and cdc director dr. rochelle walensky testify before the senate health committee about the federal response to the pandemic. you can also watch everything online at c-span.org or watch on our free mobile app. >> c-span's were unfiltered view of government. -- c-span is your unfiltered view of government. >> broadband. that is why charter has invested billions building infrastructure, operating technology, empowering opportunity in communities big and small. charter is connecting us. >> charter communications supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> this morning on "washington journal," we will discuss president biden's economic plan

and other legislative items with representatives steve cohen and byron donalds. later, nick timiraos on the state of the u.s. economy and the role of the federal reserve. ♪ host: as is common 48 hours after an election lots of analysis and editorializing in the newspapers today about what happens tuesday. -- happened tuesday. we will look at that analysis and ask you for your takeaways and lessons learned from virginia, new jersey, and municipal elections across the country. that will be our opening question. also you will have the question to talk with members of congress. we will take a look at the file reserve -- federal reserve's

actions yesterday. what is the message from tuesday? that is the question. here are the numbers. (202) 748-8000 if you are a democrat. if you're a republican, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002 is the number for you to dial in on. if you want to reach us on social media, you can do so via text. (202) 748-8003. that is a text number only. please include your city and first name. and our social media sites, @cspanwj is our handle for those. here is a couple of the front pages this morning looking back at tuesday. the washington post, a sharp turn looms in virginia. usa today looks ahead to 2022. gop wins lift hopes to reclaim congress.

and the wall street journal this morning. a roadmap to the gop and a warning for democrats. lots of reaction yesterday including from president biden. [video clip] >> as leader of the democratic party, how much responsibility do you take for the dems -- dismal results in virginia? >> yesterday reminded me that one of the sacred rights we have is to be able to vote. we all have an obligation to accept the legitimacy of these elections. i was talking to terry to congratulate him today. he got more votes than any democrat ever has gotten. we brought out more votes than ever had been cast for a democratic incumbent. -- a democrat running for governor. no governor in virginia has ever won when he or she is the same

party as the sitting president. i know people want us to get things done. that is why i am continuing to push hard for the democratic party to move along and pass my infrastructure bill and my build back better bill. if we think about what we are talking about here, people are upset and uncertain about a lot of things come from covid to school to jobs to a range of things. the cost of a gallon of gasoline. if i'm able to sign into law my build back better initiative, i am in a position where you will see a lot of those things ameliorated quickly. host: from the hill this morning , blaming stupid woke this --

wokeness. he blamed recent losses on "stupid wokeness." do not just look at virginia and new jersey. look at long island, buffalo, minneapolis. look at seattle. this defund the police lunacy, the take abraham lincoln's name off of schools, people see that. it has had an oppressive effect across the country on democrats. some of these people need to go to a woke detox center. they are using ailing which people do not use and there is backlash and frustration. usa today editorializing is this morning. voters issue warning for democrats. new jersey and virginia contests played out against the backdrop of a national democratic party seemingly frozen and unable to

govern at the national level. president biden's approval rating began to slide across the country when he fumbled his decision to withdraw troops from afghanistan. democratic bickering left biden looking ridiculous when you showed up empty-handed at a vital international climate summit in scotland. his plan to fight global warming was idling in congress. after that current rising inflation triggered by supply-chain slowdowns from consumer buying patterns that alter during the pandemic, perhaps none of which could be laid at biden's feet, and the results are broad concerns the nation is moving in the wrong direction. hence tuesday's shellacking for the democrats. we want to hear your voices. what is the message from tuesday's election? james is a democrat.

caller: why is they making all that noise about critical race theory when it is history? we was taught history, black history, black culture. why white people scared to know about they culture? host: can you hang on the line for a minute? i'm going to read an editorial in the wall street journal and then i want your reaction. ok? hang on just a second. this is it. he big racist fail in virginia is the editorial. the failure of democratic racial demagoguery. throughout the campaign, democrats and media allies assailed mr. youngkin and his supporters as closet whites from assists -- white supremacists.

critical race theory is code for white parents who don't like the idea of teaching about race. on pbs, jonathan capehart said if mr. young can won it would be because republicans decided tap dancing with white supremacy is their way back to power. terry mcauliffe said of his rival, he has run a racist campaign from start to finish. what did these racist voters do? they elected youngkin as governor and winsome sears as lieutenant governor, the first african-american woman to be elected in -- to statewide office in virginia's history. the same democrats -- racists chose jason brs.

in the end, voters shrugged off the racism accusations much the way mr. youngkin did. despite we democrats say, voters know their neighbors and do not see a racist society or country. most americans do not want to racial division that democrats keep fomenting for political gain. what is your reaction to that editorial? caller: i think it is just a bench of -- bunch of nonsense. either history happened or history did not. unfortunately, it happened. it was not nice, but it is what it is. it is your history. host: a reminder to viewers to turn down the bawling on your tv so you do not get feedback. you will be able to hear

everything through the phone. michael in maryland, independent line. caller: one thing i thought was amazing was i heard there were eight people from virginia who got elected that on capitol hill on january 6 at the insurrection and also in new jersey it was six people who got elected that were there. host: where did you find that information? i have not seen that. caller: i picked it up on the tv. i cannot tell you what channel or station. i did hear that. caller: what is the lesson learned in your view? caller: they got elected and they were there at this insurrection.

it may be the same message the previous caller was talking about. host: mitch mcconnell also reacted to the election. caller: last -- [video clip] >> last night was a difficult evening for democrats. the democratic party misled their mandate and let the radical left run the country. local democrats let teachers unions keep schools shot longer than necessary and told parents they did not get a say in what their kids are learning. washington democrats have supercharged inflation, re-created welfare without requirements, and made america less energy and -- independent. president biden was only given a 50-50 senate and a tiny majority in the house but decided to let the radical left run the

country. citizens wanted a return to normalcy. but they have gotten a series of government created crises. the american people will not stand for this. that is what voters told democrats last night across the country. the results from different parts of our country demonstrated this was in large part a referendum on a national issues. it is not too late. democrats should listen to the voters, drop this reckless taxing and spending spree, and stop trying to ram through a socialist transformation that the american people never asked for. host: next call is david in new york. what is the message from tuesday's election? caller: what you just read in

the paper. democrats are dressing up in blackface. the caller was talking about history. history is the confederates, the reconstruction. all of that was down south. basically run by democrats. there was some republicans, but most of them were democrats. you had black democrats even in the supreme court. there was a lot of history that stopped being honestly told. host: robert in ohio. further -- for your party, was there a message tuesday? caller: there was. thanks for having me on. i have been trying to get on for

a while now. thanks. i think the message for the election is that people are waking up that democrats and republicans also. they are starting to see through our nominees that we have elected to office because i think our nominees have basically forgotten what they want to office for. basically, what they are saying is this is my show now. i am here. i will do what i want to do. it is hard because the democrat and republican party are so divided now. the truth is hard to come out. what you see on tv pretty much

every day is that you have all of the talk show hosts. everybody is an expert on what is going on and it leaves a lot to wonder. i would like to say something also about the educational situation that we face. black history is a part of american education. in my studies through black history, and my awareness, i find there are few people, teachers can teach like history. -- black history. mainly because they are teaching from an opinion. that is not how black history needs to be taught. host: as somebody who has

watched over the last couple of days probably, we have had several callers call in and say democrats -- if democrats who control washington had passed legislation the results tuesday would have been different. you agree -- do you agree? caller: i do. like i said, my big problem is that the democrats as well as the republicans, if you pay attention to it, they have forgotten what they are therefore. their oath of office. they have forgotten. the oath of office now has almost become something of the past. host: thanks for calling in. i hope you get in again in 30 days. that the annual, was there a message from tuesday's election

-- nathaniel, was there a message from tuesday's election? caller: true salvation is not waiting. a lot people believe that we won the election by a landslide and that means that people are willing to come out to vote. over the years, what i have seen , we fall into complacency and believe that because we came out to vote the last election we need to come out to vote in this election and that will happen so i do not have to worry about it. host: bob, texas, republican. caller: i would like to follow up on your caller about the history. let's see. in texas, the republican party

was started by 150 black guys and 10 white guys. there has just been -- also in the jim crow south there were almost 5000 people -- 3400 of them were blacks and 1300 of them were whites. i would like to ask how many of those were democrats. host: that is bob and tyler, texas. -- in tyler, texas. here's what she had to say about tuesday. [video clip] >> there is no way you can say a 12 point swing in a state is due to congress not passing a bill. every attack ad i saw against terry mcauliffe did not say congress has not passed the

infrastructure bill. it has to do with education and parents. what we have to do is give real relief to parents who are struggling, families who are struggling. that is why we passed both these bills. i think that is what i'm hearing from all my colleagues. >> does this give you more momentum to get this done? >> i think we were already in high gear to get it done. if there is a higher gear, we went into it. let's get these things done. we have been there for days. we have just been waiting for the final agreements and how incredible that we got something on prescription drug pricing negotiation. that is one of the most popular pieces of this package. it is about economic relief for families who cannot afford prescription drugs. we are foam -- finally going to cap that and give real ones to people. we are going to give winds to people who need childcare, to

cut the costs for working families and poor families across the country. these are the things that will make people feel differently about their lives. host: an analysis piece in the new york times talking about a democrat from virginia who represents the richmond suburban area, a swing district in this last election at least. she says that esther biden must not forget that for many voters his mandate was limited, to remove president trump from their television screen and make american life ordinary again. nobody elected him to be fdr. they elected him to be normal and stop the chaos. alluding to the sweeping agenda out the president is seeking to enact with a thin legislative majority. democrats in washington wednesday are determined to

forge ahead with signature domestic legislation. a major infrastructure bill and a package of social welfare programs and initiatives to fight climate change. moderate and liberal lawmakers say they feel new urgency to show voters they can get big things done. jason, delaware, democrat. what is the message from tuesday? caller: good morning. there are a ton of messages from tuesday, but i think the most important is the democrats are just terrible at messaging. there are a lot of democratic policies which are generally popular with people. people want paid family leave. people want to have affordable childcare so they can be able to get back to work and not have to worry about their children. the thing is, republicans are

very good at messaging. they are good especially at fear mongering. when they talk about critical race theory and things like that. the reality is could glories there is a subject that is taught in -- critical race theory is a subject taught in postgraduate school, not public schools. if there are instances of teachers saying things that are inappropriate, that can be dealt with. it is mostly a dog whistle for people who are uncomfortable examining truths, the honest truth about slavery and things like that. democrats have to push back on these issues more effectively and say, this is a lie. all we are trying to do is have people get a complete truth of history. an analogy would be in germany they were not talking about anti-semitism and other things

like that but then people wanted to make a move to give a more complete picture of what exactly happened in germany. people would be uncomfortable because the narrative they learned originally has been shifted. i think there is a lot of that. host: we are going to talk to a caller in athens, georgia. caller: three days in a row, glad to see you. how much do i love c-span? i love c-span immensely. i'm going to start with this. we need to get more viewers in washington. if you can invite one other person to engage in c-span and in washington journal, i think we can get numbers from 13 or 15 million up to 30 million viewers

a day. this number may be a little high. but if we can do that we can increase numbers and get people educated and get people who are responsible -- more responsive to civic duties. host: are you suggesting having two viewers on? caller: i mean callers in general inviting or family members, your friends to watch c-span. if i'm not mistaken, the viewership is about 13, 15 million a day. host: a day? now. there is a formula and that figure is in there somewhere. i apologize that i cannot quote the formula. caller: no worries. host: we appreciate you watching. what is the message? caller: i think mr. mccullough

said it best. the world was already enslaved before this wonderful place called america. it was enslaved by the church and military dictators. when they founded this wonderful idea called america, they knew those powers they got free from would try to infiltrate the united states. i say in 2022 those powers have been infiltrated. they are trying to subvert this beautiful thing called freedom. host: we have to leave it there. thanks for calling in. bob, republican. what is the message from tuesday? caller: i am 74.

explain slavery. explain why we went to war to end it. we did not go to war to keep people slaves. this country gave every kind of life they can to black people from welfare, affirmative action. this is crazy. here's what happens. a black woman won. she loves this country. she fought for it. you have people calling about critical race theory. it has been taught. all these people i have interviewed on tv brings hate. that is what they do. causes a lot of hate in this country unnecessarily. it makes me sad to watch this and hear people call in about that. host: thank you for calling. shirley, what is the message you took away from tuesday's

election? shirley? caller: yes. i am so tired of these people commenting about black people and african-americans and stuff. until you have lived it, do not talk about it. you don't know nothing about our history. host: what is the message from tuesday's election? caller: you listen to the ones who call in about african-americans and slavery and stuff like that. listen to me. as far as tuesday, i think regardless of who wins and who does not it is going to be the same thing. african-americans are going to be treated different from white folks anyway. for mitch mcconnell, he needs to stop doing what he is doing.

he got tricked because he got two terms. -- until you have lived us, do not talk about us. host: joe is in dayton, republican line. caller: good morning. tuesday was a beatable day. this is ace -- a beautiful day. this is a small taste of what is what happened a year from now. people are fed up. we do not live in the 1960's anymore. there is to much -- too much information out here. people are fed up with nancy pelosi, chuck schumer, and the lies being spread. we have joe biden as president, been there for less than a year and he has done nothing positive for this country. also we have the first black attorney general, and wonderful lady from jamaica. i am first-generation italian

american. host: lieutenant governor. caller: i apologize. she is a breath of fresh air. then you have julie read on msnbc slamming her because there is an our next to her name. it is not because of the kind of person she is. that is sad. host: susan page, longtime washington water and usa today washington bureau chief has an analysis, this is part of what she has to the appetite for change that boosted democrats last time undercut them now. the message from voters and exit polls was politicians were not doing enough to address concerns about crime and inflation and parental control of their kids' education. a majority in virginia said the democratic party had moved to

far left. she writes that, for republicans , they bolstered efforts to recruit strong candidates. gop prospects and governors races improved, including proceeds -- for seats held by democrats. for democrats, the bad news may prompt some in congress unhappy about a possible return to minority status to consider retiring or running for other office. it will along congressional democrats if they support biden's stalled spending bill. again, susan page writing in usa today. this tweet -- cannot quite see the name come up this is a tweet that came in. if democrats have to explain what they are going to do because people cannot see what

they have already done, you have failed to get your message across. this allows your opponents to define you and the gop are just waiting to do it for you. the lack of action allows them to do that. carl is a democrat in new york city. caller: good morning, c-span. this whole thing tuesday was success for the big lie from donald trump. all he did was live. he did not do anything. -- lie. he did not do nothing. matter of fact -- clinton gave us a balanced budget.

[indiscernible] host: what is the lesson from tuesday? caller: what people are on their way back -- white people are on their way back to jim crow, as close as they can get. this whole thing started when they lied about jesus being a white man. the bible surely tells you what he looked like. brown skin and hair like lamb's wool. host: that is carl in new york city. this is james in virginia, independent line. you have called in as an independent. which way did you vote for governor? caller: i did not. i voted republican for governor and the reason i voted the way i voted is because i feel like president biden has gone way too

far to the left and he is listening to the radical left agenda instead of realizing that most of us are moderates. we do not want what the republicans are offering at all, but i do not want what the far left is offering either. host: did you support president biden in 2020? caller: i most certainly did. i still like him, but i do not like what he is doing to the agenda. he is not listening to the regular people. he is listen to people who are so far left that it is not what i know or understand. it is just like trump, who was so far right that i do not like or understand him. that has nothing to do with america. it is about some strange thing -- the way that people should live. i voted all democrat except for that.

host: except for governor. caller: correct. i voted democrat for everything else but i think democrats need to get back to something different. as far as critical race theory, we should be teaching that in school. it is history. everybody should know what it is about. they should know why this country is the way it is with minorities and everything else. the fact that they keep pushing it down is because they are afraid or somehow feel ashamed and it has nothing to do with them. they were not alive. it is what happened and it is the truth. you should always preach the truth. host: what is your profession in stafford? caller: i do not work in stafford. i work in washington, d.c. host: thanks for calling in. timothy, new york, republican.

good morning. what is the message from tuesday? caller: i thought that there has to be change. there has to be change. it is ridiculous, what is going on. we feel that -- host: what should be changed? caller: i feel that racial things are going on. what about mankind? you know? mankind. this is ridiculous. host: eric, california, democrat. you are on the washington journal. caller: good morning, america. i would like to give an answer to the last caller.

it is a philosophy nelson mandela used to bring south africa back together. we can all spend time looking at the past and what we have done in america. it is an answer to the question about crp -- crt. we can come together and answer this question. he knows about it. host: what is the lesson from tuesday's election? caller: what i saw happen was confusion. we are trying to come together. the strategy has taken religious rentable's and waited political. a lot of people are confused of this philosophy.

i also use the concept of jubilee. it brings unity back to the churches with great understanding how god has used the united states to be a light for democracy. to be that unity that we -- and be an example to the world not based on caller of people but simply people doing the right thing in jesus christ's name. host: this is clark in south carolina, independent line. what was the message from tuesday? caller: the message for me was simply the republicans just outplayed the democrats. it is like a game. that is politics. these politicians, a lot of them do not have any particular thing

that they really -- a lot of people like taxes, whatever. they just outplayed them because people find stuff out here like critical race. nobody's been taught that. teaching race in america, race in america is so ugly that it is impossible. nobody wants to teach young children about this in school. republicans just outplayed them, just like a football game. they look for the weakness, they come and get it. they played a tough game. i do not believe in republicans or democrats. host: this is from the washington times. youngkin's win rewrites trump's

campaign playbook. the trump factor is that he was not a factor and that was the number one thing to happen for republicans to win again, said a virginia-based gop strategist who served in the former governor's administration. trump had to exit stage right. he was still in the theater but not center stage. let's hear from steve in maryland on our republican line. what do you think happened? what did you learn? caller: my dad's name is peter and my son's name is peter. i am woke in my own way. i used to be a democrat. now i am a republican. i see the way the democrats are going and they are criticized for this by the right, the expansion of the welfare state. i am retired.

i read and i see the split between the rationalism and empiricism. people can go off on that tangent and kudos to eric from compton. i like what he had to say. back to the expansion of the welfare state. when you are a white person and you comment on the black community, a lot of people accuse us of racism. i did 20 years in the army and served real good guys that were black. back to the cities -- let's take cities for example. since lbj, the black community has gone from 25% single parenthood to 75% single parenthood. we can associate the jobs are not there. this is horrible. we need more jobs. the fact of the matter is, with the expansion of the welfare state, we have higher crime in black communities.

more than 50% of gun homicides are committed by blacks. it is a dangerous issue. i believe the further expansion -- why do i keep hitting my head against the wall? because it feels so good when i stop. host: bring us to a conclusion here. what is the lesson. -- what is the lesson? caller: that people do not want the expansion of the welfare state. host: alex, ohio, democrat. caller: i only have one thing to say. it probably has to do with the election as well. why do we not have congress term limits? the president and mayors and everything are term limited. why isn't congress?

i do not understand why there is not term limits. that is my only thing to say. host: next is bob in california, independent line. go ahead. caller: the result of the tuesday election through the country it shows democrats have been exposed for what they really are, which are socialists . they are trying to bring down the country. you are trying to brainwash the kids with critical race theory and all that nonsense. whatever it takes to divide the country. americans have to get strong. do not get divided on race issues or anything else. host: that is bob in irvine. this is elizabeth. i am very pleased that my home state stayed blue. in my opinion, new jersey is

savvy enough now to know where their bread is buttered so they are after all the place that produced george carlin. eddie is next in kentucky, republican line. -- betty is next in kentucky, republican line. caller: i think tuesday -- i live in a small coal mining town in kentucky. it is more or less a blue state that has turned red. we are just tired of the way democrats went so far to the left and we need to be looked at as god-fearing and god loving people because of the way things

was back then. things were better than what they are now. host: where is the lesson in this? caller: the lesson is that if people would open their eyes and just listen they would -- and they want best for their country, they would put the best people in there, and i think i went to a republican and that will be best for me. host: how is the economy? caller: it is pretty hard. it is a small town. we live in harlan county, kentucky. if you do not call mine or work at a department store -- we only have two. you do not have a job unless you are a schoolteacher, a lawyer

must something to that sort. host: how is the coal mining industry? caller: it is doing better now. they was shut down for almost a year, so we had a lot of unemployed men and a lot them went to carpentry. now if they had the vaccine a lot of people -- they do not let them go to school. they do not let them go to work. our economy is just going down in kentucky, so hopefully tuesday's election, everything will change. host: that is betty in kentucky. this is surely -- shirley in

virginia. let's try armand in florida, democrat. go ahead and give us your thoughts about what happened tuesday and what you think the messages -- message is. caller: thank you for having me on c-span. it has been a long time. i am thinking this critical race theory has had a lot to do with everything that is happening. i want to give everybody a lesson about critical race theory and the welfare system. the welfare system is a system that took all the fathers and said, we do not need fathers in the household anymore. what we need is all the fathers to be mass incarcerated and take all their rights to vote away, which they are still doing around republican states to stop black people from voting. maybe this welfare system would go away and others -- fathers

would stay in their homes with their kids and raise them. everybody has a part of this because you do not mind when they get arrested and we have criminals in the white house getting away with insurrection and taking corporations and taking all of our money and siphoning it out of the country. this is what i have to say. everybody better come together. it is not race against race and not gays against blacks and blacks against whites. get your heads out of your butt s. host: terry in pennsylvania texted in. democrats who keep claiming trump and his followers for all the world's evils can expect more virginias in the coming years.

it is self-destructive. bernard, independent line. do you think there is a lesson in tuesday's election? caller: there is a lesson. it was beautiful. it was democracy at its best. nobody complained about cheating because both sides won. if the people in virginia want to not wear masks and do not want to get vaccinated and stuff like that and listen to some rich guy tell them he cares about them, so be it. that is wonderful. the people in the other state, new jersey, they fought. they did their best and came up with their conclusion. that is democracy at its best. that is what people are trying to get away from, democracy. the thing is, all these things

these people are saying, there is truth to it. i am not a republican or democrat. all this type of stuff has come down to race and we have a problem in this country with race. it has always been there through my whole life. everybody knows what is going on. anybody that wants to say it don't got nothing to do with race, it does, sadly. we will survive it as we always do my but let's keep democracy in this country and that way we can survive. host: that's bernard in california. mike is in indiana, republican line. what is the lesson learned from tuesday in your view as a republican? caller: as a republican, i watched obama for eight years divide us.

for six years, they tried to divide us with trump. obama came along and divided us. i'm getting out of this election people are tired of this racist stuff. i am a farmer on a farm in indiana. every time i go to the big city, i get, how are you doing? the only people i hear racism is the black people. they are screaming about racism and the gentleman earlier said it was the 1960's. i do not know what is going on but i do not see all the racism. host: dexter, washington, d.c., democrat. is there a message from tuesday's election? was there a lesson learned? caller: there was a lesson learned. the lesson i learned was this country ain't going to come back together.

we are divided so far away from each other. we don't see things -- everybody sees circumstances in the country in their own ways and they have their own agendas and racism is involved. it looks to me we are going to be divided. it does not matter who wins some election because we are all losing in the big picture. we are all going to lose because we are divided and china is eating our lunch. they are doing things that make us look like a third world country and then we are acting like a third world country because the powers that be want to get richer. everybody is greedy, selfish. nobody cares about anybody in this country.

i am a truck driver. i am on the road all the time. nobody has any common courtesy, common sense anymore. nobody cares. they cut you off, they run you over. they do not care whether you are black, white, chinese. but he cares about anybody in this country anymore. host: are you a long-haul or local truck driver? caller: both i go everywhere. host: today where are you? caller: here in maryland on 495. host: why are you a democrat? caller: i am more of an independent. i'm getting away from the democratic party because the republicans do whatever they want to do and they do not care what the democrats say or feel about it. the democrats get into office and meet start talking about we

can't do certain things because we are worried about what republicans will say or do about it. when people vote for democrats, they vote for that agenda. they do not vote for the people, they vote for the agenda. if you get into office and you do not want to get anything done and you have people in your party acting like they are not part of your party -- democrats are not going to win and republicans are not want to win. does not matter who is in power. everybody that gets in power -- the opposition always stops the agenda. we are not moving forward. we are stagnated and stagnation is a form of death, economic, military. we are just falling apart here. i am 51 and i can see the moral

standing in the country is just rock-bottom. it is all about what you have and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps even if you do not have boots or strings. host: please tell me you are on a speakerphone and paying attention to the road because the beltway is not a fun drive necessarily. we have heard a lot about the trucker shortage. have you experienced that? caller: yes. the reason why the trucker shortage is because they destroy the wages. dish -- destroyed the wages by pushing the wage down. a lot of guys got their licenses and went to get a job and found out they were being offered $18 an hour and paid $35,000 just to

get this license in a two year span. a lot people dropped off. i do not really know what to say . the country just needs to care about itself. it does not care about itself. host: thank you for calling in and please drive carefully. i promise not to cut you off on the beltway. joanne is in minnesota. what is the lesson learned? caller: three things were learned. good morning. i used to call almost every month. because i am more an independent, i do not necessarily vote for the party. i wanted to wait and see what kind of policies and what this

administration really did. i feel devotes vote the other night is because democrats seem to think -- i have voted for both parties. seem to think they have received a mandate. and they can do everything they want. i do not feel they did receive a mandate. many people voted against trump, not for biden and his policies but against trump. i feel myself and a lot of people i have talked to, we do not believe in biden's policies. it has been eight or nine months and there are so many things that have been done wrong. we are all americans, no matter what our race is. the stuff being done is destroying our country. it does not matter who passes

what. a lot of people are against this bill they are trying to pass. i do not think the election had anything to do with this. democrats seem to want to put in so much extra pork. this is not about infrastructure, not about the people. they have butterflies and trees and all kinds of things. we as a country -- the trucker said before me we need to come together. we need to care about one another. our political parties are so into their party. they have lost connections with what the ordinary person wants. i feel people are just so fed up with all the mistakes and destruction of our country that they finally feel they have to speak up. we need to come together. host: we got the message.

thank you for calling in. miguel from brooklyn texts in the biggest take away from tuesday is the democratic party does not know how to message or incite their base. the leaders who speak are out of faith with their base. they have silenced the most popular voices and therefore they do not have the pulse of the base. they are not listening. let's hear from claudia in a north carolina. what is the lesson learned from tuesday? caller: the lesson i learned from tuesday is that parents especially on the education issues did not want the government to mandate what their children learned in school. they are their blessings, their children are. they should have a right and what their children learn.

they were being totally -- it was being said that critical race was not being taught and it was. it was a matter of record on the internet. and in the schools. people just wanted to be heard. that is not the only issue. i think people want less government mandates. they do not want to be told how to live their lives in every area. i enjoyed youngkin's speech. he kept saying, i will be governing for we the people. we are together. we are one. it was a rare focus to hear a government official nowadays actually say "we the people instead of just -- "we the people" instead of just "we the government."

. host: we will talk about things going on capitol hill. first up, a democrat from tennessee, a member of the progressive caucus. after that, byron donalds, republican from florida. that is coming up. ♪ >> coming up today on c-span,

the house is back at 10:00 a.m. eastern for general speeches. members will prevent age discrimination in the workplace and possibly take up the president's nearly $2 trillion spending package. on c-span2, the senate returns at 10:00 a.m. to consider executive nominations. and at 10:00 a.m. on c-span3, dr. anthony fauci and the cdc director testified before the senate health committee about the federal response to the pandemic. you can also watch everything online at c-span.org, or watch on our free mobile app. "washington journal" continues. host: joining us from capitol

hill is representative steve cohen, a democrat from tennessee. he represents memphis and he is a member of the progressive caucus. we have been spending the first hour looking at lessons learned from tuesday's election. what did you learn or hear? guest: as a democrat, it was not pleasant, but it was not as terrible as many of the pundits say it was. there has not been a virginia governor reelected for 45 or 50 years. there had not been a new jersey governor reelected for a time similar to that. the democratic governor was reelected, which was historic. mcauliffe came close.

if he had not made that comment about parents should not have anything to do about determining their children's education, i suspect he would have won and been the first governor in 45 or 50 years to be reelected. it was close. for these pundits, was it a w or was it an l. if you lost the game because you had three pass interference calls, you might have had a heck of a game but three problems with the defensive backs. trump came out a loser because the republicans ran way ahead of him. trump did not get the support of a lot of people because people realize he is a pathological liar. i think his prospects for winning the presidential election in 2024 are not good.

he might get the nomination but he will not get elected because people realize what a terrible human being he is. host: in the washington post this morning, we will read the headline. democrats say passing their agenda is a must but history says it will not help them in 2022. guest: it is a must. we should have done it three or four months ago. i am a progressive. i have been a progress the entire 15 years i have been here, but i am a realistic politician. i know sometimes you play the hand that is dealt to you and you know when to hold them and know when to fold them. we need to take that victory with the infrastructure bill and get it passed and have something to give the american people and

move the economy forward. we did not do that. that was unfortunate. we will pass it today. we might pass the build back better bill. it should not have held up the infrastructure bill. you cannot hold up one thing that is good for something else were hoping for. you take what you can get when you can get it host: in politics. host:so the infrastructure bill will be coming today? guest: we will have a three-hour caucus this morning to discuss. there have been some additions on immigration. there have been some additions in family leave. there is something on their on prescription drugs that speaker pelosi worked out. these are three particular issues, especially family leave and prescription drug negotiations. they are bipartisan. they are biracial.

you name it. they are vegan, non-gmo, all of the good things. host: what about the john lewis voting rights act? guest: that has not had any republican support at all. the only way to pass it will be to break the filibuster. joe manchin has a voting bill. i don't know. i like senator manchin. i consider him a friend. i know senator sinema and i would realize voting is the bedrock on which it rests. we need to allow this government to flourish. host: i realize you are in the house, but what you think about changing the rules of the filibuster?

guest: i think they should be changed. just about every legislative body i am familiar with in the world operates on majority rule. there is nothing in our constitution that says anything about a majority. this is a rule that came up on the basis of slavery. the smaller states got more power because they wanted to continue the most important economic engine they had going, which was slavery. the filibuster was a way to give them even more power. it is something john calhoun came up with, a slaveholder from a slave state and a proponent of slavery from south carolina. by giving a filibuster to 40% of the senate independent of population, the small states, often time in the south, got 3/5 counted for the slaves, even though they did not get any rights and they could not vote. they gave slaveholding states

more power to preserve their grip on having slavery be legal in this country. the existence of the slaves contributed to the process that continued the people institution of -- continued the evil institution of slavery. host: do you think california having two senators and tennessee having two senators is equal? guest: obviously not, and it should not be. the senate was a representative of the states. senators were appointed by state legislators. they picked two people from the state to be senators. we amended the constitution to provide for direct election of senators. we have had it for 100 years but it is still set up with two senators from each state. i think the biggest discrepancy

-- it is like 80-1 the population, but to each have two senators. the small states have more power. you throw on top of that the filibuster, you need 60% of the senate to do anything, and then you have holds that senators can put on bills that are mysterious. senators can individually hold a bill and stop it from going forward. individual senators have power beyond what they probably should have. power beyond what anybody should have. the small states have inordinate power because of the filibuster rule in the way it is set up, two senators regardless of population per state. the people elected the house members and every member of the

house is elected by the people. the senate was appointed by the legislatures and the legislatures were not these noble public servants. i was a legislature for 24 years and did the best i could, but a lot of people in legislatures over the years have been basically run by the speakers of the house or the speaker in the senate, that is where the power did lie and they were often influenced by special interest. they looked out for big oil, banking interest or whatever it was depending on the state's economic interest, and they held up or changed legislation to benefit their state. host: representative steve cohen , currently in his eighth term. he is a democrat from tennessee. he is on the transportation committee. let's take some calls.

we are talking about the congressional agenda. oklahoma, republican, you are first up this morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i have enjoyed your program today and i have enjoyed speaking to you, and i am glad you are on the transportation committee. i feel like the senate, they need to. you have your representatives, and you need the two to take care. what i was calling about, i have first some truckers call, i was raised in oklahoma. we are talking about huge, huge tanks. they have always been full. my sister called me and said they now have no drops of oil in those tanks. it has all been shipped to the

gulf. he said you better fill up your cars and gas will go high because there is no oil. host: i will take the opportunity to rephrase her question, do you think rising gas prices hurt the democrats at the polls? guest: they did. inflation in general has hurt us. it is mostly because the supply chain has been held up in large part because of the pandemic and workers in foreign areas cannot produce. the ports have held up the supply chain, as well. we put a lot of money in the economy to help working people. a lot of what we did got perverted in that it went to businesses that might not have needed it and used it for executive salaries and bonuses. i was disappointed with a lot of money in the ppp program that

when two people who did not need to help. some of the mom-and-pop operations did not get it. we did things, but i do not know if the money did as much good as it should have. host: north carolina, independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. i think the results of the election shows somewhat of a pushback against some radical stuff the democratic party is doing right now. one of the problems with the build back better program is you are trying to throw a switch on several different things that should be brought up individually. you can all get together and vote on it, as opposed to this big monstrosity and trying to get it passed all that once. what is happening is i think the democrats will lose their majority next year. they are trying to get as much done as they can. host: congressman cohen?

guest: he is a wise man. there is a concern about losing the majority. i do not know if it will happen this time. i fear that it might. there is an attempt to get as much done as we can in the first two years. i think a lot of the bills we have had have too much in them. not particularly the build back better. this was an attempt by president biden to make a major change for the american working person, the middle class, it it still will if the bill gets passed. voting rights and others had too much in them. you were in a classroom and you came up with what you thought a perfect world was. legislation is not a perfect world. some of it is not real pretty and it does not come out

perfect, and perfect should not be the enemy of good, and that is what happened sometimes. host: democrat in memphis, which is congressman steve cohen's hometown. go ahead. caller: we have a city council, a county commissioner who says our children want to go to school for free. we can't get anything done in north memphis. the toyota plant went down south to mississippi. guest: what part of memphis are you in? host: i apologize. he hung up. he was talking about some local issues.

anything you want to address? guest: thank you for your support. education is important. the schools are for everybody. a lot of new schools have been built in the suburbs. new schools have been built in the city, as well. i am not exactly sure about all the politics there, but there are some good school board members. if i can help you, let me know. host: how is a member of congress, representing memphis, how can you help your city? guest: there are federal programs you can get steered to your city. we had a lot of housing projects that were created around world war ii. we replaced all of them with new housing that is much nicer and

much better for people and the community. during the obama administration, we were able to get a $30 million grant. that was a major opportunity. we got a grant under president obama that helped fix up our mid-america mall that helps downtown. we put a bicycle bridge across the mississippi river that is a tourist attraction. we get money for projects. we try to vote for projects that would help our people. memphis is a poor city and i help people with public education, public health programs, the affordable care act. those are ways to help your community. president biden came to the caucus and spoke to us. i said we need help in memphis.

he said what does memphis need? host: ron is in virginia on a republican line. you are on with congressman steve cohen. caller: how are you doing, mr. cohen? guest: fine, thank you. caller: what i hear across-the-board, republican or democrat, we want change, and we want a positive change. we need to help people in our communities. you made a comment earlier that memphis is a poor city? why is it a poor city? what do we as americans need to do to help all of our cities that are struggling? those are the things that the senators in washington need to be focused on. host: thank you, ron.

guest: i think a lot of us are. there might be different approaches from democrats and republicans. memphis is a city in the deep south. a lot of people over the years have not been as educated as they should have been. we have the separate but equal rule from the supreme court in the late 1800s. that was part of jim crow. jim crow held black people behind at memphis has a high black population. even after brown v. board of education in 1954, we did not get integration of elementary schools until the 1960's. the system to docket integrated until the end of the -- the system did not get integrated until the 1960's or early 1970's. and then there was white flight. the public school system lots of

events support from the overall community. we have that a lot of bright people come out of public schools, both white and black. different schools have done better than others. we have had a lot of problems because of years of jim crow. 100 years of jim crow held back the city, with large black populations, particularly in the south. i passed a lottery in the state senate. that money goes to education. it helps people get college scholarships, we basically have free community college between the pell grants and the outgrowth of the lottery. people can go to technical schools free of charge and learn a trade. those things are important and they are happening.

more than $6 billion has been raised for education. there is not an achievement i can have in the future that would rival that kind of continued revenue for education and helping people throughout the state of tennessee. host: what is it like to work with two republican senators, a republican governor in tennessee and most of your colleagues in the house? guest: we get along fine. one of my best pals, we were in the senate together, we passed the 70 mile per hour speed limit together. i try to work across the aisle. i always south. when i passed the lottery, you needed 22 votes. constitutional amendments were a majority vote. there was no filibuster. we had to have 22, i got 22 on

the nose in february of 2001. host: davis calling from tennessee, independent line. caller: hello. even the democrats do not believe in this climate hoax. biden, obama, they have one million-dollar beach houses. why would you buy a house if it was going to be flooded out five or six years from now. it is a big scam. host: thank you, dave. guest: mother earth is in danger and we have not treated mother earth as we should treat mother earth. we are supposed to give each generation a better place to live than what you inherited. you are supposed to leave the environment in better shape. that is why we have cop26 going on in scotland.

what man has created on earth through ozone emissions has put a layer around the earth. it is capturing the environment and causing droughts, more hurricanes, rising of the sea levels as glaciers melt. i do not know that biden's home is on the ocean, i do not know where it is in delaware. i do not know where obama's is. it does not make any difference. beach property is in danger. droughts will cause deaths. hurricanes will get worse and worse. you saw the flooding in philadelphia, new york, germany. it is because of what we have done to the environment. unless we stop the rising temperatures and the loss of

glaciers and ice on the north paul and south paul, we will see terrible, terrible, terrible changes -- on the north pole or the south pole, you will see terrible, terrible, terrible changes. we need more statesmen. host: congressman cohen, how big is the mississippi river in memphis's psyche and importance to your community? guest: memphis was created because of the mississippi river as a port town. back in the day, rivers were the main methods of transportation. it is the fourth largest or third-largest inland port in the country. we have a lot of barge traffic

come through. the port is important to memphis. memphis has cross-country rail coming through. the airport where fedex is located is the largest airport for shipments of goods in the world. it bounced back and forth with a chinese airport, but i think we are number one again. and we have state highways. memphis is a transportation city. it moves goods and makes the economy happen. the mississippi river continues to be a part of that because of major traffic with barges. host: kansas, republican line, go ahead. caller: hi, there. i have a couple of different questions. guest: yes, sir. caller: the first question is, isn't it true that the united

states is only responsible for 15% of the pollution in the whole world? guest: i am not sure of the percentage. india and china are two great polluters and they are not participating as they should. until some countries do what they can and try to encourage the others, we will not get anywhere. if we wait for china and india, we will not get anywhere. host: one more question. caller: what i took away from the election was that the american people have spoken about one subject, and that is the education of their children. they know their subject is the coronavirus. i would like for independent investigator, one or two from anywhere, to come out with the truth and the history behind ivermectin. host: we will leave it there --

why don't we address education? guest: i will tell you about ivermectin. i use ivermectin. i put it on my nose. i have rosacea. ivermectin is supposed to be good for your nose. i am not sure what it does for your toes, clothes, or coronavirus. host: i did not expect an answer about ivermectin. what about the education issue? guest: he is right. one of the gerbers come up when i was a child, the advertised baby food as their only business. the propagation of children and continued population of the planet is the business of human beings, human beings like to reproduce, have children and carry-on. education is a part of that. we need to have a great

education system and a public education system that people can afford. host: north carolina, democrats line. caller: good morning, steve. i am a 78-year-old democratic poll worker. i am a firm believer in public transportation. after that ivermectin -- [laughter] caller: people say they do not see the difference between the two parties. one party is the "me" party and the other party is the "we" party. the republicans are masters at coming up with a hot button issue that will separate people from their own best interest.

a friend of mine, who was a high school principal, who unfortunately passed away, used to say there is a fine line between education and indoctrination. i think with these hot button education issues, the republicans are going to move more from education to indoctrination. host: we will leave it there and hear from congressman cohen. guest: i have a lot of friends who are republicans, but i think he is right. democrats do try to bring people together. we are a coalition. we have all kinds of folks who have different interests and constituencies and we work together. legislation is compromised. you get a little bit of this and a little bit of that. it does turn out to be a "we" thing. the republicans are often more for business interest that are

not looking out for the consumer, not looking out for the customer, looking out for their own individual problems. i think the salaries of corporate executives in the $100 million range are obscene. none of those guys are worth it. they think they are, what they are not. they could be replaced by someone for a lot less money and things would work fine. read is everywhere. -- greed is everywhere. we should have done something in the build back better bill to stop some of the prophets being made. -- profits being made. i look at his statue and huey was a united states senator, huey long had some bad things about him, but he looked out for

the little folks like you and me. there is a democratic group of waiters that come out of one door and a republican group of waitors but they are serving the same soup. i will find the statue and say nothing has changed. host: new york, independent line. caller: good morning, representative cohen. i am a little confused on some things. climate control. voting. proper wages. education. fair share taxes. these are things in the news all the time. and then there is critical race theory as well. i believe in 1619 and 1776.

the question for me, what is so radical about that? i keep hearing about the left being radical. i am not sure what is so radical about these things. the second thing is, i can give you an example of things that people are talking about, this notion that we have corporations that have made trillions of dollars during the pandemic, and yet they are not paying taxes. i wonder if people are paying attention. do they believe these corporations and whoever they are should not pay taxes? how do we fix our roads? host: before we get an answer, can you tell us about yourself? guest: i am in albany, new york. i was a prison guard for a time.

i got injured so i do not do that any longer. i have two kids, both with autism. my wife still works for the state, thank god. we are doing ok. last year, $20,000 in taxes. i am not happy about that. but if that is what it is, that is what it is. i need to do that. host: thank you for your time this morning. congressman cohen, a lot of issues. guest: he has it right. none of those things are radical. the tax system is not fair. the wealthy do not pay what they should be paying. you have 700 billionaires in this country and their wealth increased by 70% during the pandemic. while the wendells of the world,

their income did not increase. there are hundreds of wendells and one zuckerberg. for zuckerberg to make what he is making and putting out conspiracy theories on facebook, not seeing the truth is put out there, and having systems that they can program what you see based on previous preferences and continue to build people's minds, the idea of conspiracies, distrust in the government, it is unfortunate. what is in the build back better bill is not radical stuff. the child tax credit has lifted over 50% of the children in this country out of poverty, giving older people, people who get medicaid, help for seniors to stay in their home. that is a righteous thing to do and it is needed. they do not have the money, they should have help to stay in

their homes. that is the right thing to do. to give working mothers the opportunity to get childcare so they can work, achieve and have a career. women were not given the right to vote, women get $.70 on the dollar, they have been discriminated in the workplace. family and medical leave. you have a child, you want to take some time off and bond with that child. the father should be there to help, too. these are things that are popular and right. the idea that these things are not radical at all. they are giving the middle-class , people without the money to hire a nanny and be able to stay-at-home and go to the country club and play golf while someone is in the house to take care of your child. america is the only industrialized country in the

world without family and medical leave. we are only talking now about four weekds. most of the world gets 12 weeks. we are behind. we have fed people they care more about the wealthy and the status quo than change and the working person. we are trying to do that as democrats. we are the "we" party and we are trying to bring about more fairness and equity. some of the people i hear on the show and see in the communities who are not sure about these things tend to be republicans, these programs are best for them. the man that won the governor of virginia, i understand he is a nice fella. i am sure he is. he campaigned to win and he campaigned about keeping critical race theory out of the schools in virginia.

it is not in the schools in virginia. i want to keep dinosaurs out of the bathrooms, we do not have dinosaurs in the bathrooms. critical race theory in virginia does not exist. he created an issue to appeal to people, which was basically appealing to racial prejudices. i love america. i am so proud to be a congressman. i look at the dome of the capitol from my condo. i see the statues in the halls. i am so proud to be an american. but we did not get here without mistakes. we had slavery, we did not let women vote, we did not elect senators, we have had oil barons . we have to become better.

host: we have one minute left. annapolis, maryland, republican line. caller: can you hear me ok? i think one thing the representative does not get his republicans just want freedom. not government oversight. if you think it is about the money, like they need these programs, how can poor people be republicans? it is so easy. they just want their freedom. they want to solve their problems themselves. it is the one thing the other party does not get. host: we have to leave it there. i apologize. guest: a songwriter in nashville, tennessee, he wrote "the gambler" by kenny rogers. he wrote a song called "it's

about the money." it says, "when they tell you it is not about the money, it is about the money." i am sure that gentleman wants to social security when it comes due, and i'm sure he wants his medicare. when he goes to a hospital, all of those hospitals get government help. schools get government help. you so you just want your freedom. we all want freedom. we all have freedom. it is ordered liberty. freedom comes with certain obligations. you have to work with everybody. for the common good, you have taxes. it is what you pay to have a free society. the wealthiest are not paying their fair share of taxes. the gentleman who spoke is paying more than he should have

and we need to understand that we are working together and there is no such thing as a free lunch. the government helps young with education, health care, roads, faa when you fly on an airplane, the government is helping you. trains, we subsidize amtrak. all of our roads and traffic signals. our sewage system, you name it. you have to have government, utilities, and electric grid. we do it together by pooling our resources. host: we appreciate you coming on the "washington journal." guest: thank you so much. host: we have another member of congress for you to chat with. this is byron donalds, a republican from florida. he is a freshman. after that, we will talk about what the fed did.

that is coming up on the "washington journal." ♪ >> book tv every sunday on c-span2 features leading authors discussing their latest nonfiction books. at noon eastern, join our live conversation with a new york times columnist. we will discuss his books, politics and conservatism in america. at 7:30, we look at the publishing industry news and trends. at 10:00 p.m. eastern, a democratic presidential candidate talks about his book, notes on the future of our democracy. america's current economic and

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national conversation by participating in c-span's video competition. if you are a middle school or high school student, we are asking you to create a documentary which answers the question, how does the federal government affect your life? use c-span video clips, which are easy to find and access at c-span.org. the competition awards $100,000 in total cash prizes. you have a shot at winning the grand prize of $5,000. entries must be received before january 20, 2022. visit our website, studentcam.org. >> "washington journal" continues. host: now on the "washington journal," we want to introduce

you to a freshman member of congress, byron donalds, republican from florida. he represents the naples area. welcome to the "washington journal." we want to ask you, as we have asked everybody, what are your takeaways from tuesday's election? guest: it is pretty clear. what you have seen is a rejection of not just democrat policy in washington, d.c., but local communities across the country. virginia does not change the way it does if people are not concerned about the economy, supply chains, inflation, education, public safety and supporting police departments. you saw what happened to the defund the police movement in minneapolis. it was soundly defeated. you have seen school boards changed across america. we are witnessing the simple fact that the construct of

america has not changed since the -- i stress the pursuit of happiness. not the pursuit of happiness from a liberal agenda. host: we have heard from our viewers that the election was about critical race theory and whether or not that should be taught. how do you view that? guest: it is pretty clear, especially if you look in virginia. parents do not want critical race theory talk. critical race theory is a subjective theory of viewing america. it is subjective. it is not teaching objective history. looking at times, dates, articles, discussions from. some american history. it takes american history and distills it into an objective view of where race is today in america. when you put that into k-12

education, when you weave it into every subject matter, what ends up happening is you are distilling young kids down to whether they are oppressors or oppressed. if you are a white kid, you are somehow further ahead than if you are a black kid. we want to teach our children that they are equals and all have an equal shot to accomplish the american dream. that is what parents want. that happened in virginia and somebody places across the country. host: our last guest, steve cohen, said the infrastructure bill will probably come up for a vote today. where do you stand on that? guest: i will not vote for that bill the way it is written. only 20% of that bill is for actual infrastructure. they want to spend $1.2 billion. most of it goes to implementing elements of the green new deal.

what kind of infrastructure bill does that? we should be making sure we are repairing arose, modernizing our ports. all the other things can wait because first and foremost, we have too much money in our economy as it is. that is what is driving inflation. if you dump this amount of money into our economy, inflation will get worse. it affects fixed income seniors, poor families. what they have seen is that even though wages have gone up, purchasing power has diminished rapidly. it is like to have lost ground in 2021. host: i want to play a video from a recent hearing you participated in. you will know what this is from. and that i want you to expound on it. here is congressman donald s. [video clip]

>> in twitter world, people with nothing better to do than type on their keyboards, let's be very clear. you need an apology. what i witnessed today was rank intimidation by the chair of this committee, trying to get you to pledge on what you will spend your money on is a gross violation of the first amendment. just because we are members of congress, we have microphones and pass laws does not mean we have the ability to infringe on your ability to organize or what you choose to spend your money on. it is disgusting. it is absolutely disgusting. someone needs to call merrick garland and tell him to get in here and watch the intimidation that came from this panel. it is not about defending big oil, it is about defending the right for people to be free, spend their money how they want

to. if we are not going to be better than the chinese, how do expect to beat them on the world stage eared they are burning more coal, oil, increasing emissions and not showing up in scotland. they are interested in building an economy. they want to be the dominant economic player across the globe. they want to be the dominant military player. while we mess around intimidating you guys who frankly heat our homes, keep our cars going, this is insane. host: what was that? guest: the chair oversight was parading oil executives because she wanted them to bend the knee to the climate change agenda. our natural gas companies are in the business of oil and natural gas. you can disagree with their business model, campaign against

it. natural gas production in our country is the number one way be power the united states of america. when you have members of congress, or a chairwoman of the committee, who tries to intimidate witnesses to get them to basically sell you will not spend money dealing with climate change or opposing the climate change agenda, no matter how anyone feels about that, that is intimidation of witnesses in front of congress. it should never be allowed were members of congress intimidates companies or americans to try to dictate where they spend their money. we are the land of the free and the home of the brave, and that must always be protected, even when people disagree. it is more important to protect it when people disagree, and when people dissent. if people cannot speak their minds and have comfort in their own personal agency to speak their minds, we are not america

anymore. we are some third world dictatorship where nobody can get ahead, nobody can thrive, nobody can succeed. i do not know anyone that supports that nonsense. what you saw was my response to the intimidation. host: let's take some calls. byron donalds is in his first term in congress. he won the general election with 62% of the votes. he represents the naples, florida area. republican line, go ahead. caller: good morning. i am so proud that we have you as one of our representatives from the state of florida. what i would like to ask you, the previous just, mr. cohen, was perpetuating the lie that crt does not exist at all in

tennessee or any other state, which it does. most of the parents have been complaining about it. guest: what i will do is -- thank you for calling in today -- i was doing a panel discussion with the head of the fairfax county school board. she said we do not teach critical race theory. what we do is we talk to our children about their implicit biases so they can be better people going forward. that is the very essence of critical race theory in k-12 education. parents do not want schoolteachers talking about implicit biases. what they want schoolteachers to do is teach students reading, writing and arithmetic. this is a big misconception around critical race theory. parents want our entire history taught. what they do not want taught or indoctrinated is a subjective

view about somebody's biases based on the color of their skin or whatever group they might belong to. that is outrageous and has no place in our classrooms. it is crystal clear, this has happened not just in virginia but classrooms across america. host: chicago heights, illinois, democrat, you are on the "washington journal." caller: my take away is that mitch mcconnell, ted cruz, joni ernst, kevin mccarthy, chuck grassley, lindsey graham, the governor in florida, mike pence, tim scott, they all support a man who said the climate change is a hoax. he is a draft dodger, but he knows more than a general. the man is obviously an idiot

. host: thank you. guest: i assume he was referring to donald trump. i do support president trump. if you compare the presidencies from president trump to president biden, it is without question the president trump is the superior president. look at afghanistan. both men were able to preside over afghanistan. did president trump support withdrawal? yes he did. but not a reckless withdrawal. joe biden pushed forward a reckless withdrawal. i have seen the classified material. it was reckless. we are in a worse stance when it comes to foreign policy now today than we have been in about 25 years in the united states. let's move on to our economy. president trump would have not supported some of these reckless economic policies that joe biden

sought in february and march the made it so much harder for small business owners, whether republicans or democrats, whether they live in red states or blue states, it is harder for small business owners to find employees today. president trump would have not supported these policies. president biden pushed these on purpose. it has been harder for small business owners to operate businesses. it has been harder to get truckers back on the road. there is no quick fix coming out of the white house. president trump had a secure southern border. our southern border right now is a travesty. we have 1.8 million people who come to our country illegally under president biden. the southern border is not safe. our foreign policy is in shambles. we have issues with her allies. our supply chain is damaged. if you are going to ask me to

choose between president trump and president biden, forget the words, phrases and tweets, look at the policies. i think the data is clear and the american people see it, as well. host: michigan, independent line, you are on with congressman byron donalds. caller: my brother lives in fort meyer. the whole thing that there is liberals in the democratic party -- i am a 1970's never will. there are not liberals in the democratic party. those are radical leftists. they do not believe in freedom. they do not know what the word of liberal means. it is latin for freedom. the whole agenda is not about freedom for people. it is about control.

that is what it is all about. host: we got the point. any comment for him? guest: the first comment i would say is i also represent fort myers, florida. i am glad your brother is in my district. secondarily, i will say you are very right. in the democratic party in my view, you have a battle of people who are liberal, who have their views on what government should and should not do, but in my opinion have a respect for disagreement and are not afraid of debate. and then you have radical progressives, people who support marxist ideology who do not want debate. look no further than making first responders have to get a vaccine injection. literally 12 months ago, we were all cheering our first responders from what they did to keep our country afloat during the pandemic, and now we will force them out of their jobs if they choose not to get a vaccine

when a lot of them have already had covid-19 and they do have some natural immunity based on natural infection? i think that viewpoint is outrageous. instead of respecting people and their decisions, you have many radicals in this administration who do not want any dissent. they will not tolerate any dissent. if you dissent, they will tell you you lose your job. get out until you come back with better thinking. host: florida, republican line. brian, where in florida are you? caller: i am in ocala. host: go ahead with your question or comment. caller: thank you for listening. i want to ask you if you think the representative before you might have been not listening to his question, because i thought he was asking specific questions and got totally different

answers. but that is not my question for an answer, really. my family is a typical family. i have a republican son, a democratic daughter. i did not know she was democratic until six months ago. i am not with my wife because of the last election. host: i apologize. can you get to the -- of your question? caller: i think this world is being torn apart by the liars. host: politics and familial relationships. that might be one way to look at his question. guest: let me answer it this way. i think one thing that has happened in america is people are tired of politics basically weaving into every aspect of their lives. people want to be a family, they want to be friends, they do not

want political decisions to drive wedges between friendships and long-standing family relationships. it is ok to disagree. our country requires disagreement. we are not a one-size-fits-all country. we do not have one vein of political thought. it is important to have disagreements. that is how we get better. you might have republicans and democrats in your household -- that is fine -- vote for who you want to vote for. the thing that many americans are concerned about is this complete inability to disagree. if you disagree, i basically have to block you on social it is a segregation based upon political thought. i think that is wrong in our country. we can do better and must do better. host: this text comes from tony in baltimore. what do you think about the paid

family leave the democrats want to include in their social spending? guest: i think it is the wrong way to go. i do not agree with it. i understand. i have three sons. i have had the ability to be home for four days with my first son. i had some paid time off i was able to take. my third sun, -- son, i was home for five days. it is important that people find a way especially with mothers to have an ability to stay home. for the federal government to step into this is a one-size-fits-all policy. it is going to cause problems because what makes employers do is they are going to have to juggle how they are going to staff these companies. this is an issue with the policy. it is not for people not having the ability to stay home with their kids, especially when they have newborns that just came into this world. it is a precious thing, but

businesses have to continue to operate. that is the issue it causes. my fear is it will put a lot of women in our country in the lurch when it comes to employment. i do not want them to be further behind when they come back. it is a personal decision, not a one-size-fits-all decision. host: you are on with congressman byron donalds. caller: i am a centrist democrat . i do not agree with the far left end of lay not the far right. i do not understand how the republican party says they are for the working class. i am a retired union man. when they get into power, they break unions, especially across red states where they have the lowest wages and they need infrastructure more than ever.

amazon, they were fighting for a $15 an hour wages. that is not a lot. these states, it is hypocrisy. the wages are so low. a good part of the citizenry does not pay into the federal government. i don't understand. host: congressman? guest: when it comes to unions overall, when it is private sector unions, if someone was to unionize from a private sector perspective are largely do not have a problem with that. the thing appointed understand and union agreements is typically what we have seen is when you have large companies unionize or large portions of an economy unionize what does happen is prices do rise over time. wages and benefits do go up. there has to be a balance when it comes to wages and benefits versus what the employer can or cannot do or will do.

there is always want to be that negotiation, that disagreement when it comes to what employers will provide and what employees desire. my number one issue is with public-sector unions, except when it comes to police and firefighters and emergency personnel. my issue with public-sector unions is they pull together their dues to go into plug collectivity for democrats largely. they hardly ever campaign for republicans because republicans stand for a growing economy, and economy free from things that get entangled in the economy like union contracts. look at the longshoreman -- longshoremen. it prevents ports from automating and being open 24 hours a day. who does that hurt? the entire economy. it is not just big business. it is working people in the other 49 states and not being

able to get product as they could or make sure their rate is the cheapest possible so everybody's standard of living rises. typically unions oppose us on that viewpoint. that is why there is the dichotomy between unions and republicans. it is not between people who want to work hard in our country . it is not with workers in our country. we support them because we want all of america to thrive. host: ray in colorado, independent line. caller: i am a registered libertarian who happens to be of asian descent. i am originally from florida. 10 years ago, i got pulled over as part of a routine traffic stop but the officer also wanted to search my vehicle for drugs. i refused to consent to a search and they brought out a canine unit. the canine reacted and they used that as a basis for the search.

do you believe bringing out the canine was a result of race? do we have equality before the law if the law is not equally applied? guest: have i been part of a traffic stop? i have. i have been asked to have my vehicle searched. two times i refused. one time i allowed it because i knew there was nothing there. the canine unit is a different situation. with that come up the sensitivity of the canine unit exceeds the ability of an officer using probable cause to see into a vehicle. i think there are concerns with that but i would also say that is something applied on a state-by-state basis. it is a state-by-state basis and department by tomorrow -- to apartment -- department basis. the thing is that you respect the rights of all americans when traffic stops occur.

an examination of state law, typically, the one thing that has come to washington is a move to federalize a set of standards across the country. i do not agree with that. i think local law enforcement has to fall under the purview of state law. it is the responsibility of state legislatures to make sure they have a law that prioritizes public safety but also maintains the due process of all americans. host: byron donalds, freshman republican from florida. we appreciate you coming on. come back and join us again. host: a little less than an hour left in this morning's show. we are going to talk about the federal reserve and actions they took yesterday. we will continue after this. >> american history tv, exploit

the people and events that tell the american story. on oral history, veterans from world war ii to the iraq war share their experiences of war and its aftermath. then two programs on robert e. lee and the director of the university of virginia center for civil war history discusses her book, which examines military and political uncertainty in the weeks following the end of the civil war. a new york times columnist with his book, the confederate general's life detailed and career in the u.s. army through his experiences during and after the civil war. exploring the american story. watch american history tv saturday on c-span2. >> sunday on in-depth, a live

conversation with author and new york times congressman ross douthat on republican politics and conservatism in america. his book talks about his struggle with lyme disease. his other titles include privilege and bad religion. join the conversation with your phone calls, facebook comments, and tweets. sunday live at noon eastern on c-span2. before the program, visit c-spanshop.org to get your copies of ross out that -- ross douthat's books. >> washington journal continues. host: fed outlines stimulus program. nick timiraos is the writer for the story. here is a little bit of jay powell yesterday. [video clip] >> last september, the committee

stated its intention to continue asset purchases at a pace of at least 100 $20 million -- $120 million per month until substantial further progress has been made. today, the committee judged the economy has met this test and decided to begin reducing the pace of its asset purchases. beginning later this month, we will reduce monthly pace of our net asset purchases by $10 billion for treasury securities and 5 billion dollars for agency mortgage-backed securities. we announced another reduction of this size in the monthly purchase pace starting in mid-december since that purchase schedule will be released by the federal reserve bank of new york prior to our december meeting. if the economy evolves as expected, we judge that similar reductions in the pace of net asset purchases will likely be appropriate each month, implying

increases in our security holdings would end by the middle of next year. host: joining us now is nick timiraos of the wall street journal. what exactly was the action taken by the fed? guest: it helps to go back to march of 2020, when the pandemic hit the u.s. and caused a global financial panic. the fed did a lot of things, but they did two main things. they cut interest rates to zero, which is where they are today. as they did during the financial crisis, once interest rates were down to zero and they could no longer stimulate the economy by lowering interest rates they began to purchase treasury securities and mortgage-backed securities. they have been doing those in large amounts since last year.

what jay powell, the fed chair, announced yesterday was the fed was going to slow down the pace of those purchases. it is their first step toward getting away from the emergency settings that they adopted when the pandemic hit. the first thing they would do would be to run those purchases down. instead of by $120 billion a month, they are going to buy -- buying $120 billion a month, they are going to reduce every month. that would end these asset purchases by the middle of next year. it is at that point that the fed would take a look at whether they thing interest rates need to go up. host: how is it that purchasing a mortgage security is a stimulus program? guest: that is a great question. monetary policy, which is what the fed controls, is about

setting the price of money in the lending market, the markets that banks lend to each other overnight. they can manipulate the quantities of reserves that banks have to influence interest rates. when they raise interest rates or lower interest rates, they are focusing on short-term borrowing costs. once interest rates have been cut to zero, if the fed still wants to provide stimulus, they can affect borrowing costs for longer dated securities. that is what they have done in the current situation and after the 2008 financial crisis. sometimes people refer to this as quantitative easing, but what it really is is a fancy way of saying the fed is trying to drive down longer-term borrowing costs. if you thing about the cost of borrowing for an auto loan or mortgage, those things are not

always influenced directly by short-term interest rates. they are set more by a 30 year mortgage instrument. if they can drive down the price , the yield of a mortgage-backed security or the 10-year treasury yield, a popular benchmark in the interest rate market, that can be a way for them to provide further stimulus in the economy. you have seen that over the past year. mortgage rates have been at record lows. the housing market is booming. that is one way the fed tries to provide more stimulus when interest rates have been cut to zero. host: you talked about buying mortgage-backed securities, mr. timiraos. does that mean the fed owns my mortgage, your mortgage, etc.? guest: you could say it that way. most of the mortgages they buy are owned or guaranteed by other government related entities,

fannie mae and freddie mac or government agencies. those agencies have already guaranteed to make investors hold if you do not pay your mortgage. it is not quite the fed directly owns your mortgage, but they are taking these assets out of private investors's hands to push down borrowing costs. host: nick timiraos is the chief economic correspondent for the wall street journal. we are talking about his story this morning and the wall street journal, fed sets outlined to taper stemless program. he has covered economics for a long time. he has covered the fed for a long time. numbers are divided by political affiliation. go ahead and dial in on those numbers and we will get to those calls in a minute. the fact that the wall street

journal led with the story this morning, was it a surprise, what mr. powell had to say? was it expected? guest: the decision to wind down these purchases was far from a surprise. it was something the fed and jay powell have telegraphed for months. one of the reasons they have done this is the last time they wound down, sometimes referred to as tapering bond purchases, the last time they did this in 2013 it created a big reverberation for financial markets. long-term treasury yields went up. it caused outflows of cash from emerging markets. that is referred to as the taper tantrum. investors got confused about why the fed was doing what it was doing. this time around got powell was careful and trying to telegraph

why the fed was going to move when it moved and to make sure there were no surprises. the bigger focus of yesterday's meeting and press conference was how powell would characterize the outlook for inflation over the next year. it has raised questions about how soon and quickly the fed might raise interest rates. because the taper was no surprise it was so well telegraphed, the focus now is on the fed has said they think high inflation we have seen this year is going to be temporary and go away as the pandemic was excited to reseed recede -- recede. if inflation stays above,

economists have anticipated, what is the fed going to do about that? the fed has a 2% inflation target. during the past decade, they had difficulty getting inflation up to 2%. last year, they changed their framework and said we want to get to a place where inflation is a little above 2%. when they did that, no one anticipated we would see inflation rise at the rate it is now. the question now is how soon is this going to come down? will the fed have to raise interest rates and slow demand, slow the economy, slow the pace of home construction and try to get inflation to rise at a lower level? host: hear from yesterday's the -- here from yesterday as the chairman of the federal reserve.

[video clip] >> the drivers of higher inflation have been predominate connected to the dislocations caused by the pandemic. specifically the effects on supply and demand from the shutdown, reopening, and ongoing effects of the virus itself. we understand the difficulties that high inflation poses for individuals and families, particularly those with limited means to absorb higher prices for essentials such as food and transportation. our tools cannot ease supply constraints. we continue to believe our dynamic economy will adjust to the supply and demand balances. as it does, inflation will decline to levels closer to our longer run goal. it is difficult to predict the persistence of supply constraints or effects on inflation. global supply chains are complex. they will return to normal function, but the timing of that is uncertain.

host: from jay powell, our tools cannot ease supply constraints. guest: that is the challenge for any central bank. what do you do when inflation is above your target but it is not necessarily due to things that are within your control, such as a supply shock? you can think of an oil price spike is a good example. central banking 101 would say if you do not -- would say you do not supply -- respond to a supply shock if it is something that will reverse on its own. monetary policy takes time to influence the economy. it takes time to speed up or slow down growth. if you think it is something that is going to go away in a year, if you raise interest rates now to pull down the economy that could take a year to work through the economic chain. by the time the economy is

already slowing down because of supply shock, you would be slowing it down even more by having raise interest rates. 10 years ago, the european central bank found itself in a similar situation where they raise interest rates. they created a recession. that is the first mistake central banks try to avoid, responding -- overreacting to a supply shock. the economy now is adding jobs. you hear about labor shortages come about the tightness of the labor market. you see wages going up. the fed does not want to under react to a demand shock. we have seen a lot of demand into the economy from stimulus checks or just from natural reopening of the economy. people have money they have saved up. they are looking to spend it, to travel. will that be a one off and

things will come back on their own? if people have higher wages, is spending going to rise? is consumption stronger? those are the questions the fed is going to wrestle with next year. they have made clear they do not want to overreact to a supply shock but it is difficult now for the fed and congress to understand where demand is going to be. are we going to see the same equilibrium we have before the pandemic or is the labor market different? is the structure of the labor market different? are there fewer workers going forward? that would suggest the fed should raise interest rates. the fed fed right now wants to give more time before they make these decisions about changing interest rates, about raising interest rates to see if the economy is going to be able to get back to where it was before the pandemic. if it did, that would suggest it

could go slower with raising interest rates. host: let's take some calls for nick timiraos of the wall street journal. go ahead. caller: good morning and thanks for taking my call. my question might be simple, but over the past four years the past administration did nothing but help wall street and the economy for the big business. so they -- are they ever going to do anything for the common man, the regular person? they protected everything during covid while there were food lines. people were starving and dying. host: we got your point. stir timiraos -- mr. timiraos? guest: that is the challenge

especially for the fed because fed tools work through financial markets. they work through the banking system, through bond markets to try to spur more spending, more investment by lowering the cost of credit. that works through people taking out loans to invest or spend money. they are sensitive to that critique, that every time we go into a recession it seems like we meant -- create a new crop of billionaires because of all of this easy money. what is interesting about the response to the recession, the pandemic shock in 2020, is congress spend more money up front. the fed is sometimes referred to as printing money, crating money out of thin air -- creating money out of thin air. they are increasing their balance sheet. this time, the treasury

department and congress spent a lot of money. a lot of the benefit from the fed's decisions to keep interest rates low resulted in lowering borrowing costs for the u.s. government, which was in turn going out and spending money on ppp loans to small businesses, assistance checks to the $1400 checks earlier this year. that went to the citizenry. we have spent a lot more money and this shock compared to 2008. that has been one difference in the response time. host: the next call comes from park in north carolina. caller: good morning. first i want to say c-span is wonderful.

this program is probably the only true sense of journalism out there. my question is how can we sustain a debt-based economy? host: why do you ask that? caller: because our -- it is hard for me to say. i'm not exactly an economist. if our money is based on debt and the more money we make, the more debt we have, how can we pay back the debt? how do we sustain it? guest: we spent a lot of money this year and last year in response to the pandemic. the u.s. has a larger data. it has a larger debt burden. the cost of servicing that debt will be greater than in the past when the fed has to raise interest rates. that has to be a concern.

over the past decade, we have gotten used to this idea that globally interest rates are going to be lower and maybe that will continue. if it does not, if the fed had to raise interest rates, there are questions about how that would influence the economy because the u.s. government would have to spend more that it has in the past to service the debt. it is important not necessarily to compare the debt of a large superpower to the debt of a family. the idea of a household needs to make sure they can pay off every month to keep credit card balances manageable, you do have to pay back eventually. with sovereign debt, it is not quite the same. you want to make sure you are able to service the interest payments. you do not want to add to that. you do not want debt to be growing just because you are borrowing to pay interest costs, but you do not actually after

pay down the debt. the u.s. is in an enviable situation globally because we are the reserve currency. the dollar is seen as the reserve currency, so a lot of people want to own dollar-denominated assets. they want to buy u.s. treasury securities, so that has kept our borrowing costs lower than they would otherwise be. host: michael is calling in from michigan. you are on with mixed -- nick timiraos. caller: how does the fed affect the savings rate and cd rates? guest: with interest rates as low as they have been, it has kept the rates on savings accounts and certificates of deposits low. this low rate environment has been difficult for people who budgeted to live off of interest

from savings accounts. on the other hand, markets have been booming. -- asset markets have been booming. if you own property and some of these land constrained cities, prices have been soaring. it can be a double-edged sword for people. host: doug, alaska. go ahead with your question or comment about the federal reserve. caller: i had a question on the democrats' proposal to pay for their programs by taxing corporations and the rich. does that pay for their programs? guest: it depends on how -- tax rates are one consideration that companies have to make when they decide where they're going to

look at themselves or what they are going to produce. i would leave it to the independent budget analysts to do the been counting on that and calculate whether this will pay for -- if they are going to be able to pay for that spending. for the fed, it is an interesting question right now. last year powell was taking the view that we year to spend more money to get everyone through the pandemic. there were concerns that businesses were going to fail, that they did not have asset -- access to borrowing markets, that people would lose their jobs and be unemployed. there is evidence when that happens people lose skills, so powell was outspoken last year, saying we need to spend more money. when the fed has cut interest rates to zero and is buying a

large quantity of bonds, there may not be much the fed can do. now he has taken a more neutral position. if we were to see more federal spending next year, to the extent that increases demand, you have heard some of fed officials -- you have heard fed officials saying we do not need that now. we do not need to increase demand now because supply chains are stretched. the biden administration and treasury secretary have said this will not add to the debt. she has shed -- said she does not think it would have inflationary impact. host: there was a meeting in rome. 15% global corporate tax was agreed upon by all these countries. is that feasible?

what do corporations think about this? guest: there are some companies that say the more there is a loving -- level playing field, the better. there has been a race to the bottom over the past 20 years, but the devil is in the details. it is still uncertain how this is going to shake out domestically, how much of it has to go through congress, so there has been a lot of anticipation and positive hopes this year that something might get done. there has maybe even been a little bit of a surprise as to how quickly the u.s. has been able to get by in -- buy in from the rest of the world, especially lower tax jurisdictions. it is a work in progress. host: lizzie, indiana. please go ahead with your question or comment. caller: thank you, c-span.

i was wondering about inflation. i keep seeing republicans keep coming out and saying that these bills they are going to pass are going to cause more inflation. i tend to disagree with that, but i would like to hear your opinion on that. guest: it is a good question. i'm not an economist. i do not write editorials, so i do not really have a view as to whether it is going to cause inflation, but the big question now is at what point do these supply chain bottlenecks repair themselves? businesses are optimized to make money. if there is demand they are leaving on the table because they cannot fill orders, because they cannot get inventory, they are going to find a way to

improve their supply chains. the question is at what cost. are? they going to pay more money that would contribute to inflation in the short run. if supply chains get fixed or demand shifts from goods back to services, a lot would happens during the pandemic, we were all in our homes and may not be spending money in the way we were before on services. so a lot of spending over the past 18 months went to goods. if you look at a chart of spending, consumption of goods, it is above where you would expect it to have been if the pandemic had not happened. services, whether going to movies or ballgames, that is below or you would expect it to be if the pandemic had not happened. the fed is hoping that goes back to its pre-pandemic pattern. that might take some pressure off supply chain's. -- supply chains.

if it does not, the fed is going to have some tough decisions next year. one thing the fed pays a lot of attention to our look and see -- are what consumers and businesses think inflation is going to be in the future. they think expectations are important because they can become -- they have self-fulfilling properties. if you think properties are going to before percent higher year, you are going to bend -- demand more income. as wages rise, prices rise. if you get into that spiral, there is concern you will have inflation becoming more persistent. the fed wants to avoid that strongly. even if the fed is right and the pandemic will have a beginning, middle, and end can associate --

and end, so should this period of higher prices. if it changes expectations, you could have an issue where the fed has to respond by raising interest rates to slow down the economy. host: we have about a minute left. caller: my question is about bernanke. bernanke said he fundamentally changed how our system works. it used to be dependent on savings. now the fed has clearly taken over interest rates and just dictates them to zero. that is why no one is saving anything in the banks at all. i was wondering if you have any thought about that major change. host: nick timiraos? guest: the question is whether bernanke changed that or the world changed. whether it was because of demographics or globalization,

we have moved into a lower interest rate world. you could say the fed was manipulating interest rates by holding them at zero, but there is another school of thought that says interest rates, if not for the ability to take them negative, could have been lower. so the fed was responding to global shifts and the neutral rate of interest or interest rate that is neither speeding up nor slowing the economy was lower than it had been in the past. you see this and other countries, too. even though they did not have a ben bernanke, they have lower interest rates. host: nick timiraos from the wall street journal has this morning's lead story in that paper. fed outlines stimulus program. we appreciate you being on the washington journal and look

forward to having you back. host: we have about 25 minutes left in the washington journal. we will have an open forum to talk politics. we have talked economics. a lot of public policy on the table, a lot of public policy perhaps we have not talked about. there are the lines on the screen. start dialing in because we want to hear your voices. 202 is the area code. (202) 748-8000 for republicans. -- (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8002 for independence. >> a presidential historian because the our biography of calvin coolidge -- the autobiography of calvin coolidge the forgotten classic of

presidential righted -- writing. the expanded edition has just been published. editor's quote coolidge in their introduction as saying it is a great advantage to a president and a major source of safety to the country for him to know he is not a great man. we asked for some background about the re-released autobiography, which was originally published in may of 1929. >> chair of the calvin coolidge presidential foundation on this week's episode of footnotes. -- book notes. >> today dr. anthony fauci and the cdc director testify to the senate health committee on the

biden administration's covid-19 response. watch live at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span3, online on c-span.org, or watch coverage on c-span now. >> washington journal continues. host: in the next 20 minutes, we want to hear your voices, your views about topics we have talked about this morning. we will also go through more papers. brad, independent line. what is on your mind public policy wise? caller: you said the other day you had not had many calls about joe biden and the vaccine mandate. i want to run a couple different -- these are headlines from different -- across the country. a colorado woman with stage four

kidney cancer was denied a life-saving transplant surgery because she and a donor she brought with her, that she had found, both had been -- both had religious objections to the vaccine and had not been vaccinated. a man in liberty county, texas was denied visitation rights with his four children by a judge until he was vaccinated. a north carolina woman was denied custody and only granted supervised visitation by the judge, who stated she is one of these anti-mask people and has the audacity to post that on social media. host: let's leave it there as far as the headlines. what is your point? caller: my point is this is an anti-american thing to leverage this on people in this way.

to have something that we are unsure of or to do anything this way -- people said it is part of an american tradition, but this has never happened before in the country where we have used a medical intervention. host: did you get your vaccine? caller: no. i am not vaccinated. i do not see that there is any need for it. there was just a study released. host: let me just -- i understand. do you think that children should be allowed to go to school if they are not vaccinated against measles or polio? caller: that is a good question to ask because that is a comparison that gets brought up. there are differences. the measles and the vaccinations

american schoolchildren have to have for school -- those are often placed by the legislature that has been passing law in a legislature. anything with this covid stuff has been through executive fiat by the executive branch. there is no point for anybody to put in any representation. nobody has any say when it is done like that. host: we are going to leave it there. we gave you a lot of time and that was interesting to talk with you. we appreciate that. the point i was making yesterday was we did two days of election coverage and not one person -- maybe one person brought up the covid pandemic as an issue. kathleen is in ohio on our democrat line. you are on the washington journal.

what do you want to talk about? caller: i just saw senator manchin on msnbc. i'm trying to think who was asking questions. eugene robinson. no one asked many tough questions. why dozens -- doesn't he want college for all west virginians? why does he not want infrastructure? they are number 50 on the scale with 50 being bad. they are number 46 in poverty. no one asked him any tough questions. finally someone burrowed down and started asking about people and conditions in west virginia.

he basically nodded. ask this guy tough questions about actual conditions of people in west virginia. i have property at 30 miles from the west virginia border, but no one asked -- but then he let joe manchin divert. he said something about -- host: let's get to the conclusion. we have your point about the questions. what is the conclusion? caller: the conditions in west virginia. i was just down there. we had an anglican priest talking about a young man who had just hung himself because of addiction to math -- meth. why isn't joe manchin standing up for the people of west virginia? host: richard, independent line.

caller: i have not called any while. -- in a while. i have two points. on climates, can we clean up our planet better than we have? we can. but control the climate? you can no more control the climate then you can stop a tectonic plate from moving. they are intertwined. now the election. it is not rocket science. i do not know why everybody is reading race and everything else into it. you can push people around pretty good and they will take quite a bit, but you do not mess with their kids or puppies. when these democrats come out and mandate that parents vaccinate their kids, you're going to see the biden hit the fan. host: this is lee in maryland,

independent line. caller: good morning. you had congress been donald -- congressman donald from florida. he was rambling -- railing about the democrats going after the oil and gas industry. you should have asked him about our former president, donald john trump. the united states is the saudi arabia of natural gas. we have plentiful clean, cheap, efficient natural gas. what did president trump do? he squandered it. he told his secretary of energy, rick perry, repeatedly to leave the coal fired, dirty energy

plants open. why? to give more jobs to coal miners in west virginia and ohio and western pa and different places like that. a column was written called our socialist president and it pointed out arc it forces led to more natural gas. we have it here in the states. it is clean. it is efficient. it is plentiful and cheap. did they convert the energy plants to natural gas like market forces wanted to? of course not. president trump took the socialist approach and decided not to convert plants to natural gas. host: we will leave it there and

talk to joseph in virginia, republican line. caller: i would like to say so long to ralph northam and terry mcauliffe. host: you were pleased with election results tuesday? caller: 100%. host: why? why are you a republican? why is glenn youngkin your guy? caller: ralph northam blackface was a piece of crap. host: walter, california, on our democrat line. caller: thank you for taking my call. i would like to talk about joe manchin for a minute. how can joe manchin, not vote for democratic values across the

board? at the bottom of so many scales and the lack issue hereto. -- black issue here too. that is why a lot of people, minorities, are taking it personal. you have to face these issues on a daily basis. you do not understand how important your vote is or how cynical it is to so many people across this country of caller. they should get rid of them out the party period. host: michael, alabama, a republican. caller: joe biden -- host: please go ahead. caller: joe biden ain't said nothing about the year yet. host: i'm not sure where we are

going with this. we are going to look at the washington post. very few see u.s. as example mary -- exemplary democracy. if you view america's eggs -- as an example for the rest of the world to follow. their survey shows global attitudes, 17 economies, including the u.s., countries surveyed include britain, canada, france, germany, and south korea. it says outside the u.s. a median of 17% said u.s. democracy set a good example for other countries to follow. 57% said u.s. democracy used to be a good example but has not been in recent years. 23% said the u.s. has never been a good example of democracy.

jerome is in california, democrats line. caller: i am really from fontana , but thank you for taking my call. what i really wanted to point out is that our representatives have in recent years been selling our vote. to me, all the money that goes to their campaign funds and their pockets should go back to the district they represent. if it goes back to the district they represent, these groups would be out of office. the problem is we have too many representatives selling our vote and money goes in their pockets. send that money back to the state or district they represent.

all those people with their hands in your pockets will be gone. host: jennifer harper writes a daily column called inside the beltway. it has various news items. today, broadcasters ignored checks at a rally -- jackson to rally -- jack ciattarelli. during his entire quest to become governor. this treatment did not affect his appeal among voters. that is according to a new study . he was mentioned once according to scott whitlock, research director for a news busters organization. abc buried the race and only wants uttered the name on their morning or evening newscasts.

the race has been declared for governor murphy, who got reelected within two points, and unexpected -- unexpected. caller: i wanted to make a comment about joe manchin. i heard him have an interview last night. it was a very in-depth interview and there were tough questions asked. i was impressed with his answers. he explained why he was taking the positions he was taking. i thought, how refreshing. it is time for both sides to be willing to look at the other side, to compromise and realized many people are either right of center or left of center. we want to see people work together. host: do you find it interesting

that you as a republican thought he did a good job while our caller from california was upset with him caller: -- with him? caller: yes. too often, people want whoever a representative is to go complete with the party. if they are never willing to cross the aisle and compromise, things don't get done. host: thank you, lydia kenny -- lydia. kenny, you are on the air. caller: i am old enough to remember back when khrushchev said -- most people remember the line "we will take over america without firing a shot." what they do not remember was he said we will dismantle america from within by using your own laws against you. that is what we have had. newt gingrich said that was the

second american revolution. the way to do away with programs like social security and child labor laws is to bankrupt the system. their strategy is to privatize profit and publicized the debt. why do you think we are trillions of dollars in debt? do you see any republicans say let's put half $1 billion directly to the debt? no because they do not care. just like cheney said the debt does not matter when the money is running in the old pocket. thank you so much. host: doug is next in virginia cannot republican line. as a republican, did the election turn out the way you wanted tuesday? caller: absolutely. virginians always rally when virginians have to rally. i am retired military.

if everybody think this country sucks so bad, leave. i have been in communist countries. if people want us to be like that, leave. we will pay you to leave. all these people in congress need time limits so they cannot make a lifetime commitment of being corrupt. host: that is doug in virginia. mark is calling in from ohio on our democrats line. what is a public policy issue of concern to you? caller: we ought to do away -- democrats ought to do away with the filibuster. it is obvious that republicans are not going to help biden on nothing. they want him to fail as a president. i think they ought to make the vaccine mandate because there are too many people in this country dying from the virus.

i am a democrat. we are going to wake up and realize too many people is dying in this country. i have had people die from this virus. it is nothing funny about it. that is all i have to say. host: thank you. washington times, senators oppose nomination for ambassador to japan. those are two democrat senators, a former chicago mayor, a former chief of staff to barack obama. the opposition was because they say he did not respond strongly enough in chicago for the black lives matter movement. that is in the washington times. his nomination did pass with republican votes, so chances are

he will become the ambassador to japan. ted is in north carolina. you are on the washington journal. caller: i am 80 years old, started out a republican. i am an independent now and spent some time as a democrat. during my lifetime, i have seen us go from average country to the most self-centered self-serving people and citizens in the world. it is all about me, mine. no concern for you got yours. we need to get over that. the bible tells us different than that. we might as well through the bible away because nobody wants to follow it. as to government, there is one thing i would like to see change . it happens to be the oath of

office. when you make an oath to serve and protect all of the people, do it. if they violate that oath, we need a quicker means of removing anybody. i do not care what position they are in, for filing that oath because they committed perjury. host: who was the first president you ever voted for? caller: i supported dwight eisenhower. i helped with his campaign and stuff. i was not old enough to vote. right now, i am kind of blank on it. it would've been -- it could have been the second eisenhower -- other than that, i voted republican primarily until richard nixon.

i voted him for the first term and then i let -- left the republican party after what happened there. host: thanks for spending a little time with us this morning. we appreciate it. the house is coming to session. there could be a vote on the infrastructure bill at some point. thanks for being with us. we will see you tomorrow. ker pro teore: the use will bin order. the c layforehe hou a mmunion om the eaker. the clerk: thepeaker'sms, washington,. november 4, 2021. hereoint the honable ank mrvan to act as speer pro oron thiday. signed, nancyelosi, speak of the house ofreatives. the speaker o teore: rsuant to the order t house of january 4 21,he airilnow regnize mbers from l subtted by the majori and minority leaders for rng ho debat the chair alterna coition beeen t parties. withheime equally alloced betweee paies and each member oer thanheajority