)-748-8000 if you say yes, it is impacting you. (202)-748-8001 if you say no.

we are also looking for your comments on social media. steve on twitter, "a force inflation affects everybody, how could it not? if you are well-off financially, you could say doesn't affect you, but that is avoiding the truth. people who are not well awful continue discretionary spending, and that hurts the economy." alan saying, "no, i think some things have gone up in the grocery store, but i think it is a supply and demand situation from last year or people are still going on vacations, and they are still buying high-end items." tony saying "from the first covid payments under trump, i have been warning not of inflation but hyperinflation. what was so hard to predict about this? there are still the possibility of a out of hand. as for price pressure easy things, that is called recession." tim says that you left out the word yet.

how many billions of dollars are hitting checking accounts of parents today, and where will that money be spent? one of our callers a minute ago talking about the word inflation being used by politicians quite a bit these days. senator joni ernst went to the senate floor yesterday, not just to talk about it nation, but to talk about the wheel of inflation and the various things that have gone up. this is joni ernst on the senate floor. [video clip] >> president biden's economic policies are causing nationwide sticker shock. the price of nearly everything is higher today than it has been since biden was in the white house the first time. the cost of consumer goods has gone up every month since january, and the markup in prices over the past year is the biggest annual increase since

2008. the democrats response to these rising prices is to simply spend more, which is making the problem worse. pain people not -- paying people not to work as contributing to worker shortages. not having enough workers is resulting in service and supply shortages. combine these two factors with trillions of dollars of government spending, and it all adds up to higher prices on every thing for everyone. [end video clip] host: republican senator joni ernst of iowa. the price is up, or play on the price is right on the senate floor yesterday. walter says he is seeing and ration in silver spring, maryland, outside the d.c. line. walter, go ahead. caller: yeah, inflation is

really just killing the single person, i am single with no kids in my tax rate is at almost 33%. being single with the inflation and the gas prices is astronomical. it costs me almost $50 to fill up the gas tank. i am not sure if the prices are ever going back down to rates where it is almost two dollars -- $2.20, but even for a single person and with the rising rent cost, i'm not sure what will happen other than the prices keep going up. i'm not sure which president, biden, or the next is going to do anything about it. host: this was jerome powell's explanation, the fed chair, from his meeting before members on the house committees and he explained inflation by saying pandemic related embodiment

created the perfect storm of high demand and low supply, and that led to rapid price increases for certain goods and services. he said higher inflation readings "should partially reverse the effects of those bottlenecks," saying he expects the pressures to ease later this year, saying there is hope on the horizon on the issue. are you not as hopeful? caller: i am not hopeful at all because saying that it is a bottleneck is same prices are coming down. we are talking about what, five or 10 cents? that does not help me at all. of a price -- at a price decrease of two dollars, even if you go to a store and buy just a candy bar alone costs $2.50. the price of candy bars are going up, how are the prices of anything else going to be able to come down? it doesn't make any sense. host: more from jerome powell today on monetary policy and the

economy, we are going to be airing his remarks on c-span3 today at 9:30 a.m. eastern. you can also watch on c-span.org , listen on the free c-span radio app. that is in about two hours if you want to pop over there towards the end of the program. make sure to come back and join us afterwards until 10:00 a.m. on "washington journal." this is cheryl in south carolina, you are next. caller: good morning. i am on social security, and i get $811 a month. i have had to cancel my house insurance for the time. i am terrified now because i live in a tornado area. i have had to cancel two doctor appointments because i cannot do the gas to go there, and i am very angry that he did not include the people on social security that make under $1000 a month on this new stimulus or

whatever you call what they are doing. i do not mind about the kids and everything, do not get me wrong, but we are hurting. there are a lot of us here. host: what are your thoughts on one of the key parts -- you talk about the $3.5 trillion budget deal that senate democratic leaders in the budget committee came together to talk about and what president aydin went to pitch to the entire caucus yesterday, one of the key aspects was expanding medicare, vision and dental coverage on medicare. how do you feel about billions, perhaps hundreds of billions of dollars to that? caller: i have in -- i have dental and eye coverage to a point, but i cannot get dentures or anything. that would have to come out of my pocket. so, i am just sitting here, and i do not know what to do, you

know? i have got $87 left in my account, and that has got to get me through the next 2.5 weeks. and i have another dr. appointment i will have to cancel. host: cheryl, what is your plan for the next 2.5 weeks? caller: i do not know, to be honest with you. [laughter] i really do not know. i just i do not know. i am like everyone else, we just do not know on social security. host: do you think there is hope on the horizon, cheryl? do you think things are going to get better? caller: well, job wise, yes, but i cannot work. i have disabilities that will not let me work. i have worked since i was 15, paid taxes and everything, and i would love to go back to work, but i just cannot do it.

so, like i said, i do not know what i'm going to do. i am not the only one here. in this boat. host: thanks for sharing your story out of gaffney, south carolina. andrew is next out of missoula, montana, good morning. caller: good morning. i was not going to originally call in, but seeing joni ernst, it has affected me to a certain extent. luckily less. it has not affected me as much, but it is less inflation we are seeing and more exacerbation problems. host: problems that were exacerbated either pandemic? -- by the pandemic? caller: the pandemic definitely. i mean, if you remember last year, we saw a major issue with

the meat supply chain and a couple of processing plants closing down because of the covid pandemic. host: andrew, thanks for your view for montana this morning. we are coming up on 7:30 on the east coast. we are having a conversation about family finances. is inflation impacting family finances? if you say yes, (202)-748-8000. if you say no, (202)-748-8001. you can keep calling in. we talked about the schedule today on the white house. it was also a busy day yesterday at the white house, and a lot of interest yesterday in olivia roderigo visiting the white house encouraging young people to get vaccinated. there she is walking into the west wing and made it to the white house reading room to speak to reporters about the efforts to get more youth vaccinated against covid-19. this is olivia roderigo. [video clip]

>> hi. first, i want to say i am beyond honored and humbled to be here today to spread the message about vaccination. i am in all of the work that president biden and dr. fauci have done. it is important to have conversations, friends and family members encouraging communities to get vaccinated and get to a vaccination site, which you can do easier than ever before given how easy it is to find them at vaccines.gov. thank you for having me today and thank you for helping share this important stage. i do appreciate it -- this important message. i do appreciate it. [end video clip] host: olivia roderigo went on to go to the oval office and for the west wing. that was yesterday at the white house. today, another busy day at the white house. remarks from the president to discuss the enhanced child tax credit payments that start hitting the bank accounts of parents across the country

today, and then also a meeting later today with angela merkel. this is the headline on that from today's "washington post," fence mending is on the agenda for that meeting which is set to take place at 4:15 p.m. eastern. angela merkel visiting the president for discussions on a host of outstanding issues with the likelihood that any will be settled. fighting has made -- biden has made mending fences with germany high-priority after donald trump made angela merkel the target of many complaints about europe. they met at the g7 and nato summit last month, but she is the first european head of government to travel to washington since president biden took office. meka is in maryland, seeing the impacts of inflation in pikesville. caller: good morning. how are you doing? host: i am doing well, meka.

caller: [indiscernible] my college savings for my kids has not been going well. money coming in has to go a long way, especially to help out with the college savings. a lot of people need help. most people cannot even afford their medical care or prescriptions, so, it has been tough on people. [indiscernible] poor people do not benefit.

host: meka in pikesville. this is david in flint, michigan, not seeing the impacts of the lesion. go ahead -- not seeing the impacts of inflation. go ahead. caller: i'm just going to say i am doing better this year than i have done in quite a while. i am not feeling any bad effects from an lesion, but -- from inflation, but i retired from a major job, i got 31 years about 15 years ago and i got another job, so i am 68. i would like to say to the seniors, if you are not sick -- i cannot talk for the ones who are sick -- but if you are able to work, get a little part-time job and help your social security instead of sitting around and crying about your social security running out and how come you did not get a raise, try to get out and get a babysit or a little job at walmart being a welcome or. some -- welcomer.

something seniors can do instead of complaining. that is what i did. i have been working these last 15 years and doing better than ever. i am getting ready to get my kitchen cabinets refinished. i am getting stuff done, and i am happy. i think joe biden is turning out to be one of our best presidents. i think he's doing a great job. host: how much did you hold off on spending during the pandemic? did you put some of these home-improvement projects off during the pandemic? caller: yeah, a little bit, i did, then after, after i got my shot and it seem like things were coming back good, i have been wanting to get my kitchen did quite a while, so i cannot wait to get it refinished. host: good luck on the renovation. a few more comments from our text messaging service. greg in dallas and the primary driver of inflation is big business, amazon and big-box

stores have driven out competition and or hiking prices. you have no choice with these are norma's entities, and they are taking full advantage of it. this form ron in tennessee, inflation is part of a growing economy and has not yet affected me in lint, and this from mike in orlando, i did not matter who was president after the economy reopened, trump, aydin, or jesus, prices were suppressed during the pandemic and now they're going back to pre-pandemic levels. we have your comments this morning via social media. this is rhonda out of sacramento. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i want to talk to the gentleman from michigan who said those on social security who can, go out and find a part-time job. i myself am on social security and on fsa. i worked all my life up until i ended up having a stroke.

i was a law enforcement officer, so, ok, i had to retire early. i do not have that ability to go out and seek employment. i would like the caller, i am on such a tight budget, that by the time my pain medication cost, i pay to see my doctor, i am left with a total of $35 a month, here in california, everything is high, from rent, pg&e, flood, insurance. here in california, everything is high, and it is steadily rising. and i am all for that people are getting this child tax credit today. i am all for it, but let's talk about those of us on social security. i did not hear you state the fact that biden will be

discussing giving us dental and may be more medical? that is always good, but what about every year they give us a few more bucks, or whether it be seven dollars for $10 more, on our social security. i have only been on it for approximately four years, and every year they give us may be five dollars, seven dollars more, $10 more. this last race, they gave us $21. with inflation the way it is, i do not know how people like myself are making it. i do not know. and if you were going to ask me, what do you do to make it? i stretch as much as i can. i do as much as i can. i do not go places i like to go. i do not i things i like to buy because that money has to go towards gas and for me to get to my doctor. why aren't they discussing these things that they start to talk about what they're going to do

to help people like me who are on social security and cannot work. host: you mention how everything costs a lot in california. have you ever thought about leaving? even if you wanted to, could you? caller: i thought about leaving california because you may have heard a lot of people are leaving california because of the housing is so expensive, but someone like myself whose family is all here, i am not very well. i am going to be 63 in a few weeks, i do not have that comfort to go to another state. i really would like to like maybe hawaii. [laughter] anyway, thank you for taking my call. i hope those in washington take care and pay a little more attention to people like myself. thank you. host: mike, southgate, michigan, you are next. not seeing the impacts of inflation and southgate? caller: well, it is getting high, and the reason why i called today is to let everybody

know that this ain't trump's fault. host: explain a little bit more. you say it ain't his fault? caller: it isn't trump's fault. whose fault? the democrats. that is why every thing is going up. folks, get ready. get ready, folks. that is all i have. host: when you say get ready, are you talking about that $3.5 trillion package, budget package? i think we lost the caller. it was president biden, yesterday we mentioned he was up on the hill pitching the package to the full senate democratic caucus, talking to mayors and governors at the white house yesterday about the importance of infrastructure spending and a variety of infrastructure and human infrastructure, as he calls it, priorities. this is the president yesterday. [video clip] >> there are no democratic roads

republican bridges. for family commute times, kids need to be able to drink clean drinking water without letting it, and communities need to have reliable transport. we have a chance to solve these problems. they can create millions of jobs literally. not seven dollar an hour jobs but jobs where you are making $46 to $50 an hour. i chance for -- a chance [indiscernible] to win the second quarter of the 21st century because our infrastructure is growing but not with the rest of the world. i find it disturbing that they named the 25 best airports in the world, the united states was

not mentioned. but ok, we have to build it tomorrow. there is a lot we are going to do. the presses tired appearing me say this because we have talked about infrastructure a while. we are going to get something done. that is why i think that my build back better agenda can build back better. [end video clip] host: thousand president biden yesterday at the white house -- that was president biden yesterday at the white house. about 20 minutes left getting your thoughts on inflation and thoughts from the other end of pennsylvania avenue, a couple of members in the wake of that labor department report showing the impacts of inflation and the hikes and the price index rising at the fastest rate in 13 years.

senator rob portman, republican of ohio, tweeting about it and he said "inflation is surging, the cost of goods continues to rise, and the american people are feeling pinched. this is the result of democrat'' tax and spend policies," and he points the finger. and then the same day, there has been a lot of talk about inflation, especially on days like today when i get the consumer price index data. the top driver of price increases right now is cars. let's take a look under the hood at what is going on," from a tweet from don beyer, and owned a car dealership in the washington, d.c., area. next in pittsburgh, pennsylvania, feeling the impacts of inflation. go ahead. caller: well, if anybody

remembers, and i watched two former heads of social security on c-span say they don't make enough. obama took $780 billion out of daycare. i was out -- out of medicare. i was already tired of my wife was not. when you bring gasoline and everything else into play, people on social security are hurting. i started working when i was 14, and i was 64 when i got laid off for the last time. don't think that shutting down oil lines and everything else, think back to obama and think to how he did this. the majority of people on social security [indiscernible] he is taking the money off of them. all the black people on it are getting screwed, too. next time you vote for a democrat, think about what concerns you the most. host: this is springfield,

oregon, good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i have been doing very well, modestly well, but i retired last year because i was soon to turn 70, and because of the pandemic, and i have been leaving frugally, and happily, i guess, and i do not drive a lot anymore, and, well, because i am retired, but i think that i am still eking out the money that was given to us last year, so i have just told it out over the span of the month. that was very helpful, and i think that the inflation is temporary because of the glut or the ports around the world are just clogged.

i have an economics minor, and keep up on that stuff, so there is a problem with the ports. there is a problem with parts for everything, and that is because of the pandemic because we cannot just stop doing something. we all stopped buying and things stopped being produced, and now we want it all back, and there is a glut. i mean the parts are not available and the ports are clogged, so just be patient. be thankful. and good luck, everybody. we will get out of this. i think if i were a young person, i would be excited because of all the opportunities to learn something new from all the new investments coming on. host: from springfield, oregon,

this morning. this inflation story a local story, as well. several stories in local papers about it in the wake of that labor department report. this poll run by the desiree news out of utah, mixed signals about the u.s. inflation continues to emanate from policymakers, but utah is united when it comes to how they feel about it, and they are concerned. a new statewide poll found 85% of people in utah were somewhat concerned about inflation. among that group, 25% said higher prices would be temporary versus 50% who believe inflation will be a lasting concern. just one of the polls in recent days on that topic out of the desiree news in utah. deborah, middleburg, kentucky, you are next. caller: hi.

actually, from west virginia and worked in silver spring, maryland. i don't think it is a presidential issue as much as a policy issue. i think people who need support actually have the means. one of the stimulus checks we got was a blanket to like if you make this much, you cannot have this much. it is not if you need this money, you can have it. i feel that people just -- some people got vacations out of the deal. i was not one of them. i am seeing my prices go up on groceries, gas, everything else. my kids are grown, so i don't get that either, but a lot of people do not need the money who are getting the money and not giving it back or saying, hey, by the way, this is not something that is warranted, and everybody is going to have to pay taxes on this somehow, someway. i think just lumping into -- lumping people into groups was careless with the country's

money, and i think they should've said, hey, if you need this money, you need to write us, talk to us, or have agencies put in place to help people who need help or support. the virginia school system, i grew up in virginia, is actually one of the work funded school systems in the country. they finished 38. just because people get the money, it does not mean they are using it properly. that is about all i have to say. host: a couple more tweets. this is d. english same "everything goes up all the time, the differences who was in office when it gets talked about." fred saying "the superrich are also raising prices because they want to punish workers who demand higher wages." lizzie saying "when five-year-old cars are selling for what they cost more new, you can bet we are in trouble." this from jan, "how about getting running water to people in appalachia. i am appalled that people have to drag on a mountain to fill containers of water to live."

just a few comments on inflation from twitter. running a twitter poll from the washington journal twitter handle, a couple of hundred have responded to the poll this morning and overwhelmingly say, yes, their family's finances are feeling the impacts of inflation. 63% to 37% that's a no. not a scientific poll, a twitter poll, but you can join that conversation. danny is out of austin, texas, good morning. caller: hi. i'm glad you took the call, and i'm glad your guest or your callers are able to call in. the issues of inflation seems like they are lingering toward my mind into a long-term hall. seems like they are writing a bunch of checks, and basically,

it is like the guy from michigan who said we have to go to walmart, i hear that at the bus stops all the time. down here in texas, they have a camping conglomerate, the whole city started off trying writing -- trying to run people out of the woods and send them to the resource center. everybody was catching one kind of disease or another from each other, and there was not enough medical help down there. i am in a rehabilitation center now. got run over by a bus. i just don't think it would you worth the trouble to get a court case going on that, but as far as the guy that says go to walmart, how i think inflation is going to affect most of us is going to be the problem with the

people of color, low income people, including all colors. we have all extolled from walmart -- we have all stole from walmart. [laughter] host: this is connie and california. you are next. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i am retired. i worked ready when years. and i applied for social security, they asked me, ok, which one do you want, your husband's or yours? my husband passed away. she said, you make a little more than your husband did, you can apply for your husband's and you can apply for yours, not my husband's. so what happens to the social security my husband paid into? where does that go? i think it would be fair and financially if they would include whoever passed away to include that in your social security. even at least give you half

because like i say, my husband's , i do not know where it went, and after all the years he worked, also. host: connie in california, and this is cynthia in miami, good morning. caller: good morning, good morning. i am cynthia in miami, florida, and i am calling about how inflation has impacted people. some people are saying they see no impact or it has not been impacted. however, i beg to differ. here in florida, people are struggling. i for 1 a.m.. i get social -- i for am, i get social security, and it is not enough. it is hard. it is hard, and inflation has impacted the families.

i feel like all over america. i hear some people are saying they think people are just getting the money and spending it. i beg to differ. people out here are struggling, and they need the help of finances given from washington. it is our money. they took it out of our social security. host: cynthia out of miami. we mentioned the house financial services committee hearing yesterday, where this issue of inflation was very much a topic of conversation. it was fed chair jerome powell, testifying at that hearing. here's is a little more from that hearing and exchange with democratic congresswoman madeleine dean out of pennsylvania. [video clip] >> what are your thoughts, and how can i explain it to my constituents, around this level of ration in these smaller groups of goods and services? what should we be watching? a few could, in plain english,

what is the doing in terms of this temporary or what might be called transitory inflation? >> well, so, we always have the issue and central banks generally have the issue of looking at price increases and asking whether they are really threatening inflation. by inflation, we mean year after year after year prices go up. if something is a one-time price increase, you do not react to it with monetary policy because the weight monetary policy works would be by the economy slowing down the recovery, therefore reducing inflationary pressures. so, we would not react to something that is likely to go away. so we have to look at this current situation where we have a number of cap where in -- number of categories were inflation is higher than expected and a little more persistent than we expected. but we look at them and we look at the story, and the story with what you mentioned around used cars and new cars and railcars,

it is all kind of the same story. if there is a shortage of semiconductors, there is high demand for various reasons, people are using less transportation, they have money because they have not been able to spend. it is the perfect storm of high demand and low supply. and it should pass. unless we think there was going to be a multiyear, any year shortage of used cars in the united states, we should look at this as a temporary. and we very much think it is, and so do all the forecasters that i have seen think that these price increases for used cars and new cars will top out, and in all likelihood, at some point in the future, and we cannot say exact when, they will decline. >> i appreciate that, those are commendations, and what your actions are. is this a time when you see this kind of transitory inflation and

need for greater public or private investment? >> i think what investment does is it raises the potential growth rate of the country and makes workers more productive and countries more productive. that raises living standards. more of it is generally better, as long as it is money well invested, then it is worth looking seriously at any time. >> i agree, and i would not call any of the things we are trying to do irresponsible spending. i think you have demonstrated and what the economy has mistreated is that our investment has been responsible spending to the growth of our economy and working class families. [end video clip] host: jerome powell yesterday on the house side. today, he will be on the senate side for the senate banking committee. live testimony beginning at 9:30 eastern.

we are airing that on c-span3, online at c-span.org, and you can listen to it on the free c-span radio app. about five minutes left in this segment of "washington journal." time for a few more of your calls as we ask you, hasn't ration impacted your family finances? those who say yes, it has, (202)-748-8000 is the number. those who say no, it has not, (202)-748-8001. we will keep looking through your social media posts, as well, but this is rodney out of shelbyville, kentucky, says no, has not seen the impacts of inflation. caller: this is rodney dempsey. i see two problems. one, the republicans want to give all the tax freaks they can to big business who can afford to pay, who make plenty of money

and can afford to pay more taxes than they are paying. number two, democrats want to give money to all the poor people, but many need to get off there butts and get to work. some of them are really disabled like a self. i am impersonal personal care in a nursing home, but i am still working. and we have so many people that are dependent on the government for their income, federal, state, local government, all college employees, all employees in high school, trade schools and kindergartens, they are all subsidized by the government. host: speaking of high schools, grade schools and kindergarten, checks are going out today to parents around this country for that enhanced childcare tax credit. we will talk more about it in a few minutes here, but do you with that effort to increase the

child tax credit? caller: excuse me. taxes come from individuals. as i understand out of the 300 million people that live in the united states, there is only about 167 million of them that are paying taxes and supporting government. taxes are from people, not from the government. all these youths you are giving -- all these gifts you are giving away, you are giving away tax money that is increasing deficits of grandchildren and great-grandchildren and pass them several generations will never be able to pay. host: rodney, you bring up deficit and debt. the u.s. national debt as of this morning at 28 trillion, 500 23 billion, $770 million -- over $28 trillion, for the u.s.

citizen, that comes out to 85 point $5,000. if you did it by debt or taxpayer in this country, it is $226,800 that each taxpayer in the country would owe to pay off for the u.s. national debt. douglas, staten island, new york, good morning. you are next. seeing the impacts of inflation and staten island. caller: good morning. i sometimes wonder this place these people inhabit and whether they look at bills or not. i used to get water for $6.99 for a five gallon container. i am now paying $15.99. they upped it three dollars and $1.50 all within this six month period. gas, electricity, food, everything is going up. and something that people do not

talk about, it is called shrink-inflation. they give you the same boxes, but a 16 pound is now 12.7. a 7.5 ounce can of tuna is now at five ounces, and on. your 64 ounce container of a half-gallon of milk is now 48 ounces. same thing with ice cream. everything goes on. they give you the same type of box or container, but there is less inside of it. host: have you thought about changing your buying habits and maybe not doing thecaller: the r over here in staten island, we are at the tail end of new york city and i used to drink new york city water, which was pretty good. we are at the tail end there and everyone, i get up early, i am a retiree and you get the smell of this chlorine that is constantly going through the water there and it has such a terrible taste

to it that i just do not feel comfortable drinking at. nestle for some reason decided that the water they get for free, they are allowed to charge whatever they want and they get away with it. host: that his dog was out of staten island and this is doris in atlanta, georgia. good morning, your next. caller: good morning. i do not feel a significant change in prices. i get the impression from listening to the callers that some of these colors were already having a problem before this inflation that we are looking forward to. i am 70 years old, i still work, i work at home. because i have delayed getting social security, i can work and get full social security. you know, i just do not see the price increases as much.

this thing with the money that the democrats are asking for infrastructure, i think if there is any time in history that we need to invest and taxpayers, this is the time with this pandemic and the failing infrastructure. we are going to have to invest in our citizens and our infrastructure sometime, otherwise we will pay a higher price later on down the road. host: is $4.1 trillion too much of an investment right now and if you combine that with the 1.9 trillion pandemic plant released earlier, we are talking about $6 trillion of spending over 10 years, but $6 trillion in new spending. caller: right. you said spread out over a period of time. a lot of people think that, oh, it will be 4.5 something trillion dollars at one

particular time. it will be spread out over a period of time. we are going to eventually have to pay for infrastructure. and we will pay a higher price if we do not start now looking into it and resolving the problem. host: from atlanta, georgia, our last color in this first segment of the washington journal, stick around them are plenty more to talk about this morning, including we will hear more about the child tax credit payments that start going out today. our conversation will be with amy matsui of the national women's law center and later, senate democrats unveiled their draft legislation to legalize marijuana on the federal level. we will get reactions on the smart approaches to marijuana group, a group advocating for a low approach to legalization. stick around. we will be right back. ♪

>> weekends on c-span2 when you the best in american history and nonfiction books. on saturday, american history tv explores the nation's past. at 2:00 p.m. eastern on the presidency, dwight eisenhower's grandson talks about high demand and his leadership during world war ii with brian, whose grandfather served as chief of the intelligence in the army's european theater. at 3:30 p.m. eastern on oral history, 82-year-old wally will go to space with jeff bezos. she is far from a newcomer to the space program. here how -- about mercury 13. unlike male counterpart -- male counterparts, they never flew a nasa mission. but tv features authors discussing their latest nonfiction book. on sunday at 8:00 eastern, voting rights activist and 2018 democratic nominee for georgia

governor stacey abrams discusses her recent suspense novel, set in the halls of the supreme court. at 10:00 p.m. eastern on afterwards, founder and president robert whitson being replaced with a polarizing version in his book. he is interviewed by harvard law professor and author of randall kennedy, watch american history tv it but tv every weekend on c-span2. find a full schedule on your program guide or visit c-span.org. >> washington journal continues. host: for a discussion on enhanced child tax credit payments that go out today, we are joined via zoom by amy matsui, director of income security at the national women's law center. good morning to you. start by expanding with the payments are exactly and where they came from. guest: absolutely and thank you

for having me on this program. it is such an exciting development that the first advanced child tax credit payments are going out today. the american rescue plan increases and expanded the child tax credit, which is a tax credit which basically helps families with a cost of raising children, which are significant. the american rescue plan and increased the amount of the child tasks credit so that it is worth $3000 per child for a ages six to 17 and it is worth $3600 for children aged newborn to age six. so, for 2021, under the american rescue plan, half of the child tax credit amount that a family can get is available through advanced payments in the first of those is going out today. so, every month, a payment is going to go to eligible families. that is it worth a total of up

to half of the child tax credit amount. when families file their tax returns are the tax year 2021 in early next year, they will get a measure of their child tax credit amounts. the exciting thing is that for families who are struggling to put food on the table, struggling to get their kids the shoes they need, that they are outgrowing, school is coming up pretty soon, so parents want to get their kids school supplies and new clothes. they are going to get support every month on the 50th of the month of july 15 through december 15 to push in those expenses they have because they have children. it is going to help them build up -- back up the finances they lost during the pandemic and this is especially important for women of color who are struggling before the pandemic to make ends meet and got hit especially hard with higher rates of unemployment, reporting

higher rates of material hardship, so this is really an opportunity to help people get back on their feet and help families make ends meet. especially since many families are lagging as they are recovering, even as the economy is getting slowly back to more accessible states for many people. host: do parents have to worry about applying before they get money sent out today? guest: for the majority of families, they will not have to do anything. if families filed a 2019 tax return or if they filed a 2020 tax return, they are already connected to the tax system and they will be able to automatically receive these payments for the rest of the year. in addition, if families got their stimulus payments by going to the irs's online portal, they already have that connection is established so they can automatically receive the child tax credit payments. it is definitely not too late

dr. families who did not do either of those things. sow -- so, families can file their 2020 tax returns even though the deadline has passed. there are free resources to help families. there is a service through my freetaxes.com and a nonprofit offers free tax filing assistance to get your refund -- throughget -- through get your refunds.com. families can access the irs's online portal to apply for the child tax credit. there are a lot of different websites and resources that i would point out. childtaxcredit.gov and these are solid resources that will connect families with the irs

website. they offer frequently asked questions that families can look up question that apply to their situation and it gives a lot of information from a trusted source that can help them get and access their child tax credit payments. host: amy matsui joining us to give you information about this new, enhanced child tax credit payment starting to hit parents 's bank accounts today and i want to give the numbers for folks to join us. parents can call in at (202) 748-8000 to ask questions you have about this program. all others, (202) 748-8001. go ahead and call in now. amy matsui, we are talking about fiscal year 2021. we are not talking about beyond -- we are talking about the tax year of 2021. why are we not talking about beyond 2021 yet? guest: so, we do definitely need

to make this important expansion to the child tax credit permanent and that is some of the policy discussion that is happening right now, it is how to do that. so right now, this is a really important policy to help kind of provide a cushion for people, help them build back emergency savings as they are kind of getting back on their feet after the recession. one thing that we know about refundable tax credits like the child tax credit as they have long-term benefits for the health and well-being of children. studies over decades have shown that children who get boosts in income from refundable tax credits at the child tax credit or income tax credits have better health outcomes. they have better educational outcomes. they actually do better in employment later on in their life. so, this is really something that is important for the long-term, to do these kinds of expansions. it is part of president biden's

american family -- families plan and there has been legislation in congress for many years to make changes like these permanent for the child tax credit. host: talking about the importance of it, senator markey rovio, the republican -- marco rubio not keen about this on an op-ed at the end last month. this is what he wrote about this expanded tax credit. for the next six months, the child tax credit claimed by working families every year at tax time to keep more of their hard earned money will be transferred -- transformed into an anti-work welfare check. parents will receive monthly payments of $300 per child under six and 254 ages seven to 17. some households with no working adults will receive more than $10,000 in these payments, no work required, just free money on top of america's existing safety net. your response to that? guest: i think the thing we are ignoring when we listen to arguments like that is that parents who have been bearing

this on their back for many years, if you can imagine a family where the parents are making minimum wage, imagine the stress and struggle of trying to get their children what they need and what they want to be able to succeed in life and access opportunities and they cannot do the math, the numbers do not add up. the other thing i would point out is that every family is a taxpayer on money that they earn , they could be paying sales taxes, they could be paying other either taxes, either state, local, or federal. so, the tax system exists, individuals pay into it, corporations pay into it. that we can contribute to our share priorities and the health and well-being of children of the next generation and the families that support them are the biggest priority that i can think of and there is no better purpose to the tax code and having a benefit like this available for families.

in the -- and the last thing i will point out is that, this is one of the pieces of the tax code that really does work for working families. refundable tax credits get families, even if they do not owe taxes back, at the same time, this is the benefit that goes pretty high up the income scale and the proposal to make it permanent and pay for it are paired with tax increases on the very wealthy households and corporations who have seen taxes decrease over the past several decades. we also have seen during the pandemic that they have not been struggling to the same extent that families have. they have been reporting record profits, we have been seeing billionaires with their wealth increases and it really is time to make the wealthy and large corporations pay their fair share of taxes. host: amy matsui is the director of income security and -- at the

national women's law center. it is national women's law center.org if you want to check her group. plenty of callers. kenny in radford, virginia. good morning. caller: yeah, this is symbolic of everything that is wrong with this country. we used to be self reliant. we pulled our own weight. now, we want the government to take care of us from cradle-to-grave. this is absurd. i raised two children on my own. i want why -- my $100,000. people think the checks are coming out of the sky and we are headed toward socialism and this woman right here, this is what i am talking about. host: is at the enhanced expanded cdc bank -- child tax credit credit that you are against or against it before the expansion? caller: there is more stuff going on than this. this is the tip of the iceberg. all of this money we are paying for these children, i decided to

raise -- when i decided to have children, i wanted to take care of them. i did. host: on your taxes -- on your taxes, did you make use of the child tax credit? host: i think we lost kenny. ms. matsui eka --? guest: everyone is connected. when children do well, that is part of our future economy and we also as a society again, there is nothing more important than the health and well-being of our children of the next generation. to be looking at the economics of it, if children succeed when they are younger, they are going to do better in school. at they do better in school, they are going to do better when they are working and contributing to the economy. if you look at the immediate point of it, when people who really need these payments receive child tax credit payments, they are putting that

money back into the economy. they are contributing to their local stores, they are paying their bills. they are making sure they do not get into debt and pay exorbitant fees for payday lenders. this is something that has short-term benefits right now, it will help boost the economy and increase spending. and it also as investments in our future and future children. again, what we have a tax system for is to be able to contribute to the investments that help all of us. if we do not do that, we are asking families to bear the cost of that by themselves. at the pandemic has shown us anything, is that families are the least well situated to do this. this is what we can do for each other, this is what government can do for us and we are kind of contributing to each other through the immediate impact on the economy and into the future. host: joined twitter asked, should be targeted to ballets

who pay for daycare or should it include families -- i think you mean stay-at-home parents. guest: the thing about the child tax credit is a does not ask that question. what is the best way for them to use these advanced payments? it is definitely true that we need to have significant investments in childcare. there is a proposed increase to the tax benefit, which targets families that pay out-of-pocket expenses for child care. more importantly, the biden administration's proposals will make historic investments in childcare and pre-k. again, these are expenses that are too great for families to bear. already, childcare providers are stretched to the margin, it is impossible for them to make ends meet and childcare workers are among some of the lowest paid employees across the country, even though they are doing the most important work of caring for our youngest citizens in

america and people in this country, children. these are all systems that need investment for many years and we have not made those and we are really saying that bearing fruit right now, the lack of investment. if nothing else has come out of the pandemic, it is showing the need for invest and's and workers, investments and families and children. host: the checks are hitting bank accounts today. here is the payment schedule through the rest of the year when it comes to the childcare tax benefits. july 15, today, the first one. august 13 because the 15 falls on a wednesday, november 15, december 15. that is the schedule for the rest of the year. south carolina, good morning, you're next. caller: thank you for taking my call. if you are going to have kids, you better afford them on your own. if not, you should not have been. that is the way i lived my life.

this is nothing more than another way for democrats to use taxpayer's money to buy boats. it is nothing else to it. people need to stand on their own two feet, support their families are not have them. do not leave it up to me, the taxpayer, to provide for you. you. host: amy matsui, how much more money is total is going to be going out this year are going to be targeted to the child tax credit this year than last year? guest: last year, the maximum lot for the child tax credit was $2000. just to be clear, that goes -- if that amount is available for families earning up to six figures. it really is part of a policy decision that families with children have a harder time paying their taxes. they are facing larger expenses and as a society, we have

decided that is something we are going to address through the tax code. so, the change this year is not only in the amount. but it also is in the amount that is available as a refund. previously, it was possible to earn too little money to get the benefit of the child tax credit. and there was a limit on the amount that was available as a refund. that really boxed out a lot of families who needed the child tax credit and a disproportionately harmed families of color. those changes put the advanced payments -- changes for 2021 made to the american rescue plan. host: the question i was asking, how much did the child tax credit program cost and 2020 and how much are we expecting it is going to cost in 2021? guest: i do not have those numbers at my fingertips unfortunately, but is certainly an increase. host: victoria, falls church, virginia.

good morning, you're next. caller: good morning. yes, i know i am older.

--guest: i hear what you are saying. i think families have in mind that the family does working really hard and just cannot get that little extra to help with enrichment activities, with a shoes, clothes, even before the pandemic. we know that many families were struggling paycheck to paycheck and during the pandemic, the extraordinary stress that families were feeling when they cannot be sure that they were going to be able to pay the rent, when they were not sure they were able to put food on the table for the whole month. that has -- that is stress that not only affects -- we have

heard stories about it impacting children and they know that their parents are worried about money, worried about bills, and when kids are not getting enough food, they cannot concentrate in school. so, we are really thinking about families who are doing their best with what they have. and this monthly payment that they are receiving right now, which in 2020 -- and 2021 can be up to $300 a month, $250 a month, is going to help actually people work, imagine if there is a car that breaks down, there another emergency expense. they do not have cash on hand, the way that a loss of a job from lack of transportation being evicted can spiral and sent people into a state of economic distress, it is not good for families, not good for children, and this is a policy that can help prevent that.

so, it provides a bit of a cushion, it evens out income for months and months, and it is something that will support the health of the family, the development of children, and take some of that stress away. host: phone lines and discuss -- segment are (202) 748-8000 for parents to call in. (202) 748-8001 for all others. our guest is amy matsui of the national women's law center. what is the end of the oc? guest: -- what is the national women's law center? guest: we focus on gender equity . we are active in the courts, in the legislature, and we also worked to promote culture change. we are working to move gender justice forward and our focus is on women and families of low income and women who are facing multiple forms of discrimination. host: and an advocate for the enhanced child tax credit, do you think it should have been more than where it eventually

landed in the legislation that has passed earlier this year? guest: i am excited to see what the amount in the american rescue plan for -- can do for families. one of the challenges is that we are in a real-time experiment. it is a laboratory that we are in right now. so, even as we are working to make the credit permanent, there may be changes or some tweaks that we see from this process, but the important thing is really to get this policy made permanent so families can count on it and so that next year, just as people are trying to stabilize in their financial situations, that this is not taken away after just a year. host: on the politics of permanent credit, border -- when i received the earned income credit, i like the lump sum, the

monthly check would have helped more. going on to say people will be mad when this money stops because it was incorporated into their monthly budgets and she said that most people do not know that it is temporary. guest: now, under the american rescue plan, unfortunately, the expansion of the child tax credit is only for this past year 2021. but it is really important for people who are seeing the impact that this makes on their lives, their ability to plan, their ability to provide for their families and have that expectation, know what is going to happen from month-to-month. it is really important to communicate to policymakers and lawmakers that this makes a difference in family's lives and should continue after 2021 by making the expansions to the child tax credit program. host: connecticut, this is patty, good morning. caller: good morning. i am calling it because when i was young, my husband and i decided to have two children.

we figured that is all we could afford. and i had my children during inflation, jimmy carter years. i decided to stay home to bring them up. back then, a lot of women did. then, when it is time for them to go to college, took out loans, set the mortgage, pay them off, no hope. what the hell is going on with this country? i was not looking for freebies? -- freebies. i did not shoot out five or six kids. i knew i could not afford it. host: amy matsui? guest: one of the important things to recognize is that none of our families are standing on our own. there are a lot of different ways that the government is here to invest in all of us. whether it is the roads that we share or the investments in

education, those are things that we all contribute to each other's families, to each other's children so we can all succeed. i think another thing to remember is that if we make this proposal permanent in the way that the biden administration has proposed, no one under $400,000 is going to be getting a tax increase. we are looking at kind of rolling back the trump tax cuts so that high earners are paying what they were before when 17, increasing the tax rate -- before wendy 17, increasing that corporate tax rate prior to 2017. it is making sure that the investments are there and that they are paid for by those who can afford the most, paying their fair share of taxes. we are all in this together. and we support -- can support

each other and support the health, development, and growth of children across the country by investments like the child tax credit. host: we have the line for parents, marked on that -- mark on that line from maryland. good morning. caller: hi. where is the personal responsibility? i do not understand why the government is just getting more and more involved in people's lives. the tax credit on the tax form is basically -- just a couple of hundred dollars. now, the government is taking that and making it into an actual cash payment of thousands of dollars. the government is going from $200 maybe to someone who is making 75,000. host: is a something that your -- is it something you would like to turn down? caller: yes.

why do i want to put a burden on other people in the country? like i said, if you are making $75,000 and you get a $3000 tax credit, it is taking your taxes from $75,000 down to 72,000, so you are probably paying 100 or $200 less. it is not that big of a credit, but now the government is going to give you thousands of dollars cash money? this is a totally different program. it is not even a child tax credit anymore. it is basically a child giveaway. host: on that end on folks who may want to opt out? guest: there -- families can decide not to receive the advanced child tax credit payments and that is something that can be done through the irs's website and you can reach that through's -- and ctc.org.

the child tax credit last year was $2000 per child. this is a significant increase, but the structure of the credit has always been refundable. i think one of the other things that people are not aware of, i mentioned earlier that the refundable tax credit like the child tax credit and the ei tc are some of the few pieces of the tax code that work for working families. there are a whole host of kind of benefits or incentives in the tax code ranging from the mortgage interest deduction to incentives for savings and a lot of families are locked out of those. but those also total millions if not billions of dollars of lost revenue every year. so, there are benefits in the tax code that are invisible because they may not be a refund, but there are still benefits that are going to a higher income families that are at the expense of families who are earning less and cannot take

those, whether it is because they are not taking itemized deduction, they may not have enough their income to say, but in addition to their rate cuts that were part of the trump tax cuts, that went overwhelmingly to very high income families, just because tax benefits are not a refund, it does not mean that there are not a significant amount of tax benefits, incentives, that are going to higher income families that are really invisible to us. we are subsidizing that. host: several calls stacked up on the line for parents. let me take a few of them for i come back to you, ms. matsui. terry in pennsylvania. the morning. caller: hi, how are you? host: how are you? what is your question? caller: my dachshund's nest my

definition of parent change a lot. i was a parent and i was divorced beside that and i worked for seven dollars and $.25 an hour and the dead did not want to help support the kids -- for seven dollars 70 -- $7.25 an hour. they have their beer and cigarettes and tattoos and their seven-year-old kids have thousand dollars cell phones. the women in my opinion, her and her husband both work and they have a big income, if they think they are a parent, why are not -- why aren't they staying at home with her kids until they are in kindergarten? host: in ellicott city, maryland. good morning. caller: hi, good morning. i just wanted to make a quick comment about a lot of the other callers calling in about things that happened in the past.

i am a parent, my family and i, we make pretty good money, but i realized that a family 20 years ago working full time was able to survive on minimum wage payments. that is not the case anymore. things have changed drastically and it working full-time does not necessarily mean you are able to afford a life. and i just wondered what your guest's comments are on that? host: ms. matsui, on those two calls. guest: i really appreciate the comment that over time, wages have not gone up in a significant way for many people across the country. it has become harder to make ends meet -- it has become harder to make ends meet and a stable middle-class life for their family. i also wanted to make the point

that what we have seen from studies of how people use their stimulus payments, of different kinds of payments, one people receive payments like the advanced child tax credit, they are using them to buy food, they are using them to pay bills. they are using them to maybe not have to take on a third job or drive delivery services or do gig works so they can spend more time with our families and take care of them. and some of your callers pointed out that not everyone has a choice about being able to work and so, what investments like that child tax credit payments can do for families as it makes it easier for them to have economic dignity and give their families what they need to make ends meet and work toward a brighter future for their children. host: to smith in georgia.

in morning. caller: good morning. -- good morning. caller: i want to know about the stimulus. i got the letter, but i did not get the chip. can you give me feedback? host: can you speak to that? guest: yes. some people received their stimulus payments by direct deposit at the irs had their information. some people received a paper check and in addition, there were some debit cards that went out in the mail. one thing that people can do is go back to the irs website and check. in addition, if individuals file a 2020 tax return and they did not receive their stimulus payments, there is a mechanism

in the tax return for 2020 make sure people got the full amount of their payments. either by going to the irs's website to get the stimulus payments or by getting help by filing taxes for example, from getyourrefund.org. this can make sure you get people payments. host: i will try to get in one more parent. out of grand haven, michigan. good morning. caller: yes. i am kind of disturbed that the cap is at 17 years old. nowadays, our children have to stay home longer, typically to be able to afford to go to college. and we are still able to claim them as a tax credit, so why

limit the household incomes of those of us who have children that are trying to attend college. why isn't there a program to encourage these things? and furthermore, it is socialistic to take from the wealthy to give to the poor. what would be fair across the board is to raise our wages, everybody's wages. not just a fast food workers, your rm, physician, wages have been stagnant in michigan, we have seen a $6 increase in my lifetime, 30 years of working on the minimum wage. $6. that is all i have to say. host: what kind of work did you do? caller: i have been a server and i worked in retail. thanks --host: thank you for the call. ms. matsui, i will give you the final minute or two to address them. guest: i definitely hear what

the caller was saying and it was also true for families to provide what they want for their children, there is no one policy that will make that happen. so, increasing wages and giving workers more power to bargain, increasing the minimum wage, which certainly has not risen for many decades, but also making it easier for families to have an affordable, and safe home in the making it easier for families to afford childcare, and support from the tech system across-the-board, having these policies work together and will give families what they need and it does point to the lack of investment that we have made in families and why this is really the moment to make a change in our policies and have the priority be investing in

children and families and in workers. host: amy matsui is senior counsel and director of income security at the national women's law center, it is national women's law center.org. thank you for taking the call. guest: thank you for having me. host: up next, we turned the phone lines over to you, it is our open forum about any political, public policy state issue that is on your mind, letting you be the discussion here for the next 30 minutes this morning. democrats, it is (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. go ahead and call in, we will get your calls after the break. ♪

>> saturday on the communicators, -- >> the reason why ransomware is a problem as it has become a huge threat, not a -- only a cyber circum--- cyber criminals that but also the implications for critical infrastructure like pipeline companies are the largest meat supplier in the country. these are very significant targets and they have increasingly become something that cyber criminals are targeting. ransomware is a concept that is simple. unfortunately, defending against it has become increasingly complex. >> overseen the justice

department's national security and cyber crime investigations during the trump administration. he discusses recent ransomware's and other cyber threats. saturday on the communicators, at 6:30 p.m. eastern, on c-span. >> weekends on c-span2 rn intellectual feast. every saturday, events and people that explore our nation's's passed on american history tv. on sunday, but tv rings you the latest in nonfiction books and authors. it is television for serious readers. discover, explore, weekends on c-span2. ♪ >> washington journal continues. host: the next 30 minutes, it is our open forum, turning the phone lines to you, letting you

lead the discussion, but public policy, medical issue, which state issue is on your mind? democrats call in at (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. we will get to your calls this morning. david out of redmond, oregon, a democrat. you are up first, it is our open forum. caller: i would like to know in our last segment with the income level is to qualify for the child tax credit that is being sent about $300 a month? host: i can help you out with that, actually. the maximum -- let me get the correct number, thank you for asking in the wake of that last segment. here is the income cutoff levels, it is $75,000 for a single taxpayer. it is $150,000 for joint filers. payments are then reduced by $50

for every $1000 of income above those limits and then the payments -- the enhanced payments stays out for a single taxpayer's earning $90,000. joint filers earning $170,000. those are some of the limits, does that answer your question? caller: yeah. i think that is a little high. host: what you think is fair? -- do you think is fair? caller: someone making $50,000 a year or less. and that would be more appropriate i think. host: do you think they cop just start if you make over 50,000? -- think the cut out should start after you make 50,000? caller: for two. host: independent, good morning. caller: good morning.

basically, i have been watching c-span for many years now and it is interesting, all people's ideas on this and that and i was listening, there is -- there is a riot going on. that is exactly how those two organizations are. being an independent, i am amazed at how the group in texas set, you elected us, we are democrats, everybody loves partisan and we are going to washington, d.c. so we do not have to carry out our duties. you have a situation where mr. biden is in charge of the nation and he has fired 11,000 people on the xl pipeline and those were the 798ers, the ones who

work on the alaskan helpline. -- pipeline. now you see gas prices are going up and the russians are helping the europeans and eventually, it seems like what george bush gave us, $300, -- host: you bring up a lot of issues. the first one, the texas state house democrats who left the state to keep corum from being achieved in the statehouse. to avoid the debate in the vote on the voting rights bill in texas. they are in washington now, unclear how long they will be staying in washington to avoid that. here's the headline from the front page of the washington times today. here is how they describe it in the print section, runaways toasted on the left and rested on the right, and aquatic

lawmakers take flight, not quite. that is how they discovered. -- that is how they describe it. caller: good morning. am i on? host: yes, ma'am. caller: one of my concerns was this idea of the senator schumer bringing up the legalizing of a marijuana and i think he should concern himself with taking care of the gun laws in this country. we do not need another problem to be handling before we fix that. you know. use a little bit of logic here. we do not need another problem, we need to solve some of these problems we have now in this country. host: is a legalizing marijuana something that you would be ok with the background -- with?

caller: no. we have other serious problems affecting this country. we do not need to be handling that kind of an issue right now. host: it was chuck schumer standing with several democratic colleagues to discuss the rollout of a trapped bill that he -- of a draft bill to legalize marijuana federally. this was chuck schumer on capitol hill yesterday. [video clip] >> the war on drugs has been a war on people, particular people of color. the cannabis administration and opportunity act would help put a end to the unfair targeting and treatment of communities of color by removing cannabis from the federal list of controlled substances. this is an idea -- it is not just an idea of whose time has come, it is long overdue. we have all seen the agony of a young person, arrested, with a small amount of marijuana in his

or her pocket. and because of the historical overcome knowledge and -- over criminalization of marijuana, they have a criminal record they live with their whole lives, trouble to get a job, tough to live a normal life. this has been one of the greatest historical wrongs for the last decades. we have the change. we will fight hard to change it. america is on our side. 70% of americans now support legalizing adult use of marijuana. in the 2020 election, it was put on the ballot petition in south dakota and even south dakota, one of the most conservative states in america, a majority voted to legalize adult recreational use of marijuana. if south dakota can do it, the

senate should be able to do it and we will fight to make sure it happened. host: senate majority leader chuck schumer yesterday talking to reporters about that legislation. we will be talking more about that topic of legalizing marijuana coming up in about 25 minutes this morning on the washington journal, we will be joined by kevin, ceo of smart approaches to marijuana. he is the author of a book about the marijuana industry. in the meantime, our open forum on the washington journal, this is linda out of southaven, mississippi. a republican. what topic is on your mind? host: are you with us? caller: yes, i am here. part of the problem in america is the morals of people -- i am 70 years old.

before we were taught needs, wants, desires. when i attended school, the education taught us how the budget -- the basic skills, math, english, history, science, we did not have -- we did not graduate from high school with all of the electives, sports management, basketball, whatever. we have to get back to the basics. the money they are putting out and giving to young people now with children is false hope. nothing is free. you have got to learn to budget, work, and live on what you got. if you want a better job, you do more education. host: when did we get off track in this country? caller: through the years with

education, through the years with education. basic education is good. we were taught in school held up -- how to budget our money. host: that is linda in mississippi. this is chuck out of jeffersonville, indiana. democrats. good morning. caller: yes, sir. i want to talk about a few things if i can. i go back 77 years. i got a job, i started in 63, 1964. jobs were everywhere. it two dollars and $.34 an hour. -- at two dollars and $.34 an hour. --$2.34 an hour. when the plant shut down, all of my insurance was paid for by the comedy. -- company.

i made $18 an hour. if all of these people today can pay for this insurance, they have no insurance. what they do have is junk. if you have insurance to take care of yourself, you do not have a problem. everyone has a different situation everywhere. host: why does the -- why did the chemical plant shut down? caller: i really do not know for sure. maybe we lost too many people. host: what did you do afterwards? caller: i had a great job over the years. the lady was just talking about, everyone has a different situation. today, it is terrible. these waitresses, they cannot make it. and you are talking about these children, they are going through

this virus thing and people act like they know a thing about it. if you had all of your insurance paid for, you know, and you go out here and work, when you go in these hospitals, they are filing bankruptcy because they do not have insurance. everybody gets sick. and my social security, 2.6. i had to go back into my savings. it keeps going on and on. every year it goes up. host: it is our open forum that you lead the discussion with topics on your mind. keeping you up-to-date with the latest news and there is some from capitol hill from the supreme court side of capitol hill. bloomberg law tweeted a few minutes ago, justice breyer telling cnn that he had not decided when he will retire from the supreme court. more detail on that from capitol

hill reporter jennifer, dreier, a 27 year veteran of the high court said that they will be overwriting on his decision, primarily, of course, health. he will turn 83 in august. the second factor, the court. after your phone calls. bill in ohio. independent. caller: good morning. i would go a different direction. with the southern states and their outbreak they are going through again, i am just wondering, why should we care? when they left themselves -- let themselves be lied to so much, with trump and his own virus going around, he lied to us from the beginning. we all know that. he knew how serious it was and then he actually got it and he still got vaccinated too. he needs to come out and tell the people to get vaccinated. that is as simple as it can be.

host: efforts from the white house yesterday to get young people vaccinated. actress and popstar olivia rodrigue wrote at the white house yesterday on that effort speaking to reporters in the white house briefing room there and also chatting with the president about vaccination efforts. this is olivia on the white house briefing room yesterday. [video clip] >> hi,. i am beyond honored and humbled to spread the message about the importance of youth vaccination. end of the work president biden and dr. fauci have done and i am happy to lend my support and this important initiative. it is important to have conversations, rents and family members, encouraging all community members to get vaccinated and get to a vaccination site which you can view more easily than ever before given how many there are.

thank you for having me today. thank you all for helping share this important message. thank you. host: olivia at the white house yesterday. the numbers yesterday, some 37,900 new covid cases in the united states. yesterday, 398 covered deaths. those numbers from the cdc's checking data. connecticut, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. i listened earlier this week in a discussion about voting. and whether we should allow million votes -- male in votes. i think every registered voters should be allowed -- mail it in votes. billions of gallons of gasoline

are used to drive to the pools -- close lima. -- to the polls. some people are waiting in long lines. that is a terrible waste of human productivity. people waiting in lines for voting when they are registered, they can get a ballot from their town and vote by mail and save time and money. it is huge. host: i think you're talking about that segment we had when we asked viewers which was more important to them. expanding voting access or protecting the integrity of the vote. you would fall in the former. caller: i think the fact is there are ways to protect the vote by using mail. by increasing the time allowed to vote, let's say two weeks

prior to the actual vote time, to be able to send your vote in. it's something that could be managed. we can do everything else by phone or computer. no reason why we can't vote by using mail in system. thank you very much. host: several states in this country are all mail in voting. it canken --ken is next. caller: my concern is what you just mentioned. the rise in covid. specifically with relation to the fact that the government is no longer protecting us from the people that are trying to get refugee status here.

i've read several articles about this and i don't understand why they are not enforcing the law. i am talking about the biden administration, specifically title 42 which has been on the books for a long time which is supposed to stop people from entering this country if they are carrying a cuticle bowl disease. according to my research, and i might not -- if they are carrying a communicable disease. according to my research, refuge being brought into the country without a health screening. they are not being given the vaccine, which the biden administration wants everybody to get vaccinated. why are night -- why are they not giving people vaccinations. i am an independent conservative in california and the san diego

area, and we are working to try to raise awareness about this because we've got a huge rise in the san diego county area of the same thing. the covid is going up because these refugees are being bussed and flown into the country. that is my concern. i want to thank you for taking my call. i really like the open forum segments. thank you, john. host: title 42, that covid era rule that allows the expulsion of migrants at the border due to the pandemic. just one of the stories on that from fox news recently. trump era dhs officials warning catastrophic results if the biden administration moves to remove that title 42 expulsion program. republican out of south

carolina. what's on your mind? caller: thanks for taking my call. i'm calling on the republican line which is to say that is where my values lie. unfortunately today, there are only a couple of handfuls of republicans that are trying to stand up for america. quickly, let me get on to the fact of the vaccine. i keep hearing the people in the south because of political reasons are not getting the vaccine. it's an emergency authorization approval right now. that is what we are under. this is a personal decision for americans to make. i happen to have some underlined conditions that make it risky for me to get the vaccine. we go through a lot of links that up -- we go to a lot of lengths to put down donald trump. he put a vaccine on the table

when dr. fauci said it cannot be done, and dr. fauci is the one that misled the american people. host: before you go, the republicans were leading the right way. who are you talking about? caller: i'm talking about the ones, let's just, real quickly. donald trump takes office in the first thing they want to do is impeach the man. we just heard recently that biden is fixing to cut the support for ukraine and i have heard crickets. when trump wanted to do that because he thought there might be corruption, he delayed support for their ukrainian people and they impeached the man. host: do you want to name of dusty want to name any republicans before you go? -- do you want to name republicans? >> anybody who pays attention

and doesn't watch cnn. jim jordan, nunez. there are several. but there's only about 10 of them. there are republicans who might as well change their fish -- their affiliation the democrat. host: this is nancy out of california, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. my understanding is that the reason that the vaccine has gone so high in the south is because people are refusing vaccines. is that correct from you are reading? host: a lot of the reports on this, yes. our rates are spiking in the desk unvaccinated -- the rates are spiking in the unvaccinated population. especially in states with the largest amounts of vaccinated population. caller: so then that is a fact

then? host: what is your point? caller: my point is somebody just called and said that the reason is because refugees are coming into the country unvaccinated and spreading the virus. host: ok. that's nancy and kelly when you. this is mike in huntsville, alabama. caller: i want to talk about medicare. in alabama, i was going to a psychiatrist for over 10 years and due to the medicare law, they dropped the psychiatrist. they will see you no more if you got medicare. i cannot see a psychiatrist. host: how have you been dealing with that? caller: well, i was going to

this one for 10 years and i was down to seeing her twice a year. i've got medication, but i'm fixing to run out. the only way i can get it is i have to go to the emergency room when i run out of medication and the hospital will take it. i don't know what they've done to medicare. i've got blue cross blue shield. host: this is david n independence, -- david in independence. caller: this is dave and i'm an independent. seems like everybody wants to be on the fire and that's not going to work. there's a pashas -- there's a passage in the bible. it says in everything give

thanks. i believe people are not being thankful for the gift that this country is and woes. i guess that -- that this country is and was. can you tell us anything about what your credentials are? host: my conditionals -- my credentials? caller: yes. host: are you concerned? caller: i just want to know in case i need to get me in application. host: i've been in this seat for eight years and the focus is to make it about you, the callers. we have an open forum where we tried not to lead the discussion but find out what's on your mind. caller: the only thing i can say to improve this show, and everybody calls up and says they want to thank c-span. it's actually washington journal that they are enjoying, especially participation.

you ought to do an afternoon show. you will get some input unions that will be that she will get some opinions that will be completely different. -- you will get some opinions that will be completely. host: we do viewer collins, is not just washington journal. -- we do viewer call ins. this is the one place where people can speak back. it's not just on washington journal, although we do it every morning from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. eastern. joel, idaho, independent. good morning. caller: c-span normally does a very good job of educating the public, but i think one area where you fall short is when you perpetuate the myth that we have

a democratic vote for president. we don't. we have a constitutional republic. even you, you guys run an ad and you have a tagline saving our democracy. we don't have a democracy. we do have a democracy when it comes to states and we elect senators and congressmen and individual votes count. i think you can do a lot of education i changing that tagline from democracy to constitutional republic. correct people when they call in. you're doing a good job. host: why does it concern you? people calling about this before -- people called in about this before. there was a column that i found

a few weeks back when this topic came up. it is from the washington post. the headline is united states of america, a republic or democracy? it looks into the use of this word over the course of american history. the author noting that the american form of government has been called a democracy by leading statements and legal commentators from the framers on. some framer era commentators make comments. pure democracy and a republic. only later saying just democracy. a representative democracy was understood. john adams used the term representative democracy.

it goes on to note james wilson defending the constitution in 1787 speaking of the three forms of government being the marne article -- monarchical, aristocratic old and democratic. caller: i think people when that call up, especially this presidential election, they were under the illusion that their individual vote went toward the president. it didn't. it went toward the electoral college i think there is a misunderstanding as to how powerful the individual vote really is. host: should we get rid of the electoral college? caller: no, i don't think so. i think it was put in brilliantly by the founders to

prevent a tyrannical leader. i may be wrong on that, but that's what i've read. it's a moot point. some of the people to call up think we are in a democratic vote system, but were not except for the states. we've never had hitler's, although that some people would claim that trump was but i don't think so. his personality may have been hitler's like, but his policies were admirable. host: tommy your next. caller: thanks for taking my call. i wanted to talk about the vaccine. i'm not in anti- vaxxer, but i'm

not taking the vaccine yet. i think it is scripted to discuss the vaccine in such a way because president biden did not meet his initial goal in july of having the majority of the country vaccinated. there is conflicting research. the same president who told us to get vaccinated in january told us not to trust the vaccine if it was ready in january when he was running in prep -- running as president. -- running as president. they are bribing people to get vaccinated which is racially insulting. they are using wrappers as public-service announcers -- the -- they are using rappers as public service announcers. athletes. they are showing do it because we are telling you to do it and

we will give you a reward for doing it and i think that's wrong. host: tune in on monday at 9 a.m. eastern. we are going to be joined by william shatner, a doctor and professor of preventative medicine at vanderbilt university. he is going to take calls from viewers. people can ask these questions and question him about what he knows about vaccines and how long he has been doing it. they can ask all of these questions. caller: i understand that, but typically when you do that if you try to call back and it's almost like you guys have a weight to do that --wait to do that. host: we will live that for you. if you want to call in at monday -- colin monday on -- colincall

in --call in on monday at 9:00, we will waive that for you. caller: if we were really being responsible, we would have been more proactive in the communities. for political reasons, we did not do that. host: we are running out of time. tommy, if you want to ask your questions you can do it on monday with our guest. stephen in wilmington, illinois. a democrat, good morning. caller: hello. i was watching over the weekend and i saw a rick scott claiming liberals are out to destroy their conservative values. we are not out to destroy their values. we are rejecting them.

the guy was blaming everybody for a lack of people. the young people aren't buying into it and the old people are dying. if you listen to fox news, they like to keep people terrified. voter fraud which doesn't happen. cancel culture, which is something that came up with because they're doing all the canceling. host: less color in this open forum. independent out of --last caller in this open forum. independent out of north carolina. caller: we have discovered that the united states has the ability to organize around some things. what they are not admitting to is the leading cause of death for african-americans is racism. if we had the same type of vigor applied to ending racism,

african-americans would not be suffering from covid the way they are because everything is rooted in racism. racism is a public health threat. host: what are the best ways we can end racism? caller: treat it just like we are treating covid. if we did all of the same measures, racism would have been ended over 100 years ago. host: tiffany in north carolina. 45 minutes to go this morning and in that time, we will turn our attention to the debate over legalizing marijuana. that conversation with kevin sabet from smart approaches to marijuana, a group that is advocating for legalization. we will talk to him right after the break. ♪ >> coming up today on c-span, the nominees for census bureau director and immigration and customs enforcement assistant

secretary have their confirmation hearing before the house homeland security committee. that is live at 10:15 a.m. eastern area at 10:00, the senate returns to confirm the nominees for treasury department and deputy veterans affairs secretary. on c-span three at 9:30 a.m. eastern, federal reserve jerome powell to testify on monetary policy and the u.s. economy. ♪ >> sunday night on q&a. she was called back into service following the attacks on the 20 hours. in her book, she tells the story of mariners -- the attacks on the twin towers.

in her book, she tells the story of mariners. >> it is an incredible example of the goodness of people of when you are given the opportunity to help. you have the tools, the skill set, the availability that people made the choice to put themselves in harm's way for the sake of fellow humans. that is something we really need to continue to remember. >> jessica davon on c-span's q& a. you can also listen to it as a podcast wherever you get your podcasts. ♪ >> washington journal continues. host: kevin sabet is joining is

now about efforts to legalize marijuana. he is author of smokescreen. he is also president and ceo of smart approaches to marijuana. kevin sabet, what do you do? >> thanks -- guest: thanks so much for having me on. when i was 13 years old, i called in to ask vice president gore about human rights abuses in iran. i think it was my parents most proud moment. thank you for your public service. host: thanks for calling in back when you are 13 and being with us for so long. guest: it was really fun. it was great. host: we will try to find that clip. guest: sure. i worked in a couple white house demonstrations. i left the obama ministration into thousand 11. i notice that the conversation

about marijuana, but essentially there was a massive industry whose is this that is to make money. i was burning -- i was promoting this idea that marijuana was essentially safe, natural. it was the herb of the 60's and there was no problem with it. the only way to have policy would be to legalize it. when i spoke to officials in the obama administration. i go into some of those discussions in my book. when i spoke to them, when i spoke to scientists around the country, every medical association i spoke with, there was such a disconnect with what they were saying is we are concerned about today's highly potent marijuana. we are concerned about the

tobacco industry getting involved. we are concerned about mental health outcome. psychosis, schizophrenia, suicide. the public's perception, i figured there was a gap that needed to be filled. patrick kennedy -- congressman patrick kennedy, we had gotten to know each other during the aca discussion and we were focused on how to treat mental health as well as addiction on par with -- addiction. we have made a stark divide between mental and physical health. although the brain is -- we decided together that our

next journey together was to start this organization. smart approaches to marijuana. not to advocate for the status quo. we don't want to see people arrested. we don't want to see criminal records. we would love to see expunged records. we would love to see the decriminalization of personal use. we also want to see a prevention account. we certainly do not want to see a for-profit industry taking this over. we have worked for the last almost nine years now as an organization pushing back against efforts to legalize a for-profit industry and try to increase prevention and treatment. individual donors that have, i would say almost all, have had

personal issues in their families or themselves with high potency marijuana. the stories i hear from parents about kids who have died by suicide where there suicide note wrote in there that it was because of the marijuana. i can't imagine living through that kind of tragedy, whether it's the parent i spoke to last week whose son is in a thc induced mania and 30 day inpatient. it is costing them their entire college savings put him into that state to control their 18-year-old son. it these are powerful -- these are powerful stories. they've made money in this vibrant economy over the last 20 years and they have donated to us. we don't take a penny from industries like pharma, alcohol

and tobacco. we never have and never will because essentially we are saying we do not want to copy those industries. we are a very lean organization, very small. we are one that drives off small individual donors. host: let me give phone numbers or viewers to join with kevin sabet. smart approaches to marijuana, also the author. he has talked about his book smokescreen. here are the fault this you are the phone numbers. if you support legalization 202-748-8000. if you oppose it 202-748-8001. kevin sabet joining us today after chuck schumer and democratic senators unveiled their draft on passing legalization. the cannabis administration opportunity act would allow possession up to -- would allow possession, allow cannabis

companies. your thoughts. caller: i guess i'm grateful that this discussion draft that this is not an official bill. there is room for improvement. there needs to be a lot of improvements. we need to make this distinction between decriminalization and legalization. there is such a key distinction. i know you're smart listeners will last. decriminalization is reducing or eliminating arrests or criminalized sanctions against people for low-level amounts of use. one ounce is something around 60 to 70 joints. we are talking about 10 ounces for personal possession. that's something like 600 to 700

joints. the legalization is different. it's about sales, production and trafficking. i wish we could make that distinction better. i wish that this bill focused on decriminalization, not legalization. i was surprised because it leaves a lot of room for criticism. there are over half dozen democrats who are against legalization along with not only republicans but every single medical association in this country because it does not address things like driving issues. it does not address driving

impaired, high on marijuana. it is a huge problem in this country. we just had a brand-new medical journal showing an increase in little states like washington. and does not address that. it does not address the fact that it is guys who look like me who are the ones making the money and continuing to make the money under legalization. it's not going to be about guys who used to be drug dealers in the inner-city who all of a sudden are going to have access to capital and the connections and headstart start that you need to thrive at any business. i think it is insulting to say that the time we are going to care about job opportunity is going to be because we want to legalize marijuana and use drugs. i would think we should care about that regardless of our feelings of marijuana. don't think it's going anywhere.

it does not have the support it needs. i think it's far from being read host: -- far from being. host: tom in hampton, connecticut on the line for those who support the legal -- the legalization of marijuana. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i'm 74 years old. i can't hear you. host: you're the one talking. you're 74 years old? caller: i haven't smoked marijuana since vietnam, but legalization on a federal level continues to make things around the country. in connecticut, i have a medical card. my point is you need to have the controls the same.

they will make marijuana smoking the same as cigarette smoking. i think it's wrong. i think alcohol and marijuana should be exactly the same. you don't smoke marijuana on the street. you don't drink alcohol on the street. with the federal law, those could be regulated. i do have some issues with marijuana. 18-year-old kids growing minds should not be smoking it. host: take up that question. guest: it's a good question. frankly, it was the pressure point for the legalization advocates about 20 years ago when they saw themselves in disarray. they did not have support of the american people. the issue of alcohol was the top issue that they got traction on. a wise person said consistency

is the hobnob of a small mind. just because we have a law, that frankly, alcohol is the number one issue for violent crime in this country. there are more arrests, this is important. i was shocked when i heard this. there are more arrests are alcohol-related violations in this country, dui, selling to kids, public use then all drugs combined. alcohol is legal. we have a huge criminal justice problem. it is a top issue for domestic violence. the number one killer on the road. we have an alcohol industry that markets to kids, advertises on the super bowl, has every flavor imaginable. if you want to talk about the opioid problem, we have to first talk about the alcohol problem. it's a huge problem. it's an embarrassment to our national fiber, the way he we

have handled alcohol. if you look at inflation, we are at a fifth of where we were during the korean war. big problems, ok? but alcohol is legal. it's legal because it is been in our society for 5000 years. it has been used by the majority of western civilization. week marijuanaweak --weak marijuana was used in early cultures. alcohol is here to stay and is not doing too well. why in the world will be what to repeat something going really badly? that should be an example for us to say let's not have marijuana in the fabric of society like alcohol.

if your headlights were broken, would you break your taillights to be consistent? it was probably one of the main reason public opinion has changed. host: heidi in california opposes legalization. good morning. caller: i want to talk about a couple of points that tom brought up and that is when legalization happened in california, people began flaunting it. they were using in public places. they used at the beach. they smoke in their cars. they have no shame and they know they are not going to get any consequences. nobody gives them a consequence. i can't even go to a public park or beach and not smell marijuana. it is not being enforced. the kids use it and they say it

would not be legal if it was not safe. that is what they all say. my concern is the increase in homelessness. all this marijuana in public places, you can smell it everywhere. with that came more homeless people. can you talk about the connection? i really loved smoke screen so thank you. guest: thank you. you're exactly right about the flaunting. enforcement in this country is that drug enforcement, things like enforcing local laws like open container laws or in this case, marijuana smoking in public. the dea isn't out surveilling

your house to see if your 16-year-old is smoking a joint. that is local law enforcement. they are very disempowered to talk about this issue. they don't want to be arresting people in most parts of this country for marijuana. even before any state legalized less than 0.5% of state prisoners were there for smoking a joint. this all falls on the local and that has been a huge issue. in manhattan, anyone is been to new york you saw a palpable change in the environment. the smells, the increase of that. one issue we do not talk about

is second and third hand marijuana smoke. marijuana has at least the same about of tar as cigarettes, and we are just learning about the negative effects. it falls on the poor. this has been connected to the homelessness issue. it's the poor people and people without resources that bear the brunt of these problems. if i'm smoking marijuana and i have a problem with that, i'm not going to be fired from my job. i can stay home for a week if i want to get stoned and go to treatment if i need it. i can afford it. that is not the case for a lot of people. i see celebrities who are smart flaunting this, talking about how many joints they are using and how great it is. i want to say that's great but that's not the average person who doesn't have the resources. the homelessness issue, extremely complex. the homelessness is a systems

failure across our country in terms of access to affordable housing. we see how difficult that is in our major cities. it's a failure on our health care system. the richest country in the world should not having the health care access problems that we still have. it's a failure of the child welfare system. it's an archaic system built in post-world war ii. we absolutely have seen the link between all kinds of drugs and homelessness, but we have seen an uptick in homelessness and the particular places where marijuana has been legalized. host: can we focus for a minute on the marijuana industry itself? we talked about the draft legislation from chuck schumer. legislation actually passed in the house earlier this year.

prohibiting banking regulators from terminating or limiting financial services to legitimate cannabis related businesses and ancillary service providers. tell me what that would mean for the marijuana industry. what will be need to know about the marijuana industry to understand why we would need that? guest: the marijuana industry is illegal federally. upheld by court decision which was a majority decision by the center and the left, including justice scalia, justice thomas dissented along with two others. the majority, chief justice

stevens wrote the majority and said federal law superseded state law. all these state laws are illegal. it would be a great discussion for the limits of the supreme court when you have a federal law that is crystal clear and a state law that is crystal clear in flaunting it. banking and financial transactions are illegal if you are in the drug business. it's probably a bad idea that people like escobar and the other cartels getting access to the u.s. financial system. the safe banking act would carve out an exception for state legalized marijuana businesses. the problem i have with it is that the excuse for the banking act is we don't want to operate

in cash. that is really dangerous. so please pass this so we can accept credit card and debit card. we actually did an undercover investigation that showed that the majority of pop -- pot shots -- pot shops take credit and debit cards already. whether they essentially do a thing where they say will give you the marijuana for free from the marijuana company, but we are going to charge or credit card for the consulting company that helped you choose what kind of marijuana to find. a lot of ingenuity goes into it when you have to fit a square pay into a round hole. i worry because the marijuana industry, a lot of it is entangled with the illegal industry.

i spoke to a person who helped run the colorado industry from the states perspective you told me all kinds of stories about how drug dealers, convicted drug dealers smoking a joint or selling a gram to their friends, major dealers getting involved in the legal industry. we should not be surprised. we see that in some industries like gambling. the marijuana industry today is not only those folks. a lot of it is. the part i'm more concerned about is the fact that you have big tobacco who brought us the vaping crisis among young people. vaping among 16-year-olds is not the same thing as vaping 60 year

old who has smoked a pack of cigarettes for 20 years. i'm talking about kids that are vaping who brought us to big tobacco. remember the ads? marble? smoking is fine -- marlboro? smoking is fine. the tobacco industry was lying through their teeth for years and laughing all the way to the bank. that's the biggest player right now in marijuana. that should give us -- marijuana. host: i will take a call from arizona for those who support legalization. caller: i would like to ask kevin a question. let's turn some pages.

i want you to tell me what is most important part of your book and the message you want to get out? i want to have a slight discussion on it. go ahead. host: we are going to take your question, but let me get in diane who is waiting on the opposed line. caller: great. thanks very much. i understand that we just had this record number of drug overdoses. i think 93,000. we have a record amount of violence in the cities and the line from the proponents of legalization is that marijuana has no affect on these things or that it even makes people mellow. i think the evidence is contrary to that and i would appreciate it if you could explain whether that is the case or not. host: we will take those two

calls. go ahead. guest: there is a growing body of the evidence linking violence to today's highly potent marijuana. mainly through the mechanism of psychosis and mental illness. why would a drug to be correlated with violence, especially a drug known for mellowing you out? that's because today's marijuana in the potency levels, this is the key and this answers the first question. the potency, the 99% potent dabs , waxes, gummy bears, ice creams, sodas. the up -- these are delivery systems we've never had before. thanks to the legal industry and this is another important point. industry innovated. they are the ones who brought us 99%. not pablo escobar. they did plenty of that, but the

legal industry is responsible for these very highly potent products. there have been links to psychosis and the violence. there've also been links to the use of other drugs and a lot of other issues. we have to handle our heartbreaking overdose problem in a comprehensive way. you can't legalize drugs over here and think that you're going to have a reduced overdose or better drug problem over there. they are all linked together. host: this is roger on the line for those who support legalization. go ahead. caller: good morning. i'm assuming that you can hear me. couple of things. number one, i can understand why the industries want to get into this. cannabis, i grow my own for my own consumption. i'm a poor guy who was on disability. i get very little money. there's no way i can afford $400

for an ounce of cannabis. i produce it myself for five dollars an ounce and it is, it does the job. number two, i want to see it legalize because i want to finally see the scientist experimenting with this. i'm 67 years old. i've been smoking tobacco since i was 15 and a half years old. it was legal in training school with my mother's permission to have eight cigarettes a day. i've been addicted to them things you much my whole life. i was also a carpenter who was taught to cut up spell those -- talk to cut asbestos and at 67, i have no cancer. my son who is 20 years younger than me has a health condition from the asbestos.

he has never smoked cannabis in his life. i'm convinced that there are properties to this plant that are phenomenal in the medical industry. host: kevin? guest: we absolutely should study it. let's find out. we have done a lot of studies. a big myth is that we can't study because it's illegal so let's legalize it. that's not a great argument. we should increase the research. the research has probably been tougher than needed. one of the things we did in the beginning was call for easier access to research. there are tens of thousands of peer-reviewed articles. listen to the national academy

of sciences and medicine. a huge review in 2017 looked at studies. those are the things we should do. in terms of the colors --caller's individual experience, i'm glad he does not have those problems. these are drugs that are often used together. everybody's system is different. a 95-year-old neighbor growing up smoked three packs a day. he died of old age. i had a friend in college that smoke for four years and got cancer. everybody is different. we need to do more research absolute. host: amazon ditched cannabis testing and more employers will follow suit. should employers be testing

employees for we? guest: i think they should not to penalize them but to get them help. also, if i'm an employee and are on a factory it's not the best idea for people to come to work high on anything. i think this move by amazon is thinking that they are having a hard time hiring. because marijuana is so ubiquitous, they have to make this change. is not necessarily because they want to use marijuana come to work, but i worry that would be a negative consequence. i hope they would study the effect on tardiness. we have many studies on drug-free workplace. a drug-free workplace is a safer and healthier workplace. i would encourage businesses to continue with this.

so that we can have a safer workplace and get people help. host: frank in carrollton, virginia. you are next. guest: hey. how are you today? host: doing well. guest: when i was 13 years old, some girls turned me onto some pot. i am now 70 years old and i have done it every sense. i will say this. when i was in germany, got drafted. the heavy drugs i saw, what it did to young people. i got pictures of my garage of about 30 of us soldiers sitting around in a circle passing around pot. we know that other drugs were wrong, but pot should be legalized. it does not hurt nobody. my doctors told me way back in the day that i would be going

blind by the time i hit 70. since i started smoking pot, my eyesight got better. it does have good benefits and it does have bad benefits when you've got people that don't use it properly. i've always had if smoked it, i would never drive or anything like that. i will stay at home. host: kevin? guest: marijuana use in 1963, and i'm glad you know not to drive. but frankly, marijuana in 1963 when your break -- brain was developing. we are concerned with age 330

use. that is old marijuana. -- with age pre 30 use. that is old marijuana. the american academy that deals with i issues -- eye issues have shown that marijuana rapidly increases pressure. you may feel a decrease which is good if you have glaucoma, but the minute you are not high you are feeling the rapid increase the way you are not feeling it before. we have better medications than marijuana for people who have eye issues. host: for the line for those who oppose legalization. hello. caller: i believe in the emerald triangle. people have moved in here, bought up property and the whole

valley is marijuana. my father drilled a well and it is shared by three properties. this guy who is growing now, he is taking all the water. we are in a severe drought. all the water, i'm afraid i'm not going to have a drop of water because he is taking it. i know about enforcement because i have all of the rules and regulations for the county and state. these people are not legal growers. guest: i am so glad the caller called about this issue. we need to raise this to national importance. the effects of marijuana growing

is a huge energy suck. it has untold environmental concern regarding energy use. marijuana is a very thirsty plant. we are seeing areas in places like california with climate change and droughts, we are seeing huge effects in terms of water shortages. that part of the central and northern california, this is such a big issue. last week, $1.2 billion worth of marijuana owned by cartels. we were told legalization would get rid of the cartels. underground market thrives on legalization. i think it's something we look -- i think it's something we

need to look a lot closer at. a lot of people have different views on environment and drug policy because the only way to follow social justice issues is legalized. i say let's decriminalize, expunge. we do not have to legitimize drug trade that hurts our environment and our kids. host: kevin sabet of smart approaches to marijuana. the book is smoke screen. this is allen in illinois. good morning. caller: good money. i just caught the tail end of the program. just the other day, i walked into a store in illinois because it is legal. everything is done with cash. there is no way to regulate where this money is going and

how much. he walked into the place and there's three atm machines because people cannot use credit cards or checks. i am wondering if it was legal like it was when prohibition ended, it was taxed and regulated. now, we've got a number of states that have legal marijuana and it is not regulated on a federal basis. guest: host:host: -- the tax revenue that could come in? guest: the tax revenue argument is an interesting one. even the proponents of legalization in places like illinois say you should not legalize marijuana because you think you're going to get tax revenue. that is not the reason to do it. even the proponents say tax

revenue is not a reason to do it because you are going to make a drop in the pocket. less than 1% of legal states budget comes from revenues from taxes. there's a thriving underground market. where are the kids went to get it? where are the people that don't want to pay those taxes? marijuana is extremely cheap to produce. the price now is close to bottled water. you are paying for packaging. the tax revenue is not as much as people bought and it's not paying for the programs itself. about the cost of increase in car crashes? we have -- we need more people to man the emergency department. we have cyclical vomiting syndrome, which i talk about in the book.

that's a growing issue according to doctors in the emergency room around the country. say we are going to have revenue but not count the cost, alcohol and tobacco. for every dollar in tax revenue those bring in, our society 10 to $15. we don't know. that's a losing proposition. we need to do more studies on this, but i don't think we could be -- i don't think we should be counting on tax revenue. host: one more call. terry has been waiting -- perry has been waiting in florida. guest: -- caller: just a couple of quick points. i smoked from 21 years old to 60. i can or member times when i was

swimming competitively, i would jump out of the pool. it kills your initiative. i was a salesman on the road. i was lucky, but the marijuana affects your driving. complicated jobs. i have an accounting jobs -- i have an accounting job. i cannot do the simplest task when i was high. dealing thing i can -- the only good thing i can think about it is it's not addictive like cigarettes. thanks for being on. guest: i will say that we know that it is addictive. the days marijuana is addictive. -- today's marijuana is addictive. people in this country who follow statistical diagnosis for

addiction. addiction is not equal for all drugs. one thing i think is happening that we are seeing is ironically as legalization spreads in different states and we are reaching the saturation point the states are going to pass this. as you notice the callers who are opposed, they are calling from pretty progressive states. california, new york, places that you may not have thought of for something like this, maybe the state that eagerly adopted this. ironically, the more you see this, the more you see the effects on your local community and your family, i think like tobacco, there's going to be a backlash. i don't know if that's going to take 50 years. it will happen because we tend to go to some sort of extremes in this country. right now, we are going full throttle toward the extreme of acceptance as opposed to what we are trying to say, is go slow.

host: kevin sabet is president and ceo and author of "smokescreen: what the marijuana industry doesn't want you to know." we will be back you tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern, 4:00 a.m. pacific in the meantime, have a great thursday. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. funded by these television committees and more. >> the world has changed.

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