the strategic for international studies talks about the global health and the global covid-19 vaccination effort. ♪ host: the senate is on the verge of passing a massive infrastructure bill which is expected to give a major boost to the american economy. this comes of the unemployment rate drops and companies are raising wages all across the united states. u.s. gross to master product is expected to grow this year, the fastest pace since 1984. at the delta variant of the coronavirus threatens to put a stop to this economic upturn.

our question for you this morning, how is president joe biden doing? how would you rate president biden's job performance? republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, you can call (202) 748-8002. keep in mind, you can always text us and we are always reading our social media, on facebook at facebook.com/c-span, on twitter at c-spanwj, and you can follow us on instagram at c-spanwj. we want to know from you how you would rate president biden's job performance right now. this comes as the senate is on the verge of returning to pass a massive infrastructure bill. the senate will return today at noon, sunday at noon to continue

work on the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill with final votes expected to begin around 7:13 p.m. tonight. you can follow the senate on c-span 2. today, we are going to start would how president joe biden is doing as president in the middle of all of this. axios has a story where president biden is pushing this infrastructure bill. president biden on saturday gave a final push for the one point $2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package as the senate reconvened to advance the measure. the senate on saturday broke the filibuster, clearing the 60 vote threshold to advance a plan for final passage, after which it will head to the house. it is likely where the final senate vote will take place. it will create good paying, union jobs, repairing our roads and bridges, and building energy transmission lines. we can't afford not to do it.

we want to know from you what you think about president biden's performance and what you think of how biden is doing. let's start with bill, who is calling from georgia on the democratic line. bill, good morning. guest: caller: --caller: good morning. i think that the president has a very full plate and that he is doing a very good job. he has a lot of things going on, so my assessment is that he is doing a pretty good job. host: with the release of the july job numbers, president biden came out on friday to speak about his administration's efforts on the economy. here's a portion of what he had to say. biden: we learned that the economy created 943,000 new jobs in july.

943,000. the unemployment rate fell by half a percent, 5.4%. while our economy is far from complete, and while we have ups and downs along the way, we continue to battle the delta surge of covid, what is induced this: the biden plan is working. the biden plan produce results and the biden plan is moving the country forward. we are now the first administration in history to add jobs every single month in their first six months in office, the only one to add more than 4 million jobs during the first six months. economic growth is the fastest in 40 years. jobs are up, the unemployment rate is the lowest since the pandemic hit. lack unemployment is down as well. wife? -- why? because we put in place the

necessary tools early in my presidency. the covid-19 vaccine plant, the american rescue plan to fight the virus and fight the economic mess we inherited. we've been able to make progress on boast fronts. host: let's see how president biden is doing according to a recent poll. this came out earlier this week. with the delta variant spreading and coronavirus cases spiking in the u.s., joe biden maintains a positive grade on the handling of the coronavirus response as americans approve 53%. however, this is a double digit drop from a pole in may where americans approved 65%. president biden gets a mixed job approval rating with 46% of americans approving and 43%

disapproving. this compares to a positive 49%-40 1% job approval in may. let's go back to our phone lines and start with jerred on the republican line. caller: well, i would like to get president biden an "f." he thinks that inflation is nothing, he is willing to blow our deficit on the border. masks, no masks, saying the vaccine would protect you, it will protect you. immigration. there is a ton of illegals flooding across the southern border and economic growth might be growing but it is only growing because he and the democrats shut down the entire economy so when you go from zero to 100, i wouldn't consider that really growth. host: let's go to jeremiah who was calling from birmingham, alabama on the democratic line.

jeremiah, good morning. caller: good morning. i say biden is doing the best job that he can be doing it, especially with the opposition from the republicans on the infrastructure bill. it's an investment and also, day care and all of these other things. we are always going to have some form of inflation at a certain time, there's no getting away from that. that's just the way of the beast. it's as simple as that. but when it comes to republicans in my state on this covid virus, we are number one in the nation. our republican counterparts are not doing a good job at all. host: let's go to paul who is calling from kentucky on the independent line. paul, good morning.

caller: i give him a double "f." he should be impeached for treason. he is letting all these covid-19 patients coming across the border and that is biological warfare against the american people. they do it on purpose, that is the only way they got power and continue to hold power. as far as the economy goes, trump got all this stuff going. it got going after the pandemic. they are trying to destroy it again. everybody is laughing at us. complete "f," he should be impeached for treason along with commie harris. host: let's go to gina on the independent line. caller: well, i would have to give him a "d." i don't want to give him an "f." i think it's horrible what he is

doing, especially when it comes to the border. i think the border is horrible and i have a hard time with the fact that all of these people are coming into the country illegally and they are testing them by the thousands, learning that these people are being sent out with covid. either covid is something deadly and a threat to our country, or it is not. i am going to give him a "d." also, the gas has doubled. i don't understand how people can say inflation happens. not at this rate. gas, food, everything is going up like crazy. illegals coming into the country, bringing in covid. no, the man is getting a "d" from me. host: let's go to mary who is calling from nashville, georgia, on the democratic line. caller: i would an "f" is

bringing inflation -- host: mary, could you turn your tv down for us, please? [television echoing in background] host: go ahead, mary. caller: i would give biden an " f" because he's bringing inflation in. we can do nothing. he springing the covid across the borderline and i have eight members right now that have the covid and they are in bad shape. i would give biden and "f" and i want to see him impeached. host: let's go to nicholas who was calling from missouri on the republican line. nicholas, good morning. caller: president biden

infrastructure order shut down our pipelines. i would give him an "f." host: let's go to stephen who is calling from lexington, kentucky on the democratic line. caller: good morning, america. i wanted to give president joe biden at least a b. i think he's doing a great job. i'm seeing the economic turnaround here in kentucky. the comments on immigration, i think it's very disrespectful that people are using them as scapegoats, just someone to blame. i find that very disrespectful. this people did nothing to you guys, you guys have no idea what you're talking about. thank you. host: earlier this week,

republican florida governor ron desantis also took president biden to task over his administration's efforts on covid. here is a portion of what governor desantis had to say. >> we can either have a free society or we can have a biomedical security state. florida, we are a free state. people are going to be free to choose, to make their own decisions about themselves, about their families, about their kids and about putting food on the table and joe biden suggests that if you don't do lockdown policies, you should get out of the way. let me tell you this. if you're coming after the rights of parents in florida, i'm standing in your way. i'm not going to let you get away with. [applause] >> if you're trying to deny kids a proper, in-person education, i'm going to stand in your way

and stand up for the kids in florida. if you're trying to restrict people, impose mandates. if you are trying to ruin their jobs and their livelihoods and their small businesses. if you are trying to lock people down, i am standing in your way and i am standing for the people of florida. why don't you do your job, why don't you get is border secure, and until you do that, i don't want to hear a blip about covid from you. host: let's see what some of our social media followers are saying about president biden performance. here's a post from facebook that says he has no job performance, it lost his mind. everything that happens in his administration happens under the direction of obama and the deep state. here's a post from twitter that says he has failed at the border, he has failed getting people vaccinated, he has failed on controlling covid, he has failed at bringing people together. another tweet that says nine out

of 10 possible, 4.5 stars. biden plan is working. infrastructure spending approved, but no progress on immigration reform, no new immigration courts. another says biden gets a c- grady, he is really letting mitch mcconnell run the government. he needs to go to west virginia and tell joe manchin's constituents about how they benefit from $3.5 trillion bills. here is a text that says biden is doing as well as expected under the circumstances. now, tell everyone to go back to work. america needs to get to work to help her infrastructure. in one last text that says gas is up about three dollars per gallon. biden is a joke. we want to know how you would rate president biden's job

performance. let's start with lisa who is calling from new jersey on the republican line. lisa, good morning. caller: yes, good morning. i have a comment to make about president biden and kamala harris. they are not doing a good job. they have turned -- in less than six months, they have turned this country, america, into a marxist country. that is not good, it is not healthy, it is not good for the people of this country. they are not doing a good job. she is not doing a job at all because she doesn't know the first thing about politics or what it takes to be a vice president. that is a great comment that i'm making to the state of new jersey where i come from, and

all the people that voted for biden and harris. they made the biggest mistake ever in this country. and as long as biden is in office, and harris is in office, this country is going to go right down the tubes. host: let's go to juan who is calling from florida on the democratic line. good morning. caller: hello? host: go ahead. caller: i want to say that president joe biden is the best for the country and the republicans were bad for the country and i don't know why florida is bad for the immigrants from cuba in a banana

boat. i want to say thank you to vice president harris. i cannot speak bad because i am democrat 100% and i hear the republicans talk bad for the democrats. they are jealous because president biden, he do the best for the country. and he did the best for the poor people. i know 100% that all democrats -- i don't know why republicans a list talk bad about the democrats because we win 100%.

host: let's talk to dean who is calling from louisville, kentucky on the independent line. dean, good morning. caller: we have no security of our borders, letting all the people go across the borders. mexico has the virus real bad and they are coming across our border. biden and harris, we've got people coming across the border, they could be killing us. host: let's go to herb who is calling from virginia on the independent line. caller: good morning. i would give biden an "g" straight down his -- f straight down his report card. he tore down everything trump did to give us the strongest border in history.

he has reinstituted catch and release. he has stop the holding effort with the immigrants on the mexican side, and everybody is being released and nobody is going to court. this energy program stinks. he has stopped the keystone pipeline and he's got regulations on where we can drill. china control anywhere, we can't. gas is going up. without a 12% annual inflation rate at least. a lot of experts say is higher. so you lost 12% of your buying power last year. january 6 is a farce, one person died. that person was killed by capitol police. there's a cover-up going on on that. now, he's paying people not to

work. so all across the country, we can't get work done. we are not able to get products because they are not being manufactured. i don't see how we have this person still in office. host: let's look at a list of poles that show president biden's rating among the american people. the quadra most recent polls show that the american people approve of president biden's job approval rating as 50-40 3% disapprove. in the last month, the number is 48% approve, while 51% disapprove. 49% approve while 43% disapprove and the morning consult paul shows that 41% approve and 41%

disapprove. of course, we've already talked about the other pole earlier today. we want to know how would you rate president biden's job performance? let's talk to vance who is calling from hamburg, michigan on the independent line. good morning. caller: hello. the first point i want to bring up is you are so biased against republicans it's pathetic. you're not a journalist. you're just part of the democrat socialist communist propaganda machine and you are nothing but a pompous ass. what have you got to say about that, boy? host: let's go to john who was calling from philadelphia, pennsylvania on the republican line. john, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. biden is doing a pretty good job compared to what we dealt with

last time. especially the guy that just spoke before me sounds just like the people from before. he's doing a good job. he could improve the gas prices up, and the people don't realize that the keystone pipeline is not complete. it's an environmental disaster, at least from what i'm reading. i know it has taken a few jobs up north. another thing is the immigration. that has to slow down until the pandemic is fixed. it's too many people that are stubborn. i've been a republican in my house for a year trying to keep from going around people who don't care about people. if republicans are these radical

republicans that speak as if they have so much pride, why don't they wear a t-shirt that says i'm not vaccinated? that way, at least the vaccinated people can walk on the other cited the street and respect them. that's all without arguing or anything. and joe biden has said more than i've ever heard any republican president say let's work together. except for george bush. host: let's go to cornell who is calling from new jersey on the democratic line. caller: good morning. i'll give joe biden an "a" and the democratic administration an "a" because their functioning now.

under the trump administration, they didn't have hearings. even the one bill that the trump administration past, they didn't have no hearings, and then they passed it, a $2 trillion bill, with not even one hearing. joe biden is governing with what he has to work with. one of the biggest problems we have in america is that the republicans and the ones that are not getting vaccinated and will not wear masks and are obstructionists just like the ones on january 6, are way more of a threat than the people at the border could ever be. i would trust the people at the border -- look at where cases are spiking. in the republican states that are obstructionists to try to

destroy this country. they are a threat. host: let's go to curtis who is calling from wiggins, mississippi on the republican line. curtis, good morning. caller: i'm listening to all these people talk about getting biden a high grade because he gets so many people going back to work and everything. but they never appreciate ron desantis and added from texas -- governor abbott from texas -- governor abbott from taxes and the people for mississippi. they give the man a good reckoning and he tries to tear everything down. everywhere you go, you see people coming off of buses and coming across the southern border illegally. six people with covid because

they don't have nothing down in mexico, and by the way, all these vaccinations was provided by trump. he's the one that got all the regulations taken off and got the vaccine available to the american people. not joe biden. host: once again, the senate will return at noon today to continue working on passage of the 1.2 trillion dollars infrastructure bill. you can follow the senate bill on c-span two, starting again today at noon eastern time. senate majority -- senate minority leader mitch mcconnell came out and spoke about his support and confirmed about the infrastructure bill yesterday. here's a portion of what he said. >> i'm quite confident that out

of 100 united states senators, there are 100 of us who believe the bill is imperfect. this isn't exactly the bill i would have written on my own in my office, and 99 of my colleagues would say the very same thing. this is a compromised product crafted by colleagues with big principal differences. in the senate with the narrowest possible split. but in my view, whatever early statesmen called entire improvement is a core government responsibility. the american people need roads, bridges, ports and airports to build their businesses. though their families. and build their lives. republicans and democrats have radically different visions these days, but both those visions include physical infrastructure that works for all of our citizens.

as a kentucky farm bill wrote to me necessary -- recently, they are not just necessary, in many cases, they are overdue. our country has real needs in this area. there are many outstanding amendments that are important that would improve this legislation and they deserve roads before the senate disaster vote on final passage of this bill. the full senate deserves a full chance to shake this important legislation. i hope centers can work together in a bipartisan way to get more amendments up and continue improving this important bill. my colleagues on both sides deserve to be heard. host: once again, i will remind you that you can follow the senate working on the infrastructure bill starting at today on span two. let's see what some of our social media followers are saying about president biden's job performance.

here is one post from facebook that says he is a doofus, he is destroying the country. then again, he is not tweeting mean things that hurt certain people's feelings. here is a tweet from twitter that says i would give him an "a." he is an honorable, patriotic human being dealing with the conmen we previously had and the fake, conservative news media. here is a tweet that says i would like to see him put a vaccine mandate on all teachers. if they don't get vaccinated, they don't get paid, they don't have a job. here is a facebook post that says the funds. he seems to have his priorities mixed. as he said in the august press conference, nobody has to take the covid vaccine. biden thinks we are nobody. in one last post from facebook,

allowing the horrible conditions at the border. shame on him. more than one million immigrants across the first six months. who knows how many have entered without getting caught. once again, we want to know what you think about president biden's job performance. let's go to michael who is calling from new york on the democratic line. michael, good morning. caller: yes, good morning. i'd like to make this a two point rating. as far as joe biden's job performance, i would give him an a plus. as far as trump's performance, i would give him an a plus only for dividing the country. joe biden is trying to bring it all back together. this is why we have a divided nation. we have somebody on one side that wants everybody to get along, and then we have somebody on the other side that divides

through his con artist practices as a president. host: let's go to steve who is calling from robbinsville, missouri on the independent line. caller: good morning. being an independent, there was nobody really for me to vote for, but i would give joe biden a "c" on the vaccine, but our very democracy is what is at stake on the last election. if trump would have been reelected, we would be living under putin and everybody knows it. all the republicans, i don't know what they are even thinking. they haven't done nothing for us on the border or any of that, so, you know, trump is just a big liar and i hope he gets convicted for trying to bring down our democracy. host: let's go to carol who is

calling from royal oak's michigan on the republican line. carol, good morning. caller: i would give hima n "e-," i would like to see him being impeached immediately for endangering american lives by what he has done at the border and the democrats can make excuses about that border forever, but we all know what he has done. he has flooded the country with covid-infected illegals and he has bused them all over the united states, endangering american lives. host: delaware democratic senator tom crawford came out to the senate floor to speak about the social and environmental elements of the infrastructure bill, which the senate is still working on and will start again on at 12:00 noon today. here's what tom carver set on the floor. >> we have been working on this

policy for a long, long time in this country and we have enjoyed major success. and if we are honest with ourselves, we have made a few mistakes along the way. dividing communities of poorly considered projects and dividing a transportation sector that produces twice as much free has gas emissions as any other countries transportation sector. we have an opportunity to learn from both success and failure, and we must account for new challenges that were not on our radar in the past. not the least of which are the serious threats of climate change and the obvious effective environmental injustice. today, we are rising to the challenge. the bill before us, the infrastructure investment and jobs act includes, among other provisions, the largest ever investment in public transit in history, largest investment in

clean drinking water and wastewater infrastructure in history, largest investment in clean energy transmission in history. largest investment in climate resiliency in history, and the largest investment in transportation -- in history. host: while the senate expects more votes on the infrastructure bill today, one gop senator says that he is going to slow down the passage of the bill, and that comes from the hill newspaper this morning. a standoff over the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill is poised to drag out the senate debate for days. bill hagerty vows he will block attempts to speed up passage of legislation. the senate voted earlier saturday to give the bill over a key procedural hurdle. the senators are recently pessimistic about a chance of a quick agreement and wrapped up

for the night without a breakthrough. without a deal, the next vote will be on sunday evening and it would not pass the senate until early tuesday morning. i am not inclined to expedite this process whatsoever he told reporters after speaking on the senate floor saturday in opposition to the bill. once again, bill hagerty of tennessee says he wants to slow down the passage of the infrastructure bill. you can watch the senate begin to work again on this bill on c-span two, starting at noon today. we want to know what you think about president biden's job performance. let's start with curtis who is calling from north carolina on the democratic line. curtis, good morning. caller: yes, sir, good morning. my point this morning is i'm calling on the democratic line to make a point. i used to be a democrat and now i'm not. the democrats used --

host: i'm going to cut you off. remember, you are told to call in the lines of the party that you are in. so let's go to larry he was calling from savannah, georgia on the republican line. caller: good morning. i would give president biden a "d" on his performance. the jobs that he are trying to take credit for our people going back to work, not jobs he created. he eliminated jobs was to shut down the pipeline, when he shut down the building of the wall and lost quite a few jobs. the jobs that he's referring to are the jobs that people are returning to, not the jobs that he created. the democrats would rather face high gas prices and inflation rather than tell the truth. host: larry, you gave him a d -- when some others gave him an f. does that mean you think he has

done something right? caller: i can't see it, i'm just trying to be positive about it. really, the border crisis is insane. we should try to get some kind of control at the border. i can't understand why they are taking hands off at the border. maybe somebody can explain it, but it just doesn't make any sense to me. he could do better and the democrats have really let high gas prices rather than tell the truth. it's awful. host: let's go to chris it was calling from virginia on the democratic line. caller: good morning. i just first want to apologize for the callers who called you a word that is a racist word and that is very representative of the republican party.

that is very representative of the trump supporter. the only reason they support trump's because they want white power and because they are racist. if you want a president, you get out of the way for the safety of people. he is trying to save these people from the pandemic, and you are standing in the way from your election for your own interest. we are not free to build as we wish. we are not free to drive as we wish. we have rules to follow in this country. we don't want people infecting other people because they don't want to get a vaccine because of right wing extremist media. host: let's go to margaret who was calling from pennsylvania on the independent line. margaret, good morning. caller: good morning, sir.

i do want to apologize for that gentle man that called earlier called you a name. i think he is the pompous ass. excuse my expression. i would give joe biden an "a" for the effort that he is trying to do. and i pray for this country every day, and i think that's what we all need to do, is spend a little bit more time praying for this country and hoping that joe biden will be successful because when he is successful, we all are successful. thank you, sir, and let's have a good day. host: phoenix, arizona, republican line. caller: are you there? host: go ahead. caller: i wanted to make people aware. the person that called and said

that voters for trump are racist, i'm chicana. many of us are mad at what is happening at the border. right now, there's another caravan forming. there is a new disease that started in peru but it is heading down south america. and there is a name for that disease, it is called lamda. i read it in the spanish news. it started in peru, they said, and it is kind of like a variant of a variant. in one day, they had 870 children come.

they don't show the pictures of them all crammed up. the pictures they did show, they were clean hallways and they are super packed. host: let's go to david who is calling from new york on the republican line. david, good morning. caller: good morning, sir. i give the whole government an "f." they haven't done anything for anybody. i give the media an "f" because they don't challenge these people at all. this is not a perfect bail, but we are going to vote for it anyway because we have no idea what to do. and as far as the border, biden should be impeached immediately. the government's first job is to

protect this country from outside invasion. you can't not call this an invasion, what is happening down there. and also, we will talk about the green deal with all these electric cars and windmills. has the news media ask these people, what are they going to do with all the toxic chemicals that make them batteries? what do they do with the propellers for the windmills, because they don't decompose. all they are doing is -- and they don't -- host: let's go to john who is calling from santa paula, california on the republican line. john, good morning. caller: good morning, everyone. i'd like to agree with the caller that said we elected a mistake. this guy is a mistake. and i wish we could have the vote over now that we know what we got. at least trump was open and

transparent. he would get in his press conferences every day and explain what going on. and biden has not established a dialogue with the american people. he comes out of his basement and make these speeches where he can't even talk, and he goes back into his basement, we don't know what he's doing. you have no clue what joe biden is doing. it's just a big mistake, and i wish we could take the election back and have it over and just put somebody in there that is alert. host: once again, tennessee republican senator bill hagerty says he is going to not help the senate expedite the infrastructure bill which once again, the senate will begin debating again at noon today. well, senator hagerty came to the floor and talked about his concerns about how much this

bill is going to cost. here is what he had to say. >> i served as the economic development mission are in tennessee. i understand firsthand the importance of quality infrastructure. it was essential to attracting jobs to my stay. so i'm in complete agreement that shoring up our infrastructure is a worthy cause. this bill does some of that, and that's good. but there are both good ways and bad ways to achieve noble ends. and the question is, what is the best way to achieve this goal? my frustration is with the methods and with the vehicle that is being used here. the first problem is that the bill sponsors repeatedly said it would be paid for. in fact, it's not. and it's more than a little bit off. it's over $1 trillion short. that's almost seven times the budget of my home state of tennessee. we waited weeks for the

legislation. before the text even existed, the democrat leaders forced the senate to vote on proceeding to it. there's absolutely no reason for rushing this process. attempting to limit scrutiny of this bill. the democrats complete the artificial, self-imposed and politically driven timeline. host: laurel, maryland, on the democratic line. good morning. caller: yes, good morning, sir. you are doing a fantastic job. joe biden getzen a -- gets an a plus because we have a president who does not get up and lie to us every day. on the border, 95% of those people are being sent back. and you know something, it warms my heart to hear all the racist,

mad, republicans because that is what they are. host: let's talk to joe who is coming from alabama on the republican line. caller: i don't know what the guy who call before me gets office facts add. 95% being sent back, i doubt that. i would give joe an a plus because he works with china to destroy america. he's doing a very good job. he did get a $10 trillion loan from them. you ever wonder why all the democrats vote for the same thing? because they get one and $80,000 per year. how much do you think it would take for china to bribe those people? $500,000? $300,000? they are selling america out.

someone is going to find that out one of these days. host: let's talk to everett, who is calling from new jersey on the independent line. everett, good morning. caller: i just want to say that there a lot of people calling in, for some reason america has lost their mind, there is no common sense. everybody is just listening to the news and whenever the news says, it believes. we need to get common sense back into america. thank you. host: once again, the senate is working on passing the one point $2 trillion infrastructure bill. they will begin debating again today at noon. senate minority leader mitch mcconnell came out to the senate floor yesterday and expressed concern about the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill which democrats want to push through after the infrastructure bill. here's what mitch mcconnell had to say. >> the size and the scope of

chairman sanders shopping list will make every disagreement we've had in landing the infrastructure compromise look like a rounding error. new, permanent welfare with no work requirements. three new deal mandates. massive tax hikes. the government meddling and childcare that would privileged certain family choices over others. amnesty for illegal immigrants in the middle of a border crisis. at a time, democrats spending already as inflation is hammering american families. republicans could not be more eager to debate our colleagues on all of these subjects. we can't wait to get democrats on record over many more trillions, trillions of dollars to fund socialist spending.

on radical policies that families are not asking for. our philosophy is the polar opposite. republican policies would create new jobs, strong wage growth, and just like our country had just a year and a half ago. the most pro-worker economy in a generation just a year and a half ago. host: let's see what some other social media followers are saying about president biden's job performance. here is one post from facebook that says a complete failure, ruining america every day. not one good thing for the people. force us to shut down the power grid for full-screen energy. biden is the most forgetful president in history, has the lowest opinion of america and the highest praise for china.

do everything the government yells at us to do. we need trump back in the white house, not this dodo. another post from facebook that says biden is not performing. looks like an obama third term to a patriotic american. another facebook post says expecting a lot more to be done by now. also not happy with what is happening in afghanistan as a result of us pulling out. another facebook post that says deplorable, especially the border, abortion, encouraging covert mandates, airlines, etc. and this big buildup of national debt and deficit. it is crazy what is happening on the border with covid positive people, etc. influx of thousands daily. what are democrats thinking? they aren't thinking. one last facebook post that is a solid b. he has done a lot of good, having an actual code response as opposed to pretending it is not happening.

getting the economy back positive. but he has done nothing on voting rights and he is silent on police reform. once again, we want to know how you would rate president biden's job performance. let's start with brenda who is calling from shreveport, louisiana on the democratic line. brenda, good morning. caller: president biden is a human being first. i give him an a plus plus considering the circumstances he inherited and the naysayers just need to stand by and wait. host: let's go to sharon who was calling from legrand, iowa on the republican line. caller: i want to apologize for some terrible comments that were made toward you. republican, democrat, independents should not speak

that way. i've been a democrat for 45 years, i'm a registered republican now. i like donald trump's policies, but not his personality. i think biden deserves a "d." the border crisis is ruining the country. people don't want to recognize that he is in charge now. country is burning out. there's fires in california, montana. i don't understand. i mean, the money was given to the americans for the covid-19 crisis, people didn't have to go to work. they got their extra benefits from unemployment. that was wonderful, but i would give him a "d." thank you. host: let's go to patty who is calling from connecticut on the democratic line. patty, good morning. caller: good morning. i don't understand the republican party. it has become a cult. they don't care what the president does, how he disrespects everyone online

every day. he's only doing things that benefit himself. he doesn't care about them, the people in the country. he's not a patriot. he has done a lot of damage to the country, around the world, we are not respected. we are laughed at. he got out of the climate agreement and he did everything that he could to undo all the good things that were supposed to be benefiting our country. he put in people that were not competent and he fired people so that the committees couldn't function without a leader. i'm happy to be rid of him and i think it will be a long time before we recuperate from the damage that he has done to our country.

host: let's talk to sherry who is calling from indiana on the republican line. good morning. caller: i had to give president biden an "f." what he has done at the border is just unspeakable. gas prices increasing, jobs as people are going back to work after covid, i just don't see that he is doing anything. he said he was going to bring the country together. i don't think the country is really that far apart, i think it's the media that has us separated. when i listen to these colors on the left, they certainly don't give a dog a bone on the left like the other news stations do, they grab that and run with it and all this stuff that was proven wrong. now they say trump is such a liar, i would like to hear an example of a lie.

just because somebody says something you don't agree with doesn't make it a lie. sure, i didn't like the way that he tweeted and some of the angry way that he came across, but sticks and stones, words will never harm me. overall, i wish biden would do more to come out and i think if you would try to get the media to be more fair and open up to where the people can see that he is trying to at least do something to try to get people to see another point of view besides their own, that everybody can be so stuck in. host: let's go to mike who is calling from new york on the democratic line. mike, good morning. caller: it's amazing, you hear these republicans and they just repeat the same crack about china. just stay out of fox news. there's nothing going on of china.

if you want to compete with china, you invest in america, which is what we are doing. he shouldn't even try, he should have just made it $5 trillion deal and only have our side vote. from didn't do anything, he passed a $2 trillion tax deal that went to 2500 businesses and people, mostly. they are so uninformed and so stupid. i hate to say it. host: let's go to carl who is calling from titusville, florida on the independent line. carl, good morning. caller: how are you today? i would just like to say that mr. biden, and mr. putin's behest, stopped the sale of arms to the ukrainians.

now, they were defensive arms, not offensive. secondly, he stopped the sanctions and allowed the russians to complete work on the nordstrom pipeline, and to add trillions of dollars into the russian coffers, and thirdly, he gave mr. putin a list of the 16 most vulnerable areas in our society in which at the end of his meeting, mr. putin immediately shipped those lists to mr. xi in china, the ayatollah in iran and mr., the little general in north korea. host: let's go to center? who is calling from miami, florida on the republican line.

caller: good morning, sir. i just wanted to let you know, cubans here are all republicans all the time in miami, always waiting for someone to come up here and say give up the vote. biden is doing an excellent job. all that trump did was betray us, betrayed a whole family, betray everything he did. every lie, everything that he was doing was not to the standard of the people. now look over here in florida what is going on with covid. he's destroying everything. host: let's go to barbara who is calling from cal meadows, florida on the democratic line. barbara, good morning. caller: yes, sir. i just wondered if they ever figured out all the money that was spent in four years. i think it would pick out

everything that everybody thought that these new bills are accomplishing. that trump didn't accomplish anything a quadra years but a great big live. so, how can they figure that out? i would appreciate an answer. host: coming up next, james waller will be here to discuss the senate debate on the infrastructure and spending bills. and later, the director of the center for strategic and international funding global health policy center will be here to discuss the global covid-19 effort and the importance of vaccine -- by the united states. stay with us, we will be right back. ♪ >> tonight on q&a, helen

andrews, talking about her book the men and women promise freedom and delivered disaster. >> the one liner about boomers as they are the generation that sold out but would never admit that they sold out. it is the combination of a great deal of idealism and noble idealists but on the other hand selfishness and narcissism and of blindness to the ways that their agenda knocks down a lot of functioning institutions and left people worse off. >> helen andrews and her book "boomers.""

>> weekends on c-span two are in intellectual feast. you will find events and people who explore our past. on sunday, book tv brings you the latest on books and authors. discover, explore, we guns on c-span two. -- weekends on c-span two. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we are back with the r street institute senior governance fellow james wallner , hereto discuss the senate debate on the infrastructure and spending. good morning. guest: good morning. host: tell us what the r street institute is. guest: it is an organization in washington, d.c. that promotes

free markets and limited effect of government. we look at policy issues that don't grab the headlines all the time. we work on issues we think we can actually get something done on. it is funding from a variety of forces and large foundations and corporations and individuals. host: does the r street institute have some kind of ideological view? doesn't have a point of view? guest: this is one of the things i truly love about the r street institute. i have worked for a number of policy research agencies. r street is the best place for critical thinking. they will go down any avenue they can if they think that policy is going to be a good policy. that is one of the things i

truly love about the organization. host: you were on the hill for a long time, former senate staffer. put in perspective this infrastructure built that going through congress right now. has there been other bills of its size and scope? guest: the first thing is it is truly an backbone that the senate is working weekends. this is a senate that hasn't worked on the weekend for a very long time and now we have had to back to back. they are probably grumbling. they're waiting to vote on the underlying bill and the big amendment. when the senate did legislation in the past, road bills and infrastructure bills, this was generally part for the course. not in the process but the size and cost of the bill.

this is what infrastructure bills typically have looked like in the past. host: let's look at some of the proposals that are inside this bill, and i will come back with you and talk about whether these proposals -- what's the thinking. right now, there is $100 billion for roads and bridges. there is 66 billion for freight and passenger rail, $65 billion for broadband internet, $46 billion for severe weather operations, 39 billion dollars for transit, and $25 billion for airports. one of the complaints we heard earlier is according to some that infrastructure is roads and bridges. this has more than just roads and bridges. is this what is causing some of the complaints? guest: republican about rural

broadband. i'm not sure how big of a policy argument that is. if you think back to 2009, $787 billion bill, republicans and conservatives were denouncing it saying it added too much to the deficit. many don't remember, there was an up -- there was an alternative bridge. republicans have had a long history of supporting spending on infrastructure. but there is going to be a disagreement and some of that is centered on transit, although the northeastern ones will be more for it but there is not a deep ideological divide on infrastructure policy. some conservatives oppose the bill for different reasons, but ultimately the two parties are not divided along this issue. host: speaking of, as we go

through the senate coming back at noon today, there are republicans and democrats in support of this bill white is there a bipartisan push of this issue where we haven't seen bipartisan support for any other bill -- support of this bill. why is there a bipartisan push of this issue are we haven't seen bipartisan support of any other bill? guest: you have a gang of bipartisan lawmakers working behind the scenes very diligently, but no one knows what was going on in those negotiations. and then you add majority leader schumer wanting and demanding the senate pick up this issue and complete it before going home for the august recess. and then you have a president committed to working on the issue. you can see why the senate is one to tackle something like this. as recently as 2015, the senate

passed a large highway bill which was a bipartisan infrastructure bill. at the time then majority leader mitch mcconnell was gushing about how happy he was to work with the california democrat, barbara boxer, on this bipartisan legislation. we have seen pushes like this in the past. host: i want to remind our callers that they can take part in this conversation about the structure bill -- the infrastructure bill and the upcoming reconciliation. republicans, who had to hear from you at (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, you can call (202) 748-8002. remember you can always text us at (202) 748-8003. and we are always on twitter

@cspanwj. james, former president trump has come out strongly against the infrastructure bill and i want to read a little bit from the new york times and i want you to respond. donald j trump trial -- tried to kill the investor, hurling insults and threats of primary challenges that freer sent a chill down republicans' spines. the reaction inside the senate where many once cowered from mr. trump's angry tweets and calculated their votes to avoid his wrath was mostly don's. now it seems to be -- was mostly eons. now the legislation appears on a glide path to pass the senate, possibly even including senator mcconnell.

it is one of the most significant steps to date by elected republicans to defy mr. trump. president trump said this bill shouldn't pass. it doesn't feel like all the republicans in the senate are listening to him. guest: when you are the leader of the majority in the senate and you have a president of europe's same party in the white house, democrat or -- presidents of the same party in the white house, -- the second thing is it is no surprise to me that mcconnell feels more freed up to how he ultimately wants to vote. the republican party is deeply divided between more conservative members for various

reasons and more establishment leaders and the divide is centered around things like infrastructure. what we see with donald trump opposing this bill it echoes internal divisions. we saw bill hagerty objecting to the bill for the price tag. others rejecting it for other reasons. if donald trump was in office, i'm not sure he would take the same position. i don't think donald trump is a deficit hawk. he has promoted big infrastructure bill like building the wall for border security. and the other thing was that we want infrastructure plans to make america great again and get people working again. maybe this is the former president taking advantage of the opportunity he has now that he is not in office to attack the party and align himself with

grassroots outfits. host: talked about how much the bill is going to cost. tell us how this will be paid for. guest: well, if recent history is any guide and this is democrat and republican control of congress, it is not going to be paid for. one of the major things is $20 billion when you change how irs reporting for cryptocurrency. they are working on an amendment to narrow the scope of that. there are a lot of negotiations and dispute and that is one major pay for. the cbo just recently released that this bill isn't fully paid for and will add hundreds of billions of dollars to the deficit, even if we take all of

the others at face value. host: let's let some of our viewers take part. let's start with mike who is calling from madison heights, michigan on the independent line. caller: he said he was a staffer for the u.s. senate, who was he staffing for? host: go ahead and answer, james. guest: i worked in the senate for a number of different senators. i work for jeff sessions, pat toomey, and mike lee. when people say the republican party is monolithic that only believes one thing, they are three conservatives and they believe very different things on most of the issues that are confronting america today. i think there is a lot more nuanced in our politics than we give credit for. i think if we scratch the surface and look at the details

we will see it is not just one big red america versus one big blue america. host: let's go to charlie calling from vermont on the democratic line. caller: hello. good morning to you. i think this infrastructure bill should be passed. it is long overdue. on the republican side, we can go way back to eisenhower as far as infrastructure, building loans. i think both parties in general are forgetting whole purpose of this, for jobs and to build a better america. thank you. host: go ahead and respond, james. guest: that makes a lot of sense to me.

in recent history we have seen large bipartisan groups of lawmakers support infrastructure on both sides of the aisle. in the grand scheme of things come $500 billion versus $787 billion, the 2009 publican alternative bill, is not that much money. this isn't a zero-sum -- 2009 republican alternative bill is not that much money. this is a zero-sum game. there is a belief that there is an appropriate role for the government to get involved and spend money on different forms of infrastructure. if you let senators be senators than ultimately they are going to pass legislation and it could pass more quickly than it has thus far if you just let go of the process and let senators be senators. host: we have talked about what is in the infrastructure bill.

who would you say are going to come out as winners from the infrastructure bill if it passes and who will come out as losers in the infrastructure bill if it passes? guest: the most obvious winners are owing to be the bipartisan groups of lawmakers who got together -- are going to be the eye partisan groups of lawmakers who got together. they get a lot of credit -- are going to be the bipartisan groups of lawmakers who got together. they got a lot of credit. majority leader schumer said they aren't going home until they pass the infrastructure will and then another spending package that will come later. senators don't like being in town in washington, d.c. in august. they don't like working on the weekends and on sundays.

chuck schumer can threaten that, but he has no power to compel senators to stay and do their jobs. he is rolling the dice and gambling and it looks like it is working out. as far as the losers go, what is concerning about the process is we don't know what happened. we have a 2700 page bill and it comes out and the senate immediately shuts the process down. the american people work in the room when this was written. it may be good legislation and they may support it, but you can't hold people accountable for the decisions they make on their behalf you can't adequately praise and reward people for doing things when you don't see them doing those things. and on the floor, the loser is the senate itself. the way the process has been

organized, it treats the senate floor as a factory and they rely on their position and assembling a bill or product according to a blueprint designed elsewhere. they have no say in it. there is an amendment process but it is not real meaningful. they are rubberstamping something that has been negotiated on their behalf. the american people lose out on that and the senate loses out as well. host: is there something new and unusual with this bill or is this par for the course as far as the senate goes on these types of projects? guest: in the past the senate has had gangs. when i was in school and thought gangs were a bad thing but in the senate apparently it is a good gang. you have had lots of times and decisions are made -- be made

behind closed doors. what makes the process unique to the senate today is that all decisions are made behind closed doors. and when you bring the bill to the floor, the process is engineered completely to lock everything up. you can't offer an amendment unless you agree before hand. there is no real process anymore where senators can negotiate on behalf of the american people they represent and decide whether or not they want to distort -- to support or change or tweak the partisan legislation that has been put together behind closed doors. that is the real difference in the senate today than how it is to operate. host: it sounds like you are saying the senate is broken. am i understanding you correctly? guest: i am but i believe, i love the senate. i wept like a baby my last day of the senate. it is a fabulous institution, even on its worst days.

i believe republicans and democrats are doing what they think is best. the senate is rogan, deeply flawed. it is one of the most unproductive periods -- the senate is broken, deeply flawed. it is when most unproductive periods. the senate is a place where you battle, argue, go she ate, and then compromise -- argue, negotiate, and then compromise. compromise by definition is an argument that gets resolved. you have to have the argument. when you have that argument the american people can see their claims adjudicated. we don't have that anymore in the senate. that is why the senate i think is broken. host: let's go to randy, calling from kentucky on the republican

line. good morning. caller: i hear that this is going to be like 10 times and save us money and we will get returns 10 times over. i have never seen that true in my life, but where are we going to get the money to pay for this? is this money that we have to continue to pay back with our children and grandchildren and even me that we steal from to do these projects? how are businesses ever going to compete with driving up the costs and creating inflation on products that small business or even medium-sized businesses have to pay for the products when they go to build their infrastructure or their buildings or their steel, brick and mortar, whatever you have to

buy to make a road or whatever it may be? do you ever think about the inflation that you create on the poor, elderly, those on fixed incomes? this is going to be nuts. this inflation will be nuts on our society. host: go ahead and respond. guest: mandy, you are correct. the federal government -- randy, you are correct. it seems like the federal government spends more and more money. it could be a bad thing or a good thing. the argument would be this may help grow the economy and ultimately lead to economic growth and more income in individuals' pockets. ultimately, there is concern about inflation right now that we are seeing. we haven't had inflation for a very long time. we have been borrowing for a very long time and our deficit and debt is going to record

highs with no end in sight. maybe inflation will help rain that in. gash will help reign that in. -- will help reign that in. they will have to pay both in america and overseas, because you do have to pay back your debts when you borrow money or there is no free lunch. host: speaking of debt, congress is running out of time to raise the debt ceiling. here is a few paragraphs on foxbusiness. lawmakers extend former donald trump's suspension of the borrowing limit was automatically reinstated at the beginning of august. the debt ceiling, which is $22

trillion in august 2019, is the limit on the total amount of debt the federal government can borrow on behalf of the public, according to the committee for a responsible federal budget. once the suspension is lifted, the new limit was reinstated around $28.5 trillion, a figure that includes the debt held by the public and the government. what does the debt conversation in the senate look like right now? guest: right now they are trying to figure out how they are going to raise the debt limit. the house has been pushing this care they have a special rule when you pass a budget resolution, the debt is deemed to automatically pass. the senate doesn't have that role and they will have to -- rule and they will have to figure out how they can raise the debt limit. if they put it into the reconciliation bill, this is a

real concern, because as you mentioned, senators and representatives like suspending because they don't have to put a dollar amount. they say, we are not and have any limit for his next -- and then will have a limit again and that limit will be however much money we borrowed in that time plus our existing debt. they think that is an easier vote. because of the senate rules, you cannot took that into a reconciliation bill. if they used reconciliation which can't be filibustered, they will have to put a hard dollar amount increase. the other thing to consider, mitch mcconnell has been very emphatic saying republicans are not going to provide any votes for this legislation to raise the debt. this is interesting because a number of years ago, was that minority leader and i was

working in the senate and he was saying the exact same thing. at the time mike lee and ted cruz were insisting the senate had to vote on the debt limit with the 60 vote threshold. they were objecting letting it go with a simple majority. behind the scenes, mcconnell was furious because by insisting on the 60 vote threshold you require republicans to cross the aisle and vote with democrats to raise the debt ceiling. it seems like mcconnell is publicly saying he will not help pass the debt limit increase there no republican will vote for it and privately he is telling his colleagues under no circumstances should anybody insist on a 60 vote threshold because then we will have to vote to help raise the debt limit. this is a situation where mcconnell is having his cake and eating it too or at least trying to. host: there is what mcconnell

said. i can't see a single republican this freefall for taxes and spending to vote to raise the debt limit. i think the answers is they need to put it in the reconciliation bill. so what is the move for the democrats on the debt limit? guest: this is really interesting because mcconnell is saying we aren't going to vote for it but then advocating democrats passed it by putting it in a reconciliation bill that can't be filibustered. you say -- see him saying he's not going to vote for it but he is not trying to stop it or defeat democrats on the issue. if you put it in the reconciliation bill, it also allows republicans to attack democrats in the campaigns and run ads because they had to put a dollar amount on it.

then that gives republicans the hard dollar amount and republicans can ride ads against democrats that they run against in the upcoming elections. and then mcconnell can attack democrats for a vote that he is advocating that they take. so i think again you see the cynicism in american politics and it is turning off the american people but there is a sense that this is a game and no one is actually trying to achieve their goals inside the senate. host: democrats are getting their positions ready on the debt limit. or is a statement from majority leader schumer on the debt. this debt is trump debt, covid debt. democrats voted three times during the trump administration and the bottom line is leader mcconnell shouldn't be playing

political games with the full faith of the american people. americans pay their debt. is this what he will say in response? guest: for the most part, going back to infrastructure, there is a lot more bipartisan agreement under the surface. there are only a few number of republican senators who believe the debt limit should be raised. other than that, as far as i can tell, pretty much everyone in washington, d.c. should be raised, yet we have this theater, manufactured debate in this process that is not a real process but designed to look like there is deep division when in reality it someone rejects the democrats don't put it in the reconciliation bill, i would expect mcconnell or 10 other of can senators to cross -- 10

other republican senators to cross the aisle in vote with him and that is what happened the last time when mcconnell said he wouldn't vote for and no republican could and then they had the vote and hold leadership team crossed and voted to get democrats to vote to increase the debt limit. that is curious to me because wyatt make the public statements when in the end you are committed to standby -- me because why make the public statements when in the end you are not committed to standby it. host: let's go to chris calling from indiana on the democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. i think the senate is closer and things have calmed down from the previous administration. it is taking a while but i think the senate is closer now on

everything than it has been and people can get used to that again. we need the infrastructure will and they are working weekends because they believe in it. raising the debt ceiling, everything costs more. everything has been going up. we have to raise the debt ceiling. it is just a matter of how much. guest: i think the senate is a lot closer than it has been in a while, but i also think the senate is generally going to be closer. one of the things about the legislative process is that it drives senators toward an agreement. it reveals information over the course of debate, the public gets to weigh in, and nine tons -- nine times out of 10 you will get an agreement. but when you get an agreement behind closed doors, you limit

it severely and guarantee amendments will fail and make that the price of doing business of offering them and then the senators agree it is going to lose. then you demand a vote two days later. that doesn't drive senators toward agreement and makes mountains out of molehills and makes it harder to pass a bill. that is the real tragedy is that the senate can do more than it is actually doing. the way for the senate do that is let the senate be the senate and let senators be senators and offer debates for the bill you don't know where that is going to go and you don't know what kind of legislation will come out of the process, but that is the entire point of the senate. it is a place where we go to engage in self-government. that is what we have lost and what we ultimately have to remember. host: let's talk to tom, who is calling from erie, pennsylvania

on the independent line. warm. -- good morning. caller: i want to get his opinion where bad faith advocacy has destroyed our judge slade of process -- our legislative process. the republicans are famous for playing the long game that they did with merrick garland's appointment to the supreme court . the list goes on and on from there. they are worried now about how they can gain the public opinion so that they can maintain power because donald trump has promised to make life miserable for them if they don't hear they don't seem to be

worried about legislating for their constituency. and that is what i mean by bad faith advocacy. they seem to be primarily obsessed with remaining in power. guest: the -- if republicans are playing long game, i don't of what they think the price will be. when the republicans are in control they don't do much. it is not clear what they ultimately want or where they want to ultimately take the country and that seems to change on a regular basis. you are right about one thing and mitch mcconnell used to say this all the time. winners win and losers lose. what he means is winners win policy and losers lose policy and he is talking about elections. this is a dominant view in the senate. if you went elections you get to make policy.

the problem is once you win an election, there's another election coming in the senate tries not to do anything in between elections because i think if they do that they may not be awarded by the voters. they don't want the uncertainty. everything is geared toward the next election. the winners of these elections haven't been making policy and the senate looks a lot like it did when republicans are in control and when the democrats are in control. both parties are focused solely on elections. elections are important but what happens in between is also important and we have forgotten that in the senate. host: let's talk to jerry who is calling from burlington, vermont, on the independent line. good morning. caller: thank you for this program. i would like to talk about the comment the guest made that

there is no free lunch. it seems that in america the only folks who get a free lunch are the 1%, very wealthy, profitable corporations. the idea of giving $2 trillion of free money to a sector of our society who doesn't need it is really out of whack. so we look at venezuela as an example of socialism taking over, but what fox news won't tell you is that in venezuela there was a time leading up to the socialist resolution -- revolution that the 1%, the rich in that country, were not paying their taxes and exploiting the resources of the country and it basically raw socialism. -- basically brought about

socialism. how is it possible for a free democratic society to begin to stop this kind of tax policy where we're giving the 1% free money and eventually that undermines our economic structures and wages and everything. does your guest have an answer for that? guest: i think the most immediate answer is we don't have a process that plays out when the senate considers these types of adulation and policy changes that allow for the american people to take note of what is happening and invite them into the process. we don't have that kind of process that plays out and invites people in and says, look, we want to go in this direction, not that direction as a country.

that is a very important thing. republicans talk a lot about socialism, they complained about it and point to democrats and say they are going to ruin america. think about health care, last time i checked, some republicans agreed with government being involved in health, they support raising the debt limit, they support generally all of the same areas of government involvement in the economy that the democrats support. they may not agree on the particulars all the time, so i am not sure what they mean by socialism when they attacked democrats for being socialists, because it is a matter of degree right now in washington, d.c. when it comes to what the government does in major policy areas. host: james, democrats are working on a $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation proposal

that includes family, climate and housing related program and further expand medicare. democrats say they want to finish this budget resolution this week and then leave town until september. how likely is that? guest: if they have the boat likely. if the infrastructure bill passes, and i think it will with the vote today, that will then take us into maybe monday, tuesday, early tuesday morning, and then you will have a positive -- budget resolution. you have special rules that expedite consideration of budget resolutions or they can't be filibustered and only need a simple majority. it is $50. you can just do the math and see if he used that 50 hours -- it is 50 hours. you can just the math and see if you use that 50 hours, they

don't like around right now and they are exhausted, and they are traveling around the country right now and have come back to washington and don't want to be in session on the second sunday in a row. i don't know if they will demand to use all of that time. once you know you are going to lose a vote at the end of the process, it becomes hard for you to engage in dilatory tactics. you are kind of like, what are we doing, we might as well cut to the chase and have the vote and get out of here. you may see that but i think the senate will be done its work by the end of the upcoming week at the latest if schumer has the vote to pass the budget resolution. host: one of our social media followers has a question about what do you think the other side, what will the house to?

the question is, does our guest no what they will and must do to ensure the 3.5 trillion dollar bill being passed by reconciliation before agreeing to the $1.2 trillion bipartisan if the structure bill? guest: they may try to hold it hostage again. you have generally a large group of publicans and democrats that the port infrastructure -- of republicans and democrats that support infrastructure and they may hold it hostage. it is hard to stand up to a president of your own party and we saw this with the trump administration with the health care bill, you had some saying they didn't like it and they tweaked it but ultimately they had to cave. it is hard to say no to a president of your own party. progressive democrats have been pushing the envelope and don't have the same rules the senate

does on reconciliation bills and they want to include inks like immigration, codified daca that president obama set up with an executive order. it is not clear you can codify it but they want to do it anyway. their demands may be pushing the envelope and pushing this bill and what it will include. host: you were talking earlier about the senate working weekends here here is a story that puts numbers behind what you were talking about. senators work 1377 sessions, tackling budget agreement showdowns. that number has jumped too close to two dozen since 2001 and this weekend could add another. but despite being in morris

sundays, the senate has been in -- being in for two sundays, it was on session for 35. some of those saturday sessions were flighty nights -- were frightened led -- were at friday nights that bled into saturday. it makes me cranky said lisa murkowski. i signed up for this job. if it means i have to work through the weekend, i will work through the weekend and gladly so because i want to get an infrastructure bill done. they don't want to be here but they are working more and more weekends to get it done. guest: it highlights the gridlock in the senate right now. there are no vetoes in the

senate. you can filibuster a bill that is simply the opportunity to speak. you have to stand up and speak to filibuster something. if you want to pass a bill and you alluded to this with late-night sessions that bleed into the next morning, you vote all night long. you exhaust senators and wear them down. former senator ted kennedy from massachusetts had in his memoir a fabulous description of the united states senate, the best i've ever heard. he calls a chemical body and said something happens when senators are stuck in a room and realizing they are not going home until they get something done. that highlights the difference with these weekend sessions now they are not doing anything. you will maybe have a speech on an unrelated subject. you're not voting on amendment around-the-clock and outgoing

late at night and that annoys and frustrates senators because they are just sitting in their offices waiting for a cloture vote. that annoys them because they don't have time to fly home and get back and so they are just sitting around and not engaging in meaningful activity. that is a source of dysfunction we see in the senate today. host: let's talk to the caller from -- let's talk to arthur from fraser, michigan. caller: thank you for taking my call. my question is this -- there is an abundance of money for the projects that were laid out there before president biden took over. i am wonder what happened to all this money that was taken from the military to help build the wall on the border and the

pipeline from canada and all the projects that were in northern alaska. also, the money that was laid out for covid, money for the medical aspect of it. host: go ahead and respond. guest: i don't know if your viewers remember the movie brewster's millions, it is hard lesson. it is hard to spend a lot of money and it takes time. congress will pass a bill and get authority through the executive branch and then get the contract and sign on the dotted line and pay for programs and activities. those activities will unfold

over a period of time and then it will unfold over a period of time. the infrastructure bill, it takes time to build roads and bridges. anyone who drives around and sees instruction, it seems like they are always doing it because it takes a lot of time. that money is going to be paid out over a ten-year period and maybe longer and you will not spend all the money on day one. it is still there unless it has been reassigned, and it is going to continue to be paid out until that project is ultimately fulfilled or the money runs out and congress either gives them more money or doesn't. host: we would like to thank james wallner, a senior fellow at the r street institute and talking with us about the infrastructure and spending bills in congress. thank you so much. guest: thanks for having me.

host: coming up next, stephen morrison, the director of the center for strategic and international studies global health policy center will discuss the global covid-19 effort and the importance of vaccine diplomacy in the united states. stick with us. we will be right back. ♪ >> weekends we bring you the best in american history and nonfiction books. on book tv, a staff writer discusses the past and future in his latest book. on afterwards, ben shapiro discusses his new book the authoritarian moment, in which he argues the progressive left is pushing an authoritarian agenda. he is interviewed by a talkshow host. watched book tv every weekend

and find a full schedule on the program guide or watch online anytime at book tv.org. ♪ >> in june, robert gottlieb, the man who has been a final editor, wrote an essay in the new york times. the focus was on john gunther in a 900 page book he wrote 75 years ago called "inside usa." in gottlieb's view, gunther was probably the best reporter america ever had. we wanted to find more about this success story, so we spoke about a 1992 book called "inside: the book of john

gunther." >> listen at c-span.org/podcasts or whatever -- or wherever you get your podcasts. host: we are back with stephen morrison, who is the center for strategic and international studies global health policy center director. he is here to talk about the global covid-19 vaccination effort and the importance of vaccine diplomacy in the united states. good morning. guest: good morning. host: let's start with the current state on the ground. last week, president biden said the last week has delivered 110 million covid-19 vaccine doses 265 countries. talk to us about what the u.s. is doing and who is coordinating this effort. guest: jesse, the idea of

providing surplus doses, donating doses and cash towards the international effort to reach low and middle income countries has always been a sensitive matter, because of course we have a really serious and complicated pandemic here at home. president biden is trying to balance out continuing to be very focused on what's happening internally but also focusing on the raging pandemic that is inflicting asia, latin america, africa, and their -- and where there is willful and extreme shortages of vaccines in those countries, the supply for the western manufacturers are ramping up, so their supply is easing and the president at the g7 summit in june pledged to purchase 500 million doses from pfizer, 200 million to be

deployed through this calendar and 300 million by the spring and in addition to that has been moving out 110 million doses to 65 countries. we are certainly well in the lead in trying to move forward and cover the gap but are falling short of what is required and we need other wealthy western countries to come in with us. the u.k. pledged 100 million doses at the g7 summit, canada 13 million. we need far more than that, 2 million doses pledged by the government this year in order to begin closing the gap. the chinese are coming in. they had a big summit hosted by the foreign ministry last sunday and the foreign minister pledged $100 million toward a facility, which is a special facility to try and bring vaccine to low and middle income countries and also pledged that over the course of this year would bring forward 2 billion doses, not clear if they

are to be sold or donated. they have already sold 2 million doses. people are thinking, what does this mean, the chinese are trying to go toe to toe with the west and regain some standing, but that is all still to be determined exactly how that is going to happen. host: as you started out with earlier, there is some sensitivity about sending vaccines overseas when there is a significant population of americans who have not been vaccinated yet. how is the biden administration dealing with that or are they even paying attention to it? guest: they are subtly paying attention to it, jesse. we have a population just over 330 million americans, we've got 92 million who need to be vaccinated. that is a variety of populations

. we don't have approval for vaccines for children under 12, 48 million people. we have high hesitancy and refusal in various communities and that is a problem. but in terms of supply, we are in a period of rising abundant. we have more than enough vaccines to cover our needs. we have taken purchase of 1.6 billion doses of vaccines. we are entering a period of great surplus, so the president can go legitimately and correctly to the american people and say, we know we need to finish this business. this is urgent. we know the delta variant is dangerous, pernicious, and is a far faster and more difficult than the original virus. we know we need to prepare for boosters and for full approval for pfizer and moderna. we can satisfy those

requirements but we have to look outside our doors but strategically and epidemiologically, we cannot ignore the rest of the world. that is a formula for replication of the virus and you -- further replication. the president is making an argument to americans that to protect americans we have to be much more engaged outside our borders in order to get control over this pandemic. there is a moral and ethical consideration in that, because we cannot leave the most vulnerable and poorest and least empowered populations vulnerable to this there there is a strategic and epidemiological argument that we have to get more engaged in order to find a durable solution to this

pandemic and protect americans in doing that. host: who is paying for all of these vaccines to go overseas? other companies donating them? are the american taxpayers paying for them? guest: when you are talking about the united states donation, the one hundred 10 million and the 500 million on purchase from pfizer, those are financed through the american rescue plan, the $1.9 trillion funding facility that is approved earlier this year that included 11 billion towards the global response on the pandemic. so the resources are coming out of that. we already made a commitment during the $900 million pandemic response emergency funds that were appropriated and signed into law by president trump in december of last year, that

already included a $400 million commitment signed into law by president trump to bring $4 billion of assistance to the vaccine alliance, the main instrument under this facility for bringing vaccines to low and middle income countries. we do have a record going back, the trump administration builds on and the biden administration had strong support for these. host: let me remind our viewers that can take part in this conversation could we are opening regional lines. if you are in the eastern or central time zone, you can call (202) 748-8000. those of you in the mountain or pacific time zones, you can call (202) 748-8001. keep in mind you can always text us at (202) 748-8003, and we are

always reading on social media on twitter @cspanwj and on facebook at facebook.com/c-span. i am going to throw some numbers at you and then sq a question that comes from a social media follower. according to our world -- 29.9% of the world population has received at least one dose of a covid-19 vaccine and 15% of the world population is fully vaccinated. four point four 3 billion doses have been administered locally and 39.9 9 million are now administered. only 1.1% of people in low income countries have received at least one dose. when we talk about vaccine diplomacy, one of our social media followers has this question for you -- it varian

ts are such a big concern, doesn't it make sense to donate to our closest neighbors first and get a vaccinated buffer around us? a lot of viewers were worried about to ensure people -- our closest neighbors are bringing coveted across borders. >> that's a great question. the listener is inciting that our world data is pointing to the dire problem we face which is that watching an indefensible gap between assess and vaccination coverage levels that we see in the united states, canada, western europe, which is inching towards control, still not there. only 50% of americans are fully

vaccinated and 85% of americans above a certain age are vaccinated. a grade -- a great achievement. the question around should we be attentive to what is happening in our neighborhood, of course we should and we are sharing vaccines with our central american neighbors. we struck a deal with canada and mexico for a sharing of doses and i think that was a signal that they are sensitive to what is happening in our hemisphere. the three hottest zones geographically in the world right now in this raging pandemic are latin america, southeast asia, and south asia and africa which is surging and exploding. we cannot take too narrow of a regionalized approach. we have to be taking a fully integrated approach that recognizes that we have

uncontrolled transmission of this virus and a large population anywhere in the world that allows uncontrolled rep -- replication and beautician. if they prove to be more pernicious and dangerous than delta which is a very real possibility they are going to undermined our own achievements here and elsewhere. there is no proof, there is no material proof that migrants coming into the united states are spreading the variant. there is a tradition that was instituted by the trump administration that is enforced which is an exclusion of people at the border on the basest of the threat they may pose in terms of bringing covid in. it's a controversial position

there is no evidence to suggest there has been any relapse -- relaxation or that we are seeing significant transmission across our border. host: who decides what country gets what amount of vaccines donated from the u.s.? >> that decision is held very closely within the white house and within the covid-19 response group. i think those allocations ultimately come down to a white house decision that is made in close consultation with the department of state, secretary blinken, his staff, and gail smith who wasn't -- head of the u.s. agency for international development, a former white house official for the obama and clinton administration is very instrumental.

at the covid-19 response group and the national security council. host: we will start with carol who is calling in from north carolina. caller: i had a question. they said this came over from india, how does it get over here from india? somebody from india would had to bring it over and i was watching pfizer, how much money pfizer has already made off of all of these shots they are sending. looks like a big moneymaking thing for them. if you look at the cdc stats from back in 2017 or 2018 there are 7000 8000 deaths a day reported every day from all kinds of things. within a week that would be 49,000 people dead a week times 20 months.

the death rate is higher for regular deaths than it's ever been from covid. thank you. host: -- stephen: your question, how did the delta variant enter the united states? the same method by which the original virus entered the united states coming into international travel, the original introduction of the virus in the united states was emanating from china and asia as well as europe, europe turned out to be a great source of that. it moves really fast, keep in mind the delta variant moves at twice the speed of the original virus and it is much more infectious, a person infected with this is carrying in his or her head, which is where the

symptoms are concentrated is emitting 1000 times the viral load of the previous virus. the point about high profits, this is something that is bringing a windfall to the vaccine producers, pfizer being the most dominant but not the only one. they have been doing their earning report and if we assume we are entering a period of endemic coronavirus meaning we are not going to end this we are going to manage it and live with it in some indefinite period we may need booster shots, when you need annual or biannual or in a three year cycle renewed vaccinations. the industry is in a position to make huge amounts of money looking forward into the future and we will have continued debates over pricing and profit

levels and the relative balance of the government stepping forward with an industrial policy that tries to manage the price levels that we pay and how we go forward on that. that is a big question. keep in mind that these mrna vaccines, pfizer and moderna have proven to be remarkably effective at closing off death, extreme illness, and hospitalization even in the face of the delta variant area there will be some need for amendment and tweaking of vaccines as we move forward with the variance. as a platform they are very adaptable. the third question you raised about death levels we are experiencing, we have experienced 614,000 deaths

attributed to covid-19. we don't believe those numbers are an accurate rendering of how many people did pass. people are studying what is called excess death counts looking at the patterns of mortality in the united states over many years and what has happened in the 20 months of this pandemic and it shows very high mortality levels, higher than just the 600 -- the just under 615,000 recorded deaths. host: let's go to dave who is going from north port, new york. caller: first of all, i agree that people should have had a much better plan for vaccinating the whole world. it's left the barn on that one.

israel was one of the first and foremost with the vaccine, a high percentage of people vaccinated. it turns out that finding out about the efficacy of these vaccines is 40%. 60% of people doubled vacs are still getting it. they are not getting a sick, that's great, but they are still spreading it and the viral load is 1000 times more so it is replicating faster. the opportunity for this thing to find a mutation. it is going against the vaccine so it doesn't kill the virus, it makes it stronger. some people only got one vaccine. that's even less effective. by putting this vaccine out there the corona still breaks through it and you are giving the virus and opportunity to mutate against the stressor of the vaccine.

giving it to the older people and the people with the cohort disease and not putting the vaccine out there to be defeated the way it's being defeated. my question is, did they jump the shark so to speak a little bit? host: go ahead and respond. stephen: it's true that the israeli government has moved very fast and very methodically to get high vaccination rates in the country early and they are now generating new science, scientific studies that are revealing certain things. on the pfizer waning immunity particularly among the elderly and compromised immune systems. that data is entering into discussions here in washington along with data out of the u.k. and elsewhere about what sort of

booster strategy should the united states pursue. it looks like we are close in the united states and to the biden administration making an announcement around a third dose for those who are immunocompromised, those who have had organ transplants, cancer therapy, auto immune disease, and the like and those that are elderly above a certain age. we are seeing programs of that kind already being introduced in germany in the u.k., hungary, russia, israel. many countries saying there is a good reason to be very deliberate and focused right now on getting a third dose into those populations that are the most vulnerable where declining immunity is probably a bigger problem. the data in israel and the u.k. is showing what are called breakthrough infections, fully vaccinated people coming

infected with covid, sometimes asymptomatic, sometimes symptomatic. i think the israeli data showed 15% of the case count of infection within israel. the u.k. data of a large population over 100,000 showed 40,000. this is not entirely surprising. these vaccines are not 100% affected. as your population that is vaccinated grows and the vilest -- the virus is still circulating. you will see some people who are fully vaccinated getting infected. that is a cause of debate. there is still scientific uncertainty and how big this problem is and how dangerous it is. it adds another element of urgency about moving towards full legal approval for the

pfizer and moderna vaccine's and eventually johnson & johnson. he also argues in favor of moving ahead with a more formal and far-reaching booster program which we will probably see in the course of this fall. your question around whether we got it wrong initially in the design of the program i don't leave so. i think we need to get mass coverage as high as possible as fast as possible with these powerful vaccines so that we are bringing down the circulation of the virus. we need to get down to 10000 and below per day of new infections and we need to get up to 80% to 90% coverage of our population, that is going to be a serious challenge. we still don't have approval for vaccines for children's under 12, that's a large population. we have a total of 92 or 93

million people unvaccinated. we have 30% of that population is either hesitant on the fence waiting, trying to deliberate. i think those people can be brought across the line eventually if you are patient and respectful and listen to their concerns and engagement area another 13% seems to be ready hard-core refusals and i'm not sure we are going to move them. we should not give up on that idea. that means we are not going to reach herd immunity but we have to get maximum control by getting the numbers as high as possible in this next period. >> let's talk to jim who is calling from plains ville, illinois. good morning. caller: i have a question. since we are 50% vaccinated, my question is and it's a hypothetical question, what happens in december or november and they say we need a -- and

they say we need a booster, we start over with 0% fully vaccinated since if you have to have the booster you are not fully vaccinated area would we start to -- stephen: a short answer is no, a booster will be defined as a third dose that is going to strengthen and reinvigorate the defenses, the immunities. it does not imply that those that are fully vaccinated, the 15% that are fully vaccinated have lost all immunity protections. it would imply that over time there is waning immunity and some of that is tied to how old you are and if you have chronic conditions and if you are immunocompromised and the like.

i think what you are pointing to is the challenge of communicating effectively for the american public about what this all means and why this is important and that it does not imply it should not be motivating, americans who are unvaccinated from getting their vaccines as quickly as possible. that's been one of the concerns of the biden administration being very cautious in moving forward on boosters too rapidly. it seems to me that they are going to move very selectively soon in saying look, it always was the thinking that if third dose might be needed for certain populations and let's move ahead on that. that topline priority is to want to try to get those 92 or 93 million americans that are unvaccinated to get vaccinated because as long as those populations which tend to be concentrated in the south and

rural areas, as long as those populations are unvaccinated they are kindling for the delta variant and we will see, we are already in the midst of a search right now. we are above 100,000 cases of new infections per day. we were down in early june to about 12,000. do the math. we have risen to over 100000 and in the next few weeks we are expected to continue to rise as high as 200,000 cases a day. keep in mind the case count is probably a significant undercount by a factor of three. we have not been testing much in this country. in the spring we were testing to million a day, we are testing less than half a million people a day. visibility into infections has been reduced significantly. when we say there is 105,000 yesterday we are getting towards

200,000 some experts on this are saying the true levels are probably four times that. >> can you explain what the vaccine diplomacy is? >> a very broad term and i think the meaning of it in its simplest form is that countries, like the united states, like china, like others will use vaccines as a means, as a tool. as a way of building alliances, friendship, influence in a geostrategic competition, in a competition for allies, for building alliances and the like. and that we are in an era right now of pretty intense vaccine nationalism.

i mean countries in the midst of an outbreak saying we have to take care of our own on an urgent basis right now and we need to focus on the threat to our society and our national sovereignty and integrity and deal with that. that has led to a lot of hoarding of vaccines by the wealthiest and most powerful countries. vaccine diplomacy is the idea that we cannot ignore what is happening outside our borders and that we are in a world of geopolitical competition. our primary adversaries as we define them are china, russia, iran, north korea, and we will use vaccines for good purpose. the chinese are embarking on an aggressive and ambitious form of vaccine diplomacy. this is not always a zero-sum competition. we have such a huge gap in low

and middle income countries, access to affordable and safe and effective vaccines that if the united states, other western european north american powers, japan, australia's and others come forward in support of greater donations through this facility and through direct bilateral dealmaking to cover the gap at the same time that the chinese are bringing forward safe and effective vaccines on a mass scale particularly in asia and the middle east and latin america. they have been last focused on africa interestingly. there is plenty of demand out there and need. there has not been much coordination between china and the united states because we are in a period of a toxic meltdown in our relationship and that has been an obstacle. there has been very little high

level diplomacy focused upon this remarkably we have been in this pandemic for 20 months. how many high-level summits have been called to address this rampaging pandemic and what has needed to happen. it has tended to be more recently the revitalization of the g7, some action in the g20 around financing, the u.n. security council is where you think you would see this issue. the secretary-general is very vocal, but this is a security matter. there is no question this is destabilizing and it is inducing humanitarian crises and famine. what has happened in the u.n. security council? almost nothing because of the paralysis caused by the divisions among the united states, russia, china, and others. when we say vaccine diplomacy.

host: you talk about the hoarding in the world health organization director general came out and talked about this. "i understand the concerns of all governments to protect their people from the delta variant. we cannot accept countries that have already used most of the global supply of vaccine using even more of it. after that came out, the white house press secretary had a response to it and here is what she said. >> the who called on countries -- i know that's not the cop -- not the policy of the united states but it appears we are moving in that direction at least for people immunocompromised. what is the white house reaction

to his call? >> we feel that it's a false choice and that we can control it. we announced yesterday we hit an important milestone above 100 10 million vaccines donated to the world. that's more than any other country has shared combined. we made clear that is the beginning and we started to donate the 500 million doses of pfizer we have purchased. we will donate those later this month. we have taken action on the global level far more than any country around the world. we are asking the global community to step up. we saw action at the g7. we believe we can do both. we have enough supply to ensure every american has access to the vaccine. if the fda decides that boosters are recommended for a portion of the population, we believe we can do both and don't need to make that choice.

host: isn't the political reality that countries and those countries leaders will take care of their citizens first and worry about other countries later? stephen: that's true but keep in mind we are ramping up production. this year at the great western vaccines are going to reach 7 billion doses far in excess of what those powerful and economically advanced countries require. next year there will be 14 billion doses. the supply constraints are easing and we are moving into an era of abundance. i just want to say a few words about the doctors remarks and jen's response. it's the doctor's job to speak up for the community of the world. he is hearing from low and middle income countries their desperation and indignation and

he is expressing his disappointment and alarm as he is looking at what is happening with industry, he has seen pfizer and moderna move into big production agreements that are putting centerstage sales of large volume products to the wealthiest for boosters. he is asking himself, wait a second, the head of pfizer pledged at the g7 one billion doses towards low and middle income countries. where are they? there are industries chasing after high profit margins and low and middle income companies will be lacking and be at the back of the queue waiting into 2022 for delivery. that is one dimension of what we are seeing unfold. another thing is moral and ethical considerations. when you have the elderly and

those that are immunocompromised across low and middle income countries with no access and they are the most vulnerable that 10, 15 percent or 20% of the population including health-care workers who were dying in large numbers in places like thailand and indonesia should they be a top priority. that is the message this doctor is conveying. the other is the epidemiological argument. if we are continuing to ignore countries seeing rampaging uncontrolled transmission we are setting ourselves up for recurrent failure that washes back onto our shore. we have to have a strategic and global approach, it makes no sense for us to be doing this with a bias. jen psaki saying this is a false

choice, in the terms of the united states that's true. i don't think anyone can land a glove on the united states for its recent actions which have gotten this far out in front of other highly advanced economies in the west. we need to do more and push hard to get other wealthy countries to come to the table with much higher contributions. we need to put more muscle on the big vaccine providers, the originators to pay more attention and deliver as they need. the un's general assembly is coming forward in september. that is the next stop in the diplomatic circuit internationally where we could see the possibility of heads of state coming and talking about these problems. i think the doctor is softening the ground getting these messages out here, that's his job. his job is to voice those concerns and be polite but tough

. i hope we will see some diplomacy at the u.n. general assembly. the biden administration is considering the possibility of some sort of gathering. there is still time for preparation. there are no clear plans laid down but there is a possibility that we could see some action in the next couple of weeks at the u.n. general assembly in new york in september. host: albert is calling from sewall, new jersey. good morning. caller: good morning, how are you doing? i want to understand what is going on. when the delta strain was all on the news and it wasn't in america yet, how come the biden administration and everybody didn't close and stop the travel from border and people from coming into our country or anything because of course the delta strain --

even if he keeps getting all these americans to get vaccinations people keep coming into the country, how are you going to get a hold on stopping this virus from spreading because people come in and are not even vaccinated -- it seems to me like it's going to be a cycle. stephen: my response to you and great question, my response would be to turn things on its head a little bit. what i mean by that is in the 20 months of this vaccine, of this pandemic international travel by americans and others coming into the u.s. has dropped precipitously. we have had to spend billions just trying to hold major u.s. airlines together so they can

survive and resume operation -- operations. there has been some resumption of international travel. we have various quarantine measures enforced and commercial and official travel has declined precipitously yet we still have the transmission of the delta and other variants. behind the delta we have lambda and epsilon. these viruses do not respect borders and they move fast through whatever means they can. i do not think it is technically humanly possible to stop transmission as long as we have populations that are on vaccinated. i think we just need to

acknowledge we live in a world in which these variants are going to continue to generate as long as there is uncontrolled transmission where the virus can continue to replicate and mutate and we will generate these new variants that are going to be able to cycle globally and that is true with seasonal flu. it is true with other coronaviruses, there are four that have been circulating that cause more like common colds. they continue to mutate and cycle and that is what we will see happen. that is what we will see happen here and it has not mutated towards becoming less changer -- less dangerous and disabled. it is becoming more. over time we may see the new occasions invite -- migrating toward something that looks more like a common cold.

we are far away from that and we still don't know what the long covid consequences will be for a large portion of those infected. caller: i have a comment and a question. my comment. i called in and was scrutinized about my question. at the same time, i called on the 800 line, the gentleman said i see you are calling on the democrats line. then he asked me to give him my question. i gave him my question. i guess it was not good enough. he hung up. i do not know too many african americans will be able to call in today, because of the --

those who answer the phone calls. my question. when trump told people it was like a cold and then said it was five times worse than the flu, do you think that had an impact in america by the president not really day versing with the people, of the severity of the pandemic? do you think america will also have a new strain that will be called america's strain? i am sure we are not going to take any responsibility of starting our own strain, because we have got over 90 million who still decide not to take the vaccine. (202) 748-8001 --guest: we have had variants generated within

the u.s. there are several. it is not like that has not happened already. they have turned out to be variants that are not as transmissible, not as dangerous. they have been dominated now by the delta variant, which has come in and squeeze out the competition, squeezed out these other variants. your question about trump. there is no question that the falsehoods, the denials, the on view stations, the conspiratorial -- obfuscations, the conspiratorial thinking, the abdication of federal authority to lead on many levels, all of this had dire consequences. it built up within our population all sorts of mistaken ideas about the threat, the seriousness, it has politicized masking.

it politicized vaccination. it is complicated our efforts. what i see is that a consciousness among many elected republican officials and republican opinion leaders to start speaking to their constituencies about the need for vaccinations, the need for protections. i am encouraged by that. we have seen the medical doctors within congress step forward and do public service announcements. we have seen governor ivey in alabama, governor asa hutchinson in arkansas. we have seen a number of other folks come forward, senator graham and others making statements to try and get people to come around. also where we are seeing terrible outbreaks, where the medical systems are stressed and at a breaking point, where your ic units are full, where you have shortfalls, and you have

people directly impacted in terms of extreme illness and death of family members and friends, we are seeing a change of political outlook in culture. we are seeing people getting to turn back to vaccinate. i am encouraged by that. the other thing is that the pressures to vaccinate are coming from multiple directions. employers, the federal government, eventually dod will be people of its policy. we see colleges and universities coming around with vaccination requirements that are elevating the incentives to do that. there has been a turn. the last point i made is that there is a lot of good writing that is come out recently around

2020 and the decisions within the trump white house is the pandemic unfolded. there is a book called a nightmare scenario written by two very talented washington post reporters. there is andy slavik's book. senior official in the obama administration. his book is called preventable. that is just two that i think it cast quite a bit of insight on that decision process. the decisions -- the opportunity that arose when the president could have engaged the american public in a more serious fashion but chose not to. those histories will continue to be written. host: we would like to thank stephen morrison, global health

policy center director, for talking to us about vaccine diplomacy and global covid vaccination effort. guest: it has been a pleasure to be with you and your audience. host: we will go to our open forum, which means you will be able to tell us what you want to talk about. you see the numbers on your screen. we will start taking your calls in just a moment. we will be right back.

host: we are going to our open forum segment. that means you can call in and talk about the issues that you want to talk about. we are opening of our regular lines. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002.

you can always text us at (202) 748-8003. let us look to the wall street journal and their report about the u.s. economy. a strengthening u.s. labor market added cushion to the economic recovery in july. with employers creating jobs at the best place in nearly a year, as the unemployment rate falling sharply. payrolls rose by 943,000 in july, the best gain in 11 months. the unemployment rate fell to 5 .74% last month. the lowest level since the pandemic took hold in march 2020

. the latest data shows additional workers were drawn off the sidelines and wages rose at a strong rate. once again, that is coming from the wall street journal talking about the economic report from friday. we want to know what you want to talk about. kathleen, michigan, republican line. caller: i wanted to speak about a couple of calls i heard per painting to mr. morrison -- pertaining to mr. morrison. i was concerned about how much bias has gone around pertaining to all of this. a lot of [no audio]

are being overthrown because they do not understand the pandemic. the pandemic is totally different. we seem to have a problem here in our own country. our own people come together. [indiscernible] everybody likes to say that he likes [indiscernible] this is the pandemic. this is serious. that is why i got disgusted with pelosi. forget the politics. i am in michigan i care about

moderna and pfizer and johnson & johnson. all they have got is johnson & johnson. host: sue, oklahoma, republican line. caller: i would like to ask. i was watching the gentleman before. he talked about trump making [indiscernible] host: sue, are you there? caller: i was watching the gentleman before. he had a lot to say about trump being the reason for a lot of non-vaccinations. i wonder about biden and harris's remarks that they would not take the vaccination if

trump had anything to do with it? has that got anything to do with people not getting the vaccination also? host: anthony, miller place, new york, democratic line. caller: thank you for your moderation. i am calling with regards to the pandemic and the last guest. jay stephen morrison. his close affiliation to dr. fauci, as well as the eagle health alliance guy, the whole thing stinks to high heaven. i would hope to look deeper into what is going on here. it seems to me that our own government is involved in this pandemic from its origins, they were fending millions of dollars to the wuhan lab. since 2013 until present.

there seems to be a lot of disinformation, where they were continuously trying to blame china for the distribution of this virus. initially, in december 2019, they said kim jong-un had a special christmas surprise. then the story went away. to me, it is a total disinformation campaign. host: kathy, pennsylvania, democratic line. caller: i have not heard anybody address this. my husband and i, we believe we had the virus in february or march of 2020 before we had heard about it. i have not gotten the new

vaccine, because i think i might have immunity, even though it has been a while. is there still immunity? would there still be immunity if you had the virus back in february or march of 2020? host: tom, ohio, republican line. caller: i have been interested for a while in the conversation between peter strzok and lisa page. and the insurance policy. could you expand that to me? host: mary, florida, independent line. caller: i would like to bring up

nation of laws. it seems that there are so many in-laws -- laws on the books that are not being enforced at the southern border. they seem to be being enforced on the northern border. that is one of my major concerns . because the law is like a balance beam. also, hoping with rents and landlords that has been pushed up again, even though it appears the supreme court has found that it is unconstitutional, but it is going forth anyway to give two months's time, even though it is unconstitutional.

it is like the law is a fallacy. that is basically all i have. host: our previous guest brought up the lambda variant. a story from yahoo!.com talking about the lambda variant and its arrival in the u.s. a new mutation known as the lambda variant is thought to have increased resistance to vaccines has appeared in the u.s. also known as c37, it was first discovered in peru in november 2020. it has since spread across south america and the world. there are currently more than 1300 lambda sequences in the u.s.. the lambda variant has been identified in 44 states. a spokesperson with the cdc recently told newsweek.

researchers from japan have found that the lambda variant contains three you tatian's and a spike -- three mutations and a spike protein that is more contagious than the original virus. two other mutations make it -- the lack seen resistant -- the vaccine resistant lambda variant is now being seen in the u.s. dan, south dakota. caller: i wanted to let everybody know that i had covid. i almost died. 105 fever. i could not eat or sleep for four days. people, lead us wake up and start smelling the coffee,

otherwise you will not be able to smell it if you have covid. i got the vaccine in april, which is 90 or 100 days later. i got the johnson & johnson. it was awesome. i feel 110% better. i have five times more antibodies now. basically, what this boils down to. let us say you were drowning in a sea of covid virus. somebody handed you a life jacket to try to save your life. that is what the vaccine is. people, start grabbing the life jacket. put it on or otherwise you are going to take all the rest of the people in the boat with you. host: roos, alabama, independent line.

-- ruth caller: i was also calling about the vaccine, but the as that they have used to promote and to request -- the ads to promote that people come in and get the vaccine. every time, they've got a picture close up of the needle in the arm. this is what people are afraid of. please ask them to make new ads. back the camera up and get a picture of the person's face getting the shot and see that they are not in pain. we need these shots. host: catherine, california, republican line. caller: good morning. a couple of things.

that vaccine being inundated -- people over the border. however, the canadian border is protected. people in cuba, the people in our administration make it clear that the cubans are not to come over to america. having people come from our southern border is devastating, especially with the young children, human trafficking, drugs. it is really sad. but the number two thing is what mr. morrison mentioned. our president before, we would not have if we did not have warp speed, we would not have this solid -- this solid commitment, deregulating everything he had

to in order to get warp speed in place. i think the previous color that mentioned the sniffles, i think president trump was trying to mentioned that he thought that initial sniffles, that he took care of it and that is what he was relating to. he did not have the stronger symptoms. he took it seriously, but that was his initial reaction. the last thing. when mr. morrison talked about ted or -- ted rose. he has fallen from grace. his connection is corrupt with both china and africa. host: david, florida, independent line. caller: good morning. i just returned from iceland. to leave the country and return,

we had to jump through all kinds of hoops. we were tested every day and we had to have a test and our in our chelation documents to get back into the country. i cannot believe that -- our innoculation documents to get back into the country. i cannot believe that politicians promote the southern border to be open. host: georgia, republican line. caller:look at mothers bringing- blaming their sons for slavery. i did not understand it. host: harry, georgia, independent line. caller: see if i can correct a

couple of things. one called in and said that kamala harris has said she would not take that vaccine because it had something to do with trump. what she said was that she would not take it on his word. she would wait for the fda to say it was time to take it. what was the other thing i just heard? i probably forgot, but there is another piece of misinformation. i just have to say that some people only have evidently one source of news. they take the word of people who rely -- who were lying to them. thank you, c-span. host: diana, ohio, independent line. caller: thank you for taking my

call. last week, michael vaden, a life science researcher and former scientist at pfizer, pointed out the fraud with regard to the variants. the antibodies are not the primary defense. t cells are. they have known this for a long time, from the beginning of the pandemic. scientists wanted to find out if patients who had were covered -- should recovered from sars covid one would be responsible -- immune to sars-cov-2? they still had memory cells, despite the two viruses being

only 80% similar. if a 20% difference was not enough, why should you be concerned with the variance not so different from the original? host: mike, new york, republican line. caller: i was wondering if anybody was aware of the rikers island situation? all the prisoners are taking off their masks, breathing on each other to make sure that they get out of there. somebody get on that, it would be nice. host: william, tennessee, democratic line. caller: the short answer is -- the question was, why didn't mr. biden do something about the people coming from mexico? he does not know what to do.

that is the short answer. host: jim, washington, independent line. caller: my real concern is about the return of economic lockdowns. economic lockdowns are not what stop the spread of the virus. what slows down or stops the spread of the virus are medical measures taken by private citizens and businesses. host: dave, look -- florida. caller: let me mute my tv. i am calling about ron desantis and in what an excellent job he is doing.

very grateful to live in florida under a great governor. host: we want to remind everyone that starting at noon eastern today, you can turn to c-span two to listen to the senate and its work on the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. the first votes are scheduled to come around 7:13 p.m. tonight, but you can watch debate at noon on c-span two. nina, new jersey, republican line. caller: my concern is why are they mandating 18-21-year-olds get vaccinated but not mandating migrants coming from the southern border?

also, they made a comment about trump not giving information as to how bad the virus was, which i totally disagree with. he was transparent in giving every step of the way how they were developing the vaccine, the number of deaths, the number of hospitalizations. that information was all given to everybody, every week during his conferences. what is biden hiding? what is his endgame? host: sandy, ohio, republican line. caller: i do not think that the vaccine is that safe and i will not take it. they keep bribing people, which makes you wonder why do they want to bribe you if it is so good for you? they are letting all these immigrants, it will be 2 million by the end of this year, and

they are pushing them to this country. border patrol when told not to let anybody know they had covid and other diseases. that cdc woman, wilensky, she was a college professor before biden put her in place. she does not have any knowledge. host: we would like to thank all of our viewers, guests, callers . join us again tomorrow for another edition of washington journal. you can see debate on the infrastructure bill starting at noon today on c-span2. everyone have a great day. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2021] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> c-span, your unfiltered view

of government. we are funded by these companies and more, including comcast. comcast is part pain to create wi-fi enabled service for low income families for service to be ready for anything. giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> tonight helen andrews, the american conservative magazine editor talks about her book. >> the one-liner about "boomers" that i think is brilliant is that they are the generation that sold out but would never admit they did. it is a combination of a great deal of idealism and a sense of

themselves as morally noble, but on the other hand a great deal of selfishness and narcissism and kind of a blindness to their liberationist agenda and left a lot of people worse off. >> helen andrews tonight at 8:00 eastern on q&a. you can listen to it as a podcast wherever you get podcasts. tonight c-span series january 6, use from the house continues, through more members of congress share stories of what they saw, heard and experienced, including texas republican ronny jackson, who recounts what happened on the house floor. >> everything was fine. i don't know how far we got into

it. somebody was speaking, they were going back and forth. nancy pelosi was at the podium and she was overseeing it and i did not really notice, but at some point they pulled her away and someone else came to replace her. i did not pick up on that. that happens every now and then anyway. i didn't really -- that did not catch my attention, but shortly after that the capitol police came into the chamber, and they were being very loud and we were still actively debating, they were making a lot of commotion. the doors are typically open and they started shutting all of the doors, and then you could actually hear them locking. click, click, click. and then i noticed some of them were standing in front of the doors and they had their weapons out.