internet connection is something no one can live without. wow has speed, reliability, value and choice. now more than ever, it all starts with great internet. announcer: wow supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. coming up in a few minutes, nominees for census bureau director and ice assistant security testify at a confirmation hearing. in a couple of events of the white house today, jen psaki will be taking questions from reporters live at 12:30 eastern. later today, president biden will be holding a joint news conference with german chancellor angela merkel following a bilateral meeting at the white house. that is set to start at 4:50

eastern, live coverage on c-span, or listen with the free c-span radio app. >> peter has published hundreds of nonfiction books in his career and his founder of the new york-based public affairs book. he has now written a memoir about his own life. the national book review writes "osnos has not written a memoir so much as a report from the front, make that many fronts, of the great news events of the past century." we talked with him about his time in vietnam and the soviet union, among other things. >> reporter, editor, and publisher peter osnos. listen at c-span.org/podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. host: a very good thursday

morning to you, you can go ahead and start calling in now as we take you to this topic of inflation from the labor department report from earlier this week. the labor department reporting that the consumer price index, a key gauge of inflation, rose 5.4% in the 12 months leading into last month, each of the highest rates since 2008. while consumer prices were rightly -- widely expected to keep rising, the consensus increase projected by economists. those numbers led to plenty of concern among conservative news outlets about the state of the u.s. economy. here's a couple of those headlines from the past 48 hours from the daily callers. the numbers are income abided's inflation -- the numbers are in, bided'in -- biden's inflation is not going away. yesterday, jerome powell was on

capitol hill to answer questions about the state of the u.s. economy. here is how it played out on the front page of the wall street journal. the headline, how the fed would raise rates if inflation risk persists, although the story noting he repeatedly emphasized that he still expects price pressures to ease later this year. here is an exchange between jerome powell and republican congressman. >> the prospect of raising inflation, i brought this up and air committee last july, last summer. in those meetings, you continue to suggest you are not ready to take action. yesterday, we received more data indicating the prices are continuing to rise. inflation is not an abstract concern. although the social media team put out information that a barbecue price went down last year, families are seeing rapid price increases with their own eyes.

i know it's not your role to comment on fiscal policy but i'm very concerned with president biden's spending plan and its impact on inflation. last month, increase in consumer prices of five .4% with the largest jump we've seen since august of 2008. over the past year, used cars have gone up 30%, shoes are up 7%. we've seen increases in coffee and sugar, propane, all double digits. higher material costs have added $36,000 to the price of a new home. i know you responded to inflation concerns by saying that price increases are temporary, they will subside with supply chain and labor markets returning to normal after covid. but even if it is partially the case that inflation expectations may be changing and raising the prospects of a more persistent impact, in fact, a poll recently show that 87% of americans said they are concerned about inflation.

monday, the new york fed reported that consumers expected to see higher in lesion over the medium-term. can you comment on how the fed's response shows that consumers are beginning to expect work assistance inflation? >> short. -- sure. we think expectations are very important in the way that businesses and households think inflation should be to present, it probably will be 2% because they will demand that. we monitor inflation expectations, surveys of households, surveys of experts, the markets, as you know, you can get inflation compensation readings in the regular treasury. we look at all of those things. i would say they all went down as a group at the beginning of the pandemic, which is not good, and they won't move back up in

the range of consistent with our 2% inflation goal over time. we watch this very carefully and we would be very concerned it were to move persistently and materially above 50%. host: jerome powell on capitol hill yesterday fewer if you want to watch the hearing in its entirety, you can do so on our website. we are talking about inflation this morning, has it impact your families finances? (202) 748-8000 if you say yes. if you say no, (202) 748-8001. we will start with donna. go ahead, donna. caller: thank you for taking my call. inflation is a big thing in their family.

we are people that believed in saving. if it goes up 1% and the average goes up 5%, obviously you are in trouble. host: what have you seen costing more than it used to? caller: insurances that are necessary. your homeowner car insurance. gasoline prices are even affecting a lot of us. and groceries, especially. there is no dime coffee anymore.

host: when was the last time we saw dime coffee? caller: probably when i was 20. almost 60 years ago. 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'm of that age and i'm saying, what has happened? but when you are on social security, your income does not go up. host: down out of florida. this is georgia, dustin says he has not seen the impact of inflation. go ahead. >> it has not affected me yet, but i am somebody who lives extremely frugally. i think by the time school

starts, we are going to have no problems. the economy has actually seen a spike because people are stir crazy from the second spikes of covid. gas has doubled. i bought a car, now gases over four dollars per gallon. it hasn't affected me yet because i live under my means, but i think everybody is in for a big shock. when it hits, it is going to hit lower to middle to upper-class people unless you live way, way below your means. i've actually just found a bike to compensate. host: if you had to do it again, would you still buy the car that requires premium gasoline? caller: yeah, i drive it on eco-mode.

you can control it. i kind of like nice things like that. host: georgia, this is michael. marietta, good morning. you say you are seeing the impact in marietta. caller: i just would like to say to all americans that the antichrist movement is a lie in air democratic already. host: a different topic, do you want to talk about inflation? caller: well i think it is all america that is hurting, all christians all over the united states and until we expose the antichrist movement -- host: michael in georgia, what do you have to say on the topic of inflation, asking you how it has impacted your families finances? (202) 748-8000 if you say yes. (202) 748-8001 if you say no. having this conversation as the washington post put on the front

page of the newspaper this morning, president biden is running democrats for a massive spending, uniting the party on a budget package and infrastructure. $4 trillion in new spending if you combine all of what democrats are looking to spend. it was yesterday at the white house that jen psaki was talking about the president's rally on capitol hill with senate democrats. this is what she had to say. >> as senator sanders said last night, this is the most significant piece of legislation passed since the great depression and i'm delighted to be part of helping put together. we agree with that. what we have seen come out as the current flame or -- framework is reflective of what was in his budget, what was in his american families plan, and what were the components that were left out of the bipartisan agreement that was in the american jobs plan. we certainly recognize there are additional steps to come, as we

said. we feel this is working exactly as it should. the president of the united states proposes a bold agenda, as he did back in march. congress works out an agreement, that is what is happening now. now, he is going to engage, he is going to advocate with members, advocate with the american people and sell the package about why it needs to move forward. host: jen psaki yesterday from the white house. by the way, on the white house scheduling, today we are going to be hearing more from the president today, specifically about those new enhancements. those are going to hit bank accounts today, expecting to hear from the president at 11:45 today, 11:45 eastern. check c-span for those remarks. and then a joint press conference later today at the white house with angela merkel, the german chancellor. the president is then expected

at 4:50 eastern. coming back to that budget package, we spent a lot of time on it yesterday. 3.5 trillion dollars number is what we focused on yesterday. the details of that package, still being worked out. the washington post trying to dig into as much detail as we know at this point. the budget package would pave the way for hundreds of billions of dollars in areas including eldercare, homecare, childcare, prekindergarten, medical and family leave. it would open the door for millions of seniors who are paying vision, dental, and hearing coverage on medicare and allow more lower income american families to lower into medicaid. it would also aid parents by extending the recently expanded -- >> the committee will come to water. today, we are considering two important nominations. robert santos to be director of the census bureau within the department of