ambassador to israel talks about u.s. diplomacy in the middle east and live coverage begins today at 11 a.m. on c-span. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more including wow. >> fast reliable internet connection is something no one can live without so wow is there for our customers with speed, reliability and choice. it all starts with great internet. wow! supports c-span along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. coming up this morning, amtrak president stephen gardner talks infrastructure in the future of rail service.

then a look at how electric vehicles factor into the clean energy goals with joe britton of the zero emission transportation association. later, reuters reporter david shepardson on the state of the airline industry as the holiday travel season begins. ♪ host: good morning, wednesday, november 24, 2021. live shot of union station in the washington, d.c. come over some of the 53 point 4 million americans are expected to travel this thanksgiving holiday, headed out to their destination. this morning, we will spend most of the program chatting about automobile, rail, and airline travel and america. and we will begin at the gas pump where fuel prices hover around seven-year highs. president biden taking action yesterday to try to bring gasoline prices downward, we

want to know how you have been impacted by gas price spikes and if it has impacted your travel plans. phone lines split regionally. eastern or central time zones, (202) 748-8001. in the mountain or pacific time zones, (202) 748-8002. you can also send us a text this morning at (202) 748-8003. if you do, please include your name and where you are from. otherwise, catch up with us in social media aired on twitter, it is @cspanwj. facebook, facebook.com/cspan. very good wednesday morning, go ahead and start calling in now as we are talking about gasoline prices. are the higher gasoline prices impacting you? let me give you those numbers again. eastern or central time zones, the number is (202) 748-8001. if you are in the mountain or pacific time zones, (202) 748-8002.

those are the phone lines this morning on the "washington journal." this is the front page of the wall street journal this morning, the lead story, president attacks u.s. oil reserves and other nations follow suit. the impact might not be lasting, they note in the story. this is the president making that an announcement of tapping the u.s. strategic oil reserve, yesterday from the white house. [video clip] pres. biden: the price of gasoline has reached record levels recently in europe and the nation. in france, about seven dollars per gallon. japan, about $5.50 per gallon. the highest it has been in years. of course, it is always painful when gas prices spike. today, the price of gas in america on average is $3.40 a gallon, much higher in

california. the impact is real, buffett -- the fact is, we have faced worst spikes before. in the last decade, in 2012, the price of gas hit $3.90. 2014, $3.69. as recently as 2019, we saw it surpassed three dollars and the many places. the fact is we always get through those spikes, but we are going to get through this one, as well, and hopefully faster. but it does not mean we should just invite wafer prices to drop on our own. instead, we are taking action. a big part of the reason americans are facing high gas prices is because oil-producing countries and large companies have not ramped up the supply of oil quickly enough to meet the demand. and the smaller supply means higher prices locally, globally, for oil. to address these issues, i got on the phone with leaders from

other countries grappling with this challenge to try to find ways to lower oil prices and, ultimately, the price you pay at the pump. so today, i am announcing that the largest ever release from the u.s. strategic petroleum reserve to help provide the supply we need as we recover from this pandemic. in addition, i brought together other nations to contribute to the solution, india, japan, republic of korea, and the united kingdom have agreed to release additional oil from their reserves, and china may do more, as well. this coordinated action will help us deal with the lack of supply which, in turn, helps these prices. the bottom line, today we are launching a major effort to moderate the price of oil, and effort that will span the globe in its reach and ultimately reach your corner gas station, god willing. host: president biden yesterday from the white house, making the announcement about the strategic petroleum reserve, and that is

getting plenty of reaction from republicans on capitol hill. this is kevin mccarthy, the majority leader of the house, republican from california, saying, had joe biden done nothing, americans would be better off and paying less at the pump, instead, one party rule has decimated american energy, production, and jobs. he killed the keystone pipeline and green lit nordstrom two. this one says that now he wants to tap strategic reserves for his strategic failure. this one says let america produce what we have always had a need, the announcement will release just three days of oil into the market, not about a real solution to our energy crisis. it is a crass political ploy just ahead of thanksgiving. kevin mccarthy with that statement yesterday. we are talking about it this morning on the "washington journal." a few more comments from republican members of congress,

including senator john barrasso from wyoming, his tweet saying the president's policies of hiking, inflation, and energy prices for the american people, tapping the reserve will not fix the problem, we are experiencing higher prices because the administration and democrats are waging a war on american energy. a republican from louisiana and house says you do not tap our emergency oil reserves just because of stupid policies using it as the mechanism to alleviate the high gas prices caused by the biden administration's poor decision-making, the wrong approach. one more, and you can see a pattern here from republicans. chris stewart from utah, republican, saying less than one year ago, america was energy independent. we need to open up our domestic energy production. a few of those comments. we will run through some other reaction here on capitol hill, but we mostly want to hear from you this morning. are higher gasoline prices impacting you? have they impacted your travel

plans here at the beginning of the thanksgiving holiday? let me give you the phone lines one more time because they are little bit different than normal. it is (202) 748-8001 if you are in the eastern and central time zones. and it is (202) 748-8002 if you are in the mountain or pacific time zones. we will start with mike out of north carolina this morning. good morning to you. you are with us this morning. do me a favor and stick by your phone. we will come back to mike. let's try michael in maine this morning. michael, good morning. caller: let me tell you about donald trump and the -- [indiscernible] they carried no freight, no omissions.

we have electricity. you do not need fuel for electric vehicles. the alaska pipeline we have had the last 50 years, we are paying one dollar retail at the pump for 20 and 30 years, even 40 years. then george bush, junior, comes in -- host: take us to today and how it is impacting you in maine. are you traveling less because of these prices? i know you're talking history, but what does it mean for you personally? caller: what it means for me personally is i am paying higher on the bus. i do not have a car and will not even buy a car. i live on social security. we have people who already build back better, and it is just not really working. bring the prices down to a

dollar. host: this is rory out of california. good morning to you. caller: i would say start drilling for oil on american soil. do the fracking again. if it hasn't worked, we have maybe 100 years worth of gasoline left in the world. nobody is going to be driving electric cars. they cannot afford it. you need to get the gas, not some electric fantasy pie in the sky. as for environmentalism, that is why the california pier is all out, they will not let them delay or delete the carbon emissions. they need to. you will not get anything on time. you need to stay with gasoline until you can phase it out over the next several decades, but not today. that's it. host: lou out of florida, you

are up next. good morning. caller: good morning, c-span. good morning, america. look, gasoline prices are affecting everybody. you go in the supermarket, a rib roast is $50. everybody is hurting. are you there? host: what did you say? caller: everybody is impacted. you go to the supermarket, you buy a piece of rib roast, you know, if that is what you want, it is $50. walmart is trying to keep the prices low, but everybody is struggling, everybody. you know? it is really crazy, man. i am praying for all of the people that are hurting. i hope they have a roof over their head and food on the table. you know? host: are you traveling during thanksgiving?

do you usually travel? caller: no, no, not this year. i am staying home with my girlfriend in tampa. host: a lot of talk about the price of turkeys and the price of goods in general right now. has it changed how you're are doing your thanksgiving? caller: no, i am doing ok. but it is just -- myself and my girlfriend, but if it is a family, there our struggles and not enough food because of the shortages and transportation issues and stuff. we are out of things at the supermarket, i know we are. you can see it. host: that is lou in florida. happy thanksgiving to you and your girlfriend in florida. our phone numbers again as we go through this segment, giving them because we have had to use a little bit different phone numbers this morning. i will tell you the reason why

we have got to the backup phone lines, because of a little problem with our main phone lines. that is why they are a little bit different this morning from those viewers who watch everyday, and other numbers you're used to. 202-737*0001 and the eastern and central time zones. and202-737-0002 in the mountain and pacific time zones. look at the aaa gas price chart around the country. $3.39 is the national average, but those states in the western pennsylvania on this map are the states seeing the highest retail prices for a gallon of gasoline right now. in the reddist states, somewhere between $4.07 and $3.60 is the

average. lowest prices in the gulf coast and in the south texas, oklahoma, missouri, tennessee, kentucky, wisconsin, and south carolina, with gas prices still in either the high three dollars or very low three dollar range. aaa with their gas price chart. here is why we are talking about it so much, this chart from 2013 to 2021 showing the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the united states, just in the summer months, just about three month ago, gas prices were $.30 lower. a year ago in november of 2020, gas prices were $1.30 less than they are right now. the last time gas prices were this high, we were looking in the 2014 range, a seven-year high on gas prices. that is why there is so much focus.

that is why president biden yesterday took the move to tap the strategic petroleum reserve to try to alleviate gas prices. how is it impacting your holiday travel? barry in virginia, good morning. caller: good morning. yeah, it is affecting me quite a bit. no one is talking numbers. [inaudible] this just goes to show that corporations can destroy the country. they are more financial, so they can destroy the country. but the cartel, they just decided, ok, we're going to raise prices, make less product, and blame all kinds of factors on it. they are just doing this because they want to decrease the amount of money people are holding and

then it will be a problem later on with the next step of the plan, whatever that may be. host: the president yesterday, and delivering his remarks, talked about his concern about the gas companies setting prices artificially high, saying that he is announcing a federal trade commission investigation into potential anticompetitive behavior when it comes to gas prices in this country right now. here is more from the president yesterday. [video clip] pres. biden: my effort to combat climate change is not raising the price of gas or increasing its availability. what it is doing is increasing the availability of jobs, jobs building electric cars, like the one i drove at the gm a factory in detroit last week. for the hundreds of thousands of folks who bought one of those electric cars, they will save $800 to $1000 in fuel costs this year, and we will use those

savings to then reach more americans, create jobs installing solar panels, batteries, electric heating pumps. by the way, deploying these technologies for each home where they are installed will say folks and additional hundreds of dollars in energy costs every year. let's do that. let's beat climate change with more extensive innovation and opportunities. host: that announcement from the white house yesterday we showed you some reactions from republicans. getting your reaction this morning and talking about how gas prices are impacting you. karel in alabama is. how is it impacting you. caller: it is not really impacting me. i realize that prices have increased, but i think that is just the nature of what we're going to have to pay for this

crave america has for fossil fuel. i mean, we cannot just dig, dig, digg, drill, drill, drill our way to energy efficiency. so i think it is time for us to just look at alternative energy measures. host: carl, on that front, the other side of that argument is that -- but we cannot just turn off oil production tomorrow. the renewable energy isn't ready yet to take on the amount of energy production that we get from things like coal and natural gas. the concern there is that if we shut out the fossil fuels too quickly, this is what will happen, gas prices are going to rise and we will be paying more for energy because the renewable just are not there yet to pick up all the production we need in this country. what would you say to that? caller: that is because we are not taking all of the necessary

steps to go into that direction. i mean, we're still too heavily relying upon just drilling and digging, and i do not think that is the answer. it may have to be a more thorough approach, but we really need to do more in terms of just doing everything we can to get away from our oil. i just do not think it is the way of the future. host: that is carl out of alabama. this is richard in today's washington times, the headline -- getting from a-to-d on environmental policy without skipping b and c, it can be done without declaring war on fossil fuels, his argument. democrats push for a doomsday narrative to support every new legislation, while republicans opt for virtually no platform except to highlight the glaring hypocrisies that are on the

left. democrats want to declare war on the energy sector and adopt policies that call for sacrifices by average americans and carveout select groups and companies from those sacrifices. it has been refreshing to see house members like john curtis and dan crenshaw introduce nuclear energy at cop 26. still, the gop is more focused on owning the libs then being a true partner on environment a policy. to read more, that is today's washington times. this is ted in florida. how are these gas prices impacting you? caller: good morning. i just have not been traveling as much and driving my car. thank goodness for the holiday season. i have local family, and i do have family coming down.

but i have not been driving my car as much, and i am seeing local family. but gas prices, they are high, and i just have not been driving a car every day. host: anyone not coming to thanksgiving specifically because of gas prices? is it bad enough that it is keeping somebody from seeing family? is that the reason they have given you or has anybody told you that yet? caller: thank goodness, i have not had that. the family members that are coming down are available and aware of the gas prices, but i guess they are dealing with it. it effected me that way, but i am just hopeful that at some given point, you know, we do have prices back down to two dollars. but i am hoping somewhere in the

future that it does go down. i am just hoping that. thank you so much. host: that is ted out of florida. to the land of lincoln, stephen out of illinois. how have the gas prices impacted you? caller: hi, this is steven. can you hear me? host: yes. caller: i am 62 and have worked midnights for 41 years, an icu nurse. i would love to buy an electric car, but i am gone more than 14 hours overnight, and how can i plan on being able to plug my car in at 50 below zero in chicago when i work a 14 hour overnight shift? of course, i don't know anything because i am just a nurse. but i feel that there were no gas taxes and the horse and buggy age, obviously. cars came along, they put a gas tax. the new economy is delivery. why can we do a 20% tax on any

delivery from a grocery store or from an amazon, anything over $10? all that money goes into energy independence and job training, getting people to drive trucks, getting people to unload at the ports, these container ships, solving some of our problems here at thank you very much. host: before you go, later in this program, 8:30 eastern, we will have joe britton on from the zero admission zero emissions transportation association, and we will be talking about electric vehicles and the infrastructure bill for the ev market, so stick around for that. you mention your work as an icu nurse overnight. i want to ask, how are you doing at 21 months of pandemic? caller: every shift, there is covid. personally -- i know this is very debbie downer, and this is not just because i am a nurse, i do not see the pandemic ever

going away. i am 62, it is a permanent thing for my age group. how it doesn't, i don't know. but it might morph, even if everyone was vaccinated. and i do not see any way out. maybe that is part of the burnout. host: is there a vaccine mandate for nurses at your hospital? caller: yes, you would be surprised at coworkers who you think, oh, my god, she is the smartest one, whether they are clinical or ancillary, some of them are thinking of resigning because they have not been vaccinated and they have children and families. i am single. it boggles my mind. host: how long do they have to make the decision? caller: i did get vaccinated in the early group and got my booster. host: how long do the others have to make their decision? caller: i don't know. i think most employers, even like you hear about airlines on the news, it is right after the first of the year. because of course, there is no

one to work. host: stephen, thanks for chatting, even though we got a little off topic. on vaccine mandates, some news, this from today's washington post. the biden administration yesterday asking a federal appeals court to reinstate the administration's coronavirus vaccine or testing requirement for private businesses as soon as possible and get rid of an earlier ruling that put a temporary block on the white house's signature policy set to take effect in january, the vaccine mandates we have talked so much about for companies. dozens of legal challenges, primarily from republican-lead states and private employers and conservative groups. u.s. court of appeals for the sixth circuit in this matter, before the cases were combined earlier this month, different set of judges halted the administration's policy, finding the labor department exceeded

its authority and caused economic uncertainty, threatening to decimate workforces. we will see what happens with that appeal by the justice department. back to this issue of gas prices, what you are seeing at the pump. danny in arizona, good morning. caller: good morning from leslie southwest border of arizona, and happy thanksgiving to you. host: same to you. caller: you know something, last year at this time, a gallon of gas was about $1.87. now it is about $3.67. host: i got $3.75 as the average in arizona right now, according to aaa. caller: is that what it is? i'm sorry. be that as it may, it is more. i am on a fixed income, and it i has curtailed my driving quite a bit.

not only that, besides the gasoline prices, not to get off topic, i am down here in yuma, southwest border, and we have a big problem with these illegal aliens coming in in their trucks and everything else. it is bad down here, one crisis after another. democrats are destroying this country. host: tom is back in florida. you are next. caller: good morning. the basic problem right now is that the politics of the environment have put the green interests in the fossil interests out of sync. and the green interests in politics have panicked everyone into thinking that the world is going to come to an end if we do

not do all this panic spending on electric vehicles. this is crazy. it is impractical. i really have serious doubts that we can build the infrastructure for every american family to have the electric vehicle. and even if you did, with brownouts going on already and intermittent supply of green energy, that this would be a reliable system even if you could build it? just think right now, what if everybody at existing gas stations took 30 minutes to fill up their tank. how long with the line be? just think about that, how impractical and stupid this out of sync thing we are doing with green energy is going to be.

i personally think that hydrogen might actually work. unit, don't -- you know, don't get me wrong, i am not a friend of gasoline and fossil fuels. if there really was a solution that i could believe in, i would be more than happy, more than happy to say, oh, wow, this is great. but i really have serious doubts. and the way that the politics environment is causing us to approach this, it is just entirely stupid and impractical. it won't work. host: hey, tom, on hydrogen, just wanted to point out, in case you are interested, rich powell in today's washington times with a column you might be interested in, hydrogen investment by -- might be the key to global energy competitiveness for the united states into the future as countries look to meet their net zero carbon goals, there could be hydrogen shortage in the future.

the issue of hydrogen there, in case you want to read that column. coming back to energy production in the united states, we showed you this chart last week when we were talking about energy production, especially when it came to electric vehicles and how they are charged, where the energy is coming from for those vehicles. this is overall in the u.s., the sources of u.s. electricity generation in the year 2020. renewables right now only making up 20% of u.s. electricity generation last year. those numbers take up as more renewables come online, but this was as of 2020. just 20% of u.s. electricity generation. hydrogen accounting for 7% of that. when about 8.5% of that. solar, just 2.3% of that. the other 80% comes from nuclear

, accounts for 20%, coal power still generating 19% of u.s. electricity, and the natural gas taking the lion share, some 40% of u.s. electricity generation in 2020, coming from natural gas. keeping those numbers in my mind as we have this discussion about gasoline prices, obviously a different form of energy, but the question of electric vehicle springs up electricity production. and the biden administration's efforts to move towards more renewables, as well. this is mike out of new york. caller: good morning, america. thank you for taking my call. i think america needs to wake up to see what the heck is going on here. last year i paid $2.30 here in upstate new york. now i am paying $3.45.

this is insanity. i think that biden has been compromised. as far as coronavirus, i see people having the shots and dropping dead. that is the actuality. host: you are seeing people take the shot and dropdead in front of you? caller: hey, i know friends, ok, that have actually died from the coronavirus shot, ok, within 24 weeks. they died of a heart attack, ok. i have a friend that was in the nursing home, she died from blood clots. this is insanity. host: got your point, mike. we are going to talk more about the coronavirus and treatments and vaccines. we do have segments on that every week. i believe we will have one again in just a couple days, on monday, we will have another one talking about the latest on the vaccine front, certainly a topic we often return to here on the

"washington journal." but want to focus on this issue of gasoline prices, plenty of calls on that front. i should note once again, a little bit different phone lines this morning that we are working on. (202) 737-0001 in the eastern central time zones. and (202) 737-0002 in the mountain or pacific time zones. out to the pacific, to california, this is don. good morning. caller: hello, can you hear me? real quick, let me tell you, when you talk hydrogen, do you know where we get hydrogen from? host: i do not know much about hydrogen. caller: from natural gas. that is the fossil fuel again. but what drives me crazy most about these high gas prices, this is it. president biden, since taking office, day one, has done his level best to cut american

production, raise the cost of production of oil, and raise the price of our fuel. he went to scotland and bragged about it and said he would make it even more expensive, then came back and told us, oh, gee, gas prices are high, i'm just as mad as you, those dog on russians and saudis. i asked them to make more oil and they just will not do it. host: why do you think he would want to do that? caller: because he says fossil fuel is evil and killing the world. don't you listen to him? he wants the high gas prices because he does not want us to drive gasoline cars. you have to connect the dots here. president biden, do you honestly think president biden wants low gas prices? tell me that. host: listening to the president yesterday, he addressed what you brought up, saying that his

energy policies are not driving up gas prices, that they are not the reason why gas prices are going up. this is what he said yesterday. [video clip] pres. biden: the price of gasoline in the wholesale market has fallen by about 10% over the last few weeks, but the price at the pump has not budged a penny. in other words, gas supply companies are paying less and making a lot more. they do not seem to be passing it on to the consumers at the pump. in fact, it is the gap between wholesale and retail gas prices, if it was in line with past averages, americans would be paying at least 25 cents less a gallon right now, as i speak. instead, companies are pocketing the difference as profit. that is unacceptable. that is why i have asked the federal trade commission to consider whether potentially illegal and anticompetitive behavior in the oil and gas industry is causing higher prices for consumers, so we can

assure the american people are paying a fair price for gasoline. host: president biden yesterday from the white house, taking your phone calls. this is lynn in utah. caller: thank you. i am tired of hearing people whine about gas prices into conspiracy theories about what president biden wants to have higher gas prices, no, he doesn't. he is doing everything possible to lower them. they were caused by the pipeline in the russians, caused by the stoppages during hurricane ida, and they are sent by opec, and biden is doing everything he can, and there is not much he can do. i am not impacted because i am willing to bundle my trips. all you have to do is turn on

your brain. some people are too lazy for that. but bundle your trip so you do not use as much gas. if necessary, drive your more efficient cars, not your suv. i live in utah where everybody drives huge, huge gas guzzlers and then complain and do not know why there while it is getting a little thinner. they do not notice that they have got a gas guzzler in their driveway or two or three of them, and they refused to walk even to the church which is only a quarter of a mile away. they drive everywhere. use your legs a little bit. bundle your trips. you will not be that impacted. i am paying maybe one dollar a month more now than i did a year or two ago. it is not that much different. it is not biden's fault. caller: if you think there's not much you can do about it, why

make a big deal yesterday out of releasing 50 million barrels of this strategic patrolling in -- petroleum reserve? republicans have said that is literally about two and a half days of consumption in the united states, that is about what we use over two and a half days, saying it will not do much. so why not just say there is not much i can do out the prices -- do about the prices? caller: well, i guess that is politics. maybe he wants to show he is doing all he can. host: even if releasing the oil reserves is not going to do much anyway? caller: yeah, he is trying to show that he is doing all he can, but the truth is, he cannot do much. it is not within the president's control to set the price to it he can do a few little tweaks here and there and then count those -- but there is really not

much -- it is not in the president's purview. host: thanks for the call. the editorial board of the washington post, here's what they have to say about this release from the strategic reserve. mr. biden's gesture will not do much to lower the gas prices, noting that past coordinated releases on strategic petroleum reserve releases came during times of stress in the oil supply chain, such as with war disrupting in libya or hurricane katrina ravaging refineries. this is because insomuch so much as they make any substantial difference, releases only have a short term effect. indeed, they note, that 50 million barrels equates to about two and a half days worth of national consumption. long-term, there are only two ways to minimize the punishing effects of oil price and volatility, increasing domestic oil production and decreasing domestic oil consumption.

increasing u.s. oil production would bypass opec and limit the geopolitical clout of predatory nations, such as russia, yet this made sense only as a traditional -- transitional measure. the country must encourage more fuel efficiency and invest in electric cars, public transit, and better planning communities. republican stress domestic oil production, democrats stress weaning off carbon fuels. both sides have a point. finn's next in washington, d.c. how are these gas prices impacting you? caller: they are not impacting me much. i think the framing of the question is off. just last week, they had the oil guy on -- i cannot remember his job title, but he speculates on oil since like the 1990's, and i think it's at pre-pandemic they were refining 28 billion gallons of oil and day, and they had to

cut that and now they are only refining some 8 billion gallons of oil a day. so they are not refining enough, not selling enough, and they are not refining it fast enough. so people that listen to the show, i know they listen just about every day. i do not understand why you cannot frame the question based on the knowledge that the guy gave us last week as fact and frame the question more as, why is the media not actually telling the truth on the fact that the oil companies are not refining the oil? they are the ones with the bottleneck. they are not refining the oil, so we cannot produce. host: thanks for bringing it up. we had the america oil news director on from s&p oil, and we did 40 minutes on that last week. glad you watched it. in terms of framing the

question, what we're trying to do here, regardless of the price, we just want to know how it is impacting people. that is why we are asking this question. you think the better question is, is the media lying about oil prices, or is the media not getting the best information about how oil prices are set? caller: correct. it is imperative, especially for a show like this, you brought that guy on to give the public knowledge to what is actually happening, then the very next week, i feel like this question is opposite of the knowledge that was gained by having that man on the show. host: the knowledge we are trying to impart here israel people from around the country saying here is what -- is real people from around the country saying here is what i am paying right now and here is how it is affecting me. the president thought it was important enough to release 50 million barrels from the strategic petroleum reserve yesterday. so we want to talk about what it means when it reaches people on

the ground, what they are seeing right now. we figured sometimes that is the best way to allow people to express what is happening in their communities, just tell us what you are seeing in your parts of the country. we spent a whole 40 minutes talking about how gas prices are set last week. caller: so for the caller, i wish they would call in and if they know that, just say that, they know it really has nothing to do with this president, the past president, and he stated the fact that we cannot produce enough oil to be fully energy independent. am i correct? i do believe a caller asked him that, and he said we cannot produce enough oil to be fully energy independent, and i think he said the most oil we get is from canada. correct? host: i remember that segment last week. caller: maybe my angst is with the callers i feel like listen and watch the show, because i

listen just about every day while driving around. they are calling in as if they do not know they just listens to this guy last week. the last ones that there is nothing really the president can do other than making the oil companies refine more gasoline, but i do not know how they're supposed to do that unless you want to nationalize the oil companies. people don't want to do that. the gas tax has not been raised since like the 1990's. we pace a little for gas here based on other countries. we're just spoiled on gasoline. i believe yesterday a lady was like, hey, you can buy any car you want to, but if it only gives you nine gallons a mile of gas, that is your fault. you can be crying about paying so much for gas when you are going to buy a vehicle that is not fuel-efficient. host: do you think we should walk down that path of the government having more control on gasoline prices? do you think that would be worthwhile?

the president yesterday saying that he is starting a federal trade commission investigation into how these prices are being set, saying that they are using anticompetitive practices. the president using the regulatory system here to try to get these prices down, saying that they are artificially high. do you think that is a good move? caller: most definitely. and i would like to see someone like katie porter to grill those oil people, to find out how they actually price oil. they need to really explain to the american people how it works so we can get a good idea of what we are being fooled into doing. it is like the tobacco company, up there behind the curtain but not really telling us what they are doing, and we're out here believing that the president has everything to do with shutting down a pipeline that was not

even oil for the united states, like, oh, my gut, it made us non-energy dependent -- come on, people. host: katie porter, you like her on capitol hill, the style of using the whiteboard and how she asks her questions like committee hearings? caller: yes, because she exposes the hypocrisy of people. she puts them on blast. that is what more politicians need to do. how she conducts her business on the floor, it gives a sense of where the country needs to go. host: what about how joe manchin conducts his business? caller: come on now, that is so rich that joe manchin is trying to stand up for the little guy, yet he is going to a yacht club. i cannot see how people do not see the irony and hypocrisy of

all the things he is doing. host: are you a democrat? caller: most definitely. i think he is not speaking for democrats -- even in west virginia, a poor state, calm on, the du isd -- the dude is driving a jaguar or whatever it is. host: more from joe manchin, his action to the release of the strategic petroleum reserve yesterday, that moved by the president. he said the move is an important policy band-aid for rising gas prices but does not solve for the self inflicted wound that shortsighted energy policy is having on our nation. with an energy transition underway across the country, it is critical that washington does not jeopardize america's energy security in the near term and lead consumers vulnerable to rising prices. going on to say, historic

inflation taxes and the lack of a comprehensive all of the above energy policy poses a clear and present threat to america's economic and energy security that can no longer be ignored. that was in the washington times today. about 15 minutes left in the segment, more of your calls on how you are being impacted by gas prices in the country. tony in connecticut, you are next. caller: good morning, and happy thanksgiving to everybody. in connecticut, i was paying $1.50 just a year ago. the other thing is my home heating oil is up over $1.40 a gallon. the president is assuring that they are doing the best they could. that is like when he assured us he would not leave any of our people behind in afghanistan. where are we at with that? that is another thing. and electric cars, you have to get the batteries from china,

but first we have to borrow the money from china, then we spend the money with china to buy the batteries they have. i watched the science channel the other week, 900 pounds of an electric vehicle are made out of plastic. where does plastic come from? oil. it is crazy. i hope they do not do anything because you know it is getting everybody mad. at the gas station, you get into a conversation, people are mad as hell and do not want to take it anymore. this is just a nice little change back from one side to the other. and how about showing the department of energy, the lady there when she was laughing and the gentleman from bloomberg, a lot of people seeing that, he said, what is the government going to do, and all she did was laugh. that is their solution, to laugh. host: if these prices do come

down, whether it is weeks or months, do you think people will remember this come this time next year, come election 2022? do you think people remember that i was paying really high gas prices a year ago and did not like that at the time. do you think this has become a campaign issue 12 month from now? caller: i think it is. they do say the public has a short memory. but how many times do you have to go to the gas station? we remember what we had last year, don't we? we remember how cheap it was. you had that lady from utah saying we have to buy cheaper cars, better mileage. how about turn your heat down to 50 degrees and maybe you can help save with home heating oil? that is another way to save. this stuff is ridiculous. host: the campaign arm of house

republicans, the national republican congressional committee, betting that americans will be remembering this inflation and gas price issue come november 2022, releasing a set of tv ads targeting house democrats over gas prices, over inflation. here is an example of one of those recent ads, this one targeting democratic congressman dan kilby of michigan. [video clip] >> this november, from the people who brought you the most extensive fourth of july in history, the sequel is even worse. >> this thanksgiving, brace yourself for the highest grocery to you have had in decades. >> turkey, rolls, apple pie, gas, democrats' reckless spending has made everything cost more. tell congressman dan killed the we cannot afford this -- dan kilby we cannot afford this. host: an example of one of the ads being run by the national republican congressional

committee on inflation, on gas prices. that is what we're talking about in this first segment of the "washington journal." mike, how are the gas prices affecting you? caller: personally, not at all, i just pass it on to my customers. i just charge them more. host: what line of work are you in? caller: i am a trucker, i deliver stuff. my question is, i hear all this stuff about new green energy and all this stuff, electric and everything, nobody brings up nh-3. nh-3, ammonia. they make diesel engines that run on ammonia, and it does not impact the environment at all. i guess there is not no money in it. host: this is les out of nevada.

good morning. caller: oh, back in 1979, 1980, opec jacked up oil prices and did everything they could to make carter look bad. basically, the oil companies got ronald reagan elected. the money went in and -- [indiscernible] oil embargo, and it was all blamed on carter. actually, at the time, there was already a solution to go towards more green energy. 1978 -- if he would have continued. as far as companies artificially

jacking up the prices, we ask for wheel products in this country -- we ask for oil products in this country. [indiscernible] going down to new orleans so they can refine more stuff to send out. the prices are jacked up, and it is passed on to everything, everything you get. host: that is a call from nevada this morning. taking your phone calls for about five more minutes this morning on this issue of gas prices around the country. want to know how it is impacting you. about $3.40 nationally, a tad un der. the chart from aaa showing states with the highest gas prices in red, mostly on the

west coast but also pennsylvania seeing the highest gas prices in this country. the average price of a gallon in those red states about summer between three dollars since the since -- $3.60 and $4.70 a gallon. sheila writes that gas prices will not go down and we will remember in november and in 2024. distance is maybe it is time for americans to park their gas guzzlers, then maybe we would have more supply. and this is steve from twitter saying the gas prices are affecting him a little, fortunately i do not have to travel far to get to work and back, and i go in so early that i never sit in traffic. gas at my sam's club is just a bit over three dollars a gallon. i feel sorry for people who travel several miles and get in traffic jams everyday day, like those in d.c. traffic in d.c. is coming back,

was down a bit during the pandemic. this is earl in georgia. good morning. caller: good morning. what sparked me to call as i saw on your map alaska. ok, they pump their own oil. they their own people. if you live in alaska, you get so much money a month from that oilfield, which actually belongs to america. i think everybody should get that. but why can't they use their oil that is pumped right there? just like in the pennsylvania and texas and everywhere else, they pump their own oil, why can't they use it? they want to sell it to foreign countries so they can make money for their stockholders or whatever they are. host: i am not an expert, but i do know the oil that comes out of the ground is different than the gasoline, the refined gasoline, that eventually goes into cars.

so it is not like they can just pump it out of the ground and put it in the cars. caller: i know that. i am a retired electrician and know what i am talking about. they can refine it right there in alaska. why can't they do this in these other places? texas, it is ridiculous, and you know it is. it is our oil, not alaska's. they should pay everybody, not people in alaska. it is unreal, and these corporations -- joe biden is so far up the rear end, that is why they are up on him right now. they will do anything they can do to bring him down in this current administration. host: the average price of a gallon of gas in alaska is $3.71 a gallon, certainly higher than the national average, which is just a shade under $3.40 a gallon. time for one more call in this

segment. this is another earl, out of dawsonville, georgia. caller: good morning. i am just sitting here listening to people call in about this gas and stuff. i drive 25 miles round-trip to my job, and i think that the corporations -- [indiscernible] i think the president is doing a great job with what he came with into office. i think he is doing a very good job. and people do not admit to what he is doing. he has gone through so much he took everything that he came into, a pandemic to take care of, and other stuff. he is doing all he can do. but here's the test, the

ministry of the gospel, people need to put trust in the lord, jesus christ. if you trust in god, you will put your trust in man. host: our last call in this first segment of the "washington journal." but plenty more to talk about this wednesday morning before thanksgiving, a very busy travel day, focus on trains, planes, and automobiles. we will begin next focusing on amtrak and train travel, joined by stephen gardner, president of amtrak. later, we talk electric vehicles with the federal emission -- with zero emission transportation association's joe britton, and we will also talk about the state of the airline industry. stick around. we will be right back. ♪ ♪

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corporation back in 2009. what does rail ridership look like in thanksgiving 2021? what are you expecting this holiday compared to last? guest: good morning. we are at about 80% of our pre-pandemic volume for this thanksgiving week. it is obviously the busiest week of the year. it is busier than it has been over the proceed -- over the preceding months. we've been averaging about 60% of our travel demands up to this point, so an increase for this week. host: what are your expectations through the rest of the holiday season? how soon until you get back to 100%? guest: it looks pretty strong for the remainder of the year and through the holidays in december, and probably still around that 80% mark. we hope that over the next two years or so, we can get back to our pre-pandemic levels.

obviously a lot will depend on what happens with covid and how things progress, but we do see this year, steady increase and we are hopeful that with the increase in vaccination rates and vaccines for children, that more folks will be able to travel in the new year. host: this year, amtrak is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and also in the coming year and years to come, you will see a major infusion of cash from that infrastructure law that was signed just last week. the top line number, $66 billion for passenger and freight rail. explain what that means specifically for you at amtrak. guest: it is incredibly exciting for amtrak. it is the launch of a new era of modernization and improvement across the company and across

the passenger rail network for the nation. out of that $66 billion you mentioned, about $22 billion is coming directly to amtrak and those funds are for both our national networks all over the country and entering into canada and $16 billion is for that portion of the network, and it is primarily to modernize our assets. that is equipment, passenger cars, locomotives, our stations, and our facilities, or mechanical shops where we maintain trains -- our mechanical shops will remain chain -- where we maintain trains. around $6 billion is going to the northeast corridor for similar activities in the northeast. that is the main line between

washington and boston, where amtrak owns the railroad and we have a lot of big pieces of infrastructure. bridges, tunnels and stations that need to be updated and replaced. the bulk of the remainder is for grants that come through the department of transportation and amtrak and our state partners and commuter partners around the country will work together to seek funds to both improve assets like those big bridges and tunnels and to expand and improve service, because we've got a bold vision for where rail can do more for the nation and we are excited about the opportunity to work with the department of transportation to get those dollars invested. host: let me give the viewers some phone numbers. we want to get the phone lines to join the conversation. if you are in the eastern or central time zones,

(202)-737-0001. if you are in the mountain or pacific time zones, (202)-737-0002. a special line set aside for amtrak writers -- riders. to give you a chance to talk to the president of amtrak, (202)-628-0205. not everyone is a fan of the funding that went to amtrak. i want to play a clip from michael burgess who was on this program last week. he specifically called out the amtrak dollars in that bill. i want to give you a chance to respond. [video clip] >> if you live in the northeast core door -- corridor and you take amtrak a lot, is going to do really good from this bill but when amtrak was greeted back in the 1970's, it was supposed

to be self-supporting but now you have billions more dollars going into the maintenance of amtrak and this is something that they were supposed to be taking care of, themselves by this time. host: mr. gardner, to that point, can you respond and explain how amtrak is funded? guest: sure. we occasionally hear this. it reflects a misunderstanding about what amtrak is and what we do today. from our original creation back in 1971, it was quite clear even then, that what amtrak was and is, is a federally chartered corporation, created to operate service and initially only operate service merrily over the freight railroads. then we inherited the northeast corridor in 1976.

it was always understood that the company was going to need capital investments to modernize its equipment, to take the initial inherited investment and turn it into a modern operation. we work hard over 50 years to achieve that vision. much of what has kept amtrak from achieving broader success and broader relevance across the country is the lack of investment from congress and the federal government. over all of these years, typically amtrak has requested more than double what it has received in terms of those capital investments, to be able to upgrade and modernize facilities. as congress started to realize, and i think the american people all solve that passenger rail -- all saw that passenger rail

was going to become a major part of the tree's rotation system, and the new century and with the rise of congestion and concerns about climate, we started to see more investment at amtrak and as that investment increased, our capital side to upgrade our assets, our output performance got much better. in 2019, we had our best year ever and in 2020, we were headed towards operating at breakeven. we were looking to maybe make a small profit, and terms of the overall balance between revenue and expenses. of course march of 2020 happened and we lost 96% of our business in one month, and the covid pandemic has defined the travel since. we have made real strides as a company, increasing our ridership and making great investments for the future of

the country. but like all transportation modes, public investment is essential. you saw infrastructure bill investments across all modes of transportation because they all require public investment. at amtrak, you see it all in one place, as a crows to -- as opposed to across the aviation or highway system where investments are spread out across different branches of government and different levels. everything requires investment to support the mobility needs of the nation, and this infrastructure deal for the first time, creates a level of investment necessary for us to achieve the kind of system that america deserves, and that we at amtrak and folks who support rail have long advocated for. host: what is the most important thing to you, to make amtrak the most profitable corporation it can be, or to connect as many parts of america as possible? guest: i think the real reason

we exist is to create those trips, to create an alternative to driving and flying in places that rail makes sense across the united states. the federal government did not create amtrak to create a dividend for the treasury. we are here to provide a service and create value. that is our fundamental mission, to connect america, and really make a difference in communities, whether that is through creating opportunities for economic develop and end jobs, whether it is supporting people's mobility and quality of life. our goal is to fulfill this unique mission to connect people, but to do it with the lowest taxpayer investment we can. we are an entity that is aiming to try and create good economics and deliver service sufficiently, but fundamentally,

it is that mission of connectivity that we are here for. host: let me get some callers, including plenty of amtrak riders. thomas is first out of houston for that line for amtrak riders. caller: i've been writing -- riding since the 1960's. but i have to tell you, i ride from houston to california a lot, and it takes three days. apollo took three days to get to the moon. i think the problem is the tracks you guys use, the freight trains have right-of-way. amtrak has to get off the track and let the freight go through. you need to build a dedicated high-speed rail. that would stop all of that, and it would solve a lot of problems. but it is a great ride. thank you. host: mr. gardner? guest: thank you, great question and great point. we relied, for about 90% of our

network, over railroads, other railroads, primarily freight and we are a tenant on those roads. this is an issue and we have a long history of good cooperation with these various railroads, but performance has been a real struggle for many decades now. amtrak by law is supposed to have that right-of-way over freight trains, but in actuality, that has not often happened in many cases, and today we do suffer from a lot of delays. additionally we have struggles with our various railroads about adding more service, operating on that route you just mentioned, the sunset, seven days a week instead of three days a week. we are working hard with our freight railroad counterparts to create an environment where we can grow together. we think rail needs to do a lot more for america, both passenger and freight.

for 150 years, we managed this system together. in normal times, 2200 trains a day in the northeast corridor, including passenger trains and freight trains. it can be done. we have the best railroaders in the world, so i know we can do it, but we need the help of those other railroads and the federal government to ensure amtrak it's the preference we need, to be able to operate trains on time and speed up that trip. host: on the issue of high-speed rail, china has some 22,000 miles of high-speed rail planned to possibly double by 2035. how many miles of high-speed rail do we have in the united states? guest: in the northeast corridor , we have high-speed rail service of 150 miles per hour and we will be upgrading that to 160 in various locations. that corridor is a little less

than 400 miles. certainly not all of it is operating at speeds like that. but with the investment we are getting from the bipartisan infrastructure law, we are going to be upgrading portions of that route. we have new trains coming soon, which will allow us to operate at 160 miles per our and even faster if we upgrade the infrastructure. it is important for folks to understand that high-speed rail is a mature great technology used all over the world. we absolutely should have it here. california is building a system. we strongly support high-speed rail around the united states but it takes a long time to make these investments. the average system, from construction to completion in europe is about 15 or 16 years to get into revenue service. what we are advocating for is high-speed rail in those corridors where it makes sense but to start with what we've

got. america has the largest rail network in the world, but we use it mostly for freight movement. we don't use much of it for passenger. we want to start by adding trains in those markets, where there needs to be more train service. today, with good reliable service, operating at the typical conventional speeds we have, 8200 mile-per-hour and then we should build out -- 80 to 100 miles per hour and then we should build out. we need to be operating trains in more places right now, if we are going to address climate change, create more opportunity for people. we really believe in this hybrid approach, and that is how it works all over the world. you go nowhere where there is not a great conventional railway system with high-speed that is integrated and works together as a system so that you can accommodate all of those different types of trips. host: we will take you to kentucky. this is bernie, and amtrak rider

-- an amtrak rider. caller: big fan of amtrak. we use it for vacation. we've been around the country, even chicago and new mexico, up through california, all the way to oregon. you know the route. we are in kentucky and i understand we will be receiving some funds to upgrade our system. we have a union station that is kind of in the middle, between union station and chicago and i believe the next railway sit -- railway station is in tennessee. so you have to drive or get to indianapolis to get to the station and once you get to chicago, it is the most beautiful station ever. i'm a big fan. i hope you get to see more trains around here. we could certainly use them. keep up the good work. host: thanks for the call.

mr. gardner, do we get more trains out of lavelle? guest: louisville is on our map as a place we would like to serve. we used to surf with the kentucky cardinal, and we would love to come back to louisville -- serve with the kentucky cardinal and we would love to come back to louisville. today, there is no service. similarly in cincinnati, we have no service. we are not serving phoenix or las vegas. these are all incredibly vibrant communities, growing and we think that they deserve train service because they've got the kind of population that makes sense, and you can connect rail lines to those nearby cities, where rail does its best. the thing that rail does well is those 300 mile or less trips, where we can be competitive with cars in terms of trip time and really provide that convenience and downtown to downtown

connectivity. louisville is a great place we would love to serve. it is on our map for our 15 year vision, and we will be working with state all over the country to develop -- states all over the country to develop partnerships that could bring service to louisville and across the south. host: is a grin, ohio on your map -- is akron, ohio on your map? guest: on the map, we have a real focus in ohio for what we call our three c and d corridor that would connect columbus, dayton and cincinnati and again, an incredible series of cities and obviously amtrak should be serving those cities that are alright in a line, connected with a huge integrated economy, but today we don't. we don't have any service to columbus or cincinnati and we only serve three times a week. host: let me get the bill out of

akron, ohio who is an amtrak rider. caller: i am now retired, but i did use amtrak from washington to new york repeatedly, when i was in the business in washington. what i wanted to find out was every now and then, every few years, there is a proposal for high-speed rail between cleveland, columbus and cincinnati, and they are very vague on how it would be financed. i wonder what role amtrak would play in such a scheme and where the money would come from. guest: thank you. great question. as i said, we have focus in ohio on several routes, because of the number of important cities there.

none of which we serve all that frequently and some we don't serve at all. that cleveland, columbus cincinnati route, also looking at pittsburgh to cleveland and then cleveland east to buffalo and cleveland west to chicago, and also toledo and up to detroit. those are all corridors we believe deserve multifrequency trains every day. today they are served by long-distance routes buttock place -- but a place like cleveland only gets trains in the middle of the night, not the kind of service you can use for these shorter distance trips. for high-speed, amtrak is looking for those opportunities, where high-speed rail makes sense. you've got to have the right level of population and the right level of investment to make a system like that happen. we typically work with states to

be able to figure out what service makes sense and amtrak will work with the department of transportation to make this happen. right now our goals are set conventional service in ohio and we can pursue high-speed overtime. -- speed over time. host: this is the amtrak network map, just so viewers understand. the red lines are amtrak service and the green lines are through a connecting service. can you explain what that is as viewers look at these maps? guest: thruway services are connections with various operators around the country. we connect both with existing lines and amtrak has its own fleet of bus routes, the thruway routes that extend our trips to locations that we don't served by rail. so you can buy an amtrak ticket and travel by connecting bus

from a place like louisville up to a city that has a real connection, get on the train and continue onwards. it is a way to extend our network. a lot of those cities that we served by bus, we would like to serve by train and that is an important part of our amtrak connect us vision. i would encourage listeners to take a look at our website, amtrakconnectsus, and see what we have. host: all available at amtrak.com. we will head to maryland and the northeast corridor. this is rob, and amtrak rider -- and amtrak rider. caller: i've been across country a number of times, from baltimore to portland. as a green minded person, i'm glad that you can bring us -- that you can bring your bicycle

on the train. it used to be that you had to put it in a box and pay extra money. now they have a car where you can leave your bike and have it on the train. that is a great convenience for me. the last time we rode was right before covid, and i took my bike out through chicago out towards arizona and back. it was really nice. if i could say one more thing about amtrak. i was on amtrak coming back from portland during 9/11, it was my second day of the journey. it was a very odd ride, to say it simply. amtrak kept rolling, when all the planes had been grounded. i remember coming through chicago around rush-hour and it was like a ghost town and we had to stay in the terminal, but my

train made it on time. it took on a lot more people after that. i would like to say that amtrak is a gem and it is important for our country. thank you. host: mr. gardner? guest: thank you. what a nice remembrance of that trip during that very tragic time in american history, but it is true, amtrak brings a level of connectivity and transportation options that is different from aviation and the highways. we certainly need all of these, but it is good to have a mix so that people have choices, so that whether it is some of the incredibly significant weather events we've had over the last years, when these things happen,

we have more than one option and as we look toward the future and reducing the greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector, which is a huge piece of the problem globally, we've got to find a way to move people in more efficiently with less carbon emissions. amtrak is a great way to do that. across our national network, we are about to percent less emissions than driving -- 50% less emissions than driving. in the northeast, it is about 80% more efficient. we think passenger rail is a green solution for travel in many corridors going forward. we will need all the different modes, but we appreciate your patronage, and we are glad to have you out on the railroad. host: a trains, planes and automobiles theme on this morning and we are on the first leg of that journey. stephen gardner with amtrak. just about five minutes left.

tim out of michigan, good morning. you are next. caller: i was wondering when you will change everything over to electricity. guest: great question. we are looking at electrification in a variety of settings. we have electrified railroads in the northeast, that we inherited all the way from the 1930's and we have done a lot to upgrade and maintain over the years. we are looking already, at new locomotives and equipment that can use both batteries and diesel power so we have a very flexible fleet that can travel to different parts of the country and make use of different types of propulsion. electrification broadly comes with a lot of opportunity, but also a lot of challenges. we need to think about the routes we share with freight railroads and their

infrastructure and how electrification can work in a way that supports their business as well as ours. there are other alternatives out there, as we look to the future for new alternative fuel and other opportunities that could help us electrify the locomotive fleet of our trains. it is top of mind. we are already purchasing new diesel locomotives that are many times more efficient and cleaner than our current fleet of locomotives. we think about this as an intern platform of proposed -- interim platform of propulsion that as we advance with other technologies, whether it be hydrogen or different fuel-cell options, we are very interested and we are already having to order some at a re-vehicle's we will be able to test and find an

even greener way to go. even today, amtrak is much cleaner, even with our diesel locomotives, then flying or driving -- than flying or driving. the best way to reduce greenhouse gases is to ride the train. host: one viewer on twitter wants to know your thoughts on maglev technology. is it possible to do something like maglev nationwide? guest: mag live has been around for many decades -- maglev has been around for many decades as experiment of technology and from our view, conventional steel rail makes the most sense because it is more flexible. different trains can operate over it. you can certainly achieve very high speeds, 220, 250 miles per hour as the current design speed for high-speed rail. you can get a lot of performance, but the

infrastructure and the technology is common so you can use existing infrastructure and stations in major cities. you don't have to build new dedicated cilla teas to enter cities for instance. we think high-speed rail is the more practical option, and there is a huge industry supporting it around the globe, which is important, and that is where we would focus in terms of high-speed. but we are always open to new ideas. we need to continue to look. amtrak and the united states should be at the forefront of transportation, so we are interested in new technologies that can get those very fast speeds and minimize the impact on the environment. host: one last call. tim has been waiting in indianapolis. caller: i was stationed over in west germany in 1980. we are way behind. i didn't need a car. i walked in the city i was in,

down to their train station and i was in stuttgart right on the market plaza. i think we are way behind. traveling that way, i had the time of my life. i think we should pick this up a little bit more. thanks a lot. host: thanks for the call. stephen gardner? guest: thanks tim. jim -- germany is a great example of what could happen in the united states with this sustained investment. they are investing $14 billion a year in their network, for germany which is a nation of 80 million and obviously a huge piece of the eu, but relatively small compared to the geography and population of the united states. typically amtrak would be invested about 2 billion dollars versus that $14 billion.

i lived in germany myself and i can attest to the ease and convenience of that network and the services that make it really easy to get around from small cities to little towns to big cities. we have a lot of places in the united states that have the density and population to do that. not everywhere, but we have hundred 20 million people. we have not grown our network to meet the new population and the new demands. that is what animates us at amtrak is we want to serve more people, we want to serve more places with more trains and we think doing so can help the economy, create jobs, essential for the environment and does create a great quality of life. host: i know this is one of your busiest days of the year. thanks for starting it with us on "washington journal." stephen gardner, president of amtrak. thank you. guest: thank you. host: up next, we will continue

this theme of trains, planes and automobiles. we will turn to automobiles, specifically electric vehicles. we will be joined by joe britton, who is with the zero emissions transportation association, to talk about the future of ev's and a focus on the airline industry later with david shepardson, reuters reporter on transportation issues. we will be right back. >> c-span offers a variety of podcasts that has something for every listener. weekdays, washington today gives you the latest from the nation's capital and every week, book notes plus has in-depth interviews with writers about their latest works, while the weekly uses audio from our immense archive to look at how issues of the day developed over the years, and our occasional series talking with features

conversations with historians about their lives and work. many of our television programs are available as podcasts. you can find them all on the c-span now mobile app or wherever you get your podcasts. >> abraham lincoln and his wife were the parents of four boys. only one lived past his 18th birthday. this author spent nearly a decade traveling across the united states come a visiting and researching in numerous archives, museums and historic places. he was studying the 82 plus years in the life of robert lincoln. he focused on the president's oldest son as a union soldier, a minister to great britain, u.s. secretary of war and the president of the chicago-based -- company. jason emerson is an independent historian who has been writing

about the lincoln family for over 20 years. >> on this episode of book notes plus, book notes plus is available on the c-span now app or wherever you get your podcasts. >> "washington journal" continues. host: the conversation now about electric vehicles and the future of u.s. auto markets. joe britton is our guest. he serves as executive director of the zero emission transportation association. first, explain who the association represents and what your goals are for the future of u.s. auto markets? guest: thank you. zeta, which we call the zero emission transportation association. we are 60 companies. charging companies, critical supply chains, battery recyclers, utilities providing leadership in this space. our goal is to have every vehicle sold by 2030 b and ev an obvious leave there is -- be an ev, and obviously we can address

the public health impacts of pollution and many communities. we want to wish everybody a happy thanksgiving and we appreciate you focusing on transportation and we want everybody to be safe out there this weekend. host: here is where the market is now, or at the end of the third quarter of 2021. 107,000 ev's sold in the third quarter of 2021, tesla accounting for the lions share. ev's, hybrids and plug-in hybrids accounting for 10% of total vehicle sales in that quarter. how do you get to 100% by 2030? guest: you saw over the last year, total vehicle sales dropped by 13%, but ev sales increased 52%, so there is a lot of scaling to be done and we

need to provide strong consumer incentives but we are making progress, and i think ultimately if you think about the different classes of vehicles. light ev for your retail consumers, even those classe tractor-trailers, it makes good business sense and everybody can be better off. that is what we are hoping to achieve with the big and for stricter bill that was signed into law this past week. ultimately going forward, the build back better agenda would have strong tax credits for vehicles and charging infrastructure. host: how much is in the infrastructure law for electric vehicles, charging stations? explain how this bill benefits you when it comes to getting to that goal? guest: $7.5 billion for charging stations across america. that money goes to communities and site hosts and it will make a big dent in being able to convince consumers that they can

go and travel for thanksgiving. they can go about their day, go to soccer practice or church or work and not worry about when and where they might need to charge. it is going to be a huge down payment and we think president biden's 500,000 vehicle charging goal will be easy to meet we look forward to working with the administration to make sure we do that smartly. host: let me get to some phone numbers, if you want to join this conversation. it is a little different this morning. (202)-737-0001 if you are in the eastern or central time zones. (202)-737-0002 if you are in the mountain or pacific time zones. a special line for electric vehicle owners, we want to hear from you this morning. (202)-628-0205. go ahead and start calling in. we will get you with us. mr. britton, take us to the build back better act, as it

continues to move through congress. what is in it specifically for ev owners? guest: the base driving incentive is the $7,500 incentive for consumers to buy an electric vehicle. what is really important as part of this bill is making that point of sale. you don't need to wait until the end of the year to get the value on the credit. we think that will be the primary driver for light duty vehicles. the other important thing is there is a used ev credit. 70% of the market is not in the market for a new car. those are used car sales. as we saw more and more new ev's, they will be turning over into that secondary market and that will give more ash that will get more americans exposed to let fixation -- to electrification. it is important to expose those used car market consumers to ev's. there is also commercial and

medium and heavy-duty incentives. this is for your fleets or utilities. there is a strong 30% investment tax credit for those vehicles. we are also expanding the charging infrastructure tax credit. if you are a truckstop operator, a grocery store, you can take a 30% itc on the cost of installing charging infrastructure in your community. i think it is a strong case, not only for the tax credit because consumers are going to shop with their dollar and they will go to those places where it is easy to charge. that is the future of charging. we will be charging while doing other things in our life. as those retailers adjust and offer a charging infrastructure as part of their amenities, whether it is a grocery store or workplace or church, i think that will make a huge difference not only for those retailers but for the consumer. host: we talked a lot about joe manchin lately. joe manchin had some comments

about this ev tax credit in the build back better act, as quoted in the automotive news article from earlier this month. this is what he had to say about it. when i heard what they were putting in this bill on the ev tax credit, i went right to the sponsor, the democrat from michigan and i said quote, this is wrong. this can't happen. it is not who we are as a country. it is not how we built this country. the product should speak for itself. we shouldn't use everyone's tax dollars to pick winners and losers. if you are a capitalist economy, you let the product speak for itself. hopefully we will get that. hopefully that will be corrected. that is what joe manchin said. what are your thoughts on that? guest: i don't think he was speaking about the ev tax credit. i think he was referring to what the house put in which was a specific additional incentive just for collective bargaining manufacturers. that is what he was from early concerned about -- that is what he was from early concerned

about -- primarily concerned about. i will not speak for joe manchin. we have a chance to set our automotive industry apart and we don't have to look that far back to see what happens when we get our lunch eaten. 2008, we were not making the most efficient vehicles and those foreign vehicles became really attractive and they overtook the market. this is where the automotive industry is going and this is our chance to rustle away some superiority that other economies have made in this place. china has invested 10 or 15 years worth of industrial policy to ensure they are making progress. this is our only chance to rustle away that's appear yorty and a role -- and rely on american manufacturers and workers to make the difference. host: plenty of calls for you, joe britton. up first is scott out of michigan. good morning. go ahead. caller: thanks for taking my call. i want to know why they don't

put windmills or solar panels on charging stations, so they don't have to hook up the electricity. guest: actually they do. i have not seen windmills but plenty of them have solar panels equipped as part of the charging station. i know ev go is a charging company that is doing it. especially those level two chargers, the one that have the same levels of service for electricity that your dryer would have. many of those are equipped with solar energy, certainly in particularly rural areas. i think you will see more consumers pairing their own residential use with charging infrastructure. certainly when you talk about vehicle to grid and insularity services we can use to make the grid more efficient, i thicket is a great idea. i know we have been making progress. host: what is the average time it takes to charge an electric vehicle? guest: it depends on the charger.

there are three levels of charging. one is your level 1 charger which is essentially a fancy extension cord. level two is that same level of service you would plug in for a dryer, and then you have those direct-current fast chargers which could be up to 200, 350 volt chargers. if you are talking zero to 100 and it direct-current fast charger, can get that done in probably 40 to 45 minutes. in the main use case, you will never go from zero to 100. you are probably going from 80 to 40. if you travel across the country like my wife and i did, we never were at the zero to 100 charging. the charging never held us back. we would stop for lunch or coffee breaks and made the consumer choice to stop where there was charging infrastructure and it never held us back. host: on those level 1 chargers,

just a people have comparison, what is a zero 100 -- what does a zero to 100 charge take? guest: you will get about four miles of range and our. for a level two, you can get about 25 miles of range per hour. with a direct-current fast charger, you can get 300 plus miles of range per hour. the use case for that level 1 charger is you have a single-family home with a garage and you plug it in overnight and you will get 40 to 50 miles of range overnight. most of these vehicles are going to sit or 95% of the day. the average driver drives about 30 miles a day, so even with a level 1 charger, and then know that is from early what we use, it far exceeds the range you will need in a given day but if you are driving or going on a longer trip, just make sure you are looking out for those direct-current fast chargers or if you stop at the grocery store, plug into the level to where you'll get a higher range. host: george in new jersey, you

are next. caller: good morning. i have a question regarding your full ev by 2030. i just purchased a tesla, and we have a level two charger at the house. it is pulling approximately 48 amps during the charge. most houses have about 100 amp services or 200. what is it going to do to the cost of setting this up by 2030, when every house and every car is going to be a 50 amp charge and most houses, most families have two cars? that would be pulling 100 amps. what is it going to do to the grid infrastructure, and the housing costs for people who set up level two charges? host: thank you. mr. britton? guest: it is a good question.

your level two charger pulled about the same level of service as your dryer. there is a 30% tax credit on the books right now where consumers can get $1000 for installing a charging unit in their home. i think your question is about generation and what does it do to the grid and certainly, in the next several years, we will actually be able to use ev's to better serve and provide grid service. we can use the grid more efficiently. i think on the surface, you think more electrons coming out, we will be more generation but ultimately if you think about where the grid is, ev's can be used to shave the peaks and valleys of demand. with demand response or managed charging or even timed pricing, you can better manage the grid and use it more efficiently. if you look at pg&e out of california, one of the highest ev penetration markets in the country, they just provided $350 million back to consumers because of the ev service they provided to the grid.

they are producing the same number of electrons and no longer having to idle when demand drops. it is a real opportunity for us to make everyone better off, even those who will never be behind the wheel of an ev. host: just about 9:00 on the east coast, which means it is just about 4:00 in hawaii. that is where alan is, and ev owner -- an ev owner. caller: it is great to have joe on. a few interesting things. i'm sure joe remembers when -- was an option with systems where they were going to have batteries that could be swapped out of the car and put back in. it was an interesting concept. that does not seem viable now, but a few things right now with the bidirectional charging, which is this brilliant concept and i am seeing the potential for that. here in hawaii, we are in the middle of doing an emergency

enacted program with actual batteries in people's houses, to replace the coal burning plant that goes off-line next year. in reality, it could be supplemented by electric vehicles and their batteries, that -- with hopefully the next generation of bidirectional charging. any comments on that? guest: alan, i am honored that you are up at 4:00 a.m. watching "washington journal." i typically don't get into this because it is kind of a weeny topic but the order for turning 22, they are doing rulemaking on it this year, it provides for aggregation of those energy resources. if you think about a load coming off of the grid, going to a user of the electricity, the grid is the same as the load going onto

the grid and so i think there is a huge opportunity to aggregate not only the retail consumers, but also this medium and heavy-duty fleets, especially school buses that will be sitting idle. you will look at those regions of the country where you have 3, 4, maybe five peaks where the price of electricity shoots through the roof. you can have that aggregation. it is not every day, but maybe once a quarter or once a month, there is the opportunity for folks to be plugged in, have that bidirectional charge so the charge not only coming off of the grid but able to go back in and provide real value to the user -- to the utility and consumers. i think it is an exciting space. i think it is probably two or three years away for your rich consumer -- for your average consumer. if you are enrolling in that program and you decide to be a grid operator or aggregator, this is the time when peak demand occurs and we may need

you to provide a load from your battery pack from the car to the grid. you are plugged in and ready to do that. you need to make sure it is at a time that you are convenient -- it is a time that is convenient and you are likely to be plugged in any way. it can provide more efficient grid services. host: we appreciate the call. jim in for hollow asks this question about the tax credit in the build back better act. is it refundable? he said the first one was not. guest: yes, actually. refund ability, if you do not have a tax liability that exceeds the $7,500, you couldn't get the full value. this time around, that is part of the build back better act where it is not only refundable but it is advanced so you can get at the time of sale, not having to wait until the end of the year. host: to jimmy out of baltimore,

maryland, ev owner. caller: good morning. i have a plug-in hybrid, a prius. i also have solar panels. for me, the way the hybrid works is you get 15 to 17 miles after you charge. every time i start my car up and go for a trip somewhere, the first 15 to 17 miles, i am running on solar power, which is absolutely terrific. it is free. i've had it since 2014. imagine the gasoline that i have saved. host: mr. britton? guest: you want through some of the numbers at the top of the show. there are many hybrids that have been on the market for years and they are getting better and better. i think there is a huge

opportunity because those battery packs are going to be 40 kilowatt hours and under. many ev's are going to be 75 to 125 till about hours. as battery prices come down, you will see more consumers get the full battery electric, which we are encouraging but if you thick about the cost for kilowatt hours, once you get to $100 per kilowatt hour, that is when you get price parity with the internal combustion vehicle and we have seen numbers in the next year or two, we will see manufacturers reaching $62 dollars per kilowatt hour for the battery. actually cheaper for those upfront costs. pair that with the $1100 you can save in fuel maintenance and service throughout the year and that is the answer to how we accelerate and get to 100% ev sales by 2030. it is both innovation, consumer response to the savings and the sensibility for emissions reduction to address climate

change. host: time for just a couple more calls. about 10 minutes left with joe britton this morning. greg is in pennsylvania. good morning. caller: i have a question here, talking about the future of electric cars. my concern is how are you going to dispose of the batteries safely for the environment? guest: that is a great question. two things and they are both exciting stories. most of the battery packs that are in the full body -- full battery electric vehicle can be taken out. many of these are million mile battery packs that will far exceed the life of the chassis of the vehicle. they will be taken out and used for stacked grid storage. large batteries that can be used to shave the peaks and valleys of the electric grid. that is the secondary life. let's say the cars on the road for 20 years. it could be in a stack utility storage project for the next 15 years.

when those batteries come out of their useful life, first life transportation, second life a utility scale storage, they go to recycling and there are a couple companies like lifecycle, the american battery technology company, they are scaling and some of their biggest challenges that they are working on, waiting for those big battery packs to come off the line -- come offline. they can get 95% of critical materials out of the battery. unlike gasoline which burns and emissions stay in the atmosphere and creates challenges, is critical materials can be used over and over again. when i first heard the 95% stat, it painted a picture for me about how there is a stock of particle materials in these battery packs for years to come -- for decades to come. host: to rodney out of florida, ev owner. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. caller: i've owned a model three for about a year now. it is a great vehicle. i don't think people understand

electric vehicles are a little different than gas. first of all, i never fill it up all the way. i'm just driving a little bit tomorrow or the next day. i keep the battery between 20% and 80%. it doesn't take hours of waiting. it takes about five seconds, then you go do what you are doing, come back three or four hours later, it has a great charge. personally it takes seconds to charge it. the vehicle takes longer. when i go on long trips around florida, i fill it up to about 90% and stop every hour and a half, and it's not a problem at all on long vehicle trips. guest: rodney, i'm glad you mentioned that. we briefly talked about it earlier in the program. there is a huge opportunity here for folks, and i think part of it is a mindset shift.

right now, we have just been accustomed for over a century to say i'm low on gas, i need to do some thing about it. instead with charging, we will do it where it is convenient for us, where we live and play. that is the future of charging. you bring up a great point. everybody fears the zero to 100 charge but most of the time like your iphone, you will be charging when you sit down at your desk or at your nightstand. it is the same mentality with cars and once you get used to it, it becomes a natural part of life and many folks, certainly those with a single-family home wake up every single day with a full charge. i think that is the use case that is ideal and the challenge which is why there is public investment in closing the gap. multiunit housing, municipal parking, those folks who don't have a single-family home, they will be charging fully every night. how do we close that gap? that is where this investment from the infra-structure bill is going to meet us.

host: this map of charging stations across the united states. you mentioned your trip with your wife across the united states. what was your route, specifically across the mountain west and that part of the country that right now doesn't have -- that does have the fewest charging stations? guest: we started in lincoln, nebraska and we went up through chicago and down through pittsburgh into d.c. most people would be shocked at they looked at all of the charging stations around them. one of the most important developments over the past year was tesla announcing their supercharging networks. it really is -- every 50 miles, there is going to be the opportunity to charge, certainly at a level two if not a direct charger. in our ev, we can drive for five straight hours, but the human

body is not designed to drive for five straight hours. you'll stop for for restroom breaks or coffee and that is where you make up the difference on range. we were never held back. we would select when we were ready to stop, where the next two or three charging stations were. we will be on the road for another 10 or 30 minutes and we would ask if we want coffee or lunch. it became part of our normal routine and it is a psychological shift for folks because the normal mentality is you get to empty and then go to the gas station. this is something that is more incremental and done when you are conveniently doing it. host: from lincoln, nebraska with that route 80 east is where you went? guest: it is. host: last call, kathy in georgia. caller: good morning. this is a very interesting show you have. i would like to hear your guest comment about hardening of our very vulnerable electrical grid.

it's been vulnerable for many years, and i would like to see as much energy going into that, so that if we have these ev projects, at least they can be sustainable and drivers don't have to worry about electrical grid problems. i have a honda hybrid. i sold it to my brother because i had two vehicles and didn't use it enough. it is still going strong. i'm pro climate, but i worry a lot about the vulnerabilities in our grid. host: mr. britton, i will give you the final minute or two. guest: it is a great question. southern company, a jealousy that services georgia, georgia is a huge success story. if you look at where the manufacturing is happening in the letter vehicle space, is from ohio kentucky to tennessee, to georgia and the carolinas. we are creating a ton of jobs in

georgia and we see a big future there for electric vehicle manufacturing. on the grid itself, in the build back better agenda, there are huge investments in grid security and investment tax credits for improving the grid. the other thing is that ev's -- improving the grid. the other thing is that ev's make the grid more efficient. at times, you need something to take the charge, so you can shape the valleys and the peaks. if you are at peak power and the pricing spikes for your electricity, through demand response programs or managed charging, you can enroll. if you are coming home at night -- you are going to plug in at 6:00, the same time everyone else is plugging in their drier and washing machine and air conditioner -- your vehicle does not need to charge from 6:00 to 10:00. it could easily charge from 1:00 in the morning to 5:00 in the morning. that is what managed charging

does. you can access the cheapest rates, and pulls a load of the system so utility operators can better image it, and we get the most efficient use of our current generation. build back better, we are going to be investing prospectively in more wind, more solar, and other decarbonizing sources of energy. an internal combustion energy vehicle, its carbon footprint is set. with an ev, its lifecycle carbon footprint gets better and better as the grid improves and we decarbonizing and secure our electric grid. that is a good question and one we are eager to make progress on. host: we will have to end there. joe britton of the zero admissions transportation association. appreciate the time, sir. guest: thanks, john. host: up next this morning, we will round out our trains, planes, and automobiles discussion on "the washington journal." will focus on the airline industry, joined by

david shepherdson, with reuters, who does transportation reporting for them. stick around. we will be right back. ♪ ♪ >> how exactly did america get

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your copy of the books. >> download c-span's new mobile app and stay up-to-date with live streams of the house and senate floor and key congressional hearings, white house events, and supreme court oral arguments, even our live morning program, washington journal, where we hear your voices every day. download the app for free today. >> "washington journal" continues. host: longtime reporter david shepherdson back with us for a conversation on air travel and what the future may hold. before we get to the ghost of air travel future, let's talk about air travel present. has it recovered through the depths of the pandemic? what is air travel looking like

this holiday season? >> it has made a remarkable recovery, versus 2020. we are about twice the daily throughput per day, roughly 2 million passengers starting last sunday. the tsa anticipates it will be roughly 20 million passengers screamed over this holiday period, through this coming sunday. that is down from 2019, and it was about 26 million passengers. but last friday was the single easiest day since march 2020. travel has come back, especially domestic travel. in many airports, it is near pre-pandemic levels. but international travel, which recently the u.s. government lifted much of the restrictions on, is still not back to where it was before. and of course, with the still relatively high caseload of covid-19, there are a number of people who are still not traveling, but it is much better than it has been for quite a

while. host: what about the airlines themselves? how have they fared financially during the pandemic? guest: initially, not great, as the trouble went down to zero. if you recall, the u.s. congress passed three separate rounds of bailouts for the airlines, totaling $54 billion, that the airlines used to account for much of their payroll costs, up to 70% in some cases. that payroll funding expired on september 30 of this year. so the government was covering much of those costs for close to 18 months. it also offered the airlines $25 billion in low-cost loans. so the u.s. provided significant assistance to the industry. and now, the industry has come back. the problem the industry faces now, for the most part, is finding enough people. they are looking for more pilots, flight attendant.

some airlines offer significant buyouts and early retirements, and the demand has come back faster than some of those airlines had forecast. host: with that effort to ramp up, are airlines ready for the holiday rush? guest: i think the short answer is yes, as long as we don't see a significant weather-related or other problem. there is not a lot of slack in the system. we have seen recent examples, both southwest airlines and american, where a weather incident problem really spirals through the system. as united ceo scott kirby said recently, if you don't have enough extra give in the system, this weather incident can turn into a meltdown pretty fast. in both those cases with american and southwest recently, you saw well over a thousand flights canceled, and it took several days for that system to shake out. the weather looks good now,

knock on wood. it appears it should be a smooth holiday week. but you never know and there is always some unknown that could unravel the system. host: on those weather incidents and those large flight cancellations, there were members on capitol hill pointing fingers at vaccine mandates is a reason that those flights had to be canceled -- that pilots or staff were objecting to them. was that the reality? guest: no, there was no evidence of that. there was a single faa control tower issue down in -- i think it was in jacksonville, florida. it was not tied to a vaccine issue, and the pilots union for southwest was pretty insistent that there is no formal action taken as a result of that. it's worth noting that the airlines, which are federal contractors, which are covered by the government mandate for vaccines -- that deadline has been pushed back until early

january. and the airlines as well have pushback there mandates. so there is no indication that any vaccine issues are going to impact holiday travel. it is worth noting on capitol hill that senator cantwell, who chairs the senate commerce committee, sent letters to both airlines this summer, asking my head they let so many staff go, and why aren't they better prepared for these problems. and she is planning to hold a hearing as early as early december to look into this issue and what the airlines can do to be better prepared. host: david shepherdson, reuters correspondent covering transportation issues, with us until the bottom of the hour, at 9:30 a.m. eastern. phone numbers for viewers -- (202)-737-2001 if you are in the eastern or central time zones. (202)-737-2002 if you are in the mountain or pacific time zones.

and air travelers -- if you traveled during the pandemic, (202) 628-0205. we want to hear about your air travel since the pandemic began. again, that number, (202) 628-0205. for viewers who have not gotten on an airplane since the pandemic, what requirements are on them because of the pandemic? guest: for domestic travel, with the exception of hawaii, the only real requirement is wearing a mask. the mask mandate has been extended now through mid-january 2022. that mandate has caused some level of friction on airplanes. the faa has reported a record number of in-flight incidents, upward of 3000 of those reported by airlines, in part due to a failure of passengers to wear on airplanes.

for international travel, it is a lot different. number one, you have to get a covid test before returning to the united states. and for almost all foreign nationals, you need to be vaccinated and show proof of vaccination. if you are an american citizen traveling back to the united states from a foreign country and you have not been vaccinated, you have to get that covid test within one day, where as if you have been vaccinated, you need to have it done within three days. so by and large, going to the airport with domestic flights feels basically the same, as long as you are wear your mask, and hopefully not giving the flight attendants any trouble. host: on "meet the press" this past sunday," transportation secretary pete buttigieg was asked why there is not a mandate for vaccines for domestic travelers on airplanes. this is what he had to say to chuck todd. [video] sec. buttigieg: we found masks

and other protections -- we have employers inside the travel industry and across the country advancing vaccines. that is creating a very safe travel environment for americans. chuck: it sounds like you don't want to implement a vaccine mandate for domestic air travel. i guess, why not, other than you are nervous about doing something that is politically divisive, i guess? if we are trying to get to the end of this pandemic, continuing to have loopholes to avoid a vaccine seems to elongate the pandemic. sec. buttigieg: what we are doing right now is working to make air travel safe. again, it is a little bit of a different picture when you have international travel, because different countries have different standards, which is why as part of opening our travel for international travelers, something i was delighted to see happen earlier this month, we did include those

vaccine requirements. but through the masking and other mitigations, we are very confident in the safety of air travel and travel generally in this country. [and video -- [ end video] host: with the airlines themselves want to see a vaccine mandate for travelers? guest: absolutely not. they did agree to the international mandate in part to get the u.s. government to lift those extraordinary restrictions that prevented travelers from more than 30 countries from coming to the united states -- china, most of europe, ireland, brazil, south africa. for domestic travel, i think there are a lot of concerns. one, just the logistics of doing and an airport, getting people through, how much would it delay people going in and out? and then there is the political risk to the administration for sure of not letting unvaccinated people fly home for the funeral or get to whatever unforeseen

circumstance. so there is no indication that the administration is actively considering a domestic air travel vaccine requirement. certainly, there have been members of congress -- there was a letter written a couple of weeks ago, urging that action. i think as the secretary said, they believe these other mandates, mandating the airlines, other contractors, to get vaccinated is the better strategy, versus requiring passengers to get vaccinated before they get on an airplane. it is worth noting that canada recently did institute that exact same mandate. you cannot get on a train or airplane in canada if you have not been vaccinated. host: we are talking about the state of the airline industry. phone lines are (202)-737-2002 you are in the mountain or pacific time zones, (202)-737-2001 if you are in the

eastern are central time zones, and (202)-628-0205 if you have taken a flight in the pandemic. caller: hello, i'm sorry, i'm going to try to bring the conversation back to carbon dioxide. the statistics -- there are 420 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, about normal this erase is 280 parts per million. i'm wondering how fuel-efficient are airplanes? how much carbon dioxide do they produce? how efficient are they in comparison to trains, cruise ships, cars, buses? i find that air travel might be something of a luxury at some point if the carbon pollution is too large. host: ralph, thanks for the

question. david shepherded? guest: good question. that got a lot of attention in glasgow at the climate summit. of course, the issue with planes right now -- there is some effort to try to make electric, very small airplanes. airplanes are large and heavy machines. we don't have the technology yet , or the battery capacity, to make a 730 seven airplane. they are a large driver of carbon pollution. there is an effort underway by the administration and congress, tax incentives for sustainable aviation fuel that would have a lower carbon footprint than traditional jet fuel. in the short term, there are not a lot of good options, right? to address the climate footprint of airplanes, versus trains and

cars that can be electrified -- the real push is, can we change the feedstock make the fuel far less carbon intensive? both airlines and governments have signed up to meet aggressive targets to reduce co2 emissions in airplanes. host: to emily in new york, you are next. caller: the rule that you have to take a covid test three days before returning to the u.s. if you travel internationally, that is a nightmare. i read that the tests have to be videotaped. it is very complicated. and also, if you have a false positive, you cannot come back. you can't go to work for two weeks. you have to quarantine in a foreign country. i'm not sure why they would make this onerous rule, especially if you are already fully vaccinated. host: what would be more fair?

what do you think the rule should be? caller: if you are fully vaccinated, i don't think you should have to take another covid test before returning to the u.s. you put on your mask, you get on the plane, and you return. the covid test has to be through a special company. there are false positives. and then what do you do? you cannot come back and go to work. host: david shepherded him? guest: i don't think there is a requirement that it be videotaped. that may be the case if you brought a home test with you from the united states and are taking it, to prove that you infect take the test. however, you can take a test in a local -- in france, germany, what have you, from a local provider, and present those results when you go to take your flight. but the caller raises a legitimate point that a false positive or a positive can strand people in a country for a

long time. the u.s. does not have a mandatory quarantine upon their return. there are local countries that if you test positive might have to quarantine there. there is no question that the uncertainty surrounding covid tests and getting home is deterring a significant amount of people from traveling internationally. host: an air traveler out of oklahoma -- you are next. caller: thanks for taking my call. my company was completely disrupted during the pandemic. calories were cut. there were furloughs. the only people who were flying at this time were very young people. it was around this time last year, thanksgiving, they were telling everybody not to fly. with that said, air travel came to such a kind of standstill,

the airlines must have been taking heavy losses. you said the federal government was funding salaries for the airlines, and i wanted you to elaborate on that. it is strange. the federal government wasn't funding anything. the american people were funding the airlines. and it feels like the airlines are one of these too big to fail kinds of things. could you explain how much money were we funding to keep the airlines, for whatever reason? national security, obviously, but how much was the funding during an emergency like this? host: matt, you have asked a lot of questions. let me give david shepardson a chance to answer. guest: good question. were three separate rounds of payroll assistance that the taxpayers made to the airlines. the first -- they totaled $54 billion. the last round began in march of 2020. the last was approved under

president biden in the american rescue plan, also i believe in march of this year. this year. that money accounted for roughly 70% of most airlines' payroll costs. the airlines did have to give in exchange -- they did have to give warrants to the government for receiving that, and repay a portion of that funding. but the vast majority of the money, the airlines did not have to pay back. as the caller said, i think the rationale was the system would have to be cut back dramatically, and thousands of pilots and flight attendants would lose their certification and be not able to return to the airlines when the travel demand resumed, and it potentially could be a huge problem for the

u.s. in the recovery from the pandemic. there were certainly critics who argued that the airlines should have not received so much of the funds in grants, and cash bailouts, versus actually having to pay that money back through loans. what some auto companies in the past or banks during tarp had to do with bailouts. but that decision was made in a short period, and that funding got extended, albeit -- if you remember last year at the end of -- before the presidential campaign of november 2020, it did become a bit of an issue. it got delayed in getting spent and ultimately did get extended. host: on twitter -- airlines received huge bailouts and have not rehired the help they laid off. experience pilots are not easy to find, yet they offered retirement packages for them. they are raising prices to

compensate for their lack of planning, and now we are paying for bad management. guest: i only take issue with the idea that they laid people off. a condition of the funding was that the airlines could not lay anyone off or cut paperworkers. the commentator is right that they offered hefty incentive packages for people to leave early, and too many took it, i think the airlines would say, themselves. they did not forecast the demand coming back, especially for leisure travel, as fast as it has. they are trying to address this lack of staffing. to that point, members of congress are not happy either. the senate commerce committee is investigating, expecting to hold a hearing on this issue. i do think you are going to hear the airlines called up to the hill to explain why did they let so many people go when they were getting so much money in government assistance. host: take you back to a city you know well from your time with the detroit news.

this is ray in detroit. good morning. ray, you are on with david shepardson. caller: what is the mandate that is going on with the vaccine? it is real hard to get people to get the vaccine when the government is letting millions of illegals crossing the border that are not vaccinated. you cannot go into canada. you cannot leave the united states. you cannot even go into mexico. but they can walk across the border. host: ray, the airline industry is our topic with david shepardson. caller: it is still a mandate. i'm not talking specifically about an airline. i'm talking about people with mandates. host: ray, we are going to have an open forum segment coming up after david shepardson leaves us this morning, so maybe a topic to discuss then, but we want to give the viewers who want to talk airlines a chance to do so

with david shepardson. this is john out of california. good morning. guest: -- caller: good morning. my first flights were in the 1960's, and what a luxurious way to travel. it is hard for conservatives like me to think that maybe we need to get back to more subsidies for airlines. i could cry from socal to nevada on a 737. and today, the only way i could fly would be to have my own plane. the airlines -- it is poor service. there is no question. hardly any other business could survive with 60%, 70%, 80% customer dissatisfaction. the airlines do it constantly. i don't know exactly what the answer is, but i know back in the day, ronald reagan, my idol,

is the one that deregulated it, and it was a mistake. one more thing. john, i have an issue with you. you gave a man who wanted to defend biden, and it was not his fault that gas prices were so high, almost seven minutes in a 30 minute segment. what he was saying was that we cannot pump enough oil to supply our gasoline. that is absolutely not true. we did it all through the trump administration. we were the largest producer of oil and gas in the world. i have given over five dollars a gallon for gasoline out here. all of these people that are complaining about three dollars, it is going to get to five and we will be lucky if it does not go to 10. and you let that man go on six minutes and 52 seconds about how it was not biden's fault. it is entirely his fault,

entirely. stop the pipeline. stop the drilling on federal lands. they have made war on the oil companies. analysts say our gasoline costs are going to go to $12 a gallon. what is that going to do to the airline industry? john, you are going to get suspended again if you don't get a little bit more fair with the time you allow for comments and like that. host: i tell you what, john -- it was a conversation about how we ask questions at the washington journal in that first hour, and that is what that viewer and i were talking about a little bit earlier, but appreciate your comments, and want to give david shepardson his time on the original about satisfaction with the airlines, customer satisfaction, and how they can operate with very low customer satisfaction. guest: i would say an airline

ticket is a rapidly depreciating asset. so americans are incredibly price-sensitive. they tend to gravitate toward whatever airline offers the lowest price, and then account for whether it is a direct flight or not. with that said, the airlines now , especially the flight attendants and the pilots on airplanes, are facing a very challenging environment, right? people are not always complying with mask mandates. you have seen a huge number of violent incidents on board airplanes. the faa has public service messages and a zero-tolerance policy because of so many awful incidents. i think it is a very difficult time to be working on board an airplane today. so yes, everybody has a story where they think they were not treated well by an airline, or they were charged a fee they did not like, or their plane was delayed or canceled.

certainly, that is all part of the airlines, and the airlines have had in the past acknowledged issues with customer service. i do think one of the reasons it gets so much attention is because people are incredibly interested in air travel. there are cell phone cameras that take video of numerous problems on board, and they get amplified to the media. so not to defend the airlines for many of the less than ideal customer service decisions they make, but i do think the airline issues get more attention perhaps than other industries do. host: the frontier state, this is mike in fairbanks. caller: good morning, john, and what's left of america. this entire scamdemic is a

massive conspiracy against trump and his supporters, and now oann is reporting that the military has used -- host: do you want to take us to the airline industry? caller: this mask mandate, i flew the whole time, back and forth from alaska. i have never worried about catching covid. i have been in states where they don't wear masks. they are doing just fine. montana is doing fine. alaska is doing fine. when you go to las vegas, where i just came from, there are people walking the streets by themselves, wearing masks. it is ludicrous. you have a representative from reuters on to try to explain away the negative effects of the scamdemic. host: i take your point, mike. do you want to talk about the safety of air travel? guest: i think the caller obviously is very opposed to the

mask mandates. i think the caller signifies there is a significant minority in the population that strongly opposes the mask mandates, and in certain cases, that has led to these confrontations aboard airplanes. the airline industry has spent a lot of time. the commission various studies -- they commissioned various studies to show that air wings have hepa filters, and they feel very confident in the safety of air travel, especially when these studies show that people are wearing masks on board airplanes. i think especially for international travel, given that almost all other countries are mandating masks, at least for now. it would be difficult for the united states to lift the mask requirement for international travel. also, i think there is a certain percentage of people on airplanes would feel uncomfortable being on airplanes without people in masks.

you are sitting very close to people, and don't forget there are a certain number of people on board airplanes who cannot be vaccinated, children under the age of five, immunocompromised people who cannot be vaccinated. the mask does provide a significant level of protection, if you listen to the health experts, from catching covid 19 in confined spaces like airplanes. the airlines would argue that it is no different than being in a restaurant or being in a grocery store. but again, airplanes get an outside level -- outsized level of attention because people have anxiety about the airplanes and they have less control perceived -- they are not the ones flying the airplane. i do think it is still unlikely that the u.s. government is going to lift that mask mandate anytime soon. host: time for one or two more

phone calls with david shepardson. thank you for waiting. go ahead. caller: i have an issue with getting a refund for my ticket from southwest. in 2019, i traveled -- sorry, i canceled my ticket, and it was extended to may of 2020. of course, i wanted to travel for easter, but because the borders were closed, the airlines were closing them, i called the airline several times to get a refund of my ticket, or a credit, and they refused to do that. how expensive is this problem? if the government refunds them or gives them bailouts, they should give bailouts back to their customers. guest: great question. the transportation department undersecretary buttigieg has -- under secretary buttigieg has taken a large interest in refunds. just this week, the government settled a case involving air

canada for 4.5 million dollars, including a $2 million fine, over government allocations that air canada had delayed thousands of refunds for u.s.-bound and departing flights. and the government has active investigations ongoing into numerous other airlines over delayed airline refunds during the pandemic. so my advice to you would be, if you have not gotten satisfaction from the airline, i would send their customer service people another letter, and then you can file a complaint with the u.s. department of transportation. those complaints do get reviewed. someone is going to read that. that might be one way to try to get a refund, if the airline did act improperly in denying them. host: last call. this is pete out of pennsylvania. caller: i understand we are talking about the government deciding whether people that

travel into this country or out of it should have a vaccination against this pandemic virus. my question is, i understand that people in airplanes are very close to each other, and also we are trying to prevent this virus from becoming more prevalent. if people have the virus and get off the airplane and give it to other people, my question is, why, as we are trying to prevent this pandemic from spreading, why don't we require all people that come into this country to show evidence of vaccination, like the people coming across the southern border, the rio grande, and any other way? guest: remember, the u.s. government did, on november 8, we open the mexican and canadian borders to tourist travel.

if you are in mexico or canada and you are a tourist, you do have to be vaccinated to cross the land border. you did not have to before november 8, and we had this strange system where if you flew to the united states from -- we had a different system, pre-vaccine requirements. if you flew to the united states, you had to have a covid test, if you flew from mexico city. but as an american citizen, you did not have to have the same covid test to cross the border coming back from mexico. now, the rules have been changed. if you are a tourist coming from mexico or internationally, you have to have been vaccinated against covid-19. you have to be able to show proof of that when you cross land borders. you don't have to show proof of

a recent covid test crossing the border, the land borders. but you still have to do that flying from mexico and canada. host: david shepardson covers all things transportation for reuters, and a longtime friend of the show. thanks for coming. we will see you on the road. guest: thanks, friend. host: about 20 minutes left today, and as we often do, we will turn the phones over to you. any public policy issue coming, any political issue you want to discuss, here is the phone number. for democrats, (202)-737-2001. republicans, (202)-737-2002. independence, it is -- independents, it is (202)-628-0205. start calling in, and we will get to your calls right after the. -- after the break.

>> book tv features leading authors discussing their latest nonfiction books. at 2:00 p.m. eastern, hillary clinton and a mystery writer discussed their international thriller, "state of terror." and journalism professor nikki usher offers her thoughts on the challenges facing american journalism in her book "news for the rich, white, and lou." -- blue." steve israel's thoughts on opening a new bookstore. plus, bestseller lists, new releases, and other news from the publishing world. and in his latest book, an argument that corporate america is signing onto woke culture only to increase profits. he is interviewed by a harvard university economics professor

and former chair of the president's council of economic advisers during the george w. bush administration. watch book tv every sunday on c-span2. watch anytime at booktv.org. >> a new mobile video app from c-span, "c-span now." download today. >> "washington journal" continues. host: this is our open forum. letting you lead the discussion this morning. any public policy, any political issue you want to talk about, what is happening in your state -- let us know. it is time for you to lead the show. the phone lines are a bit different this morning. it is [indiscernible] for -- it is (202)-737-2001 for democrats, (202)-737-2002 four republicans, independents

(202)-628-0205. stick with us on those phone lines this morning and we will try to get our own issue fixed before tomorrow's program and go back to the old lines. this is don out of washington state. good morning. it is our open forum. caller: good morning. how are you this morning? host: doing well, sir. caller: i maybe wanted to talk about whether we are going to call them refugees or whatnot, but people coming across the border. everyone keeps bringing up that question with the vaccine mandates, and you guys refuse to talk about it. and i also wanted to mention that you do. you guys, especially you, john. i have watched you for five-and-a-half years. i know it is not as long as you have been on. but you are so heavy-handed on

democratic versus republican people, whether it is the people you bring on, the guests you allowed to speak, the amount of time, and the things you say. two weeks ago, you commented on a black man who had called in and said he was black, and started being racially objective, and kind of aggressive toward white people. he went on for many minutes. he said nothing. when another man who was white, identified himself as white, went to comment on the black man who was commenting as being black, you asked the man, how does he know he is black? it's because he said he was black. and you cut the man off. so i don't believe in racism. i don't think either of those two men did, although the one black man had a lot of anger toward white people. i just think you guys should be fair and balanced, because even

democrats know are noticing that you guys are doing that, and i'm almost done watching your show. host: we do our best to balance the show. every day, we open our phone lines. mostly it is on political lines that we rotate to try to get a variety of comments. is there anything you do like about the show? caller: yeah, i like to get up and hear your guys's takes. i watch all the different newses come up from internet news and local to worldwide to the big three or four we have here in america. and anyone who has got that much time on their hands would see that you guys are not as down the line, down the middle, as you constantly proclaim to be. host: i will tell you what we don't do here is takes. we don't give our takes.

this is the chance for america to call in and give their takes. it is one place where people can call in and do that. it is not our takes that we are giving up here. it is trying to give you various news sources, whether it is articles and papers here in washington, d.c., internet news sources, or guests we invite from across the political spectrum to try to give you a wide variety of viewpoints. i hope you keep watching. i hope you continue to give us a chance. appreciate the feedback. this is jazmine in new york city. good morning. you are next. caller: [indiscernible] the gas, a couple of years ago, the oil -- it is trump's fault, because trump took away all the

things that obama had done. trump overturned everything as trump talked about all we need is the oil, just the oil. host: it was president biden yesterday making that announcement on tapping the strategic petroleum reserve, releasing some 50 million barrels of that, talking about efforts to lower gas prices in this country. gas prices near seven year highs at this point. $.30 higher than they were a month ago. about 1.30 higher than they were a year ago at this time. that was what we talked about in our first hour this morning, the president's comment yesterday, and the reaction on capitol hill. republicans criticizing the president or that move, saying it is not going to do much for the market, and that the

president's policies on inflation, his environmental policies, shutting down pipelines in this country, saying that is the bigger cause driving the price increase. out of florida, a republican, good morning. caller: good morning. i have a question for you. why does mr. biden let all the people without a clearance into the country? i am a former immigrant. why doesn't he help some of the elderly in this country, who are living in the streets, and instead spend millions of dollars on people who do not belong here without clearance? host: when did you come to the united states? caller: [laughter] 19 -- 61? 1951. host: where did you come from, and why? caller: i was growing up with my

parents and 10 children, and then moved from germany after the war in 1951. in switzerland, got married. we moved to argentina and to brazil. i wanted to go back to germany or switzerland, but then we came to the states. in the states, very nice. people were like normal people and i could understand some of the language. i am in super shape. i appreciate living here for over 60 years. host: glad you are in super shape. thanks for the call. in indiana, a democrat. good morning. what is on your mind? caller: i wish you guys would ask the republicans that call in how much they make a year, because i believe a lot of them are rich and they don't want to pay taxes or anything like that.

i wish you would ask them how much they make a year, because a lot of them are rich, a lot of these republicans that call in. they are trump-licans is what they really are. host: how much do you make a year? caller: i did not hear you. what? host: how much do you make a year? caller: i am retired and i have a small pension from general motors and i am on social security disability because i am mentally ill. i make about $30,000 a year. host: that is terry in indiana. this is steve in corpus christi, texas, independent. good morning. caller: what i wanted to say is why are we subsidizing these oil companies when they are not producing the gasoline that we need? all they have to do is produce that gasoline, and the prices

can go down. i understand you have got to make money for the shareholders and things like that. people keep saying biden, biden, biden. it is the oil companies. we subsidize those people. we need to take away those subsidies if they are not going to support us. people keep saying it is high because biden shut down the pipe. there was nothing being pumped through that pipeline that he shut down. and then they say the leases on public lands -- it is future leases that are being pulled. the leases that are on public land, that oil is still being pumped. it is the oil producers not making the gas, period. host: it was yesterday during that announcement on the release from the strategic petroleum reserve that president biden announced that he was asking the ftc to investigate whether the oil companies were engaging in

anticompetitive practices when it came to the price of gasoline. a reuters story in the wake of that announcement -- and you may recognize the author, david shepardson -- who was on this program a few minutes ago, writing in response that the republicans on the federal trade commission have asked the white house to disclose that mounting evidence, as president biden called it, of wrongdoing behind high retail gasoline prices, after president biden urged that agency to dig deeper into possible -- what he called illegal conduct in the market. we will see what comes of that ftc investigation. this is karen out of connecticut, independent. good morning. you are next. caller: i just wish people would look at every candidate when they are running, what they have done in the past, from their official site, and stop

listening to either side talk about the other side. you have to get it right from the horse's mouth if you want to know the truth. that is why i am unaffiliated. unfortunately, in connecticut, we have to pick a party to vote in the primary. every primary, i tried to pick the best one that i feel will do us justice. also, with eeev cars, i am looking forward to it. i found out that i could build a carport and have plenty of solar and drive for free. i'm looking forward to the future. thank you. have a happy thanksgiving. host: out of michigan, republican, good morning. caller: can you hear me? host: yes, sir. caller: you seem like a pretty intelligent guy, a lot younger than me. why haven't we done a full study on the whole russian matter, robert lurk?

it is beyond obvious now that was all illegal, what they did against trump. it is beyond obvious. when you look at cnn reporting, the gallup poll -- i would like you to bring up that pole sometime. they did a survey when trump was -- the first year of his presidency, prior to when he was elected. do you know if cnn, msnbc, even pbs, all the major networks -- they had over 90% negative coverage of the man. whereas on fox, you are at 49% and 51%. how are those things not brought out? furthermore, on cnn, jake tapper worked for democratic parties. how is that not brought out? all of these things. how many people on cnn in particular do not even have a

degree in journalism, not even a degree, yet they call themselves journalists? tapper is not a journalist. scooter is not a journalist. no way. host: it's an interesting question. should you have to get it re-in journalism to practice journalism? caller: you have to have a degree in journalism. that should be eric permit. and i'm talking written journalism, not road test journalism. you bet. host: you think everybody should start in print media? caller: the theory of journalism is what, john? host: you tell me, brian. caller: to gather facts and search up the truth. they could use a million words. they brought it down to very simple. that's how it has got to be. host: what is it about print realism that you think would help shape broadcast journalism? caller: the standards are

higher. they are not worried about all the love and the stuff, and how someone's style is. you've got hollywood going on here. this is not journalism. host: brian, thanks for the call from michigan. leonardo's next, out of anchorage, alaska, independent. good morning. caller: i'm going to just advocate for sharp, that was on the other day, and a lot of work that the sovereign tribes are doing in our nation. we are contributing a lot to the local economies. we are working on building infrastructure, creating jobs, right? and creating sustainable jobs. we are using some of this funding infrastructure so we can build like internet, to help

bring networks, right? the internet society is funded by the.org -- the dot orgs, an internet organization helping communities expand the internet, so we can continue to communicate and interact in society, like one of the callers just mentioned, in journalism, in providing direct, traditional knowledge of the lands that are indigenous to our people, the things that are happening to our planet we have always protected. i just wanted to advocate for the things that are positive there, that are happening, that have got momentum. it is not about dependency. it is about providing.

it is providing for our people, interacting with the earth, protecting the earth, starting with love, you know? the love of ourselves, the love of humanity, the love of our communities. you can start making decisions from the level of our hearts. we can start to build unity. host: leonardo, thanks for the call. you are talking about expanding access to the internet. some $65 billion in the infrastructure bill that was signed into law, the bipartisan infrastructure law, to expand internet access around the country. that is the number from the white house fact sheet. this is bill in nicholson, pennsylvania. good morning. just a few minutes left in our program. caller: thanks for taking my call. i would like to correct congressman fred keller, who was on a couple of weeks ago.

he is from the congressional district in pennsylvania. he said that he voted no on the certification of the election on january 6, he said, because the governor extended the deadline to friday, extended it because of the covid and the increased volume. but those votes were sequestered. those votes were separated. biden one anyway. the pennsylvania supreme court ruled that governor wolf was ok with that. and i voted by mail, and i was ok with that. the balance, they were not counted. but here is the thing. trump interfered with the mail. he was trying to read the mail before the election, and nobody brings that up. he put that did joy in, and he

is having a negative impact -- he put that dejoy income and he is having a negative effect. when you talk about trying to rake it, trump is the one trying to rig it. host: you can watch that interview on our website and it's entirely -- in its entirety. david coming from louisiana, independent. good morning. caller: i would like to tell you happy thanksgiving. host: thank -- the same to you. caller: i've been playing rent since november 1, 1979. come memorial day, fourth of july, labor day, the gas prices, for one reason or another, always creep up right before holidays, and there will be a congressional investigation or a senate investigation, almost

every year. it's like an ongoing joke. every time they come up with a new idea, it takes years if not the to find out we are wrong, and in that time, we suffer and live with the bad ideas. for the other side of the argument, joe biden has done everything he can to make gas more expensive. if he was a foreign country, they would declare war on him. host: that is david in independence louisiana. david is going to be our last caller. thanksgiving morning, we will be with you, and we look forward to seeing you then. in the meantime, have a great wednesday. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2021] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

♪ >> a former u.s. ambassador to israel talked about diplomacy in the middle east. live coverage begins today at 11:00 a.m. eastern, online at c-span.org, or watchful coverage on c-span now, our new video app. >> i would like to start by saying i work since i was 11 years old. i never had to worry about being hungry. hi just working i would eat. it wasn't until i could not work that i was -- that experienced real hunger. i suffered an injury at work.

after two years of surgeries and physical therapy, occupational therapy, it was another two years before i could get the status to get back to work. the department of labor had me medically unable unable to work -- medically unable to work. i became homeless. i applied for snap benefits and received $194 worth of food. this was crucial. however, because of work restrictions, i was cut off after three months. i brought all my paperwork to snap. a declaration by the department of labor i was medically unable to work. i was told this did not qualify me. >> early this month, the house agriculture subcommittee her testimony on hunger and the u.s. military, specifically a basic

needs allowance, military spouse employment and childcare services. watch the entire hearing tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span, online at c-span.org, or watchful coverage on c-span now, our new video app. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more, including cox. >> cox is committed to providing eligible families access to affordable internet with the connect to compete program, bridging the digital divide one connected and engaged person at a time. cox, bringing us closer. >> cox supports c-span as a public service, along with these other television providers. giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> now hearing on improving security at the southwest border.