merkel as she completes her final term in office. join the discussion with your phone calls, facebook comments, text messages and tweets. "washington journal" is next. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2021] ♪ host: good morning. it's sunday, september 26, 2021. a three-hour "washington journal" is ahead-for-you -- for you as well as a focus on the federal elections in germany but we begin at the white house where president biden's job approval ratings has fallen sharply. as we take you through those new numbers this morning, we're putting this question to you -- how would you grade president biden's job performance? phone lines split as usual by political parties. democrats is 202-748-8000.

republicans, 202-748-8001. i-n-t's -- independents, 202-748-8002. you can send us a text this morning, 202-748-8003. if you do, please include your name and where you're from. otherwise, catch up with us on social media, on facebook.com/cspan, and @c-spanwj. you can go ahead and start calling in now. here's the headline on that pouille research. fewer than half of u.s. adults, 44% now prove of the way that biden's handling of the job as president. 353% disapprove, a reversal in biden's job ratings since july.

while opinions about biden remains divided on partisan line, the decline we've seen and his public standing has come amongst members of both parties. there's ban 13-point drop of democrats leaning independents and right now, only 9% of republicans and republican leaners approve of his job performance, down from 17% two months ago. we will go through that pew research -- pew research later. he was asked about these lower polling numbers and here was his response. president biden: this is a process and it's going to be up and down. that's why i don't look at the polls. not a joke. because it's going to go up and it's going to go down. it's going to go up. and hopefully, at the end of the day, i'll be able to deliver on what i said i would do one --

one, bring the country together like on infrastructure. moving ups in a position where we're able to actually generate the kind of change in the dynamic of how we grow the economy. not eliminate the super wealthy, not at all. but allow the working class and the middle class to be able to build out and up and that can be said, like i said. every time i hear and i drive my staff crazy. every time i hear it's going to cost a, b, c, or d, the truth this based on the commitment that i made, it's going to cost nothing because we're going to raise the revenue. raise the revenue to pay for the

things we're talking about. and we're -- if we take a look at the piece, $1 trillion of that are tax cuts. not raise anybody's taxes. tax cuts. people are paying less taxes. but the people pay less taxes are going to be working class folks. put women back to work. it's what people in situation where is they have -- i know you're tired of hearing me saying. just get people a little breathing room. a little breathing room. thank you, guys. host: that is how president biden ended that press conference. questions from reporters on friday in the wake of some of the new reports about his job approval numbers. you saw him there, talking about some of the very big spending bills that are making their way to the house floor and the senate floor this week the

bipartisan infrastructure bill as well as the funding bill for the president's build back better initiative. and the federal government funding deadline, september 30. so looking for action on that to see what happened to potential government shutdown come september 30. back to the polling numbers of job approval. here are the demographics breakdowns. the total job approval down from 55% to 44% in the latest poll. among men, the drop about equal among men and women from 53% to 44% for men, from 57% to 45%. hispanics, 72 back in july to 56% now. and asians, 68% back in july, 54% now.

the breakdowns among ages and schooling level as well. among ages 18-29-year-old seeing a drop 56% back in july. 42% now. among those, 65 and older, down 50 from july to 43% now. all these numbers from the pew research report. and that report getting a whole plot of attention late last week. the numbers having to do with the president's foreign policy and afghanistan, the border, factoring into some of these issues facing the president. it was "the hill" newspaper that spoke about those images and how they might be impacting the president's standing. this from "the hill" newspaper, a picture is worth a thousand words and the biden white house wants its image to be one of professional of storing order after what democrats say with the chaos dysfunction and cold heartedness of the trump years

the early months went according to script but things have started to come off the rails as a stark footage from the border and afghanistan. two difficult issues for the president crystallized in the public view. videos and photos from afghanistan depicting a noising scenes of people climbing on to military aircraft to escape. -it was ted cruz that he posted using the exact images that "the hill" was talking about in that story. here's that web app from ted cruz. >> there is a step that the

adults have returned. >> there are scenes of pandemonium at kabul airforce in what could be described as chaos exodus. >> conditions are dire. >> the numbers are expected to soar to 20,000 people within the coming days. >> the french took an unprecedented action. they recalled their ambassador to the united states. right now, it's a bit of a mess in france. >> the inflation index is up 7.8% over the past year. host: senator ted cruz with that web app -- ad on his twitter page. taking a listen at your phone

calls. how would you grade president biden's job performance? that's our question for you. phone lines as usual. ray's first, a republican. ray, if you're using the letter grade, what grade would you give him? caller: a d minus. at the beginning the vaccine rollouts went fairly well. the american rescue plan helped when we were still in crisis mode was done well but the afghanistan thing was a complete failure. the border, a complete failure. he seems to be moving more and more to the left every day. and i think it's more this is what i would have expected out of president sanders, not president biden. he portrayed himself as a moderate. and i don't think we're getting a moderate and i'm very worried that -- and afghanistan is disheartening. host: ray is that grade set in

your mind? what would it take to change your grade? caller: nothing's ever set in stone. if he could reaccomplishment -- reimplement the trump policies, building the wall, training the workers and the ice agents are doing the best work that they can. he could admit to failures in afghanistan and do everything he could do to get the americans out. there are things he could do to turn it around but i don't see him doing that. >> glen from florida. good morning. what grade would you give the president? caller: how are you doing? host: doing well. caller: i give president biden a because he's doing the job. people don't understand that when you take charge of a situation that somebody else left behind, you have to clean up the mess that the person that

you followed first. everything that he's doing is what trump left behind and he screwed up. so he's doing the job. the job's not easy. it's not pretty. and we're not worried about no optics of saying fine, look what happened in afghanistan. and look what happened at the border. it's called doing the job. and that's what republicans don't understand because they are not supporting him but they're going to use that in order to give and raise donation so they can get to the midterm elections. he's only been on the job for almost nine months. nine months. now compare what happened when trump was in office for the first nine months. what did we have? what did we get out of nine months of him the first year he was in office? we got charlottesville. we got a racial divide in the country. he didn't do anything. we lost jobs. he actually did a tax cut for the rich. so he isn't doing anything. if you want to compare the first nine months to both of them,

trump got an f. he gets a. i don't want to hear about how the optics look. he's doing the job. if you are in management, that's what you have to do. you don't worry about the doggone what his approval ratings are because he's got three and was it three in almost three eight years ago. so anybody that want to complain about how the optics look, realize one thing. war is what it is. what you saw with those people at the border and afghanistan, that's how war is. people have never seen those type of scenes because that's what war does. host: this is brenda out of fort meade, new jersey. brenda, republican. what grade would you give the president's job performance? caller: i would give president biden an f. i'm so disappointed in how he's running the country. i think they could both do

better for us. i just don't know anymore. i've always been a democrat. but i am not going to be a democrat anymore. i am changing to becoming a republican. host: did you vote for joe biden for president in 2020? caller: i did, i did. and i'm so sorry i did. he could be so much better on running the country. he's raised taxes he's going to be raising taxes. gasoline is expensive. booze went up impresencely. and it's just so difficult. and he continues to not work hard on getting people from afghanistan leaving some of the americans still there. and he never gives, you know,

talks to make us, let us know what's going on. and it's just. >> -- this is barbara in new york, democrat. good morning. barbara, are you with us this morning? john from california. republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i have to give him an f, a big f, as a matter of fact. i'm struck by the division of the man that called a couple of calls ago that said i don't want to hear about trump. yeah. that's the thing. nobody wants to hear. if they had the disaster on the border during the trump administration, that would have been another impeachment trial. that's all you would have heard about. the withdraw from afghanistan was absolutely disastrous. and we'll be paying for that for years to come.

he's obviously a bit infirmed. he has trouble putting sentences together. he's just not there. and then his policies -- this $3 trillion package that they're going to push and they're going to make sure it gets passed because they needed to get some of these congress men and senators re-elected in 2022. how would you like to give $10 a gallon for gasoline? because that's where we're going. we're not going to raise taxes on anyone anybody but the rich people. well, rich people are probably going to become more than $75,000 a year in income and not $400,000. host: you talk about the border, some news from del rio, texas,

the focus last week issues on the border when it comes to haitian refugees. the headline from the border reopening after the u.s. clears the m.r.i. camp -- migrant camp there. the port of entry was closed after thousands of m.r.i.s -- migrants closed. officials say they expected the crossing for all cargo traffic to begin again on monday at 8:00 a.m. the crossing closed in september 17 as thousands of those migrants making their way across the rio grande river from mexico. the caller also talking about pumpkin, a couple of -- president trump. last night in a rally in georgia.

calling brian kemp a disaster, president trump. he lashed out suggesting that rally that stacey abrams might have been better to meed the peach state. would you like to take his place? it's ok with me. the story noting kemp has been a starring of the former president since trump lost in georgia, losing the state by about a quarter of a percentage point, about 12,000 votes. and if you want to hear more from the former president, c-span covering that rally. back to your phone calls. about the grade that you would give president biden about his job so far. mitchell is in new jersey. a democrat. good morning. what do you think?

caller: good morning. this is a really, really difficult question because you have to look at everything in context. we came into the -- he came into this presidency in the middle of a major health disaster. you have all kinds of rules that were set up for the prior administration that biden opposed and plans that he had hoped to get enacted in order to change things. and the country is so divided and so angry right now. a big part of that is just what's happened with covid, what's happening with the economy. you're trying to balance all these different things. you're trying to get health information out. and the health information is not cut and dry. it's changing. and people don't seem to want to take the time to really look at

the nuances of what we're facing as a society. and i think that has a really -- it's been very difficult. i think you look at the border. i think the information to like dismantle, the stay in mexico policy was correct. i mean, people were being held up in mexico and they were being rained and -- raped and abused and a lot of human rights violations were going on. and the cy -- ali siloam process was dismantled. he should have looked at the logistics of that. still, there will be swells in the border no matter what. host: you hear from politicians a lot. the phrase of a bad poll comes out that the only poll that matters is the poll on election day. this issue of presidential job

approval and we'll show viewers president biden's job approval from when he took office until today that the red line there, the ticking up numbers of disapproving americans, the black line, the ticking numbers of americans who approve -- approve. does that matter, mitchell? the presidential job approval matter to you? is it something that you track much? caller: i think it matters at the time of the election, to be honest with you. i mean, you know, we seem to stay in a cycle where we're intensively involved in what's happening now and in the last week or two and then we're on to the next thing. because the trump approval is terrible now and that's not good for him in terms of getting support for legislation and agendas that he wants to accomplish. are we going to remember what's going on now six months from now? i kind of doubt it.

host: thanks for the call from new jersey this morning. herbert is in michigan, republican. good morning. caller: hi. host: go ahead, sir. what's your letter grade for president biden? caller: i would give him an a-plus and i'm a republican for life. i just look at all the things that's happened here. afghanistan, for one thing. i mean, what was he going to do there? what was trump going to do? he was going to pull out, leave everyone there. and they're talking fire and fury. what were they going to do? kill all the americans that were still there? biden was set up there. that's the bottom line. he was set up. and as far as all the oil and all that, i mean, people don't realize there's hundreds of oil wells still shut down in this country because of the pandemic that trump mismanaged. host: herbert, you say you're a republican for life. did you vote for president biden

in 2020? caller: yes, i did because i'm just tired of the way the republicans are giving all the tax breaks to the rich people and then when it comes to given something back to the american working people, they're against it. host: what makes you a republican for life right now? what's the republican principle that you must pride to? caller: my dad was a lifelong republican and me too. i am tired of what the republicans are doing. giving everything to rich people and working man pays for everything. it's just got to end. host: herbert in michigan. for our independents line, ted in middletown, connecticut. good morning. go ahead, sir. caller: yeah. ok. i'm calling -- i give president biden an f. all the foreign policies or most of them --

host: most of his foreign policy what, ted? caller: well, no, not true grade. in fact, i believe it was the former secretary of defense -- secretary of state, robert gates made a statement. i believe it was him that everything, every policy that biden made when he was a senator was disastrous. and now, we're treading water. -- with the pandemic. urging everybody to get a shot. and a booster shot. and yet, how many of these people from this southern border came into the united states and we don't know how many of them are infected. so what are we doing? we give a thousand people with shots and we're getting 1,500

people coming in and more. host: that are managing the covid crisis. here's some more from that pew research report. again, came out late last week. it's gotten a lot of attention since it's been out. they write that report as has been the case since he took office, biden draws more public -- of his handling than any other issue. about half, 51% are varied or somewhat confident in his handling of the coronavirus outbreak. hydroceles confidence in unifying the country than on dealing with specific issues. only 34% are confident that he can bring the country closer together. 14% decline since march. president biden: the economics, and understandably,

legitimately, deciding polls. every element is overwhelmingly popular. overwhelmingly popular. but the problem is with everything happening, not everybody knows what's in that plan. for example, all those women out there who are not able to go back to work because they have a dependent parent or they have a dependent child who needs help. or they can't find daycare or they can't find -- i mean, look at what's happening. well, there's a solution. there's a solution and a proposal that i put forward. and the plans were now debating in the united states among ourselves and are creating in congress is a plan, the plan that i laid out at the beginning. and so i'm confident that at the end of the day, we're going to be able to get that done. second point i'd like to make. we talk about price tags. there is zero price tag on the

debt. we're paying. we're going to pay for everything we spend. so it's not, you know, people -- understandably, well, you know, it start off at $6 trillion. now it's $3.5 trillion. is it going to be $2.9 trillion? it's going to be zero. zero. because in that plan that i put forward and i've said from the outset, i said i'm running to change the dynamic of how the economy grows. i'm tired of trickled down. trillionaire and billionaires are doing very, very well. you all know. you've all reported and in the middle of this crisis, the hard-working people are getting hurt. host: news held by members of house budget committeele here is the story from the associated press. the panel ok'ing the 3.5 billion

dollar spending deal crunch time for the biden agenda. they write democrats pushed that 3.5 trillion 10-year bill strengthening the social safety net and climate programs through the house budget committee but one democrat voted no on saturday. illustrating the challenges that the party leaders face in winning the near unanimity that they need to push the package through congress. the -- the story on the democrat who voted no on that proposal yesterday, moderate congressman scott peters joined all 16 republicans on the budget committee in opposing the

legislation. the a.p. note his objection includes one that troubled many democrats, a reluctance to back a bill that could later be dropped by the senate if the negotiations continue. and as those negotiations are happening, nancy pelosi yesterday releasing a dear colleague letter to democrats in the house saying in that letter that this coming week on capitol hill will be a "time of intensity" as party leadership aims to take action on three pieces of legislation she notes this week, we must pass the continuing resolution to keep the funding. the build back better act -- host: back to your phone calls. talking about president biden and job performance so far, asking you to grade it.

jeremy's in madison, wisconsin, an independent. jeremy, good morning. caller: thank you for c-span. i will be the last person, i think, on earth here, to grade the president of one of the most important missions in -- on earth. let's think about the more important question. afghanistan. with all due respect to the individual's past, leaving afghanistan, we sure did get a lot of people out, really, really quick in afghanistan. one way or another. with a video image in mind, a lot of people left. and a lot of people might just be disappointed with the president due to gas prices. why don't we just think about whether this is going to work where we don't have masks. just constantly or worried about contributing to spreading a global pandemic.

simply by just walking outside or utilizing some form of transportation to get from one point to another to buy food. or more importantly, let's think about the election in germany. how is this new election going to go over regarding the nation of russia, the nation state of germany and the nation state that we are a part of? trump had more sanctions on russia than we can deal with, than we can think through. how is that going to play out? host: stick around in our 9:00 a.m. eastern hour this morning we're going to be talking about the palmer tri-- parliamentary elections in germany. markus ziener will join us with the german marshall fund. we're going to talk through some of the issues and what it means for u.s.-german relations.

a democrat in indiana, next. good morning. caller: i'm going to rate biden with an i, an incomplete. he's not even in the classroom. he's going to end social security, i just heard the other day in four years. totally end it. if everyone enjoys the whole theory and concept of communism, you've got the right guy in there. you've got to the right guy in there. thank you! host: steve, why would you think he wants to end social security? where did you hear that? lost steve. mary is in oklahoma. republican. good morning. caller: hello. i am a democrat. i'm sorry, but i give him a d. all the vaccine, which i have,

and yet people across the border and the very least when they fill out the papers -- [indiscernible] but he's not asking them. he just -- he's causing all these people -- [indiscernible] host: this is jimmy in westbrook, maine. good morning, republican. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. you know, if you want to grade the president of the united states, our country is such a mess right now. we have two sides locked in, extreme left, extreme right there's no middle ground anymore. west virginia susan collins, a middle person. the people -- joe biden, i

respect a man if he had a press conference. there is no press conference with this man. he's told what to do. they give him something to read and they swish him off the stage. host: did you watch on friday? he took questions from the white house press corps on friday. caller: oh, come on, be honest with yourself do you really think that he does what donald trump does? donald trump did some crazy things but this man here will not take questions off the cuff. it's just -- it's as an american citizen, who is the president of our united states? i need someone to actually sit down and give us a couple of hours of real questions. that's all. it scares me. he's our president of the united states and he cannot take questions from regular people. he can't do it. i just want to see him sit down with a group of people. nothing recorded. no answers and just takes real questions. that's all i'm asking as an

american citizen. host: this is benny, jacksonville, florida. democrat. caller: i think, i think he doing a wonderful job. and he got integrity, which the previous caller don't have. but president trump don't have it. and i think he's doing a terrific job. it takes time for him to build up so he can fulfill his obligation. and i know he's on the country's on the rite track with him. but we need to get joe in place. host: cincinnati, ohio, charlie. independents. what grade would you give the president? caller: i would say he's doing a horrible job.

i think he's much more interested in what he rest of the world thinks of him than he is of us. the decisions he makes are built around him being considered a world leader. host: what's the decision that you point to on that, charlie? caller: i think afghanistan is the best example. instead of believing right away, he made certain that he stayed to -- the president of afghanistan and so that he could show that he was supporting him and the guy -- host: charlie, you would have wand him to pull out quicker than the u.s. did? caller: what i would have liked him to have done is to have had

an organized movement out that was prepared, much like normandy, precise. we are "the largest, the strongest country in the world." so you can't tell me that i don't know how many people are in afghanistan. couldn't be more than 30 million or 40 million people. how could we not be able to organize ourself and put that all together? host: charlie in ohio. this is ann in queens, new york. democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. yes. i think president biden is doing a wonderful job. he has a hard road to travel. and, you know, to get the work done and needs to be done for the american people.

he needs to build back america. and he loves everybody. he shows empathy for everyone. he's not a divider. he's someone who's trying to make america one of the thing it's built upon which is everybody is supposed to be treated fairly, given an opportunity to make it. and he just, you know, you can tell he has empathy for people. he's not a bad person. and he's trying to make america live up to its standards. host: ann in new york. in terms of what people in this country are concerned about right now, that also a part of this pew research tracking poll that they occasionally do. here's more from that report. a majority of ultraands 63% say they're very concerned about rising prices for food and consumer goods that's larger than the other economic issues.

employers being unable to hire workers. republicans, more likely than democrats to cite rising prices and a shortage of workers as their top concerns. democrats very concerned about evections and foreclosures and people who want to work struggling to find those jobs. this is the pew research and the one that got a whole lot of attention last week. elizabeth in maryland, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? host: doing well. caller: i just want to say that i think that biden is doing a terrific job, especially with his domestic policy, the recovery package, the stimulus tax, the child tax credit, and

everything he does to help americans come back from the pandemic. the thing i like the most besida stimulus check and i'm a disabled senior and that meant a lot to me and my food stamps increased dramatically for the last five months and that allowed me to eat without worrying about food. and i love his policy about taxing the rich. because that's going to pay for the infrastructure plan, for the infrastructure program, and it's going to help everyone with the recovery package. all the rich people should be taxed to the hill, especially corporations like amazon and facebook, and coca-cola and all those corporations should be taxed to the hill because under trump, they didn't pay any taxes and we need all those millions and millions of dollars and probably billions from the biggest corporations like amazon

to pay for the recovery package, to help america, especially poor and low income america, especially people of color. and i love his program to help us. keep it up. biden, i love him. he's terrific. host: that's elizabeth from maryland. to social media, facebook and twitter and our text messaging service, this is butch saying canner that he has created two humanitarian crises in about eight months time, so far, he get answer f from butch. jody saying i say a c. but compared to who he replaced, a an a-plus. for not even a year, he gets a b from me. mostly because of the garbage he had to clean up and ending the war. there are still many achievements he needs to make during his term as president. gene from jacksonville, florida, saying in our text messaging service, an f for his attempt to literally change his country with the socialist spending plan

sneaking thousands of unvaccinated people into the country. and mary in south carolina saying i agree whole heartedly with the caller from florida. i give president biden a. he's doing a great job. about 20 minutes left in this first hour of the "washington journal." steve from florida, a republican. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? host: i'm doing well. go ahead. caller: so, i would give biden an f for right now. very disappointed in how the change went, how the transition went the last eight months, we've seen such an increase in all of our cost of living, cost of fuel. and the way that we exited the afghanistan, we did it totally wrong. we should still be there. i know a lot of people are against us being there. but now that we have exit the

way we have, i believe we should have gave more support to stop the exit, keep us over there, keep control of our country. and with the covid, i'm 100% behind our governor, the state of florida, desantis he's done an excellent job at keeping ups open. i am a local employer and our workforce has really been hit so hard with the way they did to mandate. host: with a kind of business do you run, steve? caller: i'm a mechanical contracting company. so yes, everybody says new construction's booming, but it's just because the state of florida's been open. so our housing market is going nuts because everybody's moving here from new york, california, all the states that are supported by democrats. a lot of them are moving here.

so now, us republicans are worried that you're going to change how our state's going to go but at least desantis has been keeping us open, running and going forward. host: steve, did you expect difference from president biden in his inaugural address talked about uniting the country, bringing the country together. were you expecting different eight months in? caller: one man cannot unite this country. we are so separated right now that the damage has been done a long time ago. until we actually all realize what we want to achieve, we will never be able to unite. and our safety is a big factor now. know one feels -- no one feels safe nipple when we -- safe anymore. when we go to climes or

concerts, we're worried about our safety. everybody is. host: are you worried about safety from violence? are you worried about your safety from health impacts of the pandemic? caller: both. mainly the violence from open the borders up. host: carol in st. louis, missouri, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. i wanted to give president biden a. i think he's great. he's 100% better than what we had. and, you know, you always give the ratings. he gets the poll ratings. if i'm not mistaken, i believe trump was in the 30's. we never heard that much.

and the other thing is, you used to have days when it was republicans only. but when you want to bash biden, it's everybody else. host: oh, we have lines sometimes for republicans only. questions for democrats only. this is simply rating the president of the united states. everybody get assay in that. so we figured we would do our regular phone lines, democrats, republicans and independents. but keep watching with. you'll see some of those segments in the future more from president biden on friday from that press conference at the white house taking questions from reporters, including questions about the growing frustration seen in polling over his ability or inability to deliver on his campaign promises. this is the president from friday. president biden: i hadn't planned on the 178-mile winds of hurricanes going to louisiana and 20 inches of rain in new york and new jersey and a -- an

area as big as new jersey burning down in the west. i do what i did in the campaign. i would be out making the case about what my plan i proposed contained. and it's been very much curtail by a whole range of things. and so i think that it's understandable, i think it's understandable. people being frustrated. i think they're frustrated as well by the fact that not just members of congress, democrats and republicans, frustrated by, you know, i thought this is going to be better. i thought everything was working out. we were moving along on covid-19. and now, we have all these people who refuse to get a shot. and now, look at the people dying. large numbers of people dying. so i guess i think it's a totally -- obviouslies, this is a legitimate question but put

into context here, it's going to take some time here. and i know i always kid you when you all ask me about well, what about are you going to get a done, b done, c done? well i said you want to negotiate? i was being facetious obviously but here's the deal. we're going to end up getting both pieces of my economic legislation. the first piece, the $1.9 fundamentally change the nature of the economy in this country. even though remember it got clobbered. it was oh, this terrible thing. no republican voted for it. we, we got real economic growth. now, we're at this stalemate at the moment. and we're going to have to get these two pieces of legislation passed. both need to be passed. and they'll have a profound impact. host: president biden from the white house on friday. mary, next, in fort washington,

maryland, a democrat. mary. good morning. your grade of president biden's job performance. caller: good morning. i give him a. but i have to put a minus to the a because i want him to make sure that he has police reform in the passage. that's kind of getting a little away for some reason. so, but a lot of the democrats this week and as far as the republicans keep calling in, they always talk the same narrative talk, the same narrow minded ignorant information that they get from fox and news, max. we have statement in the white house for four years what a mess he's made and he's still making a mess, going around spreading the lie. he is not going to be reinstated. he lost the election. and joe biden is the president. and he's doing a great job considering what he has to deal with. and i hope he gets to continue. host: you bring up police reform.

some news on that from the past week. this from "the hill" newspaper. their wrap-up to the latest. tim scott believes the month-long negotiation with democratic lawmaker has collapsed because their proposals called for reducing funding to law enforcement in his interview with cbs news. scott who's been conducting talks with democrats for the past year said that many of the proposals would have required him to agree to limit or reduced funding for police. he said i'm not going to participate in reducing funding for the police west virginia we saw a major city defund the police. that's just some of the latest back and forth. the end goal seems to be that those talks have collapsed. caller: exactly. look at what he had talking. tim scott doesn't represent anybody he doesn't represent the black population. we all think he's something else

that i can't say. we didn't say defunded the police the media took that phrase and went to town with it. what we said is we don't want people show up every time black people protest with tanks and armors and i mean, like ferguson. look what they showed up. that's what they do every time. when we, black people protest they want to shut us down. they don't want to us say anything. so that's my anger about that. but as far as everything else, he needs to do it and then we have two democrats who are highly paid off by big pharma and the oil industry. they need to get a grip on life. they need to understand that no money is coming out of your pocket. this is our taxpayer money that we paid to the government. and then we have a politician them who wants to say we need more ships. we don't need any money for defense we are low on the totem pole in the country. we are last on the list for education and horrible health care system. so we got a lot of work to do.

and racism is flying around like it's just -- these politicians are showing their racism and not even trying to hide it. they have no shame. so this country is going to erupt pretty soon. host: this is david in huntsville, arkansas. good morning. line for republican. caller: good morning. boy, i tell you, that last caller just really surprise me. but anyways, grading this president. how could i give him anything above an f-minus? he has been on warped speed since the first hour he came into office to do all he can to destroy our country. immediately stopped our energy independence, open our borders, disaster after disaster. how is he supposed to unite a country when he calls half of us domestic terrorist because we want our constitution and

republic back? this is a new world order term. folks, wake up. we're under attack and this man is lead the charge. host: this is greg in virginia. independent. good morning. caller: yeah, good morning. it's been pretty bad. i give him a b-minus. as soon as he got into office, we sagas prices go up. we saw inflation. and now, nobody's doing anything about the national debt. they want to continue to spend, spend. now they want to have another $3.5 trillion. i got a question for the democrats. did they enjoy spending more money at the grocery story? -- store? did they enjoy spending more money at the gas bump? did they enjoy -- and they're going to end up raising taxes on

everyone. they talk about raising taxes just on the rich. this is going to go across the board. everyone's going to have to pay more taxes. if not now, somewhere down the road. the country is going to fall off the cliff if we don't do something about the $30 trillion in debt. and now, it's mind-boggling to me that they want to add on to it with another 3:5 trillion. host: so the president from friday making the case that the -- it's not adding 3.5 trillion that this package is going to be paid for and you talk about taxes being raised. the president saying that the wealthy taxes will be raised on only the wealthiest but that this will be paid for, that it's not going to add that to the debt. you think it's going to add the debt and raise taxes on everyone? caller: yes, because they're playing tricks with the budget.

it's gimmicks. they've been doing this for years. the whole thing -- wealthy can't pay. there's only so much the wealthy can do. you can only soak them but so much. it's a -- it's got to come from somewhere else. and that's what people got to understand. and the reason i want to give him at least a d minus is because at least brought some sort of some good temperament for the job which was not the case the last four years. host: that's greg in virginia this morning after couple more of your social media posts as we wrap up here. just about five minutes left in this segment of the "washington journal." it was tony saying biden gets a d. he accepts no responsibility for his actions and he blames trump for the afghanistan pullout claim the credit for pulling out

due to trump's agreement. this is the tweet from one of those folks who watches this program near every day. you can join that community @cspanwj. if approval polls support your wish they speak the truth. if not, they are fake. this is joseph in indiana. democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you today? host: i'm doing well, joseph. go ahead. caller: on the president's grade, i would have to give him an a-plus. he did come on the back of mr. trump's mess-uple that's being pilot. -- polite now he's inherited all that debt from the republicans. and that's all there is everything is paid for like mr. biden said which it is. if you go back and look, and trump wants to give all the rich people tax breaks and everything else. we were making 32%. and now it's down to 28% or

something like that. i believe in all honesty get off his back, stop the other stuff, the misinformation coming from god knows where. every time i look up, i see it and it just makes me sick. mr. reagan just like trump, he busted the unions i worked for conrail. and then they don't want to help the little guy at all. host: joseph, you say a-plus is the grade you give the president amount lot of callers were more critical of the. have cited afghanistan. the pullout in afghanistan as one of the reasons why they give him a much lower grade than an a-plus do you think afghanistan was an a-plus effort how the pullout went? caller: yes, i do. because mr. trump -- it costs us more money to do that but we did it anyway.

so i think that he should get an a-plus he's trying to build up our economy. republicans need to get off his back and wake up. quit drinking the same kool-aid. it's always been about the wallet and not the war. host: that's joseph in indiana. connie in pennsylvania, a republican. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you stood? host: i'm doing good. go ahead, connie. caller: good. host: doing well. caller: great. [laughter] biden, he's a failing grade for me. and it's due to his socialist and markist agenda. -- marxist agenda. we are a capitalist society as of nine months ago, striving on independence. and unfortunately with this new socialist and marxist agenda, we have a mentality, at least the administration has a mentality of we will take care of you to

cradle to the grave. and eventually you run out of using other people's money. so, it's really unfortunate. i would challenge the democrats that are giving biden high grades to maybe look outside of our country and look at those socialist and marxist society, such as venezuela and see what kind of status, how that country is going. i think the big difference between a democrat and a republican is a republican will provide -- let's use an analogy of fishing. we will teach somebody how to fish. we will help you to fish. but we will not provide you that fish. but with the democrats, they want to be provided that fish.

and the independent -- host: connie, a lot of and we're running out of time. a lot of -- you talk about the spending and move towards socialism. do you think that stimulus checks for americans or the child tax credit, do you think those were moved towards socialism? did you benefit from any of those programs? caller: no, i did not. i'm childless. and i did not qualify for any of the stimulus checks. i was fortunate enough to work. i think the initial payment to help those that were affected was rationale. it was a good rationale to do that. however the continuation of the stimulus, you know, up through i

guess it was september 4 or what have you was unnecessary. clearly, there were employers signed all over, signs all over the place in pennsylvania asking for workers. because of that stimulus, people would rather sit at home and not work while they get paid by the government. anyway, that is my food for thought. host: we will end this first hour of the washington journal there. up next one of our sunday political roundtables. adrienne elrod and rory cooper will join us. we will talk about the future of president biden's domestic agenda. stick around. we will be right back. -- we

will be right back. ♪ >> weekends bring you the best in american history. the president of the center for conservative women and her bout " -- book " how to raise a conservative daughter." we will feature interviews with the author of " king of -- find a full schedule on your tv guide. ♪ >> tonight on q and a, lawrence

wright new yorker staff writer talks about his most recent book " the play gear, -- " the plague year." >> there was a global pandemic preparedness report and it ranked the united states number one in being prepared. all the things the president cited -- they were true! and yet if you had turned the rankings upside down it would have perhaps been a more realistic representation of what happened with countries like latvia and vietnam doing very well and the u.s. and u.k.

doing very poorly. >> lawrence wright tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on q and day. you can -- on q&a. you can also listen to q&a as a podcast wherever you get your podcasts. ♪ >> washington journal continues. host: time for another one of our sunday political roundtables.

we are joined by rory cooper and adrienne elrod. adrienne elrod, it was cnn who put it this way on friday -- " what happens this week on capitol hill will make or break biden's first term legislative agenda." guest: i would not say it was a make or break for his agenda. there is still a lot of time left. you wants -- he wants to pass reconciliation and he wants -- and he wants to pass infrastructure. democrats mostly agree on the legislative agenda.

we will see how this process works out. this is an important week for joe biden. that is why he has been speaking to members. host: rory cooper, what is the republican strategy this week? is it to go on allowing progressive send moderates to disagree with each other? guest: i have a less optimistic view of what will happen this week. nancy pelosi is bringing her caucus together at 5:30 p.m. on monday close to when they need to start voting. they have allowed the legislative calendar to put all of these things all at once. the bipartisan infrastructure package, the debt limit, continuing resolution -- you

can make the legislative calendar work better for you if you plan these in advance. they have allowed themselves to get backed into this corner. it is going to be a hard week for them, even if they are able to get something passed, knowing it will be dead on arrival in the senate. host: we are used to busy weeks, but a particularly busy week this week. budget resolution debate in the house, possible final vote sometime this week, that government funding deadline is midnight on thursday, that bill includes a debt ceiling, a potential debt ceiling raise. layout the possible best case

scenario for democrats by the time we get to friday. guest: the best case scenario is if we were able to pass reconciliation. ultimately, it will pass. we will have a short-term spending bill to get through the next few weeks. if that does not pass, that is on him. creditors will tell you we need to get the debt ceiling raised. we need to raise it for things that republicans passed knowing the trump administration. when it comes to the biden agenda, the best case scenario would be -- if we can get to a point where we are close to passing one of them, i would consider that a win as well. host: realistic best case

scenario for republicans on friday? guest: i think that when they get to friday, we will at least know where the divisions by, what mansion and cinema are going to stomach on the senate side. they will have a framework that will not mean much. on the debt ceiling, mitch mcconnell does not need to deliver a single republican vote for the debt ceiling. the only reason they want to get bailed out by republicans on this vote is a allowed themselves to get back to get back into this legislative corner. republicans are essentially bystanders at this point.

they will watch have the democratic field plays out. we have had a lot of contentious debt ceiling raises over the years. we should probably do away with it altogether because it is always a ridiculous situation. mitch mcconnell is a legislative master. what he needs right now is for there not to be trillions of trillions of dollars not spent on a reconciliation bill. he knows the way to help delay that is to make democrats own their work. host: the debt ceiling, the bipartisan infrastructure framework, the build back, better act, the issues we are talking about that congress will

be talking about all week long. worry cooper -- rory cooper and adrienne elrod are with us until 9:00 a.m. eastern. start calling in. the government funding ends at midnight on thursday. from a purely political standpoint, who generally wins these government shutdown battles? guest: unfortunately the people who lose are the ones you just mentioned -- government workers. nobody wants to have a shutdown

under their watch. the biden administration has made it clear where they stand on things. when it comes, to raising the debt ceiling, one of the reasons we have to do that is to pay for the legislative agenda under donald trump. democrats are doing the best we can. we are keeping our caucus aligned as much as we possibly can on these matters. host: both our guests with a vast background in politics. roy cooper, who wins a government shutdown? guest: democrats on the white house, the senate,, and the house. there is not a republican involved here. i do not think we will have one because of that.

if we were, it would be a signal of legislative incompetence. you should be able to at least pass a continuing resolution. host: do think that is the easy one this week for democrats? guest: absolutely. host: what is the hard-won -- hard one this week for democrats? guest: the infrastructure framework bill. the progressives are going to have a hard time stomach getting a smaller bill that gives them less leverage in the senate with joe manchin and kyrsten sinema. whether or not they can get the infrastructure done knowing that

challenge is ahead of them. host: for so long nancy pelosi has been known as somebody who has been able to avoid the interparty fighting in her caucus, something we see more in recent years on the republican side in the house. why is this interparty fighting happening now? do think it is overblown? guest: i think it is overblown. i would not vote against -- bet against nancy pelosi. here is the thing with the build back better act -- some people want to compare this with passing the affordable care act. there were back and forth machinations behind the scenes,

lots of debating within the caucus about the merits of the bill and how to make it as strong of a bill as possible. when the aca passed it was not very popular. the build back better act is extremely popular. your overdue for passing a large legislative agenda -- we are overdue for passing a large legislative agenda like this. there is a lot of overdue policies in this legislation, and they are overwhelmingly popular. regardless of whether you are a democrat or a republican, the build back better act is very popular. host: adrienne elrod and rory

cooper with us this morning, taking your phone calls and one of our sunday political roundtables. malik in arlington, texas, independent. caller: the republican party is nothing more than the socially acceptable fascist movement. with that being said, i am paying 27% of my income under president trump mainly because he -- i never received the tax break. the republican party has been taking this trickle-down economics to the grave. i have never seen that. the government has not given me anything. i received $1500 in a pell grant

. the republican party is nothing more than groundhog day. host: what do think happens this week? caller: the democrats either go it alone and pass the agenda because republicans were upset that we did not even stay and afghanistan. this needs to pass. we need to go it alone as democrats -- democrats need to go it alone. i am an independent because i do not respect democrats. the republicans are not there to make anyone's lives better guest:. guest:-- anyone's lives better. guest: the republican party has their run problems for sure.

comparisons to the affordable care act passage -- you look back at that time, president obama was front and center selling that legislation. he was putting a lot of pressure on capitol hill to do it. fortunately right now president biden is nowhere to be seen. he has not given nancy pelosi or chuck schumer any help. he has not given them any of the public assistance to push on selling the agenda, on pushing the moderates and progressives into a lane. host: adrienne elrod? guest: joe biden has been talking about this agenda since his time on the campaign trail when he was running for the

democratic nomination. he has been traveling across the country since he was first sworn in as the president, talking about this agenda. he has been having behind the scenes meetings. he has been transparent throughout the entire process. he is still continuing to have these conversations to try and get the overall democratic caucus to a place where we can have the majority of votes pass. he has been invested in this. host: could president biden have broken this up into smaller parts? guest: i think you have to at least go into your first year as president in a big way. you have to go big. if reconciliation does not pass,

he can approach some of these very critical issues in a smaller, more piecemeal approach, but when you have the majority to the house and senate, you have to try and pass your legislative agenda in one fell swoop, if you can. host: the bipartisan infrastructure framework got 19 votes in the senate, 19 republican votes. why is it less than half a dozen now among house republicans? guest: the house is not going to do any favors for nancy pelosi this week. there will be a difficult challenge for her to try and get these bills passed. it is less about the legislation and more about the legislative process right now. there are a lot of people in

washington pushing for its success. unfortunately the democrats mated a hostage to the reconciliation -will- made -- made it a hostage to the reconciliation bill. the way these things happen, process sometimes trumps legislation. nancy pelosi will have to figure out how to get her democrats in line. republicans have been on tv this week grumbling about the senate. the democrats are the ones who have to figure out how they are going to get this agenda passed. host: callers patiently waiting for us.

andy in newburgh, indiana, democrat -- annie in newburgh, indiana, democrat. you have to stick by your phone! next caller -- caller: i want all of trump worshiping fascists do know that biden is leading. he got 100,000 people out of afghanistan. you show me one removal at the end of the war that went smoothly. i want these two guests to talk about when president obama tried to make this country a united country.

the terrorist republicans did everything they could to kill his agenda. whenever the things they did was they spread the meme that there was going to be sharia law because obama was a muslim. the other thing they spread was that there would be health care rationing. what do we have today? have sharia law in texas, we have health care rationing because these republican terrorists want to keep america divided. they want to start a race more. guest: there are still americans and american allies in afghanistan now. there is a reason biden has taken a 20 point dip in the

polls since before the afghanistan withdrawal because it has gone so poorly. there could have been a better way and frankly we are leaving it up to five individuals and ad hoc organize a shins to figure out how -- organizations to figure out how to get people out of afghanistan. host: adrienne elrod? guest: let's remember that biden was hamstrung to the state. his predecessor negotiated with the taliban to have this may withdrawal date. our military did an excellent

job getting everybody out. they have made it clear that they are dedicated to getting people out in a safe manner. it should be no surprise to anybody that we pulled out of afghanistan. i find it rich when you see republicans criticizing this. president biden was the one who had the guts and the willingness to go forward with this withdrawal. host: florida, kurt, good morning. caller: the big issue that i have is we are arguing about the debt ceiling, different things that we passed and we need to have the funding now. why would we now want to pass a giant stimulus or build back

better policy, $3 trillion debt when we are arguing about things we have not paid for yet. the federal government, big programs like social security and medicare are going to be defunct in the near future. here we are arguing about paying for programs we have already. host: do you think the bipartisan infrastructure framework for roads and bridges, is that a worthwhile $1 trillion to spend right now? guest: -- caller: it would be if our government was not dysfunctional. i have little faith that the money will be spent in the right way.

i have worked for the government on several navy bases where i see a huge amount of money being wasted because of the way we manage things. i fully believe it will be a big debacle. guest: the great thing about the build back better act is that it is paid for. it will be paid for. joe biden has been talking with janet yellen. it was reported earlier this week that nancy pelosi and chuck schumer met with janet yellen. the way it will be paid for is by taxing the ultra-wealthy and corporations. who is not going to be taxed to pay for this is anyone making under four hundred thousand dollars a year.

i worked for a member -- under $400,000 a year. i worked for a member of the blue dog coalition in congress. it will take a bipartisan group to address this. the good news about the build back better act is it will be paid for so we will not go further into debt to pay for these critical programs. host: our next caller is jennifer. caller: for starters i would like to speak on behalf of jerry from michigan. as far as racists, not every american is racist. i am republican all the way. as far as biden in office, he has not done half of what trump

did to start off with as far as this building bridges. that is -- we needed to but is that what the money is going to be used for? guest: you are creating programs that will live in permittivity. they do not stop at the 10 year window. we do not score beyond that. anybody who has been a part of capitol hill legislating knows that mostar gimmicks. you are not going to be able to create enough taxation on that upper tier to put real numbers next to one of these acts. that is what joe manchin and kyrsten sinema are saying.

they are saying we have spent trillions and trillions of money above and beyond what the u.s. government normally spends and we cannot keep doing that without thinking about what effect that will have down the road. it will take bipartisan consensus to get some attention on the national debt. democrats have been hypocritical in the past. both parties need to start reading the social security trust report. we are heading for a cliff. . that is why this debate centers around it so much. host: who is the adult in the room who can lead that conversation? guest: i think america is one thing for adults in the room --

wanting for adults in the room. we are figuring out what we can sustainably spend on. we had a defense bill passed this week with overwhelming majorities in the house, almost 400 votes. you need to have some reason at the top about what can be achieved. guest: this is a $3.5 trillion plan over 10 years. when you look at all of the programs in this legislation that are desperately needed by the american people, where do you draw the line? do you say -- where do you draw the line? do you say, no, we are not going

to address the threat of climate change. we have not made a lot of progress over the last 4 years so this is a once in a generation act. it is paid for. -- it is paid for. you can ask a number of economists. they will tell you our economy needs this. host: one thing we often like to do is take a look at how the issues we are talking about are playing in campaign ads around the country. the ads are out there, including an attack ad from the club for growth, targeting abigail spanberger. [video clip] >> nancy pelosi and abigail

spanberger pick your pocket. they are eating into the value of your paycheck. now they are pushing reconciliation. it could cost your family. higher investment taxes could slam your retirement savings. host: reconciliation, a process that is hard for folks even on capitol hill to understand, but inflation very much a word americans understand. just tidying those two things together a good it ad -- good ad? guest: it is red meat a district that republicans already hold. abigail spanberger has an a good

job measuring the republican -- conservative bona fides of her jurisdiction with democratic lawmaking. there is going to be a lot of talk and it to your point a lot of talk about rising costs in america. they feel grocery costs going up. you are seeing it in the governor's race in virginia as well. you feel like your paycheck is not making up for it. that will continue to be an issue through midterms. host: this is a very tough district -- host: adrienne elrod? guest: this is a very tough district.

we can expect these ads. this is what the club for growth does. what the club for growth is missing here is that the build back better plan is really popular. when you ask the majority of republicans, do you support expanding childcare access, do you support lowering prescription drug costs, do you support lowering the cost of dental and vision in medicare, they also part that. -- they all support that. host: rory cooper brings out the virginia governor's race. some of the ads in that race

focused on the restrictive abortion law in texas. [video clip] >> a controversial texas law that would ban most abortions went into effect this morning. >> it essentially bans all abortions after six weeks, before most women even know they are pregnant. ♪ >> i am going to be really honest with you, the short answer is that in the campaign i can't. when i have the majority, we can start going on offense. i -- we ken starr going on offense -- we can start going on

offense. guest: i think this is very smart. this is where republicans are going to get themselves in trouble. the majority of americans want roe v. wade to be the law of the land. we passed that. that is something we dealt with a long time ago. women do not want to see their fundamental rights as a woman when it comes to their own choice when it comes to pro-life or pro-choice. they do not want the government to meddle in that. when you look at the construct of the voters in virginia, a of them are in suburban districts. a significant majority of voters support codify ing roe v. wade.

you will hear them playing this up going into 2022 as well. host: that ad and this race, which is now being called a tossup, rory cooper? guest: glenn young can is a pretty pragmatic republican -- lenn -- glenn youngkin is a pretty pragmatic republican. that is focused on northern virginia.

this is a tossup race in a predominantly blue race because it is a centerleft and independents fleeing policies from the last year and a half in virginia and looking for someone who will keep schools open. the attacks will not stick because nobody looks at glenn y oungkin and sees him as a donald trump. host: @rorycooper, a guy who often tweets about school policy. this is bill in newfield, new jersey, independent. caller: i have three things i would like to say. the first is the people in

washington dc say one thing but they are not telling you the truth. they have hidden reasons for doing the things they want to raise taxes on the rich, why don't they say, everyone has to pay so should -- social security on your earnings? the second thing is, if you want to tax the rich, why don't we start a national sales tax? if you want to help poor people, make sure there is no federal sales tax on used merchandise.

there are simple answers to a lot of things but they do not want those answers. guest: -- host: adrienne elrod, where do you want to start? guest: i appreciatethe caller' -- i appreciate the caller's ideas. democrats are for an equitable tax system. did the build back better program going back to the paperwork for this, it is taxing corporation. it is making sure that if you are making over $400,000 a year you will be paying your fair share of this.

you will have a more equitable tax structure. americans, middle-class families see people who are super wealthy paying less in taxes than they are when it comes to an overall percentage of what they are paying in taxes. that is something nancy pelosi and chuck schumer are focused on , making sure we have a more fair and equitable tax structure for all americans. host: roy cooper, i will let you take ron in valhalla, new york. caller: i am very annoyed to hear mcconnell saying he is not owing to pass the budget when they spend the money -- going to pass the budget when they spent

the money. this is getting to be too much. donald trump spent all this money, gave a big tax cut to the rich. is congress going to do something about it? host: rory cooper. guest: this is a democratic senate, democratic house, democratic white house. it is easier to blame mitch mcconnell then to learn internally -- look internally for democrats. he is a good bogeyman. frankly, your last caller has some interesting ideas that should be debated. raising the cap on social

security is something that should be considered. different types of taxation to balance out how progressive the tax code is it something that should be considered. they need to try to get it through with 50 votes instead of 60 and they are having a hard time collecting those 50 on their own side. they will do their best to make this about republican obstructionism. host: adrienne elrod, you have a republican. caller: good morning. i have heard an awful lot about the pay floor.

with the change in the tax code that is being proposed, i understand the wealthy will now pay instead of 37%, maybe 39.6%. that is not a whole lot. you keep stating that anyone making more than $400,000 a year will not have an increase. if you have a married couple, one of which who makes over $400,000, another who makes $200,000, the married amount is $450,000. host: what is the question for adrienne elrod?

caller: i want to know three specifics on the altar wealthy -- ultra wealthy. i want to know some specifics in the tax code that will make the wealthy pay more. guest: a a lot of that is still being worked out right now. nancy pelosi met with jenny yellen last week. i understand what the caller is saying, but i think it is important to look at -- you see middle-class families making $65,000 joint income per household and they are paying often times more in taxes when it comes to an overall

percentage of their annual income than someone making $1 million a year. that is something the entire democratic caucus want to make more fair and equitable. you are not going to hurt the middle class families who have been constantly punished time and time again when it comes to taxes. there taxes will be lower. corporations will make up the bulk of the spending for this bill. host: joseph is in the empire state, democrat, good morning. do me a favor, joseph, turned on your tv. caller: my question is regarding tax the rich. my question is to the

progressives and the bernie sanders supporters, whatever happened to the proposal several years ago when they proposed a robin hood tax to pay for these programs? host: adrienne elrod? guest: is he talking about a proposal bernie sanders had during the campaign? host: he is talking about the fate of the bernie sanders agenda. guest: as someone who worked on hillary clinton's campaign in 2016, bernie sanders has had a significant impact on the democratic agenda. he focused on raising the minimum wage to $15. he made that more mainstream.

he focused on policies the american people desperately need. he mainstreamed some of these progressive ideas that have now turned into ideas shared by a lot of republicans. bernie sanders has impacted and influenced in a positive way the overall democratic agenda host:. -- the overall democratic agenda. host: a 3% surcharge on incomes above $5 million -- is that something -- we talked about revenue raisers before elizabeth and bernie sanders. -- elizabeth sanders --

elizabeth warren and bernie sanders. guest: that makes a lot of sense. when we are looking at revenue raisers, they deserve a lot of credit for getting creative, looking at every nook and cranny where we can raise revenue without impacting middle-class families. this is a prime example of something that has been talked about for a long time. host: rory cooper? guest: i agree bernie sanders has a strong influence in the democratic party. -- i think that is why they are having trouble passing the agenda this week. democrats will have to deal

politically -- this country is largely more centrist than bernie sanders gives it credit for and that is why they are going to have a hard time getting these trillions of dollars passed through the chambers. host: about 10 minutes left in our roundtable, this guy with a question for you mr. kober -- mr. cooper, " please name one proposal congressional republicans have raised that does something other than assure their own power and influence?" guest: pediatric cancer and research does not generally

getting a lot of funding and that has been replenished on a bipartisan basis over the years. -- bipartisan basis over the years. both parties typically get some non-self-preservation legislation passed. it is not the focus of what people watch but we are watching more of a divisive issue this week but there is plenty congress does get done on an irregular basis that they can be proud of. host: bob -- adrienne elrod, you got bob. caller: what happened to responsibility for each individual? what happened to " everything is

going to go up if this happens"? she is lying. host: what specifically is she lying about? caller: that everything is going to go up for everyone. you said something about murdering innocent babies. host: adrienne elrod, what is your response? -- what is your response? guest: the way we want to pay for the build back better plan is by taxing the ultra-wealthy. you will see our taxes go down.

all i can tell you facts are fa cts. if the build back better bill passes this is how it is going to be paid for. host: new york. mark is a democrat. guest: -- caller: what is the last big thing that republicans have done and paid for? can you answer that? guest: you are not going to get me to say that republicans have been fiscally responsible on every bill they have passed. frankly, donald trump made it clear when he was running that he did not care about the

national debt. previous to that republicans and democrats on either side have been hypocritical on this issue. we need to be more fiscally responsible. there are a lot of republicans like myself who have maintained a steady focus on the national debt and we need more to join us because they cannot be only when you are out of power that you start to care about these issues. the democrats have to start thinking about it in terms of how big their spending goes. you do not pay for something that creates forever programs over 10 years. you are not going to have free childcare, free college in this bill over the course of america in 10 years. we know that is not true.

both parties need to get more fiscally disciplined. host: are republicans overplaying federal spending and underplaying supply chain issues that are not permanent? guest: americans have the eyes and years. they see prices rising -- have eyes and ears. they see prices rising. employers are offering well above the minimum wage and cannot recruit workers because they are dealing with the long-term effects of unemployment insurance. you can see the effects of some of these policies and action and republicans are right pointed out -- point it out.

host: two the peach state -- to the peach state. anya. caller: first the pipeline closure, he opened the border during the pandemic, the voting id -- who thinks we should be able to vote without an id? you need an id to do a lot. what about the critical race theory they are teaching in our schools? what about the terrorists in our

country? host: adrienne elrod? guest: i want to focus on what joe biden has done while in office. one of the big things he has done is the pandemic. joe biden has gotten the significant majority of americans receiving at least one vaccination. he is working hard to make sure more get vaccinated. he has made sure we have booster shots for those who are immunocompromised and he is working to get every child he can vaccinated in this country. when it comes to immigration,

that is something every president has had to deal with. there is no easy answer. that is something the biden administration is working on closely with his secretary of homeland security. he wants to work with congress to pass an immigration bill as well. host: here is the real clear politics chart showing widen -- biden's performance approval rating. he is underwater at this point. how concerned should this white house be about being underwater right now eight months into his

presidency? guest: any president would love to see his approval numbers higher, by early on in his presidency he has had a lot of challenges he has dealt with. a lot of this has to do with the pandemic, with the delta variant. you see the administration working with the private sector to ensure more people are vaccinated. the numbers that really matter are the numbers next year. if his numbers are in the mid 40's going into the midterm, that will not be a great place. i think once he passes the build back better act and infrastructure, his numbers will go up because the american people will see a boost in their

everyday lives. you will see that reflected in his numbers. host: roy cooper, would you agree? guest: no i think they should be very worried. host: we have hit 9:00 a.m. caller: this is really for the democratic strategist. the country elected joe biden as a moderate. my question is, how is there a mandate for all of this with a one moat majority? -- one vote majority? that's my question. host: we will hear from michael

before we let the panel answer. caller: it was in the aca and then it was taken out, what about these people that don't show up? why can't they -- you fill out the 1099, that should be collected. thank you. host: we will give you a minute or two to respond. guest: i think i will take the first question about a major change in policy under bidens leadership.

i would disagree with that. we had a lot of inaction under trump. but president biden is promoting is legislation that will help the american people in many different ways. it is something that we need. i challenge anyone to tell me why we don't need paid family leave, why we don't have access to childcare, to lower prescription drug costs. that is something. joe biden is trying to get -- make up for out of work the did not happen. it will help the american people. when it comes to dramatic policy , you're not going to see that. joe biden is a moderate heart. he has always worked with democrats and republicans to get things done. that's what he is trying to do now. i don't think you will see a dramatic shift. i think you will see policies

that make up for a lot of time. host: i will give you the final word. guest: joe biden was a moderate compared to bernie sanders. he is still a very liberal politician. i get concerned when i hear the term once in a generation. that usually means very large change. these are very large bills, progressive agendas. it's all packed into one pill because that's how they can get it through with 50 votes. i like the idea of finding more consensus. we are not seen it on reconciliation. we will see how it plays out this week. host: we appreciate both of your

time this morning. thank you so much for joining the roundtable. up next on washington journal, we turn the phone lines over to you. any issue you want to talk about, it is open form. the phone lines, (202) 748-8000. republicans (202) 748-8001. go ahead and start calling to now. we will get your phone calls right after the break. >> this week on the c-span networks, the secretary of defense and the head of central command testify on the u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan into hearings. c-span3 will have coverage

before the armed services committee. the senate banking committee oversight hearing on tuesday at 10:00 with janet yellen. we will have live coverage on c-span.org. health and human services secretary and education secretary are before a senate committee to discuss school re-during the pandemic. watch this week on the c-span networks or listen on the c-span radio app. head over to c-span.org for scheduling information or to stream video. c-span it, your unfiltered view of government.

>> weekends on c-span 2 are an intellectual feast. you will find events and people on american history tv. book tv brings you the latest in nonfiction books and authors. it is television for serious readers. explore on c-span 2. >> washington journal continues. host: it is time for open form where we let you lead the discussion. we want to know what issues you are interested in. the phone lines are yours to call in. as you are calling in it, a couple of stories to keep you up-to-date, including this from amtrak, three people were killed

and 50 injured after an amtrak train derailed in montana. it set off a frantic response by rescuers. the new york times out of new york itself, this from the washington post. the nation's largest school district has been halted by a federal appeals court days before the deadline when it was going to go into effect. the injunction granted friday comes as many school district nationally are adopting vaccine rules to keep schools open.

more on that in the washington post if you want to read it. this headline is well taken place. germany awaits a generational change. a story about the parliamentary election in germany. we will be talking more about those election coming up in about 20 minutes. we will be joined by markus ziener to walk us through what it would mean for german u.s. relations. until then, the phones are yours. we want to hear what's on your mind. peter is in south carolina. good morning. caller: good morning.

on the previous segment defined progress as getting more people more dependent on the federal government for household expenses. i think that is significant. that doesn't sound like progress to me. i think the reason the transportation bill is tied together -- infrastructure is tied together because there is language in the framework of the larger bill. in the larger bill, one of the areas of spending is transportation. that is near the top of the list. there is language in that bill that says if the bill passes, those moneys can be used to

cover the transportation items in this bill. those dollars can then be reassigned for social spending. i've been calling my senators to get them to answer me about this. that is significant. that means infrastructure money can then be used for social programs using the money. i would love for you to discuss that and ask any of the guests about that. host: that is something to ask about this week. we will have members of congress on this week. it's a very busy week on capitol hill. when they are in town, we can usually wrangle a few to take your calls.

for those who are tracking it, there is the infrastructure debate on monday or tuesday in the house. the government runs out of money on thursday night. the senate also debating government funding and the debt ceiling as well. that happened this week on a capital. this is the headline from the wall street journal. congress heads into eight to mulcher was weak. this is albany, new york. good morning. caller: good morning. i am from new york. i am calling to discuss how the government is shutting down and there is no money. it makes no sense to me.

we print our own money. we fund other countries. i understand that as those hierarchy of need is not in the higher brackets. health and education and the ptsd that has been incurred by the coronavirus and what we see in schools today, including getting coronavirus shots if you are immuno deficient. the efforts that are being proposed, i understand tax the riff -- richer. my question is, how do we assess

where the money is going it? how do we ensure it is effective humanitarian work that is being done. republican say people would rather stay home. it's done by the end of the week. i need to understand where we are going with this mindset. host: i might point you to a column today in the washington post. his column democrats -- it speaks to some the questions you asked about how you ensure the money is going it to the right places. this is what he writes:

this is greg in ohio. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call.

i appreciate c-span. it's very educational. my point is this. i find that republicans seem to always use the term "socialism they are the ones of using that system. in 2008 under george bush when the economy collapsed, socialism came to the rescue to bail out wall street. they turned their heads to the needy in this country. they don't go out and see their constituents starving to death and trying to live on food stamps, which amounts to $4.50 today. i tried that. host: you tried to live on $4.50

per day? are you still with us? i think we lost greg. alan is in illinois. go ahead. caller: i've got a couple of comments. i would like to give an observation about the president's popularity. when we had the republican party, they talk about the idea of top-down stuff. president biden is talking about bubbling up. each person has their own individual bubble. it's hard to keep the popularity up altogether. tammy vetoes as the republican party established over the last

three presidents? how many have the democrats? host: are you talking about overwriting vetoes? caller: just stopping everything. president biden can't do stuff because he has a majority, but that doesn't include 10 republicans to be with them. host: that was alan in illinois. this is greg in tennessee. good morning. caller: i just wonder what happens to the taxes for infrastructure. where did that money go. host: where do you think it went? caller: we are paying higher taxes on gasoline. it was my understanding it was set up for infrastructure. the relief package, they put all kinds of stuff in there.

that's why they write such large bills. host: that is greg in tennessee. news from the sunday shows already happening. speaker pelosi same on this week that the senate passed bipartisan bill maybe tomorrow. that infrastructure built hinges on finishing the reconciliation bill. she doesn't think there will be a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill tomorrow. the votes aren't there is what

she said. we will find out together what happens tomorrow. richard is in missouri. good morning. caller: i've got a few comments. we are talking about the programs coming up. when social security went in, that was going to be the disaster of the century. medicare was going to be disastrous. i do think older people could live without those two programs. my mother gave me some advice. she said a wise man can change his mind and a fool never does. the other is you can -- if it wouldn't be for socialism,

people in louisiana and new york and people helping them would be in a bad state. i will get off here. host: did your mother have out favorite politician? caller: my family was republican, my grandfather was a republican in st. louis. they brought me up to be a republican. a wise man can change their mind. host: when did you become a democrat? caller: whenever bush went into iraq. i could see it was time for me to change. i am on so security and medicare now. socialism isn't all bad. i can change.

we can talk about the president record. let's look at what the republicans programs. i will get off here. thank you. host: that was richard in missouri. this is evelyn in connecticut. you are next. caller: i'm on the phone. sorry. i just wanted to ask three questions i think i know the answers to. there were students that voted democrat because they expected to get relief for student that. i wondered if there is anything for them. the second thing is i heard about people testifying before the senate about therapeutics and treatments for covid. i wanted to know if there was any money being spent on that. the vaccine is very specific.

i am in a different group. when we have a variant the vaccine doesn't work for, we are in trouble again. i know there are therapeutics and treatments out there that people are begging. it seems like you can't have a full debate on the subject. the world needs therapeutics and treatments. the third question is i am 65 now. i am reading that medicare is going to run out of money around the corner. the same thing with social security. is there a solution being put toward that? that's what i want to know. host: i can't do it all for you on the flight.

student loan forgiveness is not part of budget reconciliation. some of the efforts there are to expand community college access for young people. the idea of a large student loan debt forgiveness is not in this. forbes is critical of not including it. do you have a child in college? what is the interest to you on that topic? caller: i know a lot of people voted with the idea they were going to have student loan forgiveness. i feel like that was not a promise cap. can you comment on if there is a dime being put toward treatment and therapeutics?

there is a lot out there. we could have scientific debate. now if anybody says this might be working, it doesn't seem like there is any money put toward investigating those things. i don't understand it. are they addressing the fact that medicare and social security are going to go under? host: that is evelyn in the constitution state. this is the last caller in our open phones segment. caller: good morning. hold on a second. they need to hold the republicans tighter and stop

fighting and just get real and vote for the things for the people. host: what are the things the people need right now? caller: better medical facilities. upgrade -- that would be all right. it's been a battle like crazy the last couple of years. i would just like to see something with covid-19 and the veterans. the homeless is what's bugging me. why can't they pick up our veterans off the street and get them in a home or somewhere they can get proper treatment?

they can restore their faith in america. host: vincent and alabama is our last caller. we have about 35 minutes left. we will focus on the federal elections in germany. we are going to be joined by markus ziener from the german marshall fund. stick around for that discussion right after the break. >> joseph stalin had been dead when his successor stunned with a litany of his predecessors abuses, meant to clear the way from above. the secret speech shattered the myth of infallibility.

this is the way the harvard university press introduces the book. >> kathleen smith on this episode of book notes plus. >> you can be part of the national conversation participating in the studentcam video competition. if you are a middle or high school student, create a documentary that answers the question how does the federal government impact your life? there must be supporting points of view.

you have a shot at winning the grand prize. for competition rules, or how to get started, visit our website. >> tonight, the pulitzer prize-winning author and new yorker staff writer talks about his latest book, the plague year. it examines the origins of covid-19, the response to the outbreak by the chinese government, the handling of the pandemic. >> it was prepared by johns hopkins. it ranked the united states as number one in being prepared.

and yet, if you turned the rankings upside down, it would have been a more representation of what actually happened. latvia and vietnam did very well. hubris had a lot to do with it. claxton at 8:00 eastern on q&a. you can listen to q&a as a podcast. >> washington journal continues. host: it's election day in germany. polls close in just about two hours. join us to talk about what it could mean for u.s. german relations is markus ziener with the german marshall fund. start us off with what an

american audience needs to know to understand what's going to happen today in germany. guest: good morning. thanks for having me. first of all, it's the replacement for angela merkel. she will stay in office until a new government forms. she will leave office only when there is eight successor. she will leave the stage. that's why we have these coming in and looking at her legacy. what's really important to know is we have a different landscape these days in germany. we have many parties that will enter the parliament. we are looking at six parties.

they are not like it used to be. we had one minor party and many minor parties. now we have the conservative party, hovering around 25%. the same is true for the social democrats. in the end, it will come down to a coalition of at least three parties. we will see how this is a plane out. this is new for germany. usually this makes things easier. there is a lot of compromise on the horizon. host: markus ziener is our guest. if you want to talk about the election in germany. we are splitting up the phone lines regionally. (202) 748-8000 in the eastern or central time zones.

(202) 748-8001 for the mountain or pacific time zones. (202) 748-8002 if you're outside the united states. you were talking about merkel stepping down after 16 years as chancellor. why is she stepping down? does she leave in good standing? guest: her support numbers are great. they are stellar. her popularity is still high. this is a real achievement. why she is stepping down, she saw this as a good time to leave the stage. she is the first chancellor leaving voluntarily. all others were voted out of office.

they are going to contribute to her reputation. she is looking for the right moment to step down. host: did she have a natural successor in the party? did she do enough to win the election today? guest: the assumption was he will be her successor. it took her quite a while to put her weight behind this candidate. only in the last couple of weeks, she was outspoken and did a lot of support. i think it's the fact that the candidates are not really convincing. he is out of the three candidates one -- he is probably

the one most similar in many ways. the way he's talking to the audience, the way people seem to trust him. host: where did all off schultz come from? he disagreed with angela merkel during her time as chancellor? guest: he is minister of labor before. he was the mayor of hamburg. he is well known to the public. that is something he is running on it. you know me. you know what you get. i think that was one of the points he made.

angela merkel made the same points a couple of years ago. you know what you get if you vote for me. he is saying the same slogan. schultz is a familiar face, a familiar figure. people know there are no surprises. he is a little boring and dull at times. we have a knack for boring politicians. host: the polls will close in about two and a half hours. tell us what election night looks like. when we know the winter? guest: -- winner. guest: the exit polls are very accurate. i think shortly after 6:00 p.m. german time we will have an understanding of who is going to

be in the lead. there are a couple of unknowns. we had people casting their votes already. the impact of the last couple of weeks, it is probably not that big this time. you can't really change your vote anymore. we will see how this is playing out. we are talking about 50%. this is due to the pandemic. host: we lost your sound therefore a second. we want to make sure we can hear from you. we will take some phone calls on this topic of election day in germany. (202) 748-8000 if you are in the eastern or central time zones.

(202) 748-8001 if you are in the mountain or pacific time zones. york pennsylvania, good morning. caller: good morning. what are the issues the german electorate are voting for? you mentioned the parties. what are the specific issues at play? how has immigration policy affected the election? guest: pressing issues are the rise of prices for housing. we saw a huge increase of prices. germany is a place where people rent homes. they don't own homes. that really had a big impact. we also have a referendum going,

how to ease that. how to nationalize them, which is a very radical move in order to get prices down. secondly, debt and taxes. we have became elated huge debt. we looked very well before the pandemic. we have increased our debt significantly. how do we pay that back? raising taxes? we already are a high tax country. can we decrease taxes even further. that was the second biggest issue. the third point is climate

change. and particularly, the green party was running it. the other parties jumped on the bandwagon. if we would want to do something on climate change, we will bring down a future emissions and invest more. our energy prices will probably go up. that is a huge issue. it used to be a huge issue a couple of years ago. it has somewhat subsided due to the fact that the integration of the one million refugees coming into germany in 2015 and 2016, it has. it wasn't that strong. host: michael on twitter with

another issue. how does that affect the european union and nato? guest: 16 years in office, you accumulate a lot of experience. if you remember she was called the queen of the night. she was very good at sustaining long-running conferences and negotiations hide closed doors. she was very good. when she put her weight behind certain proposals, that really made an impact. when she is gone it, the european union has to look for another leader. who could that be?

we just talked about who was running for the other parties, they are not looking that strong. the question, is it emmanuel macron who will be doing this? he probably could become the main trigger in the european union. in the years to come. he has elections coming up next year. we will see if he wins those elections. with regard to nato, we got in the crosshairs of donald trump. we i mean the germans, not meeting the 2% spending of gdp on defense. we are currently around 1.5%. we got criticized for that time and again. will that change in the future?

that depends on the outcome of the election. if we see more shift to the left with the social democrats flanked by the greens, it's probably not that likely. schultz made it clear he wants to do a lot for the german army. it's unclear at this point. host: we have just about 15 minutes left. we are taking your questions about the elections in germany. we would like to hear your thoughts on the legacy of angela merkel. she is stepping down as chancellor. eastern and central time zones, (202) 748-8000. central -- mountain and pacific (202) 748-8001 (202) 748-8001,.

one tweet from town square. she is a respected leader and the world will be worse off with her absence. this is derek in indiana. good morning. you are on with markus ziener. caller: i wanted to ask about her future plans. what is she going to do to preserve her legacy? maybe a nongovernmental organization or a nonprofit? has she given any indication about her future plans? guest: that's a question that comes up a lot. this is very much to the question. it looks like she is not planning for the time after the elections. if you have to look at the character, she was always very

down to earth. she is living in an apartment guarded by one policeman in the center of her lynn. she is driving an old volkswagen golf. she goes to the supermarket herself with security. she has a shopping list and goes there. if you're lucky, you can run into her. she is a very down to earth person. she probably will -- she will enjoy the life out of the spotlight. my guess is we will not see her taking up a high-profile post after she has left government. host: you mentioned defense issues a while ago. so much focus on the u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan.

how was that viewed in germany? what was the german level of commitment with the nato mission? guest: the pullout of afghanistan was one of her low points. this was in the last throes of her chancellorship. the way it happened, how hastily it was organized, the way the u.s. pulled out and the allies had to follow suit. that did not help her a lot. our failures in afghanistan, we left behind locals who had helped the germans there. we are not able to arrange that properly and get them out before the taliban were taking over. we know this happened

unexpectedly. it was rapid. still, she got a lot of heat for not preparing well for that. this is definitely a low point in her time as the chancellor i think she didn't address the topic well enough when she was asked when she gave a speech not long ago. asking about german commitments, at times, germany had up to 5000 soldiers in afghanistan. it was the second biggest provider of troops in the country. in the end, it was thousand. about 60 lives lost during those 20 years.

i think 13 billion euros were spent on afghanistan. when we look back, we will know if this was very balanced here. host: leigh is next. good morning. caller: i would like to ask about her relations with israel. 15 years ago when she became chancellor, the first thing she did was schedule estate visit to israel to apologize for the crimes of the nazis. i'm sure she had more important things to do when she became chancellor 15 years ago. that's the first thing she did. she scheduled a state visit to

israel to apologize for the nazis. host: her relationship with israel? guest: that was one of her main political goals, to maintain a good relationship with israel. she said preserving israel is something the german state has to take care of. it's not something we do because it's politics. we have this past. this is something it was clear. the relationship with netanyahu was not an easy one, this didn't

make any difference in how germany was looking at israel, and the importance of that relationship. whoever is going to follow her as chancellor, this is not going to change. this is shared by all of the major german political parties. host: what country do the german see as their most close ally? guest: in the eu, it is france. this is only popular questions asked to the candidates, what is going to be your first trip? where you go after the election? paris is always high on the agenda. the franco german alliance is

still seen as the engine for the european union. this will stay. the question is to what extent is this going to lose steam? we had a president in france who was the predecessor of mccrone. things were rather slow. hopefully, things will change again. we will see more of a boost. since the u.k. has left the european union, we have a shift in balance. we will see how that lays out. all of the eyes are on france. i think macron is clear that he

wants to boost the european union. we talked about allies, the united states is our closest partner in the alliance. that is for sure. i think it was sobering in the past couple of weeks and months because when you were thinking the election was a separation in history. he got so many votes when he was running for reelection. it became clear the united states changed quite a bit. i think germans have to come to terms with it. under joe biden, a couple of

areas unites states is doing what they find is the right thing to do. the way afghanistan was orchestrated, that is after 20 years. that is something you really have to consider. the way it was done and the way the allies had to cope with it with a lot of complaints about not getting consulted enough before that, we saw the submarine deal with australia. there are a number of other issues. the travel ban in november. europeans could not come to the united states. our destination rates are better than here. we didn't understand why that was. i think it led to a certain

alienation between europe and the united states. host: markus ziener is our guest. he has a longtime journalist and professor, help us understand what is going to be happening today in those german elections. we want to hear from you on the legacy of angela merkel, stepping down after 16 years as chancellor of germany. we've got just about five minutes. call in with your questions. christine has been waiting in las vegas. caller: i love the show. thank you for taking me. i was born in america. i am in my 60's. when i was a little girl, i remember clearly saying the pledge of allegiance to this country.

i am wondering if there is a pledge of allegiance or something like that in germany. when i was growing up, i loved this country. i remember learning about the holocaust. i was ashamed of that. i am a mix of different things in meat. how long can the human race go without being different parts of this. i respect all nations. i am greatly ashamed of the way we came out of afghanistan. i do wonder if there is a pledge . i respect the german people. i have nothing to renounce. i am older.

it's a part of me. it's a part of history. we do have to learn from our past. host: let's take that question. is there the equivalence of a pledge of allegiance in german schools? i think we lost markus ziener for a second. you can keep calling it with your questions. we are trying to see if we can get the connection. we are coming close to the end of the show this morning. go ahead and call him on the phone lines. eastern and central time zones, (202) 748-8000. mountain and western time zones, (202) 748-8001. did you get the question?

guest: we have no pledge of schools. it has to do with our past. the holocaust and everything that happened in the last century, everything that smells of nationalism is something that doesn't go down well in germany. the first time we had an open display of national attributes like the flag and singing the german hymn, this happened during the soccer championship. it was not something with people driver out on top of their cars. step-by-step, we are coming close to having a more natural feel we have been struggling

with this. we are still struggling. to the question of spending on defense, that's the main topic when it comes to white we should spend more on defense. it has led to major wars and is brought so much grief to people. you have to see that in the context of our history. host: aubrey writes in on twitter this morning, is there any place in german politics for angela merkel as an advisor or elder states woman? guest: i can only repeat what i said earlier. i think she will step down and get out of the limelight. i cannot foresee that she is

pulling strings from behind. she is not going to do that. as it looks right now, it's not likely her party is going to be in the lead in the next government. it will be the social democrats. she could end up on the opposition bench in the parliament. that would diminish the impact of her party. i did it we see that much of her in the future. host: we will let you get to it. the polls close in just about two hours. he will be watching the results. markus ziener is at the german marshall fund. thank you for taking the time. that's going to do it for washington journal today.

we will be back here tomorrow at 7:00 eastern. in the meantime, have a great sunday. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2021] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2021] >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more, including charter communications. >> broadband is a force for empowerment. that is why a charter has invested billions on infrastructure, upgrading technology, empowering opportunity in communities big and small. charter is connecting a spirit >> charter communications

supports c-span as a public service, along with these other television providers, giving way front row seat -- giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> tonight, on question and answer, lawrence wright talks about his latest book, the plague year: america in the time of covid, which examines the origins of covid-19, the response by the chinese government, and the handling by the trump administration. >> it was prepared by johns hopkins and other entities -- >> scientists, and yet if you had turned the rankings upside down, it would have been perhaps a more realistic representation

of what happened, with countries like rwanda and austria and vietnam doing very well, the u.s. and the u.k. >> lawrence wright tonight on q&a at 8:00 p.m. eastern. you can find it wherever you get your podcasts. ♪ host: good morning. it's sunday, september 26, 2021. a three-hour "washington journal" is ahead-for-you -- for you as well as a focus on the federal elections in germany but we begin at the white house where president biden's job approval ratings has fallen sharply. as we take you through those new numbers this morning, we're putting thies