>> c-span is your unfiltered view of government funded by these television companies and more, including media,. >> the world changed in an instant media, was ready and we never slowed down. schools and businesses went virtual and we powered a new reality because we are built to keep you ahead. >> media, 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, transportation and climate reporter discussing the biden administration's actions to curb vehicle emissions. then the former new york democratic congressman talks about efforts to battle covid-19 and issues surrounding andrew

cuomo. and of the former vice chair of the fbi see on president biden's economic policy. join the conversation. washington journal is next. ♪ host: good morning, it is friday, august 6, 2021. after a late night in the senate the chamber was unable to finish its work on the bipartisan infrastructure bill and a final bill is expected this weekend. from the white house president biden move forward with an executive branch-led effort to overhaul the auto industry signing an executive order that sets the goal for electric vehicles to account for half of all vehicles sold in the u.s. by 2030, and that is where we will begin. we want to know if you

agree with the idea phasing out gasoline-powered vehicles. if you do, tell us how soon you would like us to that she would like to see it happen. (202) 748-8000. if you don't agree, (202) 748-8001. you can send us a text, (202) 748-8003. if you do, include your name and where you are from. otherwise catch up with us on twitter and facebook. a very good friday morning. go ahead and start calling in for more on exactly what these policies were that were announced from the white house yesterday. we turn to area -- turn to arianna skibell. good morning. explain what these new policies are and how much buy-in they are getting from automobile manufacturers. guest: thank you for having me.

the president has launched a multipronged effort to turn over , increase electric vehicle sales by 50% by 2030. the car companies, including ford, gm, chrysler, stood by president biden as he signed the executive order. they have made pledges or aspirations to reach 50% ev sales by 2030, but stopped short of a firm commitment because they want to see federal dollars go to tax incentives and charging of the structure first. host: on that infrastructure, how much is included in the bill that is likely to see a final vote this coming weekend? guest: it is hard to say what is actually going to show up in there. biden originally put in $174 billion for ev's. and that has been slashed

dramatically. now there is 7.5 billion electric vehicles and electric buses have been reduced to 2.5. host: the aspirations to 2030, that was the pledge the biden administration laid out for half of new vehicles to be electric vehicles by 2030. how does that compare to other countries or the eu? guest: we are falling far behind. in the u.s. ev sales count for 3.8% of total vehicles sold, up from 1.5% earlier this year and expected to grow, but in europe that number is closer to 11% and expected to hit 20% by 2025. host: the other part of this is tailpipe emissions. there is history going back to the trump and obama administrations, where president biden was then vice president

biden. explain the evolution of emissions standards. guest: president obama launched the most significant climate regulation in the history of the u.s. with his tailpipe efficiency rules, which president trump scaled back dramatically. what the epa and president have done today is really try to reinstate the obama era standards. they have released new requirements for greenhouse gas emissions and fuel efficiency for cars, suvs, and pickup trucks through 2026. through the executive order they announce an intent to beef up those restrictions for model year 2027. updating air pollution standards for heavy duty vehicles. they are going in the right direction. a lot of people would like to see more stringent rules but may need to wait until 2026 for that. host: you talked about the

reaction in the auto industry coming you cover these groups in washington. what about the environmental group's reactions and the oil and gas industry? guest: environmental groups are mixed. a lot of people are saying it is good but we need more stringent rules. a lot of people are saying the epa's regulation has a lot of loopholes and flexibility for car companies. so they are really hoping to see more stringent rules. oil and gas, i haven't seen a kind of reaction there. host: what are you watching for in the days, after this announcement has been made at the white house yesterday? what's next? guest: just to state, it is important to remember that for epa this is a proposed rule, so we have a long role ahead. -- long road ahead. there is a deadline by the end

of the year or the rules do not go into effect for model year 2023. we have to see what happens with congress, and whether biden can get that federal investment to start transitioning into the sector. host: arianna skibell, a transportation reporter, first out with the reporting of the new proposals by the biden administration this week. thank you so much for your time this morning. host: as we talk about these proposals from the biden administration, the executive order signed by the president targeting 2030 for half of new car sales in the united states to be electric vehicles, zero emission vehicles, we want to know if you think the united states should phase out gasoline-powered vehicles. (202) 748-8000 if you say yes. (202) 748-8001 if you say no.

talking about that event at the white house yesterday. here is some of president biden's remarks. [video clip] pres. biden: the future of the automobile industry is electric. battery, plug-in, fuel cell electric, it is electric. there is no turning back. the question is whether we will lead or fall behind in the race to the future. it is whether we will build these vehicles and the batteries that got them to where they are here in the united states or we will have to rely on other countries for those batteries. whether or not the jobs to build these vehicles and batteries are good-paying union jobs, jobs with benefits, jobs that will continue growth in the middle-class. they have to be, they have to be made in america. right now china is winning the race as one of the fastest growing electric vehicle markets in the world.

right now 80% of the manufacturing capacity for these batteries is done in china. here is the deal. it is not china's battery technology is more innovative than anyone else's. remember, our labs, universities, automakers lead in the development of this technology. we lead in the development of this technology. there is no reason we cannot lead again. we just have to move fast. host: president biden yesterday from the white house grounds. we talk about should gasoline-powered vehicles be phased out? here is one of the headlines in the wake of that announcement from president biden from the front page of "the washington times." biden plans to phase out gas cars faces roadblocks, lays out ambitious goals is the sub headline.

the statement yesterday from cathy mcmorris rodgers, republican of washington, the ranking member on house energy and commerce committee said if people struggle to stretch their last dollar to avoid reliable transportation amid rising gasoline prices, this administration is asserting more control over the vehicles we drive to work, take our children to school, and live our lives. it is unfair for people whose car is not a luxury, but a necessity. it is a radical push for electric vehicles that will make america more dependent on china's supply chains. we will take you through more of the reaction through this first hour of "the washington journal." we mostly want to hear your reaction to the question, should gasoline-powered vehicles be phased out? first up, he says no. why? caller: good morning. no. we have to put this in context. america was built -- certainly

after world war ii, our energy and innovation, our ability to create unbelievable medicines. we are losing sight of all this based on this climate change and this hatred of energy. the point is they want to bring america down based on these issues. i can't believe a guy like joe biden, who is almost my age, would agree with this. it's insanity. host: do you think gasoline-powered vehicles should ever be phased out? do think technology is advancing beyond that? caller: no. at some point, who knows. but the fact that oil and gas, the wheel, it is what made the world great. why would you want to bring all

this down? host: john, new jersey. thanks. jane out of auburn, washington. caller: you can cut them out tomorrow. the united states has fracking, another form of smoking crack, putting oil in the ground, but cars you have to mandate them in the united states. trump era republicans are like fred flintstone. these people went to stay on fossil fuels because they have that monopoly on it. no one wants to go to china and start a business. why do americans want to go to china to start a business? then they complain about what china makes them do. bring your business home, mandate electric cars made in the united states. do not listen to anything republicans have to say.

but the 3.5 million dollars and another trillion dollars on the infrastructure. what the republicans want to do is they were spending money on airlines, cruise lines, giving partners money, a lot of politicians were getting loans. -- host: got your point. michigan, the home of atuo city, yes, we should phase out gasoline-powered vehicles. caller: good morning, americans. good morning, c-span. i think it is time to start phasing out vehicles. gas vehicles. we have the west on fire, we have the south flooding, and we have temperatures in the

hundreds, and we have republicans and republican leaders denying what's happening. we must get off of fossil fuels. we need to start now. host: you say start now. just for the viewers watching on tv, this chart from the pew research center shows where we are now when it comes to new electric vehicle sales accounting for 2% of new vehicle sales in the united states. that is the yellow line. in europe electric vehicle sales account for 10%. in china it is 5.7%. you said we should have started yesterday. how long will it take if it is something where gas-powered vehicles get phased out? what is the time horizon? caller: like the president is doing now, mandating that a certain percentage must be made. we have to start mandating solar, mandating electric vehicles, or your grandkids and

your grandkids' kids will not have an earth to live on. it should not be a political issue. it should be a life or death issue. host: this from the new york times story on these actions by the biden administration yesterday, without a radical change for the types of vehicles americans drive it will be impossible for mr. biden to meet his ambitious pledge to cut planet warming emissions by 50% from 2025 levels by the end of this decade. gasoline-powered cars and trucks are the largest single source of carbon emissions accounting for 28% of the country's total carbon emissions. that from the new york times this morning. this is joseph from glenn burnie, maryland. says no to the question about phasing out gas-powered vehicles. caller: i worked in the automotive industry dealing with

car repairs. when it comes to electric vehicles the ones we've had come through our business, it takes 50% more work effort to make the thing safe to make repairs to. we have consumers that complain about our repairs getting more expensive, and we are making them more expensive to work on. we currently have modern internal combustion engines that have been narrowed down to a small as they can be creating as much power as possible, and it is creating problems with the engines, creating incredibly expensive problems. i have customers' cars that because of the mandated changes that have to be done to the engines to make them more fuel-efficient, they have repairs at 80,000 miles that cost consumers $10,000 to $12,000 to fix. and these are things that cannot be worked around. what we are doing is creating a

situation making cars to expensive.some of the entry-level electric vehicles are in the $40,000 to $45,000 range. that is the price for an entry-level three series bmw. host: you say that you are in auto repair, how hard is it to make the transition from repairing a gas powered engine to a battery powered engine? how much affect do you think if we get to 50% of new vehicles being battery-powered within 10 years, how much of an effect is that have on the auto repair industry and jobs in that industry? caller: it is incredibly difficult. there are a couple of pieces. one, there is a large amount of training that has to be done to get a technician use to an internal combustion engine to safely work on an electric vehicle. it is new designs you have to learn, a new function of the component.

if they don't know what they are doing it is not an oops, it is someone got electrocuted to death. another part of this is there is a right to repair act in a country that protects aftermarket independent automotive repair centers that make up the bulk of the industry. tesla has avoided having to make their repair information for cars available under the right to repair at. i -- repair act. i have customers who own tesla's. they were told they no longer have to bring in their cars on a yearly basis for maintenance, which is one of the things they included when they had the car new. we have tesla owners being told drive your car, it has tires, brakes, all of these moving parts that are inspected by each

state that you no longer have to bring into have checked because we don't have to change the oil so you don't need to look at this other stuff. honestly, my opinion on that, is because tesla is having such a problem with getting parts serviced and taken care of and inspected, that they put pressure on the service centers. if they would make their information available to independent service centers, there would be an even playing field and more people able to practice the trade and learn how to do it so that when we switch over to 50% vehicles in 2030 -- which is a joke -- that we will actually have an industry ready to back that up and be able to take care of people. host: how long have you been in auto repair? caller: my entire life. i'm about 35 years old. host: thank you for the review of your industry. you mentioned tesla. arianna skibell of ene news

mentioned the heads of the big three automakers were represented at the event at the white house yesterday. the washington post noting that on twitter elon musk, the chief executive of tesla, suggested his company was snubbed from bidens' event. he wrote, seems odd tesla was not invited, he wrote on twitter. yes, phase out gasoline powered vehicles. how soon do you want to see that? caller: we are going. to be phasing out over 100 years ago there was a guy who patented hydrogen cars. the original -- if you look at the original cars when they were first made they were mostly electric. then the big guys with oil, the rockefellers and those guys, came in and took the electric

out. they passed these things that mandated gas power. it is well-known and well-documented. all you have to do is do the research. they wanted to make the money. also, in 1948 there was an antigravity machine patented, in october i believe. two years ago or three years ago the secretary of the navy came out and there was a senate hearing where they discussed an antigravity machine , like ufos that go in and out of water. we are going to go away from it and it is coming up sooner than a lot of people think. host: on the issue of electric vehicles, here is where we are from the pew research center. 7% of u.s. adults say they currently have an electric or hybrid vehicle.

the pew research center noting 39% said that they are very or somewhat likely to consider buying an electric vehicle the next time they are in the market. outside of a few major metropolitan areas electric vehicles are not that common in the united states. as of 2021 .8 million ev's were registered in the u.s., more than three times as many in 2016 according to the international energy agency. about 2% of new car sales in the united states in the past year were electric vehicles. that is well below the countries of norway at 74.8% of new vehicles being electric vehicles. iceland, 52.4%. the netherlands at 25%. denmark and switzerland, you can see the countries down the line from the pew research center. talking about reaction on capitol hill to the proposal coming from the biden

administration, especially this target of 50% of new vehicles being electric vehicles in the u.s. by 2030. this is the republican from wyoming, the conference chairman for senate republicans. his remarks on the floor of the senate yesterday. [video clip] >> the american taxpayers are giving billions and billions of taxpayer dollars to electric vehicle manufacturers and owners. electric vehicle makers have been given free tax dollars for 30 years. the truth is electric car buyers don't need more taxpayer money. they have plenty of their own. there is a market for electric vehicles very well established. there are more than a million electric vehicles on the road today. they are being made by everyone. general motors, mercedes-benz,

u.s. manufacturers, foreign manufacturers, they are being made all around the world. the u.s. energy information projects sales of light-duty electric vehicles will reach 4 million by 2025. electric vehicle makers are doing just fine. they are also receiving free money from just about every state. who benefits from these taxpayer handouts to electric vehicle makers and users? well, customers are usually wealthy. they don't need more money. seniors on a fixed income in wyoming are not trading in their cars for expensive electric vehicles. it'll class families who are trying to make ends meet dealing with inflation hitting them every day under the fine economy , they are not going out to buy expensive, new electric vehicles

. seniors and middle-class families are hurting now because of inflation hitting them when they buy gas, groceries, and other goods. this is cost-triggered by massive democratic spending and the buying and -- and the borrowing and spending under the so-called coronavirus relief bill will stop democrats are looking out for them under the proposal? no. nearly 80% of tax credits for electric vehicles go to households that earn at least $100,000 a year. let me repeat, nearly 80% of the tax credits for electric vehicles go to households that have earned over $100,000 a year. host: republican senator john barrasso on the senate floor yesterday. taking your calls, your comments, on the question should gasoline powered vehicles be phased out?

this from patsy in illinois, ione 2015 nissan centric gas powered. isn't that energy efficient? it works from knee. we are already behind and making batteries for electric cars as far as the costs. like vcrs and everything else, the cost will go down. they should not be phased out, they are too useful. offer the ev option and continue the production of gas engines. no, the reality of emissions is fantasy. there will be emissions from mining for batteries and what happens during major power outages, hurricanes, and natural disasters or rolling power outages? a few thoughts from people texting us and on social media. especially looking for your phone calls. this is robin in florida who says no to our question.

caller: my main reason for saying no is i think that there is a lot of information about the electric vehicles. i own a vehicle currently that gets 41 miles per gallon.i have had it since 2013. i care about my carbon footprint. i tried to look into electric vehicles to find out the benefits, costs, and repairs, and it is difficult to find that out. on top of that by 2030 is i think not feasible. i took a trip from florida to pittsburgh, and after i got out of north carolina i saw very few charging stations. how are we going to be able to transfer in such a short time? my main thing is i want more information. it concerns me about the battery. what happens to the battery?

i think there are too many unanswered questions to phase out gas vehicles at this time. host: thank you for the call from the sunshine state. big sky country, mary and montana says -- in montana says yes to this question. caller: i can remember gas stations had a battery bay. for the longest time i didn't understand what it meant. all of the restaurants and motels and public areas had sockets to plug in. i remember that and didn't think too much of it. my grandfather just happened to tell me about the fact that our state was run on electric vehicles during world war ii. he showed me the big construction vehicles that were being sold off. he was actually buying them and

the batteries that went in them. they were huge. then we ran into some gentlemen who were in the trucking industry during world war ii. when gas rationing hit, it hit the trucking industry, too. they did not have enough gas vouchers to function as a business. the competitors across the nation got together, the trucking industry, and said, how do we get oranges from florida up north and milk from point a to point b? we can't do this. most of our businesses will belly up. they worked together. they did not have gasoline. we have to look for alternatives. what was available? military batteries were available. they were being made in bulk. the manufacturers could make extra gigantic batteries for the

trucking industry. the mechanics in the trucking industry almost overnight put their heads together to figure out how to use existing vehicles, put the batteries in, and jerryrig them to function for the trucking industry across our country. host: what does it say to you that three automakers were represented at the event at the white house pledging aspirations to meet this goal of 50% electric vehicles by 2030? caller: lazy. we were able to do it during world war ii. the trucking industry did it. they did it within weeks. they had to get produce to the people in the united states across this country.

they had to get stuff there. they made it happen already. one of the major problems with our country right now is we have short-term memory. we already have done this. we don't have to reinvent the wheel. host: mary in montana. next-door to idaho, rick on the line for those who say no. caller: top of the morning to you, john. i have spent 16 of my 20 years in the marine corps on the f-18 jet. i say no to electric vehicles. i concur with the mechanic who called in earlier. i own a 1978 chevy pickup truck . i rebuilt the engine myself, back to standard blue printed. the original transmission has 78,000 original miles.

the cost of repair. ladies and gentlemen, if you think you have repairs now, you have computers on wheels. if you upgrade to electric you will have to spend a lot of money. it is not feasible to go all electrical. if you want an experiment or platform do city buses. i guarantee every six years they will have to do an update. to pay for the minutes of polity buses -- the municipality buses. i have a 36 pickup truck, my boy toy, i rebuilt that engine myself. keep the automotive transportation going. joe biden is a piece of the puzzle you forgot to tell america. 62% of our cars are made in foreign countries.

i watched three alternators fail test. he pointed at the box and said made in china. that is your problem. your parts are coming back junk. get our parts made in america, general motors, ford, and chrysler. fine-tune everything. i get 23 miles per gallon on my 78 chevy pickup truck and i have no computers. host: you mentioned president biden and his comments at the white house yesterday. here are a few more about the goals he is setting for the auto industry. [video clip] pres. biden: folks, the rest the world is moving ahead and we have to step up will stop government, labor, industry working together. we have a playbook and it will work. today i'm announcing steps we are taking to set a new pace for electric vehicles.

first, i following through on a campaign commitment to reverse the previous administration's shortsighted rollback of vehicle emissions and efficiency standards. i'm doing so with the support of the auto industry come the automobile industry. today the environmental protection agency and department of transportation are unveiling proposals to do that. these agencies are working on the next round of standards for a broad class of vehicles, cars, suvs, pickup trucks, medium and heavy-duty vehicles. we have announcements from automakers representing nearly the entire auto industry market who have positioned around the ambitions of 40% 50% of all vehicles sold by 2030 in america being electric. to unlock the full potential we have to keep investing in our workers in manufacturing capacity. that is what our build back better plan is about. it is about leveraging once in a generation investments and a

whole government effort to lift up american automakers and strengthen american leadership in the world in clean car technology, cars, trucks, and buses.that is why i'm signing an executive order setting a target of 50% of all passenger vehicles sold by 2030 will be electric and set in motion an all-out effort. host: president biden from the white house. should gasoline-powered vehicles be phased out? eric in maine. you say yes. caller: good morning. can you hear me? host: yes, sir. caller: great. if anyone has not seen the movie who killed the electric car, 20 almost 30 years ago we had battery capability of one charge 250-mile radius.

the old company and big auto lot the car and technology and literarily buried it in the desert and they show it happening. what happens when we move from the horse and buggy to the combustion engine? i am sure the blacksmith coalition, the horse buggy coalition, all of those folks must have been up in arms. it was the end of the world. well, we did it. the blacksmiths were out of business and the buggy producers were out of business, but we made it, and here we are. how many years have we been on the combustion engine? i think 70% of the energy that the combustion engine creates, the only thing it does -- the energy that the combustion engine creates goes into keeping the engine going. i think 30% or less moves the

vehicle forward. that is not -- that doesn't make a lot of sense. but here we are, new change, moving into the electric vehicle . but also green is not really green. the electric vehicle should not be considered green because of how the parts are being made, the battery parts, the chemicals and the metal that goes into the battery, slave labor, burning, plastic. yes, i think it is necessary to move to the next technology. i own my second prius. my first, no major repairs. my second prius, and i drive a ford f1 50 combustion engine for my business. i want to move and become the first green landscaper in town,

but i have a problem with the technology is not really green. what i do with the batteries when they are dead? yes, we should move forward and get rid of the combustion engine. not 100%, i love a muscle car and cannot wait to get into my 1979 bronco, but change is hard but necessary. host: what is the name of your landscaping business? caller: little tree lawn and landscape. host: this is steve out of illinois. said yes, get rid of the gas powered engine. caller: good morning, everybody. youtube and the internet is the greatest tool of mankind today. you can go on and find out all the information you need about electric vehicles. there are literally thousands of reviews from jay leno on speaking to the quality,, safety

and reliability -- quality, safety, and reliability. as far as the gentleman speaking about batteries, there are many young startups that are beginning recycling businesses for the batteries. as far as mechanics go, win did a mechanic save you a dime ever? when a mechanic calls and say they don't like a product it is because they won't be able to get you into their shop and roll you over there bill paying. the electric car has no transmission. no transmission, no transmission fluid. there are hundreds of less parts electric vehicles. as far as the radiator goes, it is filled with toxic chemicals that would kill you in a second that is poured all over our country. no more radiators.

these cars drive themselves. you can go to the grocery store, sit at the checkout counter, and your car will drive to you. there are youtube videos of people driving tesla cars through flooded streets. while combustion cars are underwater, they are driving through the water and the tires are propellers driving them through. host: we should note, never drive through a flooded street. that is always the better idea. caller: thank you, john. you think about everybody, and you are absolutely right. my point being the safety and reliability of these cars is phenomenal. host: what kind of car do you drive?? caller: after 2008 i got wiped out and now i drive a rusty ride. i will never be able to afford a tesla, i dropped out of

the economy. elon musk is a treasure to this country. we are very fortunate to be living in a time when the people who were against the tire, the wheel -- we don't like the wheel, it is too complicated. those people still exist. host: on percival, virginia, on the line that says no, don't get rid of gasoline powered vehicles. caller: thank you for taking my call. i am a mechanic. i have been turning wrenches for about 40 years. the issue with electric cars is in the wiring systems. even over the years i have seen the older cars, the wiring system -- i have a 1972 suburban and there is nothing wrong with the wiring because it is bigger wires.

with years computers come and everything else -- i have newer cars with computers and now you have smaller wires. you have road wear and tear, well, the wiring is an issue. on electric cars, we don't have an history on the wiring. we are getting bits and pieces now as they have been out for little while, but the life of the battery is another issue. are they going to get 10 years out of the battery? which is the whole subframe of the vehicle. the batteries cost $8,000, $12,000, not counting the labor to replace them. what happens to the batteries and chemicals? are they recycled? a percentage can be but a percentage can't. that is the same with the older

batteries. they recycle batteries nowadays, but only a percentage can be recycled. not the whole thing. in my experience, computers have made them more efficient. i have no problem learning technology and improving technology, but until the vehicles and technology get up-to-date to where we can afford vehicles -- you take the average household out here, they cannot afford a $120,000 tesla. they can barely afford a $30,000 kia. host: in person bill, virginia, -- percival, virginia. if you say no to the question it is (202) 748-8001. we talk about the senate very late, or very early this

morning, unable to reach an agreement for final vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill. that vote now expected this weekend, perhaps saturday or sunday. the senate is not in today, in large part because several senators will be attending the funeral of the late senator. this is the story from the casper star tribune out of wyoming. governor gordon, congresswoman loomis will all be in attendance of the public ceremony to commemorate the life of the former wyoming senator mike enzi. according to the story, he died monday after hospitalized from a bike crash that left him hospitalized with a broken neck. there were no other parties involved in the crash. the chapel has not anticipated how many people they are

expecting, but the building has a capacity of some 4000 people. speaking of the passing of well-known washington figures, this is the obituary in the washington post. aflcio president richard trumka, an influential voice died at 72 on a camping trip with his family after suffering a heart attack. president biden told reporters yesterday, president of more than 50 labor unions representing more than 5 million members and has been a frequent guest on c-span networks with over 100 appearances on c-span over the years. it was yesterday on the senate floor that the senate majority leader, chuck schumer, announced

the death of richard trumka. this is what he had to say in an emotional address. [video clip] sen. schumer: i arrived with sad, horrible news about the passing of a great friend, richard trumka who left us this morning. the working people of america lost a fierce warrior at a time we needed him most. yesterday rich was lending his support to the striking miners in alabama. following in his father's footsteps he worked in the mines, he went to penn state and learned his law degree. he went right to work for the united mine workers, which he led for so many years and then became the head, first secretary treasurer in the afl-cio. he had in his veins and every atom of his body the heart, the

thought, the need of the working people of america. he would then -- richard trumka was the working people of america. he never had any airs. he never put it on. he cared about his fellow workers so. he was a great leader. he knew the labor movement and working people had to expand and be diverse. that was one of his passions as a labor leader, immigration reform, which i talked to him about repeatedly. because they were working people too, no matter where they came from or what they look like. it is just horrible news. i will have more to say about it later, but i wanted to inform my

colleagues that we have just lost a giant and we need him so. host: chuck schumer on the floor of the senate. several other senators taking to the floor to talk about the life of richard trumka. about 15 minutes left in the segment, our question, should gasoline powered vehicles be phased out? tom says no out of rutland, vermont. caller: good morning morning. first, your man on saying there is no antifreeze in electric cars is far from true. there is antifreeze that cools all of the batteries. all of the batteries have to be cooled. everything in a gasoline car is in an electric car, your refrigeration systems, radiators . the electric cars are not the answer to getting rid of chemicals. you have brake fluid, antifreeze

, the batteries. the reason tesla was not invited to the white house is the batteries are made in china and biden is backing china. the market needs to settle itself. the people need to decide what they want, not be forced by the government to take these electric cars. host: tom in vermont. texas, this is glenn, says yes, phase them out. caller: yes. there was a very interesting reason from someone who said for oil it is drill once burnt once, but for batteries it is dig once charge many. host: cedric says no. caller: listen, you just have to

look at the economics of it. ford has the f-150. the number one seller is the ford f1 50, it costs about $90,000. president biden is supposed to be for the poor? how are poor americans going to afford $50,000 to $100,000 cars? it sounds good on paper, but when you look at the economics, amtrak in delaware it is 1000 miles from the louisiana border to the new mexico border in texas. the driving is unbelievable. 2030? are you kidding me? that's never going to work. is not based in reality. it sounds good, but the economics, and especially for the poor who he says he

represents, there's no way that you will be able to get electric cars down to $30,000, 25 thousand dollars by 2030. host: this is the wall street journal editorial board today, the headline, the electric vehicle welfare state. automakers have been touting their increasing easy sales and claim electric cars are the future. that's great. government does not need to subsidize them. steve jobs never asked the government to pay for people to buy iphones or subsidize them. this isn't capitalism, it is corporate socialism or state capitalism. the editorial board of the wall street journal. this is norman in massachusetts. you say no to our question. caller: thanks for taking my call. it is because electric vehicles take us much further away from the goal of stopping greenhouse gas emissions.

here is how. internal combustion engines, which is what this is really about, banning internal combustion engines, internal combustion engines cannot run on carbon neutral fuel. they can use ethanol instead or biodiesel which does not emit any greenhouse gases. electric cars on the other hand use mainly fossil fuels and nuclear. it is kind of mocking the ignorance of the american people on science. host: here is the numbers on emissions. transportation in 2019 accounted for 29% of u.s. greenhouse gas emissions. the biden administration saying that its actions on electric

vehicles and tailpipe emissions will conserve about $200 billion -- 200 billion gallons of gasoline and prevent roughly 2 billion metric tons of carbon pollution. those are some of the numbers they put out on emissions. joe out of north carolina also says no. caller: everybody has to really think of this. not the pollution, none of this craziness -- which it does count -- but let's say you want to go from where i live to ohio. it takes 11 hours. you can make that in one day with three stops at a gas station that is five or six minutes. if you get an electric car you have to pull over when you hit 350 miles and find a motel with a charging system. you have to spend the whole nigh t. you have to get off at 11:00 so

you have to spend another night to charge up. and what about through the mountains? how are you going to run the electrical when they want to shut down the coal fire plants because of pollution. they eliminated that in the 60's banning sulfur coal. this is pie in the sky. i talked to you two months ago when you had a gentleman for solar cells in the house. he agreed that the technology is not there for the batteries. you can move forward, but you can't ban that because we don't have the infrastructure. biden is taking over our rights slowly. say anything you want about anyone else, they are taking your rights slowly. they will say you cannot eat corn flakes the morning one day.' host: on the infrastructure

side, looking at a final vote on the infrastructure vote sometime this weekend, perhaps saturday or sunday, but that bipartisan plan currently allocates $7.5 billion for charging stations to place about 250,000 charging stations along u.s. roads. the washington times notes that is well below what president biden initially called for at the beginning of this talk about infrastructure. he had originally called for half a million new charging stations around the country. we are waiting on the final vote. it was an effort that we thought could have been late last night. an agreement was reached not to proceed to that final vote, so we will see what happens this weekend. caller: good morning. i am in favor of phasing out gasoline powered vehicles.

but with three provisos. let me explain. i am a 75-year-old retiree. iona one new gas powered vehicle, a very expensive vehicle, and an old gas powered vehicle in very good shape. i doubt in my lifetime i will ever buy another car. one of the worries i have is perhaps the government might impose a tax on people owning gas powered vehicles. if that were the case, i would be opposed to it. the point that the gentleman made from texas about the affordability of cars is another issue and a genuine one. somehow the government has to work with the industry to drive the cost down so that they are affordable for everyone. that is proviso number 2. proviso number 3, there has to

be adequate and quicker infrastructure to service these vehicles and people can move along without being impeded. that is my point of view with three provisos, but i think the idea is a good one. host: leanne out of texas. caller: hi, there. i hear a lot of talk about expense, and i don't think the financial expense will be a worry when we cannot breathe because of the toxins we put into the air. you want to talk about the toxins in the battery? i think there is a way to remediate that, find storage, maybe build batteries that are recyclable. i had a battery in my vehicle that lasted probably five years. that is not bad. that is the first thing. the second is the infrastructure plan is going to look to put

those charging stations out there. i'm sure the government will try to make sure -- i would like to know why tesla was not invited, if that was the case, and hopefully we will hear biden talk about why he was not invited. it needs to be a joint effort in the future, that way we can compete with china and other places making batteries. host: alex in florida. caller: good morning. i am in favor of phasing out gasoline engines. i just feel like as a country we need to get together and hit on the question of what happens if we don't. what are the repercussions of continuing to use fossil fuels and natural gas from here on out? we have the projections of what

will happen to our air quality within the next 15 to 20 years. if that isn't a catalyst enough in or forder -- in order for us to come together and work towards a solution not focusing on the politics, but just focusing on the science, it is something that i think we can be able to do within my lifetime. i am a small business owner from the panhandle of florida, and my business relies solely on the use of gasoline engines. host: what kind of business is it? caller: i have an exterior surface cleaning company. host: what would it cost to switch to electric vehicles for your business? caller: well -- the overhead

would be incredibly expensive, because with pressure washing in order to have the same power not running a gasoline engine i would have to have massively -- massive batteries. the cost to produce batteries on that scale is too expensive now. host: thanks for the call in florida. ali in massachusetts. caller: good morning, god bless you and good morning. is to -- it is good to see you on air. i strongly believe from over 20 years of research and learning at university that there are so many reasons why we should shift to electricali discovered my owr

my research into the phaseout of oil and gas. i always saw we are like 100 years behind. the timing now for the infrastructure is important. i believe our freedom from oil and gas lies in the ability to use electrical vehicles because those electrical automobiles can be used with a new infrastructure which and guards -- which involves more and smarter systems that can go along with electrical cars much more seamlessly than the internal combustion engine. host: last call in this first segment of the "washington journal." lots more to talk about. we will be joined by former new york congressman steve israel for a conversation about new york politics and other news of

the day. later, former fbi see chair thomas hoenig discusses president biden's economic policies. stick around for that. we will be right back. >> sunday, c-span's series january 6 views from the house continues. three more members of congress to share stories of what they experienced that day, including texas republican ronny jackson, who recounts what happened during those early moments on the house floor. >> everything was going fine. i thought there were maybe only five people speaking. they were going back and forth alternating. nancy pelosi was at the podium. she was kind of overseeing it all. at some point they pulled her away. someone else came in to replace her. i did not really pick up on that. that happens every now and then.

that did not really catch my attention. shortly after that, the capitol police officer started coming into the chambers. they were being very loud. we were debating. they were making a lot of commotion. the doors to the chamber are typically open. they started shutting the doors. you could actually hear them locking. click, click, click. then i noticed several of them were standing in front of the doors. they had their weapons out. i was like, what is going on? >> this week, you will hear from democrats colin allred and hakeem jeffries. sunday at 10:00 p.m. eastern on c-span, c-span.org, or listen on the c-span radio app.

>> "washington journal" continues. host: steve israel is a former democratic congressman from new york and current director of politics and global affairs at cornell university. welcome back. how are you? guest: it is always great to be with you. thank you. i want to talk about one of the latest headlines out of the empire state. yesterday, formal impeachment probe nears and, governor agrees to give evidence to investigators. how do you see this playing out? caller: -- guest: i think the pressure will build on the governor to resign, and if he does not resign, i sense there will be a robust impeachment process. new york is a little different in terms of impeachment than the federal government. in new york, the new york state assembly can vote to impeach,

and the senate can vote to acquit or convict. there are judges from the new york courts who are part of that process in the senate. there is only one senator who is removed from being able to vote. that would be andrea stewart cousins, the senate leader. she can vote to remove the governor and then presumably would fill the spot. the process is going to continue. the governor is under tremendous pressure. i never had a warm and fuzzy relationship with governor cuomo. let me just disclose that. any objective observer of new york has to recognize that he has rebuilt this state. there are very few places you can go that have not been modernized, reinvented, rebuilt. the same personality that has enabled this governor to lead the way he has led has been tarnished by what appears to be

odious behavior documented in the ag report. host: you mentioned one already. as we try to watch this process play out, who are the other key players to watch as these impeachment proceedings move forward? guest: i would watch a little-known figure nationally, but well-known on long island. his name is assemblyman chuck levine. he represents a district on the north shore of long island. when i was in congress, i represented his district. he represented portions of mine. this is a former prosecutor. he is a quiet, steady personality. you may notice he has been out of the press. that is his nature. he is diligent, studious, working with his colleagues on both sides of the aisle on this inquiry. he is somebody i would watch closely. host: if cuomo leaves office,

who is a democrat you can see stepping up and winning statewide in 2022? guest: the lieutenant governor kathy hogle. i have a special relationship with kathy hogle. the republican incumbent in her congressional district left. that was the first open seat i inherited, which gave me 30% of these gray hairs she had been the county clerk in that area of new york, northwest new york. that district had not seen a democratic member of congress since the civil war or before the civil war. kathy hochul ran as a democrat in that special election in that district and stunned the political world by winning,

served a term, and then was defeated. that district returned to its gravity. here is the lesson she taught us. if you can win that district in new york, you can win almost any district in new york. if you can win almost any district in new york, you are a pretty good candidate statewide. if you happen to be the lieutenant governor, that gives you a leg up -- a leg up. there are others looking at it. in my view, the advantage has to be given to kathy hochul. she will be acting governor if governor cuomo leaves. host: former chair of the d triple c, as you know the president's incumbent party usually loses seats in a midterm election since world war ii.

what is the path to defying that trend in 2022 for congressional democrats? guest: i have a different view of the conventional wisdom that the democrats are going to lose their majority and as many as 20 or 30 seats. if you probe the history, you will learn the exceptions to that rule of the president's party losing seats, the first exception was 1934 and the next was in 2002. why did fdr pick up seats in 1934 and why did george w. bush pick up seats in his first midterm in 2002? in both cases the country was emerging from existential crisis , the depression in the 1930's, 9/11 and 2002.

the president was blazing a path of hope for the electorate. they did not want a check for his policies. the voters of 1934 did not want republicans checking fdr's policies because they thought those policies relating to a recovery. voters in 2002 did not want a democratic check on george bush's policies because they thought those policies were making them safe, that he was leading decisively after 9/11. i believe 2022 is more likely to be a 1934 environment than the typical environment. the country is being led out of crisis. we hope covid is significantly behind us. it may not be entirely behind us. the electorate do not want a republican congress blocking every policy by president biden to continue to lead us into

security and public safety, stability. host: steve israel joining us in this 45 minutes of "washington journal." feel free to pick his brain. republicans (202) 748-8001, democrats (202) 748-8000, independents (202) 748-8002. from 2022 to 2024, you talk about 2020 for in your column -- 2024 in your column this week, the impact of presidential ambitions for 2024 playing out in real time right now when it comes to responding to covid. explain. guest: this is frustrating. you have a good bipartisan level of cooperation around the country in terms of urging people to get vaccinations and to wear masks and to do the

sensible things of not getting the disease or transmitting the disease. you have some exceptions of hypocrisy. you have people like governor desantis in florida who has single-handedly tried to block the biden administration from every single sensible safety standard. so much so that the state of florida sued cruise lines and wanted to mandate masks and vaccinations. governor desantis who is blocking the administration from keeping people safe and healthy it will also run for president criticizing the administration for not keeping people safe and healthy. that is sheer hypocrisy. there are other national figures. ted cruz crowed the other day that he introduced a new bill that would stop federal or local governments from imposing mass mandates.

he will be the first to criticize the biden administration if covid does not disappear. i fully understand the sense that some people have that masks are a mandate. i disagree. or vaccinations may not be safe although they are. i get that position. you have no right to take that position and then criticize the biden administration for not doing its job. they are trying to do the job, but if you block them every step of the way, it ranks in the highest level of hypocrisy. host: plenty to talk about this morning with former congressman steve israel. bert is up first. go ahead. caller: i would like to ask the former u.s. representative about how he would compare the situation with governor cuomo to the situation with bill clinton, monica linsky, and the situation with joe biden and tara reid,

where i saw an interview where she claimed joe biden groped her in a senate office and i think 1996. guest: high don't compare that because in that case you have ms. reade's explanation, her description of what may have happened. in the case of governor cuomo, you have an independent attorney generals report, a democratic attorney general on a democratic governor, where 11 women told the independent investigators that they felt at times to be harassed or uncomfortable. in one case, the case of a state trooper, she was groped. i don't think there is a fair comparison between the three

instances you have mentioned. host: it is (202) 748-8001 for republicans. democrats (202) 748-8000. independents (202) 748-8002. congressman israel joining us after a late night in the senate after an agreement was not reached on that bipartisan infrastructure bill. take us through your thoughts on the path forward on that and the reconciliation bill. guest: this is complicated. you are seeing policy and schumer, they are skating on thin ice while trying to thread a needle while trying to reach the finish line. very difficult to do. here is what i think will happen based on the conversations i have had as recently as last night. they are going to get this bipartisan bill done. they should get it done because it is a bipartisan bill. there may be further delays. one senator yesterday objected

to various amendments that has postponed a vote on culture until saturday. -- on cloture until saturday. i think it is going to pass as it should. then senate majority leader schumer will bring up the budget resolution that allows for reconciliation where you only need 50 votes to pass investments in infrastructure, human services, health, etc. i think they will get that past. -- passed. it is all about whether senator manchin and cinema and a few others will support that bill. speaker pelosi has said she will not entertain a vote on the bipartisan bill without the reconciliation bill. she is going to wait for both of those packages to arrive at the house. then she has to figure out how she gets a majority of her

caucus to support both of those. i sat with her for four years as chair of the dccc. nobody can count votes better and get you to what people assume was impossible victory better than nancy pelosi can. i am optimistic that both will pass. it is going to be turbulent. host: this is george out of l.a., of early this morning, independent. caller: i just want to ask your speaker who seems to be carrying the typical democratic line if he is concerned about covid, tens of thousands of covid infected people are coming to this country and spreading the disease. is he concerned about that? what is he saying to biden about that? guest: i have to respectfully

disagree with your characterization that i am parroting the line. i believe what i am saying. i think we have to go back to a place in this country where we can disagree agreeably. and not attack the motives of each other. i hope that you would have the same respect for my view as i do with yours although we disagree. i do not care what is causing covid. i'm not sure you are correct about tens of thousands of people coming into this country with covid. i have seen no evidence of it. i would love to see your evidence of it. whatever it is, does not matter to me. what matters to me is that we take the sensible steps to keep you and your families safe. we did not revolt against vaccines for polio. we did not politicize vaccinations for measles, mumps,

rubella. why politicize this? it is the same thing. why attack this and politicize this when it is simply intended to stop the transmission of a worldwide pandemic? you can ascribe whatever motives you want. that is fine. just put your mask on and get the vaccination and do not endanger your neighbors or family or yourself. host: i wonder, do you miss elected politics? guest: no. i'm this my colleagues. i talked to them every day. i miss the camaraderie on both sides of the aisle that you do not see it when you turn on the cable news shows or talk radio. i do not miss the fundraising. i do not miss the electoral politics. here is what i miss. this is something i wish more people understood. my favorite place in the capitol building, and i think this is

particularly important after january 6, is a balcony right off the house floor. it stretches the length of the house chamber. it overlooks office buildings. on one side, you can see the supreme court and library of congress. on the others, you can see the washington monument and the national mall. you could be beating each other up on the floor of the house, attacking and criticizing, but then you could go out on that patio, which i called america's patio, and sit with your political opponents and talk about things like my son is graduating from high school. my daughter is having some problems. i have got to go home and deal with them. i don't like traveling back and forth to washington. what can we agree on instead of disagree on?

i miss that balcony because it was the most productive and liberating and bipartisan place i have ever been to in washington, d.c. host: steve israel, currently the director of politics and global affairs at cornell university. this is carolyn in silver spring, maryland, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i echo what the previous caller had mentioned about hypocrisy. i am going to move onto a different point, which is the vaccines. fauci was just talking about how there needs to be drugs and therapeutics because clearly the vaccine has been proven, based on israel's statistics, not as effective as originally sold to the american people. people that were infected have natural immunity. why would they go and get a vaccine for something that they

have already recovered from? there is no data that is also saying that all these people that have natural immunity are infecting or reinfected at a high rate as much as the people that are being vaccinated right now that are spreading covid which is the reason why we are being forced to mask up because this vaccine is not effective in stopping the spread. host: do you mind if i ask if you have taken the vaccine? caller: i have not, however i have had covid, and so has my husband and child. we recovered. this was back in march of 2020. guest: when you walk into a store or public place, you have zero concerns that your -- that you will not be infected or

somehow will not infect others. somehow not an issue for you. host: karen hung up. guest: that is my point. nobody ever said that this course of medical action is 100% full proof. nobody ever said that. it was developed in the trump administration, remember. i believed that it made sense in the trump administration and continue to believe it makes sense in the biden administration. when we did the polio vaccine and other vaccines, nobody said this is 100% guaranteed. they did say it was effective enough to stop the spread of the disease, to stop the transmission. you look at these numbers. karen cited data. i have other data for you. when you have a large percentage of people who refuse to get vaccinated, you have a massive spike in infections and

hospitalizations. where people refuse to get vaccinated, you have hospitals that have filled their beds and cannot figure out how they are going to provide more beds. i would rather look at data that shows the rate of infections going down than up. where does that happen? when people get vaccinated. host: jim out of california, independent. caller: good morning. thank you so much. shout out to brian lamb, my personal hero. i have concerns about state governments overturning election results for the congressional elections in 2022 based on unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud. i was wondering if your guest had the same sort of concerns, and if he did if he could outline in a more granular detail areas of concern. thank you for your daily service

to this country. i love you. host: congressman israel. guest: i share your adoration of john lam. i write books in my post congressional life. he is a national treasure. host: brian lamb, he is often here in the mornings even as we are getting ready for the show. he will walk into our meetings before the show and chat with us. he will often beat us here in the morning. guest: i apologize, i conflated john with brian. host: i will take that actually. guest: absolutely. with respect to attempts to subvert democracy, which is what is happening, subvert the will of the voters, this is what makes me lose sleep at night. one of the things. there are proactive attempts by state legislatures throughout the country to make it harder

for americans to vote under the guise of protecting election security. i understand feelings and opinions, but at some point we have to base our policies on facts and data. i would like to see objective analysis of somebody without an agenda that shows there have been these rampant episodes of voter fraud upon which policies should be promulgated stopping voters from voting. i have not seen that evidence. i don't know anyone who has seen that evidence. courts have looked at it. prosecutors have looked at it. republican secretaries of state have looked at it. democratic secretaries of state have looked at it. nobody can show there are these massive attempts to violate the law and vote when you are not entitled to vote.

what is driving this? what is driving it is demography, the fact that many of these republican legislators realized that if they do not make it harder for democrats to vote, they are going to be at a loss. demography and ideology is catching up with them. what do you do? you build a wall around the polling places. you do everything you can to make it harder for people who may vote against you to vote. there are many things that we can do. the house has passed legislation in hr one that deals with states that are subverting the right of people to vote. i think we ought to make it harder for politicians to make it harder for voters to vote. instead of making it harder for the voters to vote.

it very deeply concerns me. host: cumberland, maryland, charles, democrat. caller: good morning. thank you for giving me an opportunity to speak. i have just two quick points. number one is the election. i want to present a hypothetical. let's say that the next presidential election that because of these laws that republicans are passing in republican states, let's hypothetically say a democrat wins the nomination, and republicans use these troponin tactics -- kryptonian tactics -- draconian tactics and a republican wins the presidency. do you think the country could withstand that type of political

chaos? i think it would destroy what we call in america the rule of law. once we destroy the rules of law, there is nothing else that can set in but anarchy. these republicans who think they are pulling a fast one are putting this country in great peril because democrats are not going to sit back, and independents are not going to sit back and allow the subversion of the republic system we have relied on for 200 years. our republic with all the internal turmoil, we have been able to survive because of the peaceful transfer of power. host: i -- congressman israel. guest: i agree completely. at cornell, we are taking a completely nonpartisan,

objective, independent evaluation on the status of democracy and why it is that you have two segments of the electorate in america. one believes joe biden's president, and the other believes that he is not present. 70% of republicans in a recent poll believe that joe biden is not present, and donald trump will be reinstated. what is causing that divide? you cannot repair something until you understand what has caused it. what we are learning is it is a convergence of social media where people are getting their information by algorithm. it is a convergence of the tribal is asian of cable news. -- of the tribalization of cable news. both sides were getting information that did not

necessarily reflect the views of the other side. when you watch cable news, you are just getting confirmation bias. your opinions and feelings are being validated. it is the collapse of newspapers around the country where it is harder and harder to get an independent evaluation of what is happening from a local source that you trust. it is the economic pressures, the continued marginalization of the have-nots from the haves. the have-nots are getting less. the haves are getting more. you have these convergences. it results in a final sense of hopelessness that you no longer have democracy. democracy is no longer something that should be valued. it is something that should be overturned if the result of

democracy is something you disagree with. you have these two absolutes in america that are constantly battling each other and constantly propelled with opinion without fact and bias confirmation. democracy cannot last when it serves two echo chambers. we have to find ways to rebuild peoples faith in democracy, their investment in democracy so they do not resort to the kind of treason we saw on january 6. host: louisiana, joseph, line for republicans. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i understand what you say, but i have a comment about when it comes to republicans and democrats, there seems to be a lot of back-and-forth and not a

lot of talking going on. in my opinion, it seems like the networks and some of the cable news is left-leaning, like abc, cnn, nbc, msnbc, and the only main channel you have for conservative leaning is fox news. i don't understand. maybe i am wrong. maybe i am wrong in that thinking, but that is the just i am getting from it. i feel it was oscar wilde who said if you are 25 and you are not a liberal, you don't have a heart. if you are 35 and you are not a conservative, you do not have a brain.

i am just wanting your thoughts on that. guest: i think if you take a broad view of the media, you will learn that when you factor in networks like newsmax, one america, talk radio, which is very influential, when you factor that in what you will learn is that the media is actually not slanted to the left. it is actually slanted to the right. i know you probably are shocked by that and you think i do not know what i am talking about. that is one of the problems we have in the country. everybody's perception becomes the fact. if you really dig into this, you will learn that it is actually kind of a rightward slant to the news. that is also part of the problem is that we are not getting news anymore. we are getting opinion. once upon a time i would go home

and turn on the news in levittown, new york, and watch walter cronkite deliver the news. i did not ever think that walter cronkite was giving us an opinion. it was just telling us what happened that day. i would never characterize the cbs news under walter cronkite as left or right. it was news. we had things like the fairness doctrine back them and equal time standards. we have to get back to democracy where we receive information not based on too left or too right but based on this is what is happening today. make your opinion. host: just a couple minutes ago from the bureau of labor statistics, the first friday of the month, new jobs numbers. the total nonfarm payroll

employment rose 943,000 in july. the unemployment rate declined to 5.4%. that is the latest numbers. your thoughts on those numbers? guest: that is a little bit better than most of the economic projections. they are especially better if you are in that 900,000 cohort. if you are not, it is meaningless to you. it goes back to where we started. if these trends continue and if people are getting jobs and seeing their unemployed kids and neighbors getting jobs and the restaurant is doing well, i believe people will want to reward the policies that led to that. if we go in a different direction, people are going to want different policies. that is the tremendously good

news i believe, not for the biden administration, but for its policies and for the american people who need economic recovery. host: chris in arizona, just about 10 minutes left. chris is an independent. go ahead. caller: wanted to call and ask mr. israel, the situations he is talking about, most of what we hear today is opinion, not news at all. there is a very bias leaning on the left. that is proven factually. i don't know what his opinion -- he can have his opinion, but he cannot have his facts. he says no proof has been provided. when the court will not even listen to the argument, how can you make that claim? guest: let me let mr. israel

respond to that. i am not sure i heard you. was there a specific court you are referring to that showed there was massive voter fraud in your area? host: the caller is off-line. go ahead. guest: i did not say that there is absolutely zero voter fraud. i said there is not the level of voter fraud that rises to the level of passing bills proactively stopping good, capable, and eligible voters from going to the polls. there is no level of voter fraud that says you should limit the number of polling places in a county to make it virtually impossible for people who are working two jobs to cast their vote on election day. there is no level of voter fraud that shows you should limit the number of people who can submit an absentee ballot. there may be voter fraud, of

course. we live in an imperfect society. it does not rise to the level of troponin and extreme steps that many states are taking. host: this is jim, a republican. caller: i called before. i usually get hung up on. i don't get a chance to tell you what is really going on. steve israel, i see you live over there in oyster bay cove. you and everybody else they have on that show, including the host have an academic knowledge of what is going on with the immigration thing. don't give me the right wing stuff. 12,000 cases of covid and the houses here are single-family houses flooded with people, five to a room. i am not making this stuff up. i wish i could get the town

board to drive through here and see this place. i go to meetings. it took me 15 years with the police department, 15 years of putting up everybody's backyard and the weekend is a nightclub, loud where the walls are shaking. if middle island is listening who chastised me for mentioning this, he has got 1200 cases in his town. i'm sure if oyster bay cove if they have any at all is in the hundreds. guest: i assume you did not volunteer on any of my campaigns when i represented you. there are in variety of reasons why you have high cases. the fact of the matter is that minority communities tend to have higher cases of covid having nothing to do with immigration. they tend to have fewer cases of

vaccination and higher incidents of covid infections. the motives for what is causing it is less important to me than stopping it. not stopping it but reduce again. the best way of reducing it is to get a vaccination. get the vaccination in your right arm if you are a republican, left arm if you are a democrat. it does not matter. keep yourself safer. host: staying in the empire state, vicki, democrat. caller: good morning. i wanted to make a comment on the vaccination and the red state that is not receiving it and how those are going up in the covid-19. for instance florida, desantis,

whatever his name is, yeah, he is not performing his people to take the vaccination. i don't understand why florida numbers are going up and up and up. that would help for the leaders to come out and tell them it is important to take the vaccination now. on mr. trump, he took the vaccination come and a lot of people does not realize he took it to himself and his family, and they all took it. they don't believe. it makes no sense. they need to do research. guest: yeah, i think it comes down to are you a responsible

leader? in those red states where state leaders are blocking attempts to vaccinate people, the likelihood you are going to be infected or in fact is much larger now. there is one republican governor in alabama who we should all be thankful to her for what she said. republican governor ivey from alabama last week said at a certain point you have to look at the unvaccinated. they need common sense. so do our leaders. they need common sense, and they need to take responsibility and keep their people safe. i am glad that governor ivey talked about the fact that the large number of covid cases are largely due to the people who are refusing to get a vaccination. i hope her colleagues in florida

and texas listen to her words. host: george in hudson, florida, republican. you are on with steve israel. caller: good morning. you have been on msnbc and cnn and these other liberal stations. would you consider the producers of tucker carlsen, would you appear on his show? guest: i used to go on fox very frequently when i was a member of congress. i was always considered to be too to the right of center by progressives in the democratic party. i lean to the right on national security issues, on robust diplomacy, social issues. i was frequently invited onto fox and took up those invitations.

i would rather be on "washington journal" then tucker carlsen, but if an invitation was extended, i would consider it even though i disagree with tucker carlsen's views and tactics. host: how big of a block is it right now? visit shrinking or growing? guest: the democratic majority depends on winning in moderate, right of center district. if you want to preserve the majority, you have to bring more moderates and win elections in those districts. after 2018, the democratic moderates grew considerably. in 2020, it shurnk. members of congress who are just left of center and right of center represent the largest block in congress. host: steve israel now leads the

of politics and global affairs at cornell university. guest: thanks. host: next, we will be joined by former fbi see chair thomas hoenig to discuss those new jobs numbers that just came out a few moments ago. stick around. we will be right back. >> sunday night on q&a, ellen andrews, the american conservative magazine senior editor, talks about her book, boomers, the men and women who promised freedom and delivered disaster. >> the one-liner about boomers that i think is brilliant as they are the generation that sold out but would never admit they sold out. it is a combination of a great deal of idealism and a sense of themselves as very morally

noble, noble idealists liberating humanity. on the other hand a great deal of selfishness and narcissism, blindness to the ways their liberationist agenda knocks down a lot of functioning institutions. >> helen anderson sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span's q&a. you can also listen to q&a as a podcast wherever you get your podcasts. >> in june, robert gottlieb, the man who has been the final editor of all of robert caro's books wrote an essay in the new york times. the focus was on john gartner and the book he wrote 75 years ago called inside usa. in gottlieb's opinion, gartner was probably the best reporter

america ever had. we wanted to find out more about his publishing success stories. we called ted casperson to talk with him about his 1992 book called inside: the biography of john gunther. >> listen at c-span.org/podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. >> "washington journal" continues. host: a focus on the u.s. economy with thomas hoenig. he is former fbi see vice chair, currently senior fellow. guest: good morning to you. host: want to start with those jobs numbers just out 15 minutes ago. nonfarm payroll rose by 943,000

in july. unemployment fell to 5.4%. guest: they are very pleasing numbers. they are a little higher than most economists thought they would be come around 840. that is good news. the unemployment rate is now 5.4%. that is good news. the participation rate did not change much. that may continue until we get through the rest of august and son of --some of the unemployment benefits fall away and more people will be willing to join the labor force. i think that will be good in the sense that while we are losing some support from the relief packages, we will be gaining some added jobs into the market. on the whole i think those numbers are pretty good.

i was trying to see where the real earnings were. i think those are down a little. that reflects that we are still seeing some inflation across the country. host: you mentioned the labor force participation rate little changed, within a narrow range of 61.4 to 61.7. there is the supplemental data about impacts of the covid crisis. in july, 13.2% of unemployed persons teleworked because of the pandemic. also in july, 5.2 million persons reported they were unable to work because their employer closed or lost business due to the pandemic. that is down from 6.2 million in

june. guest: these are good numbers. they suggest we are mending if you will. i would also understand that this new delta variant is of concern to everyone. i think as more people get vaccinated, we will be able to address that issue and continue to improve the employment picture for the u.s. host: the phone numbers if you want to join the conversation. republicans (202) 748-8001. democrats (202) 748-8000. independents (202) 748-8002. you mentioned inflation. this is a recent headline from npr. inflation is a big political test for president biden's economic agenda. last month, consumer prices increased by 5.4% in june, the biggest monthly gain since

august 2008. why is that? guest: you have a number of factors, supply and demand. on the supply side, you have the effects of covid, which affected supply chains in the country and across the globe. that will affect the amount available and prices. that also interrupts those supply chains. on the supply side, you have had some interruptions. i think we need to get through those. on the demand side, you have had these significant and important relief programs that have put funds in the hands of the middle class and others that are out of work. while supplies have been interrupted to some degree, the demand is strong. you have monetary policy, which has been extremely

accommodative. that has helped create demand. the demand factors have been strong in this environment. it is not surprising you see the inflation numbers going up. host: on inflation on where it is now and where it could be in the future, a topic of conversation on capitol hill. jerome powell discussed the rise of inflation and his expectations about the future. this is what he had to say. [video clip] >> inflation has increased notably. as the economy continues to reopen and spending rebounds, we are seeing upward pressure on prices because supply bottlenecks have limited how quickly production can respond in the near term. these bottleneck effects have been larger than anticipated. as these transitory supply affects abate, inflation is

expected to drop back to our longer run goal. low readings from early in the pandemic and the pass-through of past increases in oil prices and consumer energy contribute to the increase, all those base effects are receding. the process of reopening the economy is unprecedented. as the reopening continues, bottlenecks and other constraints could continue, raising the possibility inflation could turn out to be higher and more persistent than we expect. our new framework for monetary policy emphasizes the importance of having well anchored inflation expectations to foster price stability and enhance our ability to promote our maximum employment goal. broadly consistent with our longer run inflation goal of 2%.

if we saw signs of longer-term inflation expectations, we are moving beyond levels beyond our goal, we would adjust policy. host: jerome powell speaking about this issue of inflation. we are talking with thomas hoenig about the u.s. economy. jerome powell, we have heard him say before that inflation is expected to moderate in the coming months, perhaps by the end of the year. do you agree? guest: i think over time it will moderate. i think the transition will be longer than what i have heard him say and others among the fomc. monetary policy continues to be highly accommodative. i think that will have an effect on demand going forward that

will keep some upward pressure on prices. i think the supply issues will moderate more slowly. as inflation embeds in the economy, it carries its own way forward. real wages have been falling, and they have. i think we will see more pressures from labor to bring wages up. that will be somewhat inflationary. you can see why they would want those up. i think the fact that we are now in the process of passing an infrastructure bill, which people say we badly need, and i would agree, but there will be additional deficits with that the federal reserve will have to accommodate to keep interest rates low and fund the fiscal deficit. these are inflationary actions.

the thing i would remind people of is that inflation has been with us for some time in asset values. we have seen the effects of that. we have seen housing prices go up to historically high levels in the last couple months. we have seen other areas in asset values. when you have inflation in those asset values, it begins to seep out more broadly. we will see those pressures build over time. i think it will be important from the federal reserve to continue its discussions on tapering in a way in which we can carefully remove some of this excess accommodation so that we slow down this inflationary pressure going forward that hurts the

middle-class more than it does others. this is very important. the fed knows this. it is important that they keep this in front of them as we move forward from here and not get caught in this zero interest rate firemen indefinitely, waiting for the economy to regain its full strength. that will happen over time. it can hopefully moderate inflationary impulses. host: if you want to talk about the u.s. economy, economic policy, thomas hoenig is a good guy to do that with, former vice chair with the fdic. republicans can call in at (202) 748-8001. democrats (202) 748-8000. independents (202) 748-8002. this is stan out of indiana.

an independent, go ahead. are you with us? you have got to stick by your phone. we will go with keith in alabama, republican. go ahead. caller: if i remember correctly, the great recession started with $4 gas prices. aren't we headed in the same direction? guest: the great recession started with many things, mostly though they were financial related as we saw housing boom explode in very high leverage in those products. one of the consequences at the time was higher gas prices, but it was only one consequence of many.

it followed a long period of very accommodative monetary policy that stimulated demand beyond what the supply of those goods could provide on the market relative to the amount of money that was being put into the market at the time. i would say so in the sense that it reflected a very accommodative monetary policy to a good part of the early decade until the crisis occurred in 2008. host: back to the hoosier state, sandy, and independent. go ahead. caller: 74 in indiana, white. i have lived through recessions. i have lived through a lot. i have never lived through millions of illegal immigrants being flooded into our country when we are being told to take

shots, which i have not, nor will i, being told that we are to be -- this is going to affect us financially, physically auxiliary -- physiologically, emotionally. how do you justify that? these millions of people that we are taking care of now, i just want to know how you justify that. guest: the issue with immigration, and i think you are speaking of illegal immigration, is a difficult matter. we have immigration laws -- i think that we expect people to abide by those laws. to the extent that they do not, we have to address that issue. that is really part of what the government trying -- government

is trying to do today, i hope. i don't know that it is a major cause of our problems by any means. but it is something that we have to address in time and through the rule of line -- through the rule of law. host: pensacola, florida. democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. i am 72 years old. i'm going to say something in general. it seems like when republicans are in control, we don't hear anything about inflation. they do not say how are you going to pay for all of these tax cuts. as soon as a democrat gets in, that is all we talk about. can you address that? guest: i do not know that that is necessarily the case. i think the issues around the deficit has been in place with

both parties. they have both contributed to the deficit over time. there is a bipartisan effort for infrastructure spending that will involve additional debt and deficits and both parties are involved. it is really a matter of what the american people want and right now they want improved infrastructure. that has to be paid for and i think there will be a likely borrowing associated with that and a greater deficit. everyone has to take responsibility for these issues. it is not just one person or one party's issue. host: steve on twitter with this question saying, "we see lower interest rates hurt pension funds. i thought most pensions invest in the stock market, which saw an excellent rise in the past 18 months. how do low interest rates hurt pension funds?"

guest: pension funds are not overly invested in the stock market. it is like anything else. you have a broad base of assets, which you rely on. if a good portion of those assets, bonds, securities, have interest rates that yield 1% and 2%, your ability to stay funded is compromised. if you were to put everything into the stock market because you think it is only going to go up and we have another stock market crash as we had in the last crisis, i think people would be even worse off. it is the ability of having a market in which interest rates reflect market conditions and not just the ability of the federal reserve to push interest

rates down near zero. that means there are other winners and losers. over time, you see the effects. i mentioned pension funds. we know asset values and housing is out of the reach of some people because the prices are so high. not because of interest rates, but because the prices are so high. those people are being adversely affected. pension funds are very much in many cases underfunded, requiring that more of a person's income be allocated for that for retirement. if you are an individual saving for retirement and unless you are willing to take the risk and plunge into stocks on the assumption that they will only go up because the federal reserve will continue to fund the market, then you will be taking a high-risk risk position for your future. those are the issues that people have to work through. when you have an environment

with an abnormally low interest rate. most people agree that zero interest rates are not a normal price that you would see for debt issuance. host: we talked about the fed a couple of times already this morning. you ran the federal reserve bank in kansas city at one point. what should people know about the fed and how it works? what are some of the biggest misperceptions right now? guest: the perception is that the federal reserve can solve almost all problems. when we have a financial crisis, the fed can step in. the federal reserve can print money, that is for sure. but that does not mean we can

solve the issues around labor. we cannot solve the pension from problems. those are the sorts of things that have become the responsibility -- appear to become the responsibly of the federal reserve when it is the elected officials, the congress, the president who also have a more important role relative to the infrastructure of our country, how we regulate our country, and how we deal with issues around income distribution and so forth and those are things that need attention. relying on the federal reserve over the long period makes those situations worse. if you are an asset holder, you win big. if you are not and inflation makes your income come down, you lose. if you cannot afford a home, you lose. those are the things that need

to be clear in people's minds in terms of what the real capabilities of the central bank are. host: thomas hoenig is a distinguished fellow at george mason university joining us this morning and taking your phone calls. bill is next in alabama. republican. good morning. caller: it is obvious that the debts of the united states far exceed our ability to ever repay it. we have so much off budget, not identified debt with regard to future commitments. if we needed money badly, let's say we got in the war, where would we get the money to borrow? who would lend it to us? if the chinese and some other not so friendly people in the middle east decided they would not lend, what do we do?

guest: at the moment, the u.s. is a global reserve currency and the federal reserve can and has printed money. it creates money by buying government securities from the broad public or from the banks themselves. it can pay for those securities by creating the money to pay for those by creating the liability on the bank's balance sheets. they would be able to create money, print more money to fund the war. secondly, i would assume that the government would impose taxes on individuals in the united states to help pay for that war just like they did in world war ii. they would collect that money and that would help pay for the instruments of war that were

needed to defend the country. there are those two at a minimum. as we have learned in the past, think about it this way. the amount of debt since the beginning of the pandemic that the government has issued and taken, has gone from $23 trillion to $28.5 trillion. the balance sheet of the federal reserve, in terms of its assets, in terms of securities and mortgage-backed securities have increased from $4 trillion to $8 trillion. the federal reserve has purchased those securities, provided the necessary money to pay for those and that has allowed the government to spend without having to tax more. as long as they do that, the government can fund itself. the problem with that is we are

creating this enormous amount of money out there and you are beginning to see some of the effects of that today by rising inflation and you have seen it for over a decade in terms of increases in asset values that have made housing much more expensive than it was a decade ago. it has funded the stock market and helped it to increase over that period because those are assets. that is some of the effects of the federal reserve's ability to print this money. but it would be able to print more money to help fund the government's spending for conducting a war. host: connecticut, kristin. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i love this conversation this morning. if i could get a few points in, i would appreciate it. i think what are fine guest is talking about is debt

monetization. this is what the federal reserve is doing. it is monetizing our debt. that is what banana republics do. since 1971, the dollar taken off of the wrightwood system and to the price of gold. since that time, we have seen a 95% decrease in the purchasing power of the u.s. dollar. if you gauge it with other currencies, that is not going to give you appropriate metrics because all other central banks are devaluing their currencies at the same time. inflation of the -- inflation is the worst kind of taxation, of confiscation, of people who are living paycheck-to-paycheck. it is absolutely detrimental to these people. if the fed is talking about it is supposed to be helping these people, it is complete and utter nonsense. 2% inflation, which is made up

by ben bernanke and janet yellen is an arbitrary number. it never existed before in fed literature. and the federal reserve was wrong about 2000. they were wrong about 2008. currently, they are pumping in $120 billion every month. $40 billion of that is buying mortgage-backed security in a housing bubble. stock prices are at the highest they have every been -- they have ever been since 1929, since 2000. host: you bring up a lot of points. let me let thomas hoenig respond. guest: what you are saying is accurate. in fact, when the u.s. decoupled itself from the gold standard, it allowed for the free printing of money, of fiat currency.

we have seen in a norm is increased in the amount of money -- an enormous increase in the amount of money the fed has created over those decades. in the last crisis, they did create money. here is where -- what i think is important. if you have a crisis as you had in 2007 and in the pandemic, it is reasonable for the central bank to provide liquidity because the markets freeze up. you cannot buy or sell -- to provide liquidity to get the market moving again. that is good. the problem is that folks in the -- both in the crisis following 2008 and in this crisis with the pandemic, the federal reserve continues its accommodative policies. from 2010 when they did their second quantitative easing, bringing a lot of money, through

most of the decade to 2015, their balance sheet went up from $2 trillion to $4 trillion and now it is gone to $8 trillion, it is those. periods were after the crisis that the government continues to buy money, but distort the economic -- distort the economy and really do harm those individuals who are wage earners because inflation as it takes place, whether it is in assets or in goods and services, hurt those who are least able to absorb those increases. and we are seeing that today. we saw that -- we saw in the last two reports of labor statistics that we will -- that real wages are declining. that is a detriment. what you are saying is correct.

it is useful to have the fed into the market and provide liquidity. it is following that when they should be returning to normal more quickly that the troubles begin. that is part of the issue that the federal reserve faces today. when they talk about tapering, they are talking about whether they should stop putting $120 billion per month into the economy by buying securities, which i think in the long term harms middle-class and lower middle-class individuals. the federal reserve particularly, since it is insulated to some degree, should have the long run in mind and i think that is what you are speaking of and i think you are correct. host: 15 minutes left with thomas hoenig. it is (202) 748-8001 for republicans. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002.

luis, republican. go ahead. caller: good morning. i would like to point out that allowing these realistic conglomerates to buy up houses and raise rent on everybody, they are actually taking housing out of the markets of the individual and putting it into these big piles and making a fortune on it. warren buffett did that in the 2009. we bought a house in 2009 that we could actually afford and still afford it and yet, if we would have gotten -- bought this house in 2010, we would not have been able to afford it because somebody would have put $10,000 into it and jacked the price up. it was allowed under the obama administration for these great big groups to gather together, like warren buffett and all these other people, and grab up

all of the houses. i think that is what is costing -- causing housing prices to go up. guest: i think you have a very good point. one of the things that occurs when you have over a long period of time, putting substantial amounts of money into the economy and keeping interest rates very low, these money funds, whether it is the individual is you name or someone else, they can borrow very cheaply and accumulate large amounts of money and go out and buy houses and they are able, because of the low interest rates, and the ability to accumulate these large amounts, buy these houses and bid up the price of these homes. that makes it more difficult, as prices go up, for individuals like yourself and others to buy those homes, not because

interest rates are high, but because the price of that house has become so great that you cannot afford it even at a low interest rate. that is part of the negative effects of inflation. part of the negative effects of having a zero interest rate that is made possible by the creation of a substantial amount of new money by the federal reserve into the economy and therefore, the middle class and labor suffers in the long run. your point is well taken and we see that happening right now. let's accumulate these homes. it affects individuals and your ability to spend on these homes goes down. and as inflation goes up, your ability to spend on all homes goes down. it is very slow in terms of its effects. it has taken time to where we

are now with this inflation. it has taken time with the accumulation of all of this money in the hands of these individuals. the effects are eventually unavoidable. host: do you think that the federal minimum wage should be raised because of the declining ability of american citizens buying power and it being so badly reduced? guest: the issue of the minimum wage is a long-term issue. the issue there is the minimum wage cannot keep up with inflationary pressures. what you need to do is get inflation down, not to 2%, but back towards 1% or less so that when you have a wage, it remains that wage in real terms. we are allowing inflation, even if you raise the minimum wage, inflation reduces it back down

quickly. the focus should be on getting prices to stable. if we insisted on that, in the long run, we would all be better off. host: milton in illinois. republican. good morning. caller: good morning. my question is about gasoline taxes in illinois. somewhere between $0.60 and $0.80 per gallon in taxes. the rest of it was basically the state of illinois. i know the answer basically, but why wasn't that money spent on roads and bridges? guest: if i understand your question, you are asking why the taxes on gasoline are not going to roads and bridges? caller: yes.

that is what they are supposed to do. guest: the justification for the tax on gasoline was to help fund roads and bridges that these automobiles that we use every day have quality highways and quality infrastructure on which to run. that was the justification. in some states, they have redirected some of those funds. those are issues within those states. but that is the rationale. whether you agree or not it is a political question that your state and voters have to decide. that is why we have gone with these gasoline taxes. host: huntsville, texas. this is emmett. independent. good morning. caller: good morning. correct me, but i understand that quantitative easing is still going on. is that correct? guest: i did not hear you.

host: he said wanted to easing. -- quantitative easing. is it still going on? guest: yes. every month, they buy $100 billion. $80 billion is in treasuries and securities. $40 billion is in bringing back securities. they put that on their balance sheet and they issue a liability to the banks called a reserve or a deposit. that expands the amount of base money for the amount of money in those banks for use in the economy. yes, it is quantitative easing. host: it sounded like you had a follow-up question. caller: i did. how is that affecting the stock market? guest: as you put additional money into the market, it has to go somewhere. you have to deploy these funds. what you do is you buy assets.

that is why inflation in asset prices has been going on far longer than inflation in goods and services. what you do, individuals, as they have more money, they buy into the stock market. therefore, the price of the stocks go up and as long as you continue to put more money into the economy, most expect the stock market will go up. that is why you have to be very attentive in the fact that when you hear the federal reserve governor or others speak of stopping that process, you see the market decline. they are afraid the federal reserve may stop putting money into the market and that means it will be less available and stock prices will go down and people tend to panic and you see the market drop 500, 600 points in a given day.

it is out of fear that they're going to change their operations. in the meantime -- i am not saying they should stop doing that immediately, because that would shock the market. over time, slowly, carefully, the fed should slow its purchases of these government securities and mortgage-backed securities so that you stop this asset inflation and eventually goods and services inflation. if you do not do that, inflation will become more embedded and more prevalent. host: in the coming hours, we will see a lot of reporting about those jobs numbers that came up. what are you most interested in diving into when you get a chance to get your hands on the full survey results? guest: i want to see if in fact,

where the jobs are being created. whether they are being created in the hotel industry and manufacturing. i want to see what is happening to real wages. i want to see the -- what the nominal wage rate has gone up or letter to the inflation numbers. if real wages are falling, we are employing more people, but we still have an issue with the income distribution in our country. that is an important issue for the future. host: is that the average hourly earnings? in july, average hourly earnings for all employees on private payroll increased by $0.11 following increases in the prior three months. that is the topline number from that part of the report. guest: is that a nominal increase in wages? host: the average hourly earnings, yes. guest: that is nominal. that against what the inflation numbers show will be very

important as we look forward. that number should be there. host: i will keep digging forward for you. caller: i am not an economist. i should clarify this. it occurs to me that because the way our tax system is set up and the fact that basically all of the taxes are paid by the middle class, the lower class. i am talking about sales tax, property tax, and everything else. but the top end people, the people that invest in the stock market, are paying a declining amount of taxes all the time. until we solve part of our tax problem, it occurs to me that we are not going to solve any of

this problem. correct me if i am wrong and i will take your answer off the air. thank you. guest: the issue of taxes, i agree. the middle class, just because of the volume of the middle class and the number of people in the middle class, pay proportionately a large part of total taxes collected because they are a large part of the population. the highest pay proportionately more for their group. but on the whole, less than the whole of the middle class. whether they are paying their fair share is an issue that the political world has to decide because they pay a fairly significant amount of taxes in total. whether that is thought to be sufficient for the broad populace is the question at hand.

remember that those individuals in the wealthiest class, they can move more easily than you or i. they have the best advice in terms of taxes. they can be made to pay more. but to what extent, you have to be mindful of because they are paying proportionately more than others. it is a matter of how you define fairness. some people think they should pay more. but even if they pay twice as much, it would not end this deficit. one of the issues that is america's to solve is this desire to continue to grow the government about his desire to have the government solve all

problems. have a budget of $5 trillion for the pandemic. at the height of the pandemic, that spending was as high as $9 trillion. now it is back below that. going forward, what should it be? we are going to have infrastructure and they want another $3.5 trillion spent on human infrastructure. those are important decisions for congress to make. the question is paying for them and some of it is supposedly paid for. but much of it is not. that would be more borrowing. that would be more debt for future generations to pay, whether they are wealthy or middle class. all will be paying for that in the future. whether the wealthy will pay more, that is a matter of congress deciding at some future date whether they should pay proportionately more and it is a

very difficult issue that has to be addressed. host: just one minute left. dave in michigan has been waiting for a while. can you make it quick? caller: yes. an eye on? am i o --n -- am i on? host: yes. caller: i am not a businessman, looking at a businessman's perspective and an ploy e perspective, i am 70 years old. how can the fed play a role in giving something for both sides, businessman and employees, as far as stepping in and saying --

a businessman says i cannot afford paying you so i'm going to let you off. how can you split the cost? host: we will take that question. mr. hoenig, less than a minute. guest: how will the federal reserve solve that problem? the role of the federal reserve should be -- originally is to make sure that prices are stable , interest rates are stable. if you do that, if you keep interest rates stable and not force them down to zero, then you allow the market to function. you allow the businessman to make the business decisions that benefit himself and his employees or her employees. you allow the employee to know that the income they are receiving will hold its value and they can spend on goods. that is the role of the federal reserve.

the issue of fairness and how you allocate this is the role of congress. it is when you mix those roles that i think we get bad outcomes. i think we have had asset inflation for over a decade. now we are seeing inflation, whether that is transitory or not is yet to be seen. those are the things you want to avoid. the federal reserve's role is to bring stability. that is why there intervening in the short-term, but it should not intervene in the long-term. the federal reserve's role is to intervene in the long term so that the businessman and the laborer can work things to a successful outcome. host: thomas hoenig distinguished senior fellow at's

makeda center. we are turning the phone lines over to you asking you what you think the top news story of this past week has been. that is how we will end this friday morning on "washington journal." go ahead and start calling in now and we will be right back. ♪ announcer: sunday, c-span's series "january 6 views from the house" continues. three more members of congress to share stories of what they experienced that day, including new york democrat hakeem jeffries. >> we did not have the highest degree of information because being on the house floor, we did not get to see the images and

the real-time footage of the ongoing assault on the capital. however, once we arrived in a secure location, we were able to get some understanding of that and could only have imagined how our loved ones were feeling watching it all unfold in real time. it certainly was a great comfort to myself and every other member to be able to communicate with our family members back at home. one of the communications that i received that was disturbing was my brother reached out to me to indicate that -- to check to see if we were ok. of course, i indicated to him that i was ok. as an aside, let me know, by the way he and his family had received a threatening message from someone indicated that they knew where my brother and his

wife and his three girls lived and that they had people in the neighborhood and that if me, meaning his brother, but congressman, did not stop telling lies about the election, something bad was going to happen. announcer: this week, you will also hear from two texas representatives. democrat colin allred and republican ronny jackson. "january 6 views from the house" on c-span, c-span.org or the free c-span radio app. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we end the week by turning the phone lines over to you asking you what you think the top news story of this past week was. here is how you can get in touch. (202) 748-8001 republicans(202) 748-8001. democrats (202) 748-8000.

independents (202) 748-8002. go ahead and start calling. the senate adjourned very early this morning at 12:18 a.m. eastern after failing to negotiate a final deal on the remaining amendments to the bipartisan infrastructure bill. majority leader chuck schumer filed late thursday setting up floor votes for saturday. the senate is not in session to allow senators to attend a funeral of their late former colleague in wyoming. the senate is set to return at 11:00 a.m. eastern on saturday morning. you can watch all of the action on c-span 2. time for your phone calls asking you about your top news story. this is bill in sidney, ohio. republican. good morning. caller: good morning. my top news story, which is not being covered, concerns the

illegal immigrants coming across the border and then dispersing them, knowing that they have covid, dispersing them into the other states. i cannot understand why that is not being covered. thank you and i will hang up. host: that is bill. this is george in illinois, also republican. what is your top news story? caller: i guess i have the same story about the people walking over the border. i don't think any democrats have a timid -- a tv set unless they think fox is putting on movies with actors, actresses, babies, and all these people coming over. is it really good for the country? thank you. host: on our line for democrats, this is allen in brooklyn, new york. good morning. caller: hands down, it is the report that trump pressured department officials to announce

that the election results were corrupt and that he would take care of the rest. in other words, once he had some kind of indication that there was a reason for the public to be angry, he could rouse up the crowd and create the very kind of violent mob he did on january 6 to reverse the results of the election violently, if not, through illegal process. that is the scariest story i can think of. host: deborah, medford, oregon. democrat. what is your top news story of the week? caller: the biggest story is how close donald trump came from taking over during an insurrection and destroying our democracy. host: that is deborah in oregon. asking viewers what your top news story of the week is. the first two viewers talking about immigration. some news this week on that

front and what is happening at the border. the biden administration preparing to begin during -- to begin offering the vaccine at the mexico border where illegal crossings are at their highest level in over two decades and health officials are struggling with soaring numbers of infections according to two officials with knowledge of that plan. "the washington post" writing that until now, only a limited number of migrants have received vaccine while detention facilities under the broad outlines of that new plan, they vaccinate migrants as soon as they cross into the united states as they await processing by u.s. customs and border protection. that is from "the washington post." to our third and fourth callers, some news from "politico," a key house committee has postponed multiple scheduled witness interviews about donald trump's final days in office, sending

them off to the select panel investigating the january 6 capital attack. " as the oversight committee continues its crucial oversight work, we look forward to the select committee exposing the former president's unconstitutional attack on our democracy and attempts to stay in power after the american people voted him out of office." that is from congresswoman carolyn maloney, the chair of the house oversight committee. an aide to the january 6 panel speaking on the condition of anonymity did not dispute the handoff and added that the select committee would announce additional actions soon. that is from "politico." matt from baltimore, michigan. democrat. what do you think? caller: my question is, i'm a democrat. i am against what governor cuomo did. i think he should resign or be taken out of his office. i cannot believe that the republican party is not

criticizing some of the people that they had done. one of the judges on the fox network just got released from his position from fox for sexual misconduct. republicans are supposed to be evangelicals and not criticize their constituents and their politicians for the things that have been done sexually and other misconduct. but the democrats, as soon as something happens, they get rid of the guy or sanction them. thank you. host: on the cuomo story from the "all many times" --" albany times," cuomo use retaliation to hush accusers and instill fear. the report detailing strategies from his inner several -- inner circle and outside loyalists. this is don in new orleans. independent.

what is your top news story of the week? caller: my news story of the week is the ongoing forest fires on the west of california and oregon. in particular. this particular force fire called dixie, d-i-x-i-e. those are roman numeral. i x in roman numeral is nine and x i is 11. is this a form of 9/11 revisited? host: that is a lot to read into, the name of a fire. caller: are all these fires by nature? they said lightning strikes. what are these fires a diabolical plan? we have cypress trees, some of them are over 1000, 2000 years

old. they protect us. remember, 2026, america will be 250 years old. we are talking about trees that are older than america. host: this is james, an independent in texas. good morning. caller: good morning. my top story is the story that just will not go away. i live near the border in texas. immigration, by far. this issue with covid, if you think about people will say we cannot let people with covid out and about and how we have had over 8000 since february released into our streets. nobody in the liberal networks have been down here to cover this. but you can bet for sure if trump were president, they would all be down here. this immigration issue is not going to go away. even the democrat politicians in the area, they are all against

what biden has done and changing the stay in mexico policy. this is an issue, it is a tough issue this week, but it is not going to go away. host: florida, rick, democrat. what is your top news story of the week? caller: my top news story for the week that no one is talking about, i'm trying to find out and possibly you can help me. what happened to the $500 billion that trump took without oversight during the first round of: relief in spring of last year -- covid relief in spring of last year? there was an inspector general assigned to inspect the billion dollars and trump fired him later. i have relatives that live in mexico. our money is being used to incentivize human traffickers to send people up to the border to cause as much chaos as they can

cause to this country and this administration. what is our $500 billion -- where is our $500 billion? six month later, trump lost the election. where did our $500 billion go? host: got the question. this is laura. republican. caller: good morning. my biggest concern is the over dramatization of what they referred to as the insurrection on january 6. if you look at the facts, it was nothing like that. nowhere close. that is what i have an issue with. i hear democrats lying about the situation and keeping people in jail that should not be in jail. they are there for trespassing and they are demonized and these are democratic politicians with an agenda. host: how would you define what happened up here on january 6? caller: on january 6, there was

a rally of people that loved this country. trump had nothing to do with what happened. i believe they went there to do what they have the right to do. they have the right to redress the government with their grievances. they have the right to challenge the electoral votes. host: do you think there was a right to attack police officers? caller: i do not believe there was an attack. i have not seen anything that confirms that. what i see is clips of videos. host: that is lower in washington. another headline, "biden awards officers who defended the u.s. capitol from rioters a congressional gold medal." president biden awarding that gold-medal, the branch's highest honor to the u.s. capitol police and the d.c. metropolitan police for their actions on january 6. that ceremony comes the same week that police revealed that two other officers responded to the capital attack died by suicide in july.

the death of officer ashita and kyle bring the total number of officers who have taken their lives after the attack to four. another officer, brian sicknick, died the day after fighting off invaders. 140 officers were injured. at least 17 remain out of work for injuries sustained during that attack on the capital. this is president rep -- this is president biden in his marks -- his remarks yesterday before signing and awarding those gold medals. [video clip] pres. biden: folks, not even during the civil war did insurrectionists breach the capital of america. not even then. but on january 6, 2021, they did. they did. a mob of extremists and

terrorists launched a violent and deadly assault on the people's house, on the sacred ritual of the certified free and fair election. it was not dissent. it was not debate. it was not democracy. it was insurrection. it was riot and mayhem. it was radical and chaotic. and it was unconstitutional, maybe most importantly, it was fundamentally un-american. an existential threat and a test of whether our democracy could survive. whether it could overcome wise and the fury -- overcome lies in the fury of the few. while the attack on the values shock and saddened the nation, the democracy did survive. it did. truth defeated lies.

we did overcome. and that is because of the women and men of the u.s. capitol police, the washington, d.c. metropolitan police department, and other law enforcement officials whom we honor today. speaker pelosi, who led the effort in the house. senator klobuchar and blunt, cosponsors in the senate. my colleagues, house members as well who are here, thank you. thank you. today, i'm going to sign into law the bill you sent to me that awards the congressional gold medal to the united states capitol police, the washington, dc metropolitan police department, and other law enforcement for their service in defense of our democracy on january the sixth. to all of them on behalf of our grateful nation, thank you,

thank you, thank you for protecting our capital. maybe even more importantly, for protecting our constitution. host: president biden from the rose garden yesterday. taking your phone calls with about 10 minutes left this morning, asking you what the top news story of this past week was. veronica in texas. democrat. what do you think? caller: just that the medals that were awarded by president biden and the audacity that these people do not even see what we saw on tv. what news do they watch? they do not see what we saw. and i just want to say thank you to those brave policeman that died and their family members. it is crazy how people can still deny that. it was obvious that trump sent them over there. i do not know what she saw that day, but we all saw what

happened that day and it was terrible. how can you say you love america and allow that? host: morris out of virginia. republican. what was your top news story? caller: the story about the creator of the mrna virus had an interview with tucker carlson and he said -- he was not saying anything about people not taking the virus -- the vaccine, but he was saying the government is not being transparent about the risks. there is not enough data available for them to even to determine exactly what the risks , the statistics. another thing he said was that people have the right to decide whether or not to take the vaccine because it is still experimental. it has not been out long enough

to see where they can refine it if they have to. youtube canceled him or took him off. they said he was spreading misinformation. when they look up his background, harvard phd, years and years of research. host: where do you stand on taking the vaccine? caller: i think it is a privacy issue. some people have medical issues where they should not take it. i agree with the doctor. people have the right to decide while it is still experimental and not fully approved yet. we do not know the risks and the data is being withheld. host: meanwhile, across the country we are seeing the institution of new mandates by

various estate into divisions -- various state institutions when it comes to getting vaccinated before coming to work. maryland and virginia will require state workers to show proof of a covid-19 vaccination or undergo regular coronavirus testing. the states governors announced on thursday, marilyn governor larry hogan said that the policy will apply to employees in congress and facilities in virginia. state workers who are not vaccinated will be tested for covid-19 every single week under the new policy. it will affect about 122,000 employees in the commonwealth. this tweet from this morning about mandates in california. california mandates coronavirus vaccine for all healthcare workers affecting more than 2 million people in that state. also noting that governor murphy of new jersey is going to announce masks will be required in new jersey schools for k-12 students this fall.

that news coming out yesterday and that announcement coming out yesterday. this is norman in virginia. democrat. announcer: -- good morning. caller: good morning. the most important news item this week was the news that several republican-controlled legislatures in various states are enacting laws that will enable the legislature or the governor to overturn the results of an election. it is totally antidemocratic. i worry that, you read the article, you realize how dangerous this is. host: joseph, orlando, florida. republican. what is your top news story? caller: i have seen where our president has taken wuhan and brought it back into the border

again. our country very much under control from the vaccine and infections were at a minimum. all of a sudden, wuhan started where i call it biden and wuhan all over again. and now our country is going through all of this infection. just like the chinese kept it under cover, our president is doing it to us. why is he so much against the american public, american people? i am a disabled veteran and i fought for this constitution and to protect the constitution. yet, our generals are not protecting our constitution. host: we will stay in florida. this is gregory. an independent. good morning. caller: my biggest news story is about the mrna vaccine. host: why and what specifically?

caller: it is like they are about to require us to have the vaccine. this is the first time that this mrna is synthetic. it is man-made. they still did not know the risks abounded. you can still take the vaccine and still get the delta variant. host: gregory, would you take the johnson & johnson vaccine? caller: no sir. no. host: why not? caller: because there are still risks. you can still contract covid-19 from anybody. host: that is gregory in florida this morning. one other news story this week that we found out yesterday, the headline from the obituary in the "washington post" richard trumka died unexpectedly at 72.

he had been president of the afl-cio, a group of more than 50 labor unions, since 2009 with some 116 appearances on c-span over the years including just last week. he was on this program talking about his group and unions around this country. go back and watch that segment with richard trumka from last tuesday on the washington journal. time for a couple more calls. this is patricia in georgia. democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. i am calling about the governors. new york governor, the florida governor, and the texas governor. they need to replace them with women. make the women do something. put more women in office and you will see this country do a lot better. cuomo needs to step down and resign. that is all. and take the virus shots.

everybody in take the shot. it is better than dying. i had covid and i will get that there shot. host: that was patricia. this is sandra in california. independent. what was the top news story of the week? caller: we just got our mask mandates back and i have a message for all. we could get through this quicker if everybody just wore their mask, wash their hands. it is a global thing. host: that is sandra in napa, california. our last caller. before we go, one of the top news stories of the week here at c-span, wanted to mark the retirement earlier this week of one of our very long time colleagues, bruce collins, our corporate vice president and general counsel. he has retired after nearly 40 years at this network earlier this week.

from the story about his retirement, he started at c-span in tober of 1982 as a part-time employee. over the years, he has become a powerful as -- coming powerful advocate, including the battle against must carry rules. he also fought for greater transparency in courtrooms, particularly in the u.s. supreme court. brian line -- brian lamb out with the statement, "bruce collins guided our network through twists and turns and volunteered his time without a hitch. his guidance has been critical to our success. bruce collins will certainly be missed." bruce collins, hope you are out enjoying this beautiful day in washington and maybe catch this tribute to you sometime on the re-air. that will do it for us this friday morning. we will be back here tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern,

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>> on c-span, we will take you to the east room of the white house shortly where president biden will speak about the july jobs report. 934,000 jobs were added. that is due to start in about half an hour. we will take you there live when he begins. at noon it, we will be a lot -- libel house with comments from the air force chief of staff. we will have live coverage on c-span it, online at c-span.org, or you can listen with the live c-span out. the upper chamber is not in session today. lawmakers can travel to wyoming for the funeral of their colleague mike enzi, who died last week. senators worked on the infrastructure bill with many amendments getting debate and votes. senate is poised for a second

consecutive weekend session with the gavel coming down at 11:00 to continue work on the legislation. follow the senate live over on c-span two. -- c-span 2. >> january 6, views from the house continues. three more members of congress share stories of what they saw, heard, experienced that day, including ronny jackson, who recounts what happened on the house floor. >> i don't know how far we got into it. they were going back and forth, alternating back and forth. nancy pelosi was at the podium. she was overseen at all. at some point i didn't notice, they pulled her away and someone else came in to replace her. i did not pick up on that, that happens every now and then.

i didn't really catch my attention. what did catch my attention was shortly after that, these police officers started coming into the chamber. they were being very loud. we were still debating. there was a lot of commotion and the doors to the chamber were the day started shutting all the doors. you could hear them lock. i noticed several of them were standing in front of the doors and they had their weapons out. >> you will also hear from democrats from texas and new york. january 6, views from the house sunday at 10:00 eastern on c-span.