with legislative business at noon. members are considering several bills from the small business committee including one that would increase the number -- the amount of capital and surplus available for small business investment companies. and another that would create a cybersecurity unit within the small business administration to assist with federal cybersecurity activities. on c-span2, the senate is back at 10 to consider executive nominations including deputy under secretary of the treasury. on c-span three the senate judiciary committee holds a hearing on ways to combat online marketplace fraud. coming up this morning, we will discuss the latest on president biden's build back better agenda with south carolina republican congresswoman nancy mace and wisconsin democratic congressman mark pocan. then jim damone, -- jim tymon

talks about the impact of highway funding extension and infrastructure needs across the state. washington journal is next. ♪ host: it is election day in virginia, new jersey, and several cities across the u.s., including minneapolis, boston, seattle, atlanta, and buffalo. police funding and public safety are key issues in several places. welcome to the washington journal. we will talk about election day 2021. you will have the chance to chat with two members of congress and we will look at the infrastructure bill under negotiation and congress. we will start with the pew research center poll.

americans say they want more spending on police in their area. we will get into this poll in a minute. we want to get the phone numbers up because we want to hear your views on police funding. do you think it should be increased, decreased, stay about the same? (202) 748-8000 if you think police funding should be increased in your community. (202) 748-8001 for those who say it should be decreased. if you think it is about right, (202) 748-8002. we certainly encourage police to call in. you can also send a text, if that is your method. (202) 748-8003 is the text number. please include your city and first name. you can continue the conversation on facebook, twitter, and instagram. @cspanwj is our handle.

back to this pew poll. amid mounting concern about crime in the u.s., americans' attitudes toward police funding in their communities have shifted significantly. the share of adults who say spending on policing in their area should be increased stands at 47%, up from 31% in june 2020. that includes 21% who say funding for their local police should be increased a lot, up from 11% who said that last summer. support for reducing spending on police has fallen sing of a goodly according to pew. 15% of adults -- significantly according to pew. 15% say spending should be decreased. 6% advocate decreasing spending a lot, down from 12% who said this last year. 37% of adults now say spending on police should stay the same. that is down from 42%.

we are asking whether you think police funding should be the same, increased, or decreased. that is our question this morning. in minneapolis, this is one of the major issues for the mayoral race, or jacob fry is being challenged in the election by two other democrats. here is the journal. there is a ballot initiative that would replace the police department in the city charter with the department of public safety. that would take a public health approach to safety and include sworn peace officers if deemed necessary. the number of officers in the new department will no longer be set at a required level based on city population here in the plan would likely include more money for violence prevention programs and the diversion of police

calls to social workers and others. minneapolis has a ballot question on the line. here it is. shall the minneapolis city charter be amended to remove the police department and replace it with a department of public safety that employs a comprehensive public health approach to the delivery of functions by the department of pub look safety -- public safety where those functions can be determined by the mayor and city council by ordinance, which will not be subject to exclusive mayoral power over its establishment, maintenance, and command and which could include licensed peace officers if necessary to fulfill its responsibilities for public safety? that comes down to whether the police department should be abolished and made into a department of public safety. in the washington post, there is this article. minneapolis mayor fights to stay on amid his polling plunge.

jacob frey has been heckled by activists demanding he defund the police instead of merely reform the department as proposed. in the days after george floyd's murder, hundreds of protesters marched to his apartment near downtown minneapolis to demand sweeping changes to policing in the city. when frey refused to commit to abolishing the police department met the crowd erupted in anger. this article goes on to note his two challengers. they are sheila nezhad and kate knuth. they have pledged to rank each other and ask their voters to do the same to my a partnership they hope will deprive -- the same to each other, a partnership they hope will deprive frey.

do you think police funding should be increased, decreased, or stay the same in your community? tom is in florida. you're in the -- on the increase line. caller: [inaudible] with one exception, immunity. we need to hear rid of immunity. host: that is tom in florida. this is cecil in alexandria, virginia. go ahead. what is the situation in alexandria? caller: i am an advocate for supporting funding of the police with a caveat. with the immunity they hold --

doing the right thing and they can take my life without any recourse or consequences. that is the counterbalance of defunding. to walk around like a god, snatch up my life -- their life normal. that is my personal worry about the funding. however, society has to take up the slack to support their neighbors if they already funded to save lives -- are defunded to save lives. host: have you seen an increase in crime in alexandria in the past year? caller: it is relatively peaceful and quiet particularly in my community. i do not see any increase, but i

noticed around the nation generally there seemed to be a spike. i do not know if it is because of covid so they are not launching headlong in or if it is other factors as well. i think there is a noticeable absence. crime and murder seem to be on a steep rise. host: aaron, tacoma, washington, another increase. please go ahead. caller: i have been traveling the west coast. i was in san francisco. i spoke with police officers there. all up and down the west coast, it seems police want more help

and even san francisco police told me they felt like it was lawless there, as if things have really changed. i told them i cannot understand the idea of acab, the idea of all cops being bad people. we need law and order and more enforcement. host: your neighboring city, seattle, has seen a lot of press about its mayoral election and defund the police movement. what is a like these days? -- seattle like these days? caller: way more tame than last year. that was overblown in the news, the severity in seattle.

it is generally a problem across the country. host: what about in two,? -- tacoma? do you see a lot of support for the police? caller: i have seen a mix. i have seen the same vibe in seattle and portland, but it is more tame. tacoma is smaller, more low-energy. we just cleared out a section of homeless people this past week. it is unfortunate. we need more police around, especially with more being fired and dying from covid. we need more support behind them so i am in favor of giving them more funding. host: thanks for calling in this morning. 202 is the area code for our numbers. (202) 748-8000 if you support

increase in the funding of police. (202) 748-8001 if you are a supporter of decreasing funding of police. if you think it is about right, (202) 748-8002. terrel is in california on our decreased line. -- decrease line. go ahead and make your point. caller: i am for decrease. california had a decrease. i am for a decrease. if you go back, we have a little history that comes with policing in america way before we can do any of the rodney kings or george floyds. there has never been anything -- there has always been a blue wall of silence or we are supposed to protect.

i wanted to be a detective. it changed my mind when i realized -- can happen because how my supposed to contact you in any emergency when whatever may happen or transpire once you get to my residence or the place i may be needing assistance and we are getting to the point where cameras have to be on. why are we getting to the point were body cameras have to be on and we have any type of legal matter where that is determined? now it is a big thing to use body cams. it seems when something happens than the justice system decides they want to act instead of allowing the people and educating the people on how to interact with each other, how to interact with police. what ends up happening is it is

not just black or spanish or anyone. everyone is starting to become afraid of the police. host: have you seen increase in crime or bad activity by the police in van nuys? caller: no. the police currently there now after the decrease they had, a lot of them are local. host: hello? caller: i apologize. host: go ahead and finish that thought. caller: the police i have talked to have been respectful. i have not had problems with them. my police experiences have been usually in the south in florida

where more things are less lenient. i have not had problems other than living in a place that has a high crime. i live in los angeles. more people is going to bring more crime, but there is nothing substantial. a couple weeks ago they were having a discussion about why the new -- i do not know if it is the d.a. -- but why he had got into office and he was doing a revamp on how he wanted to change how the police looked and wanted it to be more of a community and people need to trust in the police. it is not that we need to eradicate them completely because who are we to call when we need help? host: back to the pew research center poll, use -- views on police funding for by race and ethnicity.

white and hispanic adults are more likely than black or asian adults to say spit -- spending on police in their area should be increased. black results -- adults are more likely to say funding should be decreased than those who are white or hispanic. some 22% of asian adults say spending should be reduced, which is statistically higher than they share among white adults but not higher than the share among hispanic adults. james, south dakota, increase police funding. tell us why. caller: sure. i think it is a number of things , first of all. a lot of your media -- people are underinformed, just what is going on.

we had rioting last year in the streets, tour of minneapolis. looting. when i called the cops, they are there for me in south dakota. they are kind to me. they help me out. you cannot have lawlessness. that is creating more crime, not having more people -- more police on the streets. it should be more police to create more lawlessness on the streets. it is not going to create anything but more confusion without the police. host: that is james in south dakota. patricia posts on facebook, keep the funding but change how it is spent.

they need better schooling, the police, training, and social skills. this is from chris. i live in a small town that is half a mile square and there are four to five police hiding in corners through the town waiting to get people traffic tickets. i think policing in america needs to be rethought. police officers are used to generate revenue, not to keep the citizens safe, or at least it seems that way. that is from chris. this is from our facebook page. this is vincent. increase funding for all first responders in our communities across the usa. and one more facebook comment. you can see the comment there. many local governments -- it is too small for me to read from where i am sitting, so i apologize for starting down that road. steve in sarasota, florida,

where do you stand when it comes to police funding? caller: approximate the same -- approximately the same pure and who really knows what individual department budgets look like? i agree with patricia. more money needs to be spent on training. i really do not think that police prevent crime. higher police presence in areas with a high crime rate -- people engaging in criminal activity will wait for the police to drive-by or go to another area. i do not know that it helps prevent crime. if police are unable to respond to crime appropriately in an area, i would say we need an increase. if they primarily generate revenue by setting traffic stops, maybe we need to reallocate or decrease in those departments, those areas. i am a traveling health care worker.

i was in chicago for about 13 years and also indiana. i would say i see a lot of african-americans pulled over on the highway. there are six or seven cop cars there. it must be a slow crime day. what is going on? i agree with what one of the callers said. like any profession, there are good cops to people with good hearts that mean well, and there are badeggs -- bad eggs, bullies. that needs to be weeded out in the hiring to cut down on some of that. it is a difficult question. i think it depends on individual areas and budgets. host: larry hogan is the

republican governor of maryland. according to foxnews, maryland gop governor hogan takes push to refund the police to virginia and beyond. he has been talking about the need to refund the police. here is a little bit of his statement. [video clip] >> trying to reduce crime id funding the police is dangerous -- by defunding police is dangerous, far left lunacy. thinking you can improve law enforcement by defunding the police is like saying you want to improve education by defunding the schools. it is absurd and ridiculous. just last week, a baltimore city councilman actually called for abolishing the police department. violent crime is out of control

and baltimore city. they are on pace to surpass 300 homicides again this year. the baltimore police department is shortstaffed by more than 300 officers. the city of baltimore is a poster child for the basic failure to stop lawlessness. host: that was governor larry hogan of maryland on his refund the police campaign. steve and tennessee, you are on the decreased line. -- in tennessee, you are on the decrease line. caller: i think our approach has always been reactive rather than proactive. that is happening in minneapolis. we do not need more police officers. we need different interventions. a lot of crime is because there are not enough activities after school. that is where you solve some issues. you can have all the police

officers you want but if you are going to have lacked people -- black people randomly killed you are going to have riots in the streets. that is what happens. it does not matter if it is george floyd in minneapolis, breonna taylor in louisville, kentucky. you cannot have that. you have to have police departments that are policed properly. we do not have that. police feel we have qualified immunity and control the streets. host: what is your view of the nashville police department? caller: that is a long conversation. i used to live in minneapolis. i'm familiar with their the fop guy was a white suit premises. he was. minneapolis, the city council has tried to get control of that police department and can't do it. host: this is kim in nashville.

tell us your view of the police department. caller: thankfully i have not had a lot of interaction with them. i do not know the budget is, but i know instead of all the democrats and republicans in congress -- all the congressional hearings that they have, everybody needs to wake up and open their eyes because i just heard they are clearing out a camp of homeless people and putting up cameras and parks and all the hearings they have had about facebook for minors. they need to stop. they are on our phones. there are cameras everywhere.

i am just not happy at all. we need to spend more money on housing and feeding people and getting politicians out of congress because they are snakes. host: this is larry and indiana, a suburb of indianapolis. go ahead. caller: i would abolish the police department in minneapolis, minnesota for a year. at six months, i would abolish the fire department for six months in minneapolis and then use them as a case study for a college after a year. host: that is larry in carmel. back to the pew research center poll. the headline is growing share of americans say they want more spending on police in their area. partisanship is linked with views of police funding.

a majority of republicans and independents who lean toward the republican party say spending on police should be increased. 29% say it should be increased a lot. 5% of republicans say spending should be decreased. 33% say it should stay the same. 34% of democrats and democratic leaners say police funding should be increased. 25%, decreased. 40%, keep it the same. ed is in columbia station, ohio. caller: where is the honor -- the police department should be a career of honor and people look up to it from little kids -- i was in the military. the far left -- you ought to

affiliates of the parties. i believe most independents believe it should never have been defunded. that one caller ahead of me, defund all the police and fire departments, just the riots we had for two years -- some are still going on in portland and baltimore. then there is the democrats. people need to understand. that whole city would have burned down if there was no police and a fire department parent do people really think -- there is no respect of the law anymore for years. that is the far left. you look at the videos showing new york city. they do far more good and help society than bad. you never see any stories, even helping the homeless.

in most instances of police brutality or death -- he should be sitting for life in prison, but most of them -- they all resisted, even him. when i am pulled over, i put my flasher on, pull over. i wait until they come up. my engine is off. my hands are on the wheel. when they ask for identification, i let them know and slowly grab for it. i do not think quick movements, argue with them, jump them. if either a problem, i accept it. -- if i have a problem, i accept it. look at the cops who have been murdered in the last couple years. now they are all crying defund them -- refund them in these cities that defunded them pure the murders are up in chicago, portland.

they are blaming it on the republicans that defunded them. they made this mess but there is no respect for law anymore. i don't ever -- i have had cops pulled me over. i am always respectful. host: thanks for calling in. we read earlier the ballot referendum from minneapolis, whether to change the police department to more of a public safety organization. one representative spoke at a community forum. here is a portion of that. [video clip] >> safety. how does the passage of this amendment affect that? >> the vision for public safety means, especially for north minneapolis but all across the city, that the people of minneapolis actually feel safe,

that when they need help when crisis happens that they feel safe enough to pick up the phone and dial 911 and know the right response is going to come, that they will be trained and disciplined in doing that. sometimes there will be a mental health specialist. sometimes that will be a police officer. the people of minneapolis deserve that. the reality is that where there is no vision the people perish. there has to be an actual vision , one grounded in the realities of the lived experience of black folk. host: we are asking your view about police funding in your community, whether it should be increased, decreased, or stay the same. the big issue any a lot of municipal elections -- in a lot of the municipal elections

happening across the country. that is what we are asking you this morning. the numbers are up on the screen. 202 is the area code. (202) 748-8000 if you think it should be increased. (202) 748-8001 if you think it should be decreased. if you think police funding should stay the same, (202) 748-8002. if you cannot get through on the phone lines and want to make a comment, you can continue the conversation on social media. just remember @cspanwj is our handle for twitter, facebook, and instagram. you can send a text message. if you do, include your first name and city. (202) 748-8003 is the number for you to text. vents -- vince, lancaster, pa. caller: here, we have seen a

dumpster fire during last year's riots. as far as our policing, it is not as bad as what you see across the country. i have to say i am a big fan of our first amendment auditors. i am calling on their behalf because they do not get much media attention. when they do, it is always bad. i do not see this as a black-and-white issue. i called on the decreased line because i think we should not be having funding to make local police look like military mobs. it sets off a bad impression when someone gets out of a car for running a stop sign. i challenge anybody to go to the youtube channels. there are first amendment auditors videos by the thousands across america. i think what really bothers people is the first amendment

violations, qualified immunity. if you read the articles, they never get punished. nothing ever happens. this makes people angry. we have not had any real reform in a long time. i am sorry that fell apart in washington. host: annie, fairfax, california. what is your view about police funding? caller: i feel it needs recalibration, if you will. in our neighborhood where i live in fairfax, california, a young man came out to the police. he was mentally ill and he had a butter knife. they shot him down, killed him. that was several years ago, but

it stays with me. in terms of how crazed they seemed to get, holding guns and things like that. i do want safety for people, but i think the crisis seems to be with mental health sometimes. even george floyd, i am not sure about that case. a lot of cases seem to trace back down to mental health issues. it seems that might be the angle at which to look at this problem to see what can be done. i knew a police officer wants who had a masters degree in psychology. he did seem to be a little less gung ho with his attitude toward the people in the street. host: where is fairfax, california?

is it in southern california? caller: no. it is north and west of the golden gate bridge. you can get to the golden gate bridge, california in about -- under half an hour. it is real close to san francisco. host: we have heard about san francisco and some problems there, including the fact that a safeway in the castro neighborhood is not going to be open 24 hours anymore because of looting and no arrests being made. have you witnessed that yourself in san francisco? caller: i do not go to san francisco as much as i would like to because there is a lack of parking. it is frustrating. they took the toll takers away so now you go through the tollbooth and they send you something in the mail so you can pay them the toll.

that is a side issue got ridiculous. castro district is a popular destination for halloween. i think a lot of people talk about locally -- what a lot of people talk about locally is san francisco is the homeless population, so feces on the ground is a big issue. there is a lack of toilets around, even where i live. we have people doing work on our floors, so they put in two porta potty's. in our parking lot we have attracted a lot of people who just need a place to go to the bathroom. it seems that is a huge issue. host: annie in fairfax, california. a couple more facebook comments. this is christine. florida is doing it right. fund and reward police.

the governor put in laws that allowed no county to defund law enforcement. this comment from roy. nobody i know once to defund the police. it is nothing more than a republican refrain -- frame they picked up off the streets. the people i don't want police to police fairly and evenhandedly. it is time to remove vehicles that make them act like a military put -- force, not a police force. thomas, california. good morning. caller: i think as a society we have forgotten what we have asked police officers to do. police officers go into situations where they see some of the most horrific things that we do not see. after a while, i think it creates a lack of belief in

society. when we call them, we want them to adjudicate and make everything perfectly beautiful in our lives. it is not that way. we as a society should embrace police officers. we should put them back on the beat. we should support the police. as i say, they see some of the most horrific things we do not see. when they snap, we want justice. we want them to be crucified on the cross of life. that is unfair. they are our brothers, our uncles, our cousins. they should not be left out there all alone. as a society, we should embrace. we should get to know our police. we should help our police.

we should not call 911 so much but we should be there for them. host: is police funding an issue that would alter your vote or influence a vote in an election for you? caller: not really because in fresno we have gangs. we have the bulldogs, bloods. even though they are diminishing because we have a great mayor. who understands his community. we are not like a lot of other cities. i still believe as a society we should embrace the police department and bring them back into the human spectrum.

host: let's hear from larry and georgia. -- in georgia. caller: good morning, everybody. i way to know as an american citizen we should -- i want you to know as an american citizen i say we should decrease the police. a lot of people have taken that out of content. let me give you an example of what it means to decrease the police. number one, when we say decrease the police we have police organizations every year. they go out and buy a brand-new car. sometimes they use that car three or four years before they buy a new car. so what we do instead of buy that car, we decrease that money, take that money for that car and use it to hire some

policeman that is special. when someone is called for a person that needs help, the money we decrease for the car, we are going to take that money and put it with the police department, train about six policeman. once we trained those six policeman to go out, it is going to cause a lot of policeman not to ask tillie kill a person that they do not know his mental health. what has happened is a lot of people have forgotten when police go to your home and someone calls them for mental health they do not have a person with them that is mentally health trained. then we move onto another. if we decrease other things like -- instead of buying things all the time, let's give the police

-- we decrease that. instead of buying 100 vests, we are only going to buy 50. we will take that money and put a program for the police to be trained once a month for diversity. once that money goes back to the police, police are getting better to help our community. host: that is larry in georgia with his view on police funding. since 2020, the views of black americans and democrats have changed more than the views of white and hispanic adults and republicans when it comes to decreasing funding for local police. the share of black adults who say police funding in their area should be decreased has fallen from 42% to 23%, including a

share -- a decline in the share who say funding should be decreased a lot. john, ohio. what is your view on police funding? caller: good morning. it is just the police funding is fine. we need to decrease the corrupt police. we need to get rid of the good old boy network and get a new boy network in their -- in there that is going to work for all people, not republicans, not democrats. it ain't got nothing to do with if you are a republican or democrat. if i am getting shot in the streets for no reason, i do not want that, not for me or a white person.

you have these guys roll up and they know the network is behind them. an officer got killed. he got killed from inside the police department. what has been done about it? nothing. it is swept under the rug. if they can -- if the police is not crooked, why are they hiding this stuff? why they don't release it? host: rick is in alabama. where in alabama are you calling from? caller: i'm calling from northern alabama. host: give us your view. caller: on what? host: police funding. caller: i grew the previous caller about what is the rationale for having new police cars every year?

i don't understand that. i don't understand people who supply those cars, the particular model of car, will make a car supplying police with those cars. i do not understand it. also, funding should be used to educate officers more on how to interact with all people. it is plain to see if you drive up and down interstate, highways, local communities, people that get tickets who are black have to remain in their car while most of the time you see white people outside their car talking to the police officers. the messaging that goes out to the public is white people are safe, black people are not. the messaging i think goes on should stop.

that is why you have so many people with varying views on how police should interact with the public. they do not interact the same with black people as they do with white people. host: let's hear from randall and the d.c. suburbs. caller: i called on the line about keeping the police the same but really my issue is i think the question is being framed narrowly. i think because of the cases of police misconduct we tend to fixate on police but we need to have a broader perspective, to start with the purpose of the criminal justice system. if it is to keep society safe, we need to look at the entire criminal justice system. it is not very transparent, but we need to understand are there

adequate deterrents to prevent crime? how often are people arrested? what are the laws? we have a more holistic view of policing in that sense. people talk about more holistic view when it comes to police misconduct, but we need to i think have a broader view. i think this fixation about the police never gets is anywhere. -- us anywhere. we are conflating two issues. there is definitely police misconduct. there is also a separate issue. there is definitely crime. a lot of times we end up taking sides, like one side or the other of one of those choices. we need to focus on both. host: that is randall and the d.c. suburbs. the new york times this morning

in an article entitled both parties will study election results to forge 2022 strategy. policing is a key issue not only in the buffalo mayor's race but also in mayoral contests in seattle, atlanta, and cleveland, where an amendment that would overhaul how the police department operates is on the ballot. the mayor race and cleveland puts -- in cleveland puts justin bibb against kevin kelley, the city council president. it goes on to talk about two special elections in the house happening today as well. there are two special elections for house races in ohio. brown, a democrat, is expected to win a heavily democrat exceed in cleveland. a call lobbyist -- coal lobbyist

is favored in a district that sprawled across a dozen counties in ohio. there are some congressional elections as well. albert, georgia, what is your view about police funding? caller: i would like to piggyback off the guy who said he would like to keep it the same for the reason that -- in this floyd incident, police was held accountable. criminals are held accountable. to say more about it, the example should be on both sides. set an example by the police. set an example for the criminal. that way they will be on the same page. host: the next call is richard from new york. caller: i want to thank brian

lamb for putting this program on. it gives people a chance to talk. the last three years, 490 two police officers have been killed in the line of duty. down south, an officer walked out of his precinct one day on the job and was killed on the steps of the precinct. george floyd was murdered. we know that. it turns the whole country upside down. 1963 in 1964, there were eight murders on the subway of new york city. then the increased the police department to 3000 and we cleaned up the whole area. i'm a retired police officer. we cleaned up the whole thing and people started going back on the trains and every thing is good. i have seen one of my officers

killed in the line of duty. he went into the train. -- the officer was undercover. he pulled him over. -- i saw him in the hospital in the bronx. so sad. it is tough out there. george floyd was murdered. there are some bad apples, of course. you defund the police and it is upside down now. they are willing to give up their lives for the communities. host: it seems a lot of cities have gone away from the so-called broken windows

policing. do you support that? caller: i think there should be officers on the street on the beach where people can know them and get to know the officers and community, street policing should be done. broken windows -- people are being killed now. it is a sad situation for our country. if you defund the police, it deflates them and gives their morality down and it is a sad situation for officers across america. and god bless america. thank you. host: a text from kurt, always fully supportive of police departments. or psychological training is needed for officers dealing with until health incidents.

war nonlethal devices should be provided. joyce, what is your view about police funding? caller: i think the police should be defunded according to risk in any area. i think they should be paid according to the level of risk. thank you. host: algernon is calling in from new jersey. caller: good morning, america. i agree with the people who suggest we are framing the question correctly. defund the police slogan has come across to the people is getting rid of the police and i do not think that is what people mean. what we mean is police reform. i have often heard policeman say that we are not social workers and they are being asked to do

too much. i agree with that sentiment. the reason for crime has a lot to do with a lot of social ills that the police are not there to solve. when i say decrease the funding, we need more social workers. let's put funding there. let's invest in broken families or children with intervention so they do not become criminals and we do not need as much police. we also have the example of camden, new jersey, where the police department was so corrupt they disbanded it and reformed it with fewer policeman and crime went down. host: what are they doing differently in camden? caller: they used policeman who were more highly trained. they broke up the old boys

network that covered up misconduct. they insisted the police were more integrated to the community with foot patrols and things like that. they ended up with a decrease in crime. it is not a question of how much money. it is how you deploy the money and police. i think we defunded social work, which we need badly to identify the problems and nip them in the bud can i that child or young person. funding for young people programs, educational and recreational, is abysmal. we want to buy police vehicles and weapons for police, yet we will not fund a youth program which will probably prevent a lot of issues that we have to deal with. it is not so much we are against police. police need to be more trained to deal with situations than they are.

we want guardians, not warriors. i think that is the key phrase. we want people to guard us, not be warriors against us. there are too many policeman who, with their own political or racial acts to grind. we give them a gun and protect them beyond where they should be . i call on the police unions to stop protecting bad cops. they should be the ones interested in getting bad cops out of their ranks because it threatens the good cops. it ruins their reputations and you are guarding a person who does not deserve it. qualified immunity has to go. no one should be immune from prosecution and we should not be paying legal fees and pensions to cops who get punished for doing something wrong. if there is no punishment involved, bad behavior will continue. host: that is algernon in trenton, new jersey. if you are just joining us on the washington journal, we are talking about the issue of

police funding. it is a major issue in municipal elections across the country today. we are looking at this poll that says a growing share of americans say they want more spending on police in their area. back to the analysis of this poll, the age gap in views about police funding has widened since 2020, mainly because views have shifted among those ages 50 and older. the share of adults in this age group who say police funding should be increased has jumped 22 percentage points since 2020 from 37% to 59%. the increase has been more modest among those younger than 50. both age groups have seen a drop in support for reduced spending on local police. these age patterns are similar among white and black adults as well as across parties.

dave is next in fort worth, texas. caller: i believe they should be defunded. most of our law enforcement are crooked. they are out there swarming around in black communities preying on black folks and it is not right. i think what happened to cassandra bland was a terrible shame. what happened to tamir rice was a shame. these folks are out here killing us and these white folks are going to these law-enforcement academies in getting these badges and coming into our neighborhoods and terrorizing us.

don't nobody understand, don't nobody care if they are not actually a part of this. you see it on the news and stuff like that, but people don't realize. they do, but they do not care. host: what is your personal view of the situation in fort worth and the metroplex area? caller: it is terrible. they send all these white officers into our black communities for one purpose, to destroy us in one way or another , whether it is taking us to jail, shooting us down, whatever they have to do. things are not going to change. people can say what they want to say, but it is right there for everybody to see. that we have to argue this fact

in 2021 -- we have been complaining about this stuff for years now. it is only getting worse. host: thank you for calling in this morning. a tweet by someone who goes by human sensibility. i do not know what percentage of the budget is going to my local police department. they would not need to spend as much if more money went to bennett to measures that lead to less crime. let's hear from al in massachusetts. caller: i was involved in the local town budget for 30 years and we would increase it every year based on crime. crime has increased since the 1960's. we forget in the 1960's the left was anti-law and crime has been on the increase. if you read about the bank of america robbery in 1982 in hollywood, the police were under

armed because assailants had body armor. they had to restructure the police department. police department department bue based on the amount of violence. who has changed the culture the last 50 years? no problem in the white house. we have politicians like governor cuomo. when we don't follow the law, then we will have problems with police. we have to go back to following the law. look what happened last summer. $1 billion worth of damage. the left-wing media complex is ignoring that. we are talking about january 6. we reap what we sow by the left-wing media complex. host: that is al in plymouth, massachusetts. coming up, two more hours of the "washington journal." your

chance to chat with members of congress about the issues going on in washington. coming up next, representative nancy mace, a republican of south carolina. we will be right back. >> sunday, a live conversation with author and new york times columnist ross on republican politics and conservatism. his book talks about his five year with lyme disease. his other titles include "the decadent society," privileged, and "bad religion." sunday, live at noon on c-span2. before the program, be sure to visit c-span.org to get your copies of the book. >> on wednesday, fbi and

homeland security officials testify on effort to counter domestic terrorism before the house intelligence committee. watch at 9:30 a.m. eastern on c-span3, on c-span.org, or watch on c-span now. >> thursday, dr. anthony fauci and cdc director bushell relents the testified -- rochelle walensky testified on the covid-19 response. watch live on c-span3, online, or watch full coverage on c-span now, our new video app. ♪

>> get c-span on the go. watch the biggest political events live or on-demand anytime on our new mobile video app, c-span now. access top highlights, listen to c-span radio, and discover new podcasts for free. download c-span now today. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we are pleased to have a first time guest come representative -- first time guest, representative nancy mace . we look forward to you talking with the viewers in just a minute. you probably saw this article about you in "politico."

trying to figure out where you stand politically. what did you think of the article itself? did you find it accurate and where do you stand politically? guest: like many things, part of it is accurate. part of it is off the mark. i stand with america. i stand with the constitution. on january 3, i swore an oath to that constitution. every decision i make as a lawmaker, every vote that i take is with the constitution in mind. for me, these are not difficult votes. this is not hard. it is about what is doing right -- it is about doing what is right long-term regardless of who was in the white house, who is in the majority. i hope that people will see my record for what it is, that it is constitutionally consistent and that is the only thing that i care about is protecting the

foundation of our nation. host: for your party, has donald trump been an asset? guest: certainly his policies. under president trump, we saw so many great things while he was president. for starters, he signed into law the first step act which was the first bipartisan prison reform bill signed into law in a very long time. it is an issue that republicans should champion more of. he lowered taxes under the tax cuts and jobs act. we saw folks that were making low wages get higher wages. in my hometown, if you were an entry-level employee at a fast food restaurant, you are making $15 an hour or about to get a raise to $20. you did not need the government to mandate higher wages when they were happening as the market was so good and you had record unemployment across the entire country for every group

of humans, whether you were black, brown, african-american, female, asian, hispanic, latino, lgbtq. we had great employment and salaries and benefits for every single american regardless of your political affiliation. one of the great things under the trump administration was operation warp speed where we saw a vaccine go from idea to market in about 10 months. vaccinations are helping us fight covid-19 in places where we have high vaccination rates, the delta variant was not as steady. there were not as many hospitalizations. there were many good things that came out of the administration policy wise that most of america would support. host: you say policy wise, yes. is there a but? guest: looking at the administration and the policies, those things are very important. it is also important to recognize that every republican district, we are different.

for me, i am really focused on lowering the temperature in american politics. it is important that we look forward. that we are consistent. because there are a lot of people right now that are disenfranchised with the biden administration. they thought they were voting for someone who was moderate. instead, we've got someone who has taken a very sharp left turn and that is why you are seeing virginia totally up in the air today in the build back better agenda. i believe that lowering the temperature and american politics is important -- in american politics is important and those of the things i am focused on. we have an exciting midterm election in 2022 and that will certainly set 24 for the future. host: three spending bills are being debated on capitol hill. i don't need to tell you that. there is reconciliation, infrastructure, social spending. where do you stand on all three

of these? guest: on the infrastructure bill, it is called the bipartisan infrastructure bill. the only place where there is a transportation infrastructure committee is in the house of representatives. this bill is crafted in the senate where they do not have a transportation committee. no republicans were allowed to amend the legislation and very few democrats as well. i would not consider it bipartisan from that regard. i cannot support the infrastructure bill because in addition to the lack of bipartisanship in the house, there are 42 taxes within that bill. i don't care if you are a taxing corporations or if your business is mineral, whatever taxes you are laying on as a company come of those get passed on the consumer. we were told it was paid for and

it actually wasn't. you have the federal government subsidizing and competing with enterprise. where i live, we have a ton of electric vehicles and we have businesses that are setting up charging stations in their parking lots at retail locations . at condominium apartment complexes. you name it. the innovation is happening. we don't need the government to compete with private businesses. we could have done more with a lot less. part of that bill, less than 10% actually goes to true infrastructure. you have $1.2 trillion. you have $110 billion that is pegged for certain transportation. out of that $110 billion, you have $70 billion going to mass transit. that is not to say that mass transit is not an important function. that leaves only $40 billion in

total to go to roads and bridges. at the end of the day, there is a lot of waste and if we were truly able to get real infrastructure done in that bill, we could have done a lot more with significantly less money on the table. of course, you have the reconciliation package. i think today's election in virginia will determine whether or not that package actually goes through, whether there is any more debate. if glenn youngkin wins virginia, virginia is a bellwether. that is going nowhere. it will be dead on arrival. one of the issues with that particular bill is this is what senator joe manchin, what i praise him about yesterday, was that he really called it what it was. it is a gimmick. there are many programs set up with temporary spinning around that bill. they have the price tag of $1.75 trillion, but it could be 2, 3,

or four times that with what they want to create within that package. when you look at the kinds spending we have had so far, we have had to extend resources last year when covid was happening during those relief package is. coming out of covid, we have not stopped spending. we are seeing record inflation across the country. inflation is a form of taxation. the cost of goods everywhere is going up. i know when i go to the grocery store, i tell the kids, we are only going to go on the outside aisles, fruits and veggies and meats. we are not going to get stuff that is packaged because the prices are exponentially higher. when i go to the gas station, i drive a 2011 chevy. i would love to get a newer vehicle, but i do not want to pay those price tags. you are hearing about bidding wars on used cars and i went to fill up my car and it is almost twice as much today as it was a year and a half, two years ago. the trump administration, gas prices were lower.

we had less imports from folks like russia on the oil side of things. our economy was in a much healthier place. what is going to happen if we continue this type of spending, it will be devastating to the economy. host: nancy mace is our guest. we will get to your calls right now. we will put the numbers on the screen divided by political affiliation. you can dial in and we will get to those right away. a little bit about representative mace, she is the first woman to graduate from the citadel military college in south carolina magna cum laude. she is a member of transportation and infrastructure committee and represents the charleston and hilton head island areas of that state. let's take you calls -- your calls. one week in arlington -- malik in arlington, texas. caller: i would like to say that the republican is nothing more

than a fascist movement. they are comprised of people after the end of the civil war. the only use democracy as an oppressive measure against ethnic minorities. i would like to correct the congresswoman when she said we received a tax cut under president trump. we never received a tax cut. in fact, my taxes were higher under president trump than under president obama. 28.862 on $8,000. she is incorrect when she says it is nothing more than right wing propaganda. host: there is a lot to work with there. go ahead, congresswoman. guest: thank you. i talked earlier about lowering the temperature. when we attack either side or the middle, calling them fascist and giving them a label, that is part of the reason we have this division. i really blame social media for

a lot of this. if you have watched the social dilemma on netflix talking about the algorithms for social media where if you are a far right or republican, you get that same on the far left even. it is not going to get us anywhere. the first black american that was elected to the u.s. house of representatives was actually a republican during reconstruction. his name was joseph p rainey and he was from south carolina and he represented south carolina's first congressional district, which is the same district i represent today. we have a very rich history of black history in republican politics. we are not where we used to be with that regard. we used to fight for civil rights and work on those issues. as a party, we are not doing enough on those issues, which is why for me, those are issues that i have taken up on my mantle and i have worked on as a

state lawmaker before coming to congress. the only bill i had signed into law in the short time i was in state politics was the prison reform bill, which was -- which restricted the shackling of women in prisons while they were giving birth. they had their children come visit them once a week and they were provided feminine hygiene products. today, i'm continuing that work. i very first bill that i passed out of the house of representatives was a piece of civil rights legislation regarding due process. if you are in a president -- federal penitentiary and you have communications with your attorney, they are protected if they are by text or by phone call, but not by email. we wanted to bring parity. i worked with hakeem jeffries on that piece of legislation. so far on the first 11 months in office, i have helped passed three pieces of legislation. i worked with democrats on these

bills. it is really important that when we have so much division, when labels are being thrown out like that, that we work even harder to have a more polite, lower temperature conversation where we can talk and communication and work together. we are not going to agree on everything. it might be 5% of things, it might be 25% of the things. where we can work together, we should work together for the american people and that is where my focus is today. because i represent an area that is -- civil rights is a big issue for my community and the district i represent. i am now the ranking member on the oversight committee for the subcommittee on civil rights and civil liberties. congressman raskin is the chairman representing the majority and i represent the minority on that particular subcommittee. work is being done, but we cannot work together when we are fighting and when we are picking

fights with each other. that includes picking fights with republican on republican or democrat on democrat. i will be honest with you, a couple of months ago i had to get my concealed carry permit because i get threats from the far right and the far left and i now carry a gun everywhere i go when i'm back home in my district and i am partially through getting a concealed carry permit and i'm here in the seed to protect myself and my family. we have to think about how we communicate and talk to one another even when we disagree. the beauty of our country and the foundation and the american experiment that our nation was built upon is that we should have the ability to have these debates and these discussions without fear of physical reprisal or physical threats or fighting. we should be able to have the debate of ideas and agreed to degree or agree to disagree at the end of the day, but work together where we can. you will see a lot of that and the message has always been that i am literally going to work

with anyone who is willing to work with we -- work with me and i am doing that work. host: timbo from bakersfield, california. "how do you feel about your house leader, kevin mccarthy and how do you feel about liz cheney?" guest: i would hope that the republican party is a big tent party. kevin mccarthy has been supportive of efforts that i have done in the house of representatives whether that is legislation or getting elected and getting reelected. again, i want to be part of a party that is accepting of all of us who want to be part of the republican party because if we -- and you see this on the democrat side with progressives versus moderates. there should not be 100% parity. we should have a diversity of ideas because those debates make us better as a party, as a conference, and as a country, quite frankly. host: the next call from ralph

in augusta, georgia. democrats line. caller: good morning. i have a question in reference to you saying we should respect each other. when mitch mcconnell said we are not going to win with the democrats on anything, you have representative mccarthy and others talking to trump and then they come back and say, we will not try to help you. if you want anything done, you will have to do it on your own. how can we do this if we all have the attitude that we are not going to work together? as far as former president trump, i heard him say so many disturbing things about everybody, all races, all creeds.

and nobody in the republican party disagrees with him. how can i believe that you are going to work together when i see all of these investigations going on and i wonder who was going to get the academy award next time because nothing is getting done and we are in a stalemate. we do not respect each other. host: i think we got the point. let's hear from congresswoman mace. guest: no doubt, it is actually difficult to find ways to work together. some of that frustration on the republican side comes from being blocked out of conversations, out of negotiations whether we are talking about the $1.9 trillion in covid relief earlier this year where we had different committee hearings on how that money would be utilized and republicans were shut out. republicans again were shut out

of the infrastructure bill when it came to the u.s. house for debate and amending. we were shut out of that conversation as well. not to say that two wrongs make a right, i will not say that. but i will tell you the large part of frustration we have had as a party is being blocked out of these conversations and negotiations. when republicans were in the majority, we had a truly bipartisan infrastructure bill where we worked with democrats and we provided legislation that everybody got to have input on and the problem is that both sides, republicans and democrats, the far right and the far left are contributing to the problem that we see today. this stalemate and this digging in of the heels, the crazier things that you say on twitter, the more money you raise and the more likes and followers you get on your social media. but i did not come to congress

to be a social media influencer. i came to work and get things done, which is why it is incumbent upon me and others who are up here to work together. to pass three bills out of the house of representatives as a republican in the minority is no small feat. the first one i did earlier this year was a civil rights due process bill. the second bill i passed i had attached to a democrat bill out of the v.a. committee of veterans affairs involving scholarship funding for gold star families. the third bill that i most recently passed out of the house of representatives was a bill that a progressive out of silicon valley in california, he and i worked on cybersecurity together and we will continue to work on those issues. i am willing to find a way if others are willing to join me. host: nancy mace, do you hear from constituents more about your vote to subpoena steve bannon or your efforts to end

testing on puppies? guest: i would say the puppy letter regarding beagle experiments by dr. fauci and nih has garnered much more attention than my vote on contempt charges . as i promised folks when i ran for office when i got sworn in, i swore an oath to the constitution. the vote on subpoena powers, i would not want to water down those powers for congress because when republicans are in the majority, we will want to have hearings, we will want investigations. if someone does not show up, there has to be a method to hold those individuals responsible. it was not long ago that we had the benghazi hearings and that committee was created in the same matter and hillary clinton showed up. she did not ignore her subpoena. as someone who was on oversight and a ranking member of the subcommittee, i will protect the rights of congress to call people to testify and if they do not show up, to hold them in contempt regardless of their

political affiliation, republican, or democrat, regardless of who was in the -- who is in the white house. that is an important function of the government. those things are really important. but the letter that i sent to dr. fauci, i had no idea that it was going to blow up that big. i worked on many pieces of legislation that were bipartisan, including the free app that was burst -- that was inspired by britney spears and conservatorships. that was a big one. but when we start talking about animal rights, whether it is britney spears or animal rights and the beagle issues we are investigating come of these are areas bringing the country together and if it takes calling dr. fauci out over the murder of 44 puppies that were drugged and their vocal cords cut out so the scientists cannot hear their cries, if this is what it takes to bring our country together, then let's do it. host: martha is calling from

charleston, south carolina on our republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. good morning, representative mace. i rarely call on the political things. representative mace, i followed your vote, your independent vote like representative rice from south carolina and i really admire a republican who votes country above party and i think both you and rise -- rice as new kids on the blog are showing an independent that i admire as a registered republican and you keep saying lowering the temperature, which is important for both parties, but especially the republican party and i hopefully look forward in the republican party and not back on

trump. guest: thank you for your call this morning. when i ran for office, anyone knows i am very fiscally conservative. i will not vote to raise taxes. i will not vote to add anything to the deficit and i will respect and honor my oath to the constitution and i also told my constituents that i would be an independent voice. i ran against someone that ran with 90 -- that voted with nancy pelosi 90% of the time and i want to make sure i have a record that respects who i am, which is fiscally conservative, but also respect my district. i represent a district that is equally divided republican and democrat and i represent both sides of the aisle, not just one side or the other. all of these issues are very important. i talked to democrats and independents and republicans all the time. people are frustrated with what they are seeing. even democrats that voted for president biden. there is some remorse there and

i want to give people a place to call home. i want to welcome people who are like-minded that want to look toward the future of our country and where we are headed. i have two kids. one is in high school and one is a middle school. the divisiveness that i see come of this is the kind of place that many of us, whether you are republican or democrat, would want to raise your kids in an institution that is vitriolic. it is incumbent upon us and those watching to think about how we communicate with one another, whether that is at the holiday table, thanksgiving, or christmas dinner, but be thoughtful with how we communicate because it is extremely important. i grew up on ronald reagan back in the 1980's and i remember watching his speeches. he used to talk about this abyss that we were headed toward and i think we are on the edge of that right now and we need to be thoughtful about how we communicate and how we work and talk to one another if not for

our sake, for our kids sake. host: david, maryland, independent nine. you are on the line with representative nancy mace. caller: good morning, representative mace. it is a shame that you have to carry a gun to protect yourself and your family. but won't it be great when everybody gets a chance to arm themselves? it will kind of be like the wild west. the reason i called, i take issue with your statement that when joe biden took office that he shut down the excel pipeline and that right away spurred corporations, big oil to retaliate. right away, the republicans, energy independence is gone. do you know that that oil was

destined for china? that is the dirty oil that is going to be pipe to illinois, down to the gulf, and taken to china. that is the obvious truth. these corporations run the country. host: did you see the recent hearing in the house with the ceos of some of the larger oil companies? caller: yes, i did and the representatives out of california, what's her name? i forget her name. guest: katie porter. caller: she took them to task. host: let's get a response from nancy mace. she serves on the transportation committee. guest: the keystone pipeline, when that executive order was done to kill all of those jobs, it was overnight and 10,000 jobs went away.

10,000 people were immediately put on unemployment and there were contracts. there were binding contracts part of that that were totally cut off. if you are going to make that kind of drastic decision overnight, there ought to be some thought, whether you agree or disagree with the pipeline being shut down, there ought to be some sort of transition through the process. it is the same thing on the very first day that president biden was sworn into office, he signed another executive order shutting down the building of the borderwall. there were contracts. my understanding, we are still paying for the borderwall to be built, but we are not building any of it right now because of that one executive order. if you are going to turley -- totally reverse the policies of the previous administration and that is your right as president, just to be some thought, how do

we do it efficiently, economically in a way that makes sense. i have been to the border and i know people want to know what it is going to do, but when you see it firsthand and see that there is one border patrol agent per mile, any stretch of wall would be helpful and give them less land to have to cover when they are dealing with that crisis at the border. i think some pragmatic, thoughtful response when you are reversing those policies. i am someone who is against offshore drilling off the coast of my state in south carolina. it is important that there are differences within the republican party as well. but then i drive a truck. there is that as well. but there has to be some thought on how you transition out of that. we are still not exporters of natural gas and oil, but we increase our revelatory policies, shutting down keystone

and others, but our policies are increasing the imports that we have from places and countries like russia. russia is not our ally. you can go no further than new york where you see those kinds of overregulation on energy where we have plenty of oil here in the permian shale that we can use, but we are importing it from places like russia. why are we giving them a leg up and not here in this country? the same thing would go from places on the border, these policies. have the cartels making $64 billion a year, $30 billion of that on drugs. 34 and dollars on human trafficking. we are allowing the cartel to make billions of dollars every year because of our poor border policies. we all want to fix immigration and there is a common sense pragmatically to do it. a lot of it does not make sense for most of the country, which is why you are seeing president biden's ratings so low right now

and why is virginia a bellwether state being totally up in the air today. host: that will be the last word with our guest, representative nancy mace, republican of south carolina. we appreciate your time. coming up, another member of congress from the other side. this is mark pocan who is a democrat from wisconsin and after that, we will talk about infrastructure this morning on "washington journal." ♪ >> weekends on c-span2 are an intellectual feast. every saturday you will find events and people that explore our nation's past on american history tv. on sunday, book tv brings you the latest in books and authors.

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january 20, 2022. for competition rules, tips, visit our website. >> downloads these bands new mobile app and stay up-to-date with live video coverage of the biggest political events from live streams at the house and senate floor and key congressional hearings. the white house events and supreme court oral arguments, even our live interactive program "washington journal" where we hear your voices every day. download the app today. >> "washington journal" continues. host: our guest is a democrat from wisconsin and the former chairman of the congressional progressive caucus. congressman, can you give us a read on where you stand and

where the progressive caucus stands when it comes to the spending bills in congress? guest: i think we are ready to go. we need to put it on the calendar and vote on it. last week, we still had not seen the tax we had asked for. we want to make sure we had some assurances that all the work we have been doing for months was going to happen to the senate and the president gave us those assurances and we are set to go, barring any other problems within the democratic caucus. host: what about when it comes to the infrastructure versus the reconciliation and the social spending bills? if infrastructure came up today, would you support it and would you vote or is the progressive caucus order to vote for that first? guest: people are processed on the process rather than the product. we have a product so we should be talking about what is in there. we are ready to go with both bills. until friday -- or thursday, we

did not even have the final text. up until yesterday, there are still some final negotiations going on to give even more respite to the american people. both bills are ready go through the house and hopefully the senate can take of the second bill very quickly. all of this storm before the calm will soon be forgotten and we will be able to get even a fraction of as much time into the fact that 40 million american families will receive a tax cut because of this legislation, that american families are going to save lots of money including through things like childcare, pre-k, senior k, -- senior care, and other areas. the fact that we will create millions of jobs, including climate change and it is paid for. unlike the last-minute duration and tax cuts were passed for the wealthiest, this is paid for by the wealthy and by corporations that have figured out how not to

pay taxes. i think we have a real product. i hope we spend as much time talking about the benefits that the american people are going to see. but it took a while to get here and i think we are here. host: can you explain when you say there will be a tax cut for 40 million people? guest: 440 million american families, not just people -- for 40 million american families, not just people. this is what gives people to hundred $50 to $300 per child to help them get by. this is transformational. with half the children in this country out of poverty, that is a really important measure. if you look at the build back better agenda that is in these two bills, this is probably the most has more to -- the most transformative adulation you have seen probably since fdr. this is really big and it will help american families. all of the debates have been what day are you going to vote on something?

i came to congress to get things done and now it looks like we have that final package and that tax cut that will affect 40 million american families is going to be a big part of the benefit. host: will we see it this week? guest: i hope so. we will have a caucus in a few minutes. we are ready to go. all of the things that we have asked for, the tax insurance is that came from the president about the senate are all there. we feel like negotiation has been finalized or close to one item. we are ready to go with it. host: this is a headline in "the washington times." "senator manchin urges democrats to stop holding infrastructure hostage." here is what senator manchin had to say yesterday. [video clip] >> i have hurt -- work hard to find a path to compromise.

it is obvious compromise is not good enough for our colleagues in congress. it is all or nothing in the position ever seems to change unless we agree to everything. enough is enough. it is time our elected leaders stop playing games with the needs of the american people and holding a critical instruction bill hostage. while there is opportunity in the reconciliation bill that we can all agree on. we have been talking about this for months. to be clear, i will not support the reconciliation legislation without knowing how the bill would impact our debt and our economy and our country and we will not know that until we work through the text. for the sake of our country, i am urging all of my colleagues to vote and pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill. it is bipartisan. 69 votes. we worked on that for many months. holding that bill hostage is not going to work to get my support of what you want. it is what we should all agree on and work through the process.

i am open to supporting a final bill that helps move our country forward, but i'm equally open to voting against a bill that hurts our country and i have been clear about that also. [end video clip] host: that was senator manchin. mark pocan, what did you think of that? guest: i like to follow the adage, watch what i do, not what i say. since we have held up the bill, the progressive caucus held up the infrastructure bill, we have movement to $1.85 trillion bill that will provide people with that tax cut with those lower costs to childcare and other measures, creating jobs, all the things that i talked about, only because of what we have done. we know it is one third of what the president wanted. he wanted $6 trillion to begin with and he still committed to that agenda. joe manchin was part of those conversations since a few weeks ago. we are going to have some real deliverables for the american people and that is what matters. he can say what he wants to for

whatever audience he is delivering that, but the actions are what i am watching and to his credit, he has negotiated in good faith the last few weeks to the point that we have a bill that will pass the house and the senate. i am going to watch actions because that speaks way louder than words, especially in washington and i am confident based on every conversation we have had with the president that we will get this done. host: respresentative pocan represents madison, wisconsin. he is in his fifth term. he is former chair of the progressive caucus. he serves on the appropriations committee as well. the first call for him is jerry in chester, virginia, democrats line. caller: good morning. congressman, after what joe manchin said yesterday and what was stripped out of the bill, they took out the negotiation for drug prices and the eyecare

part and all the other stuff. they stripped out the paid family leave from 12 to four weeks and now it is nothing. and that is what this build back better bill is now, a shell of its former self. why on earth would you vote for a bipartisan infrastructure bill, which is a giveaway to wall street and hedge funds managers, hedge funds, to gain our utilities for this piece of crab will we have? thank you. host: congressman? guest: jerry, you need new new sources. there is nothing in here for hedge fund managers and wall street and all of that b.s. you spouted. i cannot imagine why you would not be for the good things in that bill. are you not for child care for the american people so that no one pays more than 7% of their income toward childcare? that is a game changer for many families. that will change -- save them

$5,000 or $10,000 a year. you are not for the child tax cut that will supply 40 million american families with a tax-cut instead of those big banks that you just talked about? that helps real people. we want to get that done and that helps lift half the children in this country out of poverty. that is a good thing. this bill does expand medicare so that people would have additional coverages. you don't want the additional healthcare, it has half $1 trillion for climate change. it is going to help us reverse what is happening to the planet. i can keep talking about all the things in here. you saying i should vote against it because we did not get everything does not make any sense. i strongly disagree with you. i don't think you understand what is actually in the bill. further, the president is committed to his full agenda that was in the original $6 trillion package. he said he will continue to work on these things. we are still going to get more of those things that may have

dropped off right now. just because we did not get every toy we wanted, does that mean i return all my toys. it does not make a lot of sense and i hope you find a few new sources that explain what is in the bill and i think you will have a different opinion. host: bill is in new jersey. in democrat. -- another democrat. caller: the caller before mentioned something which i'm calling about also is the fact that medicare was supposed to be put in there to where we would get coverage for dental and eye glasses. now i have to have some dental work done and it is going to cost me over $1000. i do not have a thousand dollars to do this. why did they take that out? guest: i agree with you. the president agrees with you. he wanted to expand medicare to include dental, vision, and hearing. it looks like right now, they just include hearing. i think there is an extra step that could happen in the next day as we are voting on this.

those are all healthcare. they were not included in medicare originally because of special interest and they are not continuing to go forward because of special interest. that is a problem. i personally support medicare for all. i would like to make sure that everyone has access to health insurance in this country, but even starting to expand it shows that there are things that were not included originally and medicare and ask any senior, including my 92-year-old mother who probably needs a hearing aid right now, how much of a game changer it would be to have that. that is significant. host: sandy in indiana, independent line. you are on with representative mark pocan from wisconsin. caller: hello, mark. just so that you know, i am 75 years old as of yesterday. guest: happy birthday. caller: thank you.

i am sick and tired of hearing the democrats compare this to fdr. fdr had the full support of both democrats and republicans. they had input in what was in the bills. it was not anything like what the democrats are trying to do to america. it is an insult to fdr, an absolute insult to his memory and anyone my age that has lived the number of years i have and can honestly say this is the most absolute going toward communism in america bills that you people could ever put forth. host: congressman? guest: your political rhetoric is cloudy. let me break it down. you are right on one thing is fdr did have a much bigger

majority to get things done as opposed to zero seat margins, 50 finish season -- 50-50 senate. on top of you saying do not say anything bad about fdr, you said this is going toward communism, which is ridiculous on multiple levels. however, i will use this to say this bill is making sure that american families finally get a benefit from the federal government. in the last that administration that i think you supported, donald trump's administration, the only thing he did was a giant tax-cut where 86% of the money went to the top 1% of people and that has put us trillions in debt. this bill is paid for by having the wealthiest in those corporations that often do not pay taxes paying their fair share. i understand. people who watch fox do not actually get news. they get talking points. they get multiple ones. that migh -- they might mix. i disagree with multiple of your

conflicting statements. host: the next call comes from sally in massachusetts on our democrats line. go ahead. caller: yes, respresentative pocan, you are one of my favorite members of congress. can you tell me about how the progressives are planning to get the president's agenda done this week? guest: thank you for that, sally. it is very kind of you. we are doing what we are doing right now. we are ready to vote on it. i think the progressive caucus, almost to the person, is ready to do that. there may be a holdup from other members right now and we are hoping we can get through all of that. the president came last week in a combination of a few weeks of effort because of us holding out at a time. if we had passed $1 billion guaranteed, there would not have been the rest of the president's agenda. because of what happens this week, we will now have something that is a game changer for the

average american family that works hard every day and just wants to get by, especially if you have kids. this is going to be transformative in allowing you to have even more opportunities for your family. i am with you. i hope it happens this week. we are trying very hard to get that done and i will caucus in a few minutes and hopefully we can get a calendar for the week. all of these efforts have led us to a stronger build -- stronger bill, something that will benefit people for a long time. host: congressman pocan, we spent our first hour this morning talking about police funding. where do you stand and what is your view of the madison police department? guest: that is a real one off, but i would be glad to talk about it. there has been much debate about police funding. what people really want to do and what we learned from the last several years especially is you cannot have a one-size-fits-all operation to handle everything. what we have learned, including

from talking to law enforcement and social services is that many times sending a social worker to a situation can help de-escalated rather than police. i am not going to speak to whether people want to do that. but there are smarter ways to handle this. we put so much onto beliefs without providing the extra training or experiences, that it has not made sense. i know from the last person you had, that is a subject they'd love to talk about. what i want to talk about is what the american people are blue going to benefit from is if we get this bill done this week. i cannot tell you how important that childcare provision alone is, to make sure we have universal pre-k and to make sure we have childcare where people do not spend more than 7% of their income. think about it. we just brought someone recently on with a business and i know what they are paying for their child care and i know what percent of their income it is taking. this would be a game changer for

them and to be able to take care of their family from making sure that they've got additional vacations they are able to take, ways to benefit their family, that really allows them to spend more time with their children. having that in a child tax break continue our truly game changers. i think that is really what the american people and i hope the media will focus on. we have spent a long time talking about this process, which nobody really cares about the process in the real world. in washington, people talk about it every day. i hope we spend as much time talking about these benefits because these benefits really are going to be huge for the american people and i don't think people understand exactly what is in the bill. hopefully will have more that discussion. host: dave is in concord, massachusetts. independent line. go ahead. caller: hi, congressman. i am sorry to hear about your mother and her hearing aid. rather than waiting for you all to come up with one program

after another to take care of these issues, i would hope that you could just share your mother's information. i would be happy to help her get a hearing aid. apparently, you are incapable of doing it yourself with whatever salary you are earning as a congressman. i would be happy to help or if you would share her information. host: congressman? guest: thank you. host: chuck, new york, republican. caller: thanks for having me on. as a single person with no kids in my 40's who has worked since i was 18 years old, i have not had to get medicare or medicaid. you keep talking about child tax credits and childcare paid for everybody and i have two brothers who have six kids between the two of them and they pay for their own daycare. what are democrats going to do for people like me? that is why you guys are losing. that is why you are going to lose tonight in virginia.

guest: chuck, i assume if you are 18, we have half a trillion dollar investment in the build back better bill around climate change to make sure we have a planet for you without extreme weather events. there are some measures in the info structure bill for electric vehicles. those two bills will significantly reduce emissions. i guess living on the planet will be one benefit you have being 18 and at some point, you might want to have children. if you do, you will see the benefits of the bill in that way. there is a number of other provisions that will benefit you, should you be out of work. there are so many different areas, including creating millions of jobs. i assume at some point if you do not have a job, you will want one. those are some of the benefits you might get. a lot more happens for people who do not have children because a lot of their money is going to

helping raise their family and that is where those benefits will be. i'm a change and having a job might be two of the benefits that could be in this bill for you. host: time for a couple more calls for congressman pocan. sandra, new hampshire, democrat. caller: thank you. congressman, i'm interested in knowing how you think you can get any bills passed given our 50-50 balance in the senate and the small margin in the house. what is the strategy, how it will work out? host: thank you. guest: thank you for that question. you are right. the margins are historically low

margins with a tie-breaking vote going to the vice president and less than a handful of votes in the house. the good news is nancy pelosi is a master at her job and we have passed all sorts of bills out of that majority from the proactive that will finally give workers more of a say in the workplace like they used to have two so many other measures. i could speak on that for quite a while. the real question i think you have is about the senate. with a 50-50 senate and their rather strange set of rules around the filibuster, really you need 60 votes to get things done except for through this reconciliation process where things that have a fiscal impact could have 50 votes or 51. that is the real problem we have and it is time for serious filibuster reform. the filibuster was not given to us by our founding fathers. it came later when they realize they had no way to end debate in the senate and it transformed over the years to the point where it is yardley -- it is largely you will -- largely used

as a tool of obstruction. having more tools that can screw that up, i do not think are helpful and we need to reform how we handle the filibuster. host: congressman, we have heard about the filibuster reform for a while, but what about the committee system in the house? does that work? guest: i think so. out of the house, we passed a ton of bills and sent them to the senate. it is working under nancy pelosi because she is very effective at what she does. the question often happens because of this 50-50 vote, but really it is because of the filibuster rules that most measures take 60 votes. the pro act would reverse a lot of the attacks on workers you have seen in the trump administration and other previous administrations and give workers a chance to have a real voice in their workplace. we passed it out of the house with bipartisan votes. in the senate, it is going to take 60 votes.

every other body that i have served in, local government, state government, 50 votes plus one is all you need and you pass something. because of these rules in the senate, it holds things up. that is the real problem that we face over and over again is addressing how the senate does not really operate in a way like it should. host: carol, arkansas, republican line. go ahead. caller: good morning. i have been sitting here trying to figure out where the democrats are on this issue. i know i was raised one of six children and i was a single mother for a very long time. but one thing i cannot understand is all the democrats are literally convinced they need to help parents pay for their children

to be in daycare so they can go to work. i was a single mother. i always found a job that i could make sure that my daughter could be took care of at a daycare. i paid for it myself. i never looked for the government to help me raise my child. that is exactly what the government is doing now. they are wanting to put the children in a daycare where they can literally take care of the children that the adults are laying down. host: we have the point. go ahead, congressman. guest: things have changed a little from that period of time. i would like to go back to it. we have not raised the minimum wage for a dozen years and people cannot get by on just those wages so they have to go

to the workforce and take a couple jobs or a job where they are working extra hours to get by. that is not fair to the children and i do not think anyone wants to punish children for economic conditions we have. i think the real idea behind this is to allow more women to get into the workforce. what we have passed already in the last year and covid, six to seven jobs went to men that were created in that. -- six of seven jobs went to men. childcare is holding people back from getting into the workforce. if we can do some thing like this that also benefits women, you are over half the country. maybe that is what we should be doing. that is what we are trying to accomplish, to make an evening -- even playing field so anyone can get a job. hopefully we will address the core issue. we have been remiss in not

raising minimum wage. the income gap has grown so much in this country. ceo's and the richest make so much more. i hope some of these measures can help change that. host: and final call for congress in polk and -- conner smit -- congressman pocan. caller: most democrats get along with nancy pelosi, tells you to vote for something you have not even completed righted -- writing up. how can you do anything without stopping the border flux of a million people coming through this country? host: we have two issues there. guest: the only way you vote on something on the floors to have bill text.

i am not sure you are correct on that. the facts are the facts. bills are what we vote on on the floor. on the border, i agree with you. we need serious or gratian reform. -- immigration reform. when i first come to congress, there was a bipartisan bill -- came to congress, there was a bipartisan bill that had a pathway to citizenship. that was a good framework. the last president took us away from that conversation. i would like to get back to it. we should address it in a comprehensive way. hopefully we can get that done it like we did before, in a bipartisan way. host: congressman mark pocan has been our guest. about an hour left in the washington journal. we will turn our sites to infrastructure here. jim tymon is coming up.

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c-span two. before the program, get your copy of the book. ♪ >> washington journal continues. host: joining us now is jim tymon, the executive director of the american association of state highway and transportation officials. who do you represent? guest: we represent the state

departments of transportation across the country. host: how many people does that involve? guest: it involves thousands of state career employees. our board of directors is made of directors of the 50 state departments of transportation, including the district of columbia and puerto rico. host: so you're concerned with roadbuilding. guest: it is more than just roadbuilding and highways. we are involved in all modes of transportation. every state department of transportation are the country is involved in transportation, not just roads and highways. that is how we began, but now we are a multimodal organization to reflect our members. host: in those multimodal ways, how much is currently spent on

our infrastructure, on our transportation infrastructure? guest: the important point is not enough. states and localities have stepped up and increased funding for transportation infrastructure, but the federal government has not. funding for the -- from the federal government for infrastructure remained consistent for the last 15 or 20 years adjusted for inflation. what congress is considering now is the first time in the last 20 or so years we have seen a significant increase in investment in transportation infrastructure. host: what does the federal government kick in per year? guest: on the highway side, $45 billion to $50 billion. host: what would a state like california spent? -- spend? guest: i am not sure

specifically on that. california is the largest state in the country and urc in california spend more of its own dollars from the state of california than the federal government divides. -- provides. host: president biden signed another extension of the transportation funding bill. what does that mean for you guys? guest: it is an extension through the end of this month. it gets us into the beginning of december, providing only 40 days of federal funding, not allowing state dots and travel agencies to plan for large projects they are usually taking on. if they only know they are getting 30 days of funding from the federal government, it is hard to go out there and commit to a project that is going to take two or three years. that is why it is so important

for congress to get a long-term info structure bill that provides a states and localities with five or six years of funding predictability. this way they can take on large projects the american people want us to take on. host: we are going to look at the new bill that may come up this week for a vote. $1 trillion infrastructure and bill -- infrastructure bill, 65 billion dollars for broadband internet. 46 billion dollars for severe weather resilience operation. $25 billion for airports. what does that get us? host: -- guest: hopefully it will allow us to repair the state of our nation's infrastructure and create new jobs. it is important, given where we

are with the economy, for us to invest in our nation's infrastructure and have something for it when we are done. not only are we able to spend federal money on upgrading the state of our nation's infrastructure, we are able to create jobs for people that need it. host: we are talking about the nation's infrastructure and where it should go. your turn to talk with jim tymon , who has been in this business for quite a while. numbers are up on the screen. if you cannot get through on the phone numbers and want to participate, you can do so by text or social media. when it comes to broadband internet and $65 billion, are you supportive of that? guest: absolutely. one of the things the pandemic has proven is it is important for us to make sure the country,

whether you are in an urban area or rural area, has access to the internet. by providing federal funds to improve broadband access, will be able to make sure we are able to bridge the information gap. you saw in the pandemic people relying on access to the internet for work and school, for health care in some instances. it is important to make sure we address the gap in this nation with access to the internet through improved access, improved broadband access. host: does your organization support and increase in the federal gas tax? guest: we support additional revenue into the highway trust fund. we have been spending more from our federal highway trust fund then we are bringing in in revenue for the past 15 years.

that highway trust fund is funded through primarily the federal gas tax. the federal gas tax has not been increased in 25 years. what we want to see is revenue sources into the highway trust fund that match with the federal government has been spending. increasing the gas tax is one of those sources. we also recognize as vehicles start to be powered by different sources different than gasoline and diesel, whether it is electricity or hybrid vehicles, we recognize the gas tax is going to have less and less purchasing power. it is going to provide less revenue into the highway trust fund over time as vehicles change. we are going to have to look at other options as well. another option is a potential vehicle miles traveled fee. there are options we would like congress to look at but the important part is making sure the federal highway trust fund

stays solvent over time. host: how severe is the trucker shortage and pipeline crunch? guest: those workforce issues are top of mind not just for state departments of transportation but a lot of companies across the country. we are seeing it as it relates to trying to get anybody that has a commercial's driver's license -- a commercial drivers license. one of the things of top concern for state dot's is the ability to make sure we have enough drivers to drive snowplows as we start to see snow move-in. -- move in. the shortage of truck drivers is an important issue. you are seeing low unemployment numbers and people having options for jobs to choose from. we are hopeful that we are still

able to attract good men and women to drive trucks. host: let's hear from our viewers. rick is in idaho. caller: safety is the most important thing. i have an idea that is going to assist you with the infrastructure highway bill. each governor's -- governor should submit priorities, blueprints. that will give you a grand total for one appropriation bill to expedite infrastructure as far as highway construction. we do sand, gravel. wintertime is here. we might want to consider eastbound and westbound --

host: we are going to put a stop to that and ask jim to interpret what rick was talking about. a lot of technical talk. guest: i am not 100% sure what rick was talking about. if we are talking about the pipeline project across states and the federal government, there is enough work to be done. i know there is concern out there with this large infrastructure bill that congress is considering asked whether that money can get out there and be put on the street and invested quickly. i can say yes, whether it is on our nation's roads and bridges or our transit systems. there are a lot of projects out there that localities are ready to go to work on. we just need congress to pass this bill.

it is frustrating because they have a bipartisan bill that the senate acted on three months ago. it is pending in the house. we are hopeful the house comes together and is able to get this bill done this week because state dot's and public transit agencies need those dollars now. host: richard is in maryland. please go ahead with your question for jim tymon. caller: good morning. my call is related to the quality of the work being done as it relates to infrastructure. since this influx of imported workers during construction, the work is shoddy. you will see a road being repaved and it lasts for maybe 2.5 years and then there are potholes again. they are not weather-related.

there are water spots. not far from you, they redid the great sidewalk in front of the printing office. they were out there working it at night and getting over time, but there are puddles everywhere. i am concerned about our inspections with this influx of new workers. it also relates to our buildings that are going up. the work is not being inspected before the concrete is poured, before the rebar is installed. the quality of work is not up to speed. i think it has something to do with the inspections and lack of skilled construction workers coming into this country to do this work. something needs to be done to assure that up. -- to shore that up.

you talked about jobs being created. hopefully some will be given to our citizens, people who are economically deprived from appalachia to the inner cities. host: thank you for calling. guest: i will stand by the work done by our state dot's and contractors out there. i think there are protocols in place to make sure the quality is retained and the work they do , whether it is laying new concrete or asphalt or constructing a bridge, inspections are part of the process, making sure the materials used are the appropriate materials. the work that is done is done to last. this is an investment in infrastructure, not just spending. we want to make sure we are getting a return on that investment and it is lasting as long as it should.

i'm confident that state dot's are making the decisions that are important for us to consider this. host: is a education important in this field? guest: it is. we talked about workforce issues. it is important for us to start young, making school age children know the value of what it takes to be involved in science and engineering. we have a program with the american association of state highway and transportation officials that focuses on school age children and high school kids and trying to teach them the different things that go into road and bridge building, looking at engineering issues and trying to get their interest to get involved in this sector.

there are a lot of options kids have these days when they are looking at different professions to go into. we want to make sure they are aware there are great jobs in the transportation industry. it does not necessarily have to be on the engineering side. there are great jobs from a highway construction standpoint, great jobs you can make a career out of. we are working closely with the federal highway administration, the association general contractors to make sure we are getting the word out there that there are great careers out there in transportation. host: are these jobs high-tech or tech jobs more than construction and manual anymore? guest: we need them all. it is across-the-board. is engineers, planners, but also construction workers. these are great jobs for people across the spectrum. host: stephen is next.

he is in new york. go ahead, stephen. caller: my comment is this. wouldn't it help if we took our transportation as far as truckers and put them back on the railways? -- the cost of running the post office, which would create more jobs for private industry and be more competitive and help our country grow. guest: i am not sure about the postal service, but i can tell you as we look at the transportation network as a whole we need to look at almost a trance rotation. whether that is moving -- of transportation. whether that is moving people -- we need to invest more in our nation's roads as well as provide people opportunities to be able to walk or bike to where they need to go. we need to invest in all those options. on the freight side, we need to

make sure our trucks have the ability to travel our nation's roads the way they need to to get from point a to point b. we need to make sure we have good access to rail and water transportation. we need to make sure our ports are operating efficiently if we want to make sure our economy is running the way it should. host: you have been on this show several times. usually we hear from truckers, and i'm surprised we have not heard from a trucker yet today. i guess we did in the first call from idaho. you have been in this industry for a long time from a washington perspective. have you ever gotten your cdl? guest: i have not. that is one of the things on my bucket list. it would be a great opportunity for me to go out there and get my cdl. i have driven trucks, but nothing that rises to the level

you need your cdl for. host: what is the number one complaint or issue of concern from truckers? guest: safety is one of the issues truckers are concerned about and how we as normal drivers interact with trucks on the road. we need to make sure that safety is the top priority for all our drivers. it is for state dot, but we need to be mindful as we are driving out there that we are mindful of where our trucks are and they are mindful of where we are as normal passenger vehicles. last week, secretary buttigieg was speaking at our annual conference in san diego. he mentioned the new numbers that just came out for the first half of this calendar year for roadway fatalities. it is a disturbing trend we are seeing. you're seeing more and more people die on our highways then

we have in recent years. that is something we need to take response ability for. safety is our top priority. we are looking to take a full approach, a comprehensive approach for how we look at highway safety, whether it is looking at education of drivers out there, better enforcement of existing laws, and better engineering our facilities to make sure we are providing a platform for our drivers and cyclists and pedestrians that enables them to be as safe as possible. we are having to double down on safety because the numbers we are seeing in the first half of this year are on except a ball -- unacceptable. host: wayne is in pennsylvania. caller: i ride the highway from

new york. i see mostly white guys on the highway. i am a carpenter. i did my 30 years. it was very little of minorities. when you hire mexicans, the company don't pay the right amount of money. how do we correct that situation? guest: are you talking about highway workers? caller: i am talking about highway workers. host: any comment for him? guest: i would say i think state dot's and construction companies are looking to hire great workers regardless of race or ethnicity. one thing i want to mention as well is our organization has just elected our new president

for the year, the secretary of the louisiana department of transportation and development. he is the first black, african-american president. one of his issues is pathways to equity and making sure we are working to make sure our communities and the roadbuilding and contracting community we work with better reflects the communities we serve. we are looking to make sure we are doing better outreach to all the communities we serve so our organizations can better reflect those communities. host: joe is in fremont, california. we are talking about transportation infrastructure. joe? go ahead. caller: we have caltrans in california.

we had a part on a bridge that was burned out. it took them two years. they were overbudget and could not finish it. they got a private contractor. they came in within one month, finished it under budget. that is my problem with spending taxpayer money year after year on this stretch of road. that is my question. host: what is your response? maybe it is incidental. you often hear about projects like this going overbudget. why is that? host: the men and women out at caltrans, led by the director of caltrans out there, do phenomenal work. each project is going to have a different story to tell. i think what we have seen over the years is more contracts are coming in ahead of schedule and

under budget because that has been a priority for state dot for a number of years, working with private sector partners that are building most of these projects to make sure these projects come in on time and on budget or ahead of schedule and under budget. host: finally, why can't you use electric lines like tennessee for broadband? the lines are already there across the country. guest: that is a great comment. one of the things many state dot's are doing is laying conduit every time they are doing a road construction project. if you are out there and building a new stretch of roadway or reconstructing an existing stretch of roadway, a lot of states are burying conduit in that roadway so they can come back at a later date

and put fiber or broadband access through that conduit, either at the time they are doing construction or laying empty conduit so they can come back and put fiber in at a later date if they need to. host: jim tymon is the american -- is the director of the american association of highway officials. a half hour left of the washington journal today and it is going to be open forum. we have talked about a lot of issues. a lot is going on in washington. what public policy issue do you want to talk about? here are the numbers. if you are a democrat and wanted to talk about public policy issue, (202) 748-8000 is the number for you to call. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. when we come back, we will give you the social media contacts in case you cannot get through on the phone lines. we will be right back.

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about his struggle with lyme disease. his other titles include bad religion. join the conversation with your phone calls, texts, and tweets for ross douthat on c-span2. be sure to visit c-spanshop.org to get your copies of his book. >> get c-span on the go. watch the day's biggest political event live or on -- on our new mobile video app. listen with c-span radio and discover new broadcasts for free. download c-span now today. >> washington journal continues. host: it is open forum. what public policy issue do you want to discuss? here are the numbers.

202 is the area code. (202) 748-8000 if you are a democrat and want to discuss a public policy issue. if you are a republican, (202) 748-8001. everybody else, (202) 748-8002. if you cannot get through on the phone lines and want to make a comment, try a text. (202) 748-8003. that is for text messages only, name and city please if you would. and our social media handle, twitter, facebook, instagram. go ahead and make those comments. we will get to as many as possible. in nevada, democrat. what is on your mind? caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i think we need to institute a talking filibuster where they

have to keep talking as long as they want to filibuster. they need to keep members on the floor to hold that filibuster. it is the very least the people out here deserve. we deserve the entertainment. we deserve to hear what these guys have against voting rights. host: where is winnemucca, nevada? caller: in the north central part of the state. host: how long have you lived there? caller: since 1979. host: there you go. next is dave in toledo. independent line. caller: my question is about

childcare provisions in the build back better. i am wondering, is there some kind of provision where the state cares cannot excessively charge -- where these day cares cannot excessively charge? what is to prevent day cares from raising prices 10 times as high? host: that is dave in toledo's concern. this is politico this morning. people are over it. covid vanishes from the campaign trail. this is from this morning's politico publication. it is election day in new jersey, virginia, governorships and municipal elections. mayors in seattle and buffalo and atlanta who are up on the ballot tonight. tonight, you will hear the

speeches from virginia and new jersey on c-span. they will be alive after the results and after people have won or not. dave is in toledo. we hit dave already. mary lou -- it has been a while since i sat out here. mary lou is in new jersey, independent line. caller: thank you for c-span. in line with what you were saying, i want to talk about the governors election in my state of new jersey. i want to mention some reasons why people should consider voting not for phil murphy. first, taxes. we have the highest property taxes in the nation. we are becoming known as the california of the east coast. secondly, coven mandates. phil murphy's -- covid mandates. phil murphy's mandates closed small businesses that will never open again.

regarding nursing homes, new jersey had more deaths than any other state, even more than new york. neither cuomo nor murphy have been held accountable. host: you cite to those facts, but governor murphy is leading in all polls, correct? caller: the gap is closing as of yesterday. i wanted to let the voters know this. project veritas went undercover and interviewed a campaign worker for murphy who said he is waiting to be reelected and then he is really going to issue mandates. he is not saying anything now because he is afraid of losing the independent and undecided voters, which is deceitful and dishonest. host: thanks for calling in. from fox news, new york city vaccine mandates out and city

workers to go on unpaid leave. scott is in deerfield beach, florida. you are on the washington journal. good morning. caller: this is related to the infrastructure spending. i was hopeful -- i wonder why we do not initiate a national database where states can opt in for contracting. they could execute bids and help contractors understand the work that needs to be completed. host: i am not sure i fully understand where you are going. caller: i'm advocating that we use more efficiency in the marketplace. currently a lot of bids for contracting jobs are done locally where you have to know someone to get a contract. i thought it would be nice to incorporate more efficiency from an economic standpoint and to

utilize a database where contractors could see a drop of five minas apologies over and seek to obtain -- resent a bid for completing the work. -- municipalities over and seek to present a bid for completing the work. i was a real estate investor before i became disabled. host: from the washington times, boston mayoral race brings identity into the spotlight. the two finalists, whoever when -- wins will be the first person of color elected to the city's top political office. roberts, california, republican. caller: i did not catch your name and i am trying to get the

phone here. i am robert. you are? host: i am peter. please go ahead. caller: i have not seen brian and the longest time. -- in the longest time. host: he is still here every morning. caller: tell him he is my kind of guy. i have not seen any discussion about the difficult -- the aircraft carriers. one is when to be sunk given the opportunity -- going to be sunk given the opportunity. host: are you talking with a new weapon from china? caller: where did they get it from? the soviet folks that have taken over in the kremlin have had it for a couple years who knows how the chinese -- a couple years. who knows how the chinese got theirs?

those weapons are very dangerous. host: this is brian in san diego. caller: you are my type of guy too. my biggest concern is the regulation of facebook and social media. a lot people are getting their information from their -- there. i want to say it is the younger generation but it is older folks as well. there needs to be some kind of regulation because the miss information and just brainwashing of the population is concerning to me. people are not getting information from reputable places. they are just random. host: are you a facebook user? caller: i am. host: what kind of feed comes to you? caller: i get the main -- i go

to reuters, c-span, the washington post, the new york times. i stay away from conservative media as much as possible. i was a republican for the first 40 years of my life. host: why are you an independent? caller: because of trump and more and more. when the republican party decided to support roy moore, i decided i could not look my kid in the eye. host: judge moore from alabama? caller: right. host: this is from the hill. mcconnell blasts potential payments to separate migrant families. mitch mcconnell monday criticized president biden's potential plan to pay settlements to families separated at the border during the trump administration. this idea feels like a satirical

policy proposal that republicans would have invented to make a parody out of the radical left. the next thing you know, they will send out million-dollar checks to illegal immigrants. that was from the senate floor. rick is on our democrat line. caller: greetings from the democratic people's republic of california. i saw something on the news the other night, and add -- an ad by the republican party saying democrats are going to cut medicare. that should concern everybody who has plans for medicare in the future. all of us who live outside the qanon propaganda bubble know that republicans are the kings of propaganda, the masters of projecting propaganda and kings of epoxy -- hypocrisy.

in the book wrecking crew, he stated that republicans at their meetings and retreats all discuss how they plan to eliminate medicare, social security. republicans believe the government should not do anything for anybody. i want to impress on all the -- what the fox news attorneys call sensible people. we have to go out and stop letting these propaganda rights -- propagandites pick our government. please get out there and vote. do not let these people pick our government anymore. host: what do you do in napa? caller: i am a retired sheet metal worker. i worked 32 years in a union

trade. when i got to the ripe old age of 52, they let me retire with a full pension. in the 16 years i have been collecting it, i have collected over $1 million from it. host: what exactly does a sheet-metal worker do? caller: we put ventilation and buildings. we put siding. if it is sheet-metal, we pretty much install it. it is a good trade. i built lots of biomedical labs. i did contribute to this country. i was paid well for it. unfortunately, republicans have destroyed unions and wages have gone down and the middle class is suffering. that is not enough pain and suffering for republicans.

host: what do you think about the 15% corporate minimum tax? caller: it is about time. i hope we get something done on global climate change because our ocean out here is sick. when i first started fishing out there, the temperature was a constant 52 degrees. now it is around 60. host: thanks for your time this morning. patricia is in new jersey, republican line. caller: i wanted to say for everybody to go out and vote. i would like to comment about the vaccine mandates. as a republican, a moderate republican, i am disappointed in the party for not supporting vaccine mandates. i feel as a consumer and person

that likes to go out that i want to know which businesses and companies are concerned with the health and welfare of their staff come of their employees, and of the public at large. i feel mandates work and that the closures in the beginning of the pandemic was because of the pandemic. they are damaging to businesses, but what is really damaging to businesses is when people die. and when customers get sick. i am for the mandates for vaccines. this is a serious health and welfare issue for the community and the world. i would like everyone to support those mandates. host: you started your talk by

saying everybody get out and vote. how are you voting in the governor's race in new jersey as a moderate republican? caller: i have always been a fiscal conservative. i am obsessed with taxes and the way the tax dollar is spent. as i said, i am disappointed in the republican party because of the lying. i was always taught as a child and adult not to lie. i do not understand unless people are brainwashed why they keep lying. that is disturbing to me. i like what phil murphy did. i have an 88-year-old mother and she is still alive. it has been hard during the pandemic to monitor everything. i am actually disappointed in my party because of this whole thing, just the incompetence of

people dying when they do not have to. that is upsetting to me. host: how are you voting? caller: i really think i am going to vote for phil murphy. host: don is in houston, texas. you are on the washington journal. caller: greetings to the local 1846 union. we talk about education and job skills and intellect. we have to do -- we did a great job of high school graduation 100 years ago. it was probably under 15% nationally for heisel graduation and today the national graduation rate is the high 80's. it is still not acceptable. when you come to a large school

districts with close to 200 thousand students, 12% not graduating high school is about 25,000 students not graduating from high school. that is part of the issue when we talk about criminal activity and opportunities to educate yourself and get skills for the very technical labor market we have. we still have to understand. when we talk about education, we have to look at the dynamics. when you look at groups such as black americans, the graduation rate is at 60%. we have over 2 million inmates and many of them are black americans and illiterate. they failed to graduate high school. high school graduation is a

gateway to opportunities in this country, so we have to keep up the graduation rate to close to 100%. host: how do you make sure people are not graduating high school literally -- illiterately or not at all? caller: we have to use our public access channels to have proper programming. all those programs helped me enjoy reading at an early age. so our public access channels can be geared toward that premise of reading, writing, and arithmetic. we need to stretch the 3rs -- stress the 3rs, especially as we have a lot of people with english as a second language.

we have some dynamic educators and a vibrant public education system, but it must work for all the kids starting early on. we must educate parents and families and communities and put resources and communities with police and law enforcement. we have to incorporate the full capacity of our communities and resources. host: did you start out by giving a shout out to the carpenters union? caller: yes. my dad was a member of 50 years. host: what kind of work do you do? caller: i team. i team with the union. the truckers, the warehouses,

all those entities. host: so you have a cdl. caller: we have companies that are categorized as independent contractors but treated like employees but they are not compensated as contractors. host: you drive a truck? caller: i stepped down. i am more of a supervisor. host: you actually do team. all right. thanks for your time this morning. william in florida, democrat, good morning to you. what is on your mind public policy wise? caller: good morning. i want to speak to the african-american taxpayer locally in florida and all the african-american people like that fellow who just got off the phone. when you come to florida, please avoid jacksonville. we are fighting a civil war here

with these confederate statues. it has involved a lot of taxpayer money, contracts and stuff. i asked that people coming here avoided jacksonville, florida. the mayor and some of the crazy stuff -- we have police brutality issues here, trying to get reform going for the citizens. for some reason, they do not think the black and brown community is intellectually competent to handle themselves. i have for they are considering having a mock slave auction as some of the monuments that they have here in town.

host: who is considering that? caller: a couple of groups. i do not know if they are definitely doing it, but i have heard a couple groups are considering it because they keep going to the governor's office. he locked them out last week. host: there is william reporting on a local issue in jacksonville, florida. kathleen, what is on your mind? caller: good morning. i am calling from los angeles. i want to talk about things caller touched on because it sounds absurd. i do not know why black americans are still rolling with the democratic party and one third of black americans are facing poverty. the next third are a paycheck away from poverty. we have 25% single parenthood.

everybody knows that single parenthood is not the best strategy to build wealth. you were talking about police brutality and should we defund the police or increase the police. their wages or how much -- whatever. benefits. their funding. we should increase fatherhood, fathers in the home for two and three generations. that is what is needed. there is only zero point 0034 -- zero -- we are 39 million black americans. the media pushes a narrative that is a false narrative. on something only impacts a small percentage of our

population, that is not the major issue facing black america. the major issue facing black america for 39 million black americans is economics, money, and fathers in homes. the other issue, msnbc, the new york times push the russian collusion hoax for four years straight. it was paid for by hillary. they never retracted it. i wonder why the washington journal, the washington post never retracted that lie that they pushed for four years. host: what do you do in l.a.? caller: i host a radio show, political. i used to be a democrat and now i am a conservative.

i could never as a black americans role with the democratic party when they put illegal aliens over black americans. host: if people want to tune in, do you want to give your association where people can listen? caller: i would love that. it is the mega truth report -- host: naked truth report. caller: you should have me on your show. i am writing a book. salem media. a.m. 870, los angeles. i talk about black america. i talk about black americans leaving the democratic party, how the media has pushed a narrative, a false narrative. my community is motivated by their emotions. they need to stop thinking with their skin caller and start thinking with their brain.

host: we are going to leave it there. we appreciate kathleen, who hosts the naked truth report in los angeles. two final items, two new books coming out. number one, hillary clinton's longtime aide has a new book out talking about her life and one of the factors that came out of the book was she was assaulted by a u.s. senator. here is another new book. trump tried to get china to pay for virus damages. peter navarro's new book says the president wanted to see as much as $10 trillion in reparations from beijing for damage of the covid pandemic. the effort was scuttled by

treasury secretary steven mnuchin and larry kudlow because it might hurt the economic markets. that is peter navarro's new book. all speeches from virginia and new jersey will be on c-span tonight live and we will be back tomorrow on the washington journal. the house is coming to session. it could be a case where infrastructure comes up this week. i hereby appoint [video clip] >> i hereby appoint the honorable greg stanton, signed nancy pelosi. o the order of the house of january 4, 2021, the chair will now now recognize members from lists submitted by the ma