eastern for general speeches, legislative business at 2:00. on c-span2, the senate takes up executive nominations including president biden's choice for chair of the federal communications commission. also, the nominee to head the u.s. customs and border protection agency. at 10:00 a.m. on c-span3, u.s. capitol pop police inspector michael bolton -- u.s. capitol police inspector general michael bolton will testify. everything is also available at c-span.org or our free video app, c-span now. coming up this morning, maryland democratic congressman anthony brown, a veteran and member of the armed services committee, is on to talk about foreign policy and military issues. then a look at the debate over the role of parents in education with russ vought, president of

the center for renewing america. and we will talk to chad berginnis on proposed changes to the national flood insurance program. "washington journal" is next. host: good morning, it's tuesday, december 7, 2021. to mark pearl harbor, flags are half-staff on u.s. federal buildings around the country. also today, president biden is set to host a high-stakes call with russian president vladimir putin. later this week, the biden administration hosts a summit for democracy, with a role of rallying democratic partners against the forces of authoritarianism. we're spending our first hour talking about foreign policy.

give us a call, let us know what you think as america's top foreign policy challenge today. phone lines split by political parties. republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002. you can also send us a text this morning, 202-748-8003. please include your name and where you're from. otherwise on social media, twitter is @cspanwj. on facebook, it's facebook.com/cspan. very good tuesday morning to you on this pearl harbor remembrance day. the senate is in a 10:00 a.m. eastern this morning, the house is in at noon. you can go ahead and start calling in right now on this question of the top foreign policy challenge facing the united states. this is in today's "wall street journal," three potential crises are proceeding in tandem right now, he writes, a potential russian invasion of ukraine,

continuing chinese pressure on taiwan, and the potential collapse of the iran nuclear talks. any one of these standoffs has the potential to shape the world order and produce wider conflict. taken together, they signal that the u.s. and its allies are at a dangerous moment, perhaps more dangerous than many americans realize. president biden seeking to head off one of those challenges with that call, as we noted, a high-stakes call with russian president vladimir pickup town today. the front page of today's "hill" newspaper, up here on capitol hill, biden to offer a warning to vladimir putin. it was yesterday that white house press secretary jen psaki talked about that call and had questions about what president biden would say. >> the focus of the meeting, as was announced when we announced it this weekend, is an opportunity for the president to underscore u.s. concerns with russian military activities on the border with ukraine and reaffirm the united states' support for the sovereignty and

territorial integrity of ukraine. it's also an opportunity to discuss a range of topics in the u.s. and russia relationship, including strategic stability, cyber and regional issues. you can certainly expect that our concerns about it the military activities on the border will be a prominent part of the discussion. reporter: should americans be prepared for the likelihood to see american forces on the ground in the region in the event that russia does invade? >> i'm not going to get ahead of the president's conversations with our transatlantic partners, which is going to happen later this afternoon and we'll provide a list of who will be participating in that call as soon as scheduling details are finalized. but i would say that our objective here is conveying diplomatically that this is the moment for russia to pull back their military buildup at the border, that diplomacy is the right path forward here, that we are going to continue to

coordinate closely with our partners, our transatlantic partners, on a range of economic sanctions and steps that could be taken should president putin decide to move forward. >> and how would the white house characterize relations with russia heading into this call? >> i think our objective from the beginning of the president's time in office has not been to escalate the relationship, but has been to move to a more stable footing in the relationship. but certainly that means that we can raise concerns where we have them, specifically about areas like the military buildup we've seen on the border in ukraine. many of us lived through a similar playbook back in 2014, and the president is not going to hold back in conveying his concern and also conveying our conversations and our preparations should they be warranted. we don't know that president putin has made a decision. we don't know that yet, but that's why this is an opportunity to have a conversation. but there's also an opportunity in this call to have a

conversation about a range of topics where there can be mutual interest, whether it's iran's nuclear capabilities as a member of the p-5 plus one talks and what that looks like moving forward and other strategic stability issues where we have worked together in the past. host: that was jen psaki in the white house briefing room yesterday. that call expected to take place later this morning, and we'll, of course, bring you any updates on tomorrow morning's "washington journal" once we hear how that call goes. but that announcement, or the line of questioning about that call came after an announcement from the biden administration yesterday on a different front. u.s. delegation will be sending no official delegates to the beijing winter olympics, the 2022 diplomatic boycott, the united states not sending any u.s. government officials to the winter olympics in february as

"the washington post" notes. the protests, china human rights abuses, they're largely symbolic, "the washington post" notes. it does not affect the ability of american athletes to participate in the games. it will be seen as a major affront by washington's greatest military and economic competitor as china seeks to distract from its increasingly repressive policies at home and its aggression abroad. that from "the washington post," above the fold story this morning. a lot of things going on on the foreign policy front, and again, that also includes that summit for democracy that the biden administration is set to hold this week. we're going to talk about this in the first hour of the "washington journal." want to hear your thoughts on the top foreign policy challenge facing the united states. it's 202-748-8001 for republicans. 202-748-8000 for democrats. and independents, 202-748-8002. we'll start on that line for

democrats. this is portland, oregon, good morning. what's america's top foreign policy challenge? caller: well, i think as far as the military is concerned, let's deal with all the nuclear weapons we have and what would be the purpose of using them. host: and carl, where do you think the u.s. should come down on that? caller: well, building these things still, what would be the object, to massacre people without any -- people maybe that don't -- that aren't an enemy of america? i don't see why the -- why they're still being produced. host: and funding for the nuclear program and all military programs wrapped up in this

discussion about the national defense authorization act, waiting to see what happens with that yearly authorization bill. it's been held up, and the house and senate expected to continue discussions about it today and through this week, as we continue asking this question. what's the top foreign policy challenge facing the u.s.? jerry wilson, north carolina, what do you think? caller: yes, good morning. i think the foreign policy is losing our democracy. i want to ask you something, c-span, please. is brian lamb still there? do he have anything to do with c-span anymore? host: we see brian lamb quite a bit around here. he's usually here in the mornings and says hello, about the same time we get into this program. caller: ok, the reason i ask, because when he was running the show, it seem like it's different stuff you all talk about now. i noticed the insurrection, we

on the verge of losing our democracy. y'all haven't had one show about that. and i don't understand it, because it's very unlike brian lamb. host: we've had several programs about it, including one of the reporters here in washington, d.c. who's been covering those cases from the january 6 insurrection on capitol hill. he's been following all the trials. we talked about it for an hour on this program. we've had several others. caller: i haven't really seen them, and i think that should be a main thing. it seem like you guys be talking about policies that are really not concerning. we on the verge of losing our democracy. host: jerry, i point you to c-span.org, go back and check out all the programming that we have and all of the segments here on the "washington journal," easy enough to find at c-span.org. temple, texas, good morning, democrat. caller: good morning.

russia is trying to attack right now, when the president was saying that we weren't doing anything while he was trying to get a statement against biden, but like the gentleman who just talked said, we are in deep trouble now. i went to war to fight in vietnam because i had my voting rights given to me in 1965 and i joined the army in 1967. now they're trying to take away our voting rights. my wife's mother is 89 years old, and she walks with one of those walkers because she can't lean over, and she cannot go and stand in no line for eight hours and wait to get a chance to vote. our voting rights are the most important thing for us, and this

government has put everything ahead of them. i can understand covid, but the second thing they should have got on -- because if we can't vote, we're not going to put nobody else there. host: we're talking about foreign policy challenges amid a week in which there's a lot of action on that front. it was senate minority leader mitch mcconnell who took to the floor yesterday to talk about his views on how the biden administration has handled the foreign policy challenges facing the united states. >> today's democratic party does not make the policy decisions of a party that is serious about protecting our country. in may president biden proposed a de facto cut in defense

spending. that was before the the president's own super charged inflation further cut the purchasing power of every defense dollar. in august his afghanistan retreat shattered our allies' trust and delighted the terrorists. in 10 months in office, despite naïve happy talk from the administration, the threats we face are markedly worse. the vacuum they left in afghanistan has goldened terrorists from iran's malicious and iraq, syria and yemen to the highest ranks of the taliban's government. their desperation to return to a failed nuclear deal has given iran the upper hand in negotiations. for four years, my colleagues, the democratic leaders, seem constantly focused on putin and russia, but now we putin applauding his power and russia engaged in attacks, weapons

tests and troop buildups, crickets. and for all their talk about china's threat, we've seen no evidence that democrats in the united states should keep pace with the p.l.a.'s investments in nuclear and higher sonic weapons. we cannot short change our military modernization and have a player of competing with the people's republic of china or even the declining but dangerous russia republic. our colleagues across the aisle have missed one opportunity after another to ride the ship. they have used the reconciliation process to pass trillions in new partisan spending without a cent for defending the nation. and despite the strong bipartisan work of our colleagues on the armed services committee, the democratic leader kept this year's defense authorization bill in limbo, literally for months.

host: senator mitch mcconnell on the floor of the senate yesterday. we're talking about the top foreign policy challenge facing the united states. taking your phone calls, phone lines, as usual, republicans, democrats, and independents. this is carl, an independent out of massachusetts. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. i think the biggest threat to the united states is washington, the pentagon, the international businesses, the arms dealers. you know, i think so what if china does better economically, russia, whatever, we can trade with them. i'm sure we can negotiate with them. the chinese go in, and they invest in these poor countries. sure, they're making money, but they'll fix their infrastructure, and then the people over there welcome that. when we go in, we go in with

boots on the ground, with drones, bombs, we're too quick, we're too quick with our military. were devastated during world war ii, and then with korea, with the korean war and all that, vietnam, the last really, really big bloody conflict we had in america was the civil war. so culturally, we feel immune to that. those countries, they're not going to be so quick to go to war. that's all propaganda. host: in the summit for democracy that the biden administration is putting on later this week, on thursday and friday, i believe we're still waiting to see what's going to be available that we can air on c-span from that, but it's happening on thursday and friday of this week, so check your c-span listings for at least parts of that summit.

but in today's "washington post," the treasury secretary, janet yellen, and then samantha power, the administrator of the agency for international development, wrote this column about that summit that's happening later this week. they write, representatives this week of more than 100 nations will gather virtually for president biden's summit for democracy. the gathering is a recognition that the world's democracies need a new strategy. for the past 15 years, they write, the number of people living under authoritarian regimes has been rising while leaders of many democratic countries have been chipping away at fundamental rights and checks and balances. corruption has made this possible, them say. autocrats use public wealth to maintain their grip on power, while in democracies, corruption rots free society from within. unchecked conflicts of interest and the unequal application of the law erode our trust in common institutions. they say corrupt actors hide their money in the united states all the time. and we can no longer provide them a shadow under which to operate, combating corruption

abroad therefore begins at home, and our first step must be to expose the owners of shell companies and other illicit funding. moving forward, the u.s. government will require many u.s. and foreign companies to report the true owners to the treasury department and to upgrade us when they change hands. and then they go through some of the other aspects that they'll be working on in this summit for democracy. again, it's happening on thursday and friday this week. part of this universe of events this week on the foreign policy front, so we're asking this morning, what's the top foreign policy challenge facing the united states? jerry, virginia, republican, what do you think? caller: yes, good morning. well, i wouldn't expect a whole lot to come out of these talks, because we all know biden family has substantial interest in both russia and in china. so he's not going to say anything to anger either one of them. host: what should we be most

worried about on the foreign policy front as a country? caller: make no mistake about it, china owns joe biden, lock, stock, and bank account. host: jerry in virginia. this is kevin in fort wayne, indiana, independent. good morning. caller: good morning. to this question, i think the anniversary of pearl harbor should bring us to reflect on the dangers and realities of dictators like china and mr. putin in moscow. the rising strength of china's military, the aggressiveness of russia's military should remind us, again here on the anniversary of pearl harbor, that we must minimum taken a strong, vigilant military, and we must be prepared to defend

our allies, in this case, to look towards the two aggressive countries, in the case of russia, european allies, we need to see if they will join with us to strengthen nato in defending countries like ukraine as it tries to maintain its strength and independence. and in the far east, where you look to china, we need to remind them in the strength as possible that taiwan is, again, an independent freedom-loving democracy that needs to be defended. so the essence of which is the two greatest military threats to the united states and the western role, china, russia, and it's reflective of the pearls of 80 years ago, because these countries are being led by ruthless, blood-lusty dictators.

period. host: 80 years since the attack on pearl harbor. it's pearl harbor remembrance day in this country. from our american history tv archives, this is the universal news reel that came out later that week, describing the japanese attack on pearl harbor back in 1941. >> december 7, 1941, a day of infamy. even as japanese diplomats were conferring with the secretary of state on peace measures, planes were sweeping down on pearl harbor. this dictator record includes both u.s. films and pictures made by the enemy as they dropped their load of death on the naval base on wheeler field on civilian homes and schools. 100 japanese planes and a number of submarines took part in the attack. in an hour and five minutes, the battleship arizona was completely destroyed, and four others severely damaged.

three other battleships and three cruises suffered damage. nearly 200 planes were destroyed. that sunday morning, the pacific fleet appeared to be completely immobilized by the sneak attack. nearly 3,000 casualties added to the catastrophe. within hours, the united states declared war. the attack on pearl harbor united americans as never before in history, and the explosions at pearl harbor forge would the will for complete and absolute victory over the forces of evil. in hawaii, civilian and soldier alike turned to the task of caring for the wounded and homeless. at the time, an actual landing by the japanese was expected, and make-shift plans were made to fight the invader on the beaches and in the streets.

the japanese lost five midget subs, as well as planes and men. small cost for the damage they were able to inflict on the u.s. fleet. two carriers had been on patrol and thus missed attack. these two ships led other units in the fleet in the battle of midway less than six months later, the first steps on the long road to complete victory. host: the universal news reel describing the attack on pearl harbor, december 7, 1941. on this pearl harbor remembrance day, it was president biden that released this proclamation on remembrance day that reads in part, a decade ago, i paid my respects at the u.s.f. arizona memorial, where 1,177 crewmen lost their lives on that terrible december day. to this day, the president said beads of oil still rise to the surface of the water, met for cal black teas shed for those lost in the attack.

reading those names etched in marble was a reminder of the sacrifices and human cost of protecting our nation, the ideals this great country represents. our nation remains forever indebted to all those who gave their last full measure of devotion eight decades ago. we will never forget those who perished, the president said, and we will always honor our sacred obligations to care for our service members, veterans, and their families, caregivers, and their survivors. part of president biden's proclamation on national pearl harbor remembrance day, 2021, 80 years after the attack on pearl harbor. back to your phone calls, as we hear from you on the top foreign policy challenge facing the u.s. today. democrat from virginia, good morning. crystal, are you with us? got to stick by your phone. we'll go to jim, fort lauderdale, florida, republican. good morning, jim. caller: hi there.

i hope my phone holds up. host: oh, it might not have, jim, try to give us a call back. brenda, houston, texas, democrat, good morning. caller: yes, good morning, and thanks for taking my call, john. let me complete what i want to say. it's going to be short. whatever challenge america faces is its own doing. with the corporate greed, i lived in the 1970's, and we made more men then than we do now in 2020's. the corporate greed of taking our jobs over there to a foreign country, whether it's slave labor, and then this racism just won't go away, this need for the inept to be important, god is not pleased.

and god has destroyed nations before. america is on her way out. any thinking person knows that. the previous caller expressed concerns about democracy are totally, absolutely correct. we're all sitting around seeing our country melt, just melt in between, like water, trying to hold water in our hands, and it just doesn't appear to be to me the concern that i need to see, to feel comfortable. china have played this very, very smart. white people have always thought that they were the superior race, but it appears to me china is going to win that award. host: brenda in texas. this is richard in minneapolis, minnesota, republican, good morning. caller: good morning. you know, i question the credibility of biden. hunter got this big shopping

deal in moscow, and then they got a big deal in china, 150% went to the big guy -- 10% went to the big guy, which is biden. obama gave russia ukraine. and then china's very oppressive. taliban is a brutal dictatorship. what are we doing here? we're giving everything away. host: this is ray in colorado, independent. what's the biggest foreign policy challenge facing the united states? caller: good morning, thanks for taking my call. how are you this morning, john? host: i'm doing well. go ahead. caller: so, really, for me the big challenge regarding foreign policy is unintended consequences. i think it's kind of coincidence for me to call on the day the u.s. was attacked pearl harbor, something we have looked back at is one of the reasons why we were attacked, and before we were attacked at pearl harbor,

there was an oil embargo that was put. it i think a blowback by thomas johnson, which is a book about cost and consequences of american empire, and we had to think about the unintended consequences of our foreign intervention. so i think that's something we really need to reflect on. host: a lot of concern right now about russian buildup on the border with ukraine and eastern ukraine and russian-backed separatists there and what nato and the west would do if russian invaded ukraine. what do you think would be the right response? caller: well, you're asking a registered libertarian. really, as far as i'm concerned, the best response is neutrality. host: that's ray in colorado.

president biden set to, as "the wall street journal" puts it, warn president putin today on ukraine. that conversation expected to happen around lunch time today. it was yesterday on capitol hill that republican senator marco rubio spoke to reporters on options to counter russian aggression. this is what he had to say. >> there are potentially a number of sanctions that could be put in place that would be triggered by an invasion, someone like putin, i think it's very important for him to know what the costs are of that sort of invasion before he calculates the benefits and wales the benefits against it. i think the other challenge is going to be, not so much congress, but certainly could be supportive, how our allies in europe, who are more conveniently affected by it. this is a potential crisis for nato if an invasion were to happen. it would be a real test of the alliance, given ukraine is not a member. we have a number of alliance members that would react very forcefully, particularly in

central europe that see russia as a real immediate danger. and i think it can be a real test on that. and at the same time, i think you've already seen some of the disinformation work that's being done by putin. we're getting a real clear picture in real time of what this warfare looks like, where you go into a country and you start both on the global scale and inside that country you start creating the pretext for taking military action. ukraine is going to be the ones that are provoking it, that russian-speaking minorities are about to be killed if russia doesn't intervene. you already see some of the informational warfare, and i think that needs to be countered so congress can be help nfl providing the resources for that. host: republican senator marco rubio on capitol hill yesterday. more from that "wall street journal" reporting. this on the kremlin response to the administration, talking about the warnings they'll be

giving ahead of this virtual meeting. on monday, the kremlin spokesman told russia's channel one state television that mr. putin was right to listen to mr. biden's proposals on settling the situation in ukraine, but cautioned against excessive expectations. aside from the situation in ukraine, "the wall street journal" notes mr. biden intends to raise issues of cybersecurity and iran's nuclear program. again, that call happening around lunch time today. paul, virginia, republican, good morning, you're next. caller: good morning, john, thank you for c-span. wonderful benefit to our nation. i think the united states is at the most pivotal point in the last 45 years in regards to international disputes, international challenges, and frankly, potentially war. putin knows muscle and knows cash. i don't know what biden knows. but if you want to check putin, you've got to do something and get in his face a little bit. you can always stand down and step back, but putin only

respects people who step to him and put their nose to his nose and say, hey, let's roll, i hate to say it. and else the same way. he is pushing us at every opportunity, all across the globe. they just opened up -- they're just now negotiating for an atlantic side port, the chinese are, on the atlantic ocean in africa. be the first time the chinese can project their power that way. america's greatest strength habits naval surface warfare capabilities. well, the chinese have now developed technology that neutralized that, much like the french did in the balklands war. the chinese have technology to take our whole platform of carriers, submarines, but take them out of play. we are in a very, very dangerous situation, and it has to be obviously extremely delicately managed. but we are really, really, really there. and i'm hearing crick he says from the -- crickets from the

early libertarian caller, kudos to you for saying it, i don't believe what you're saying, stand down, but the europeans have to step up. you listen to the lit winnians, they're ready to roll. the polish are ready to roll. host: several presidents have dealt with vladimir putin. who's best the best at stepping up and showing that strength that you say is the only thing that he respects? caller: we really haven't had anybody like that, other than president trump who walked it both ways with putin. he figured a route whereby he could sort of placate putin and putin played him like a marionette as well, but they kept everything cool, you know? that was there. but biden looks so weak that i think anybody who has any aspirations for more in the world is going to try putin now, and i actually told my wife, something is going to go down between now and valentine's day, we are going to get into it with the russians. and he's a nut.

i mean, he's a nut. he understands money. putin is all about the power. he's done this before. he has a track record of taking other countries over, and europeans watched it the last time, and he has no indication now to suggest that they will not just stand by and watch it. and that's my fear. why are we having all these conversations about a conversation to thwart his advances? what you do is fire up the second airborne and show some pictures of farther bragg loading people on to air transports. that's a message that pickup inunderstands. host: that's paul in alexandria, virginia, this morning. a few comments from our social media feeds. on twitter, this is party of fear, stronger ties to nato to show russia is an overwhelming force not to be toyed with. russia loves to play chess games is the comment. this is another, what scares me the most no matter what joe biden does with foreign policy,

i'm afraid republicans are in the background trying to tear it down, because republicans don't want joe biden to have any kind of success. steven on twitter saying putin and china are bullying ukraine and taiwan have a right to which defend themselves, give them everything they need also iran's nuclear weapons should be taken out with force. american joe saying the top challenge is to stop antagonizing the rest of the world. a few comments from social media. it's @cspanwj on twitter, and facebook.com/cspan. or you can do what john did, call from the pennsylvania turnpike in breezewood, pennsylvania, democrat. john, good morning. caller: good morning. first off, i want to give a shout out to that guy in colorado, libertarian, what he said was exceptional. but i'd like to point out that the greatest fear that we need to have in international releases is actually controlling the fascist inside america

today, the corporate construction that took our jobs to china has made us so weak that we are dependent on china for our pharmaceuticals. as far as europe goes, they're dependent on russia for their energy needs. russia could just turn off the tap at any time and freeze europe out. they've become so dependent on solar and wind, and now with the winter coming in, the high natural gas prices, russia could walk into anywhere simply by buying it or shutting off the natural gas. what's he going to do if russia turns the gas off? host: your shout out at the beginning was to the caller who said that ukraine wasn't our problem, right? caller: yeah. we have no alliance to them. we went there, i said he was right in some of the things he said. host: how would you respond to this on this twitter? this viewer writes, hitler took poland, and that was also not

our problem, until it was. caller: that is correct. unfortunately, europe is not going to do anything, i don't care what the caller said. they turn the natural gas off into europe, and they are sitting there freezing. do you honestly think the european people are going to go to war with their energy supply? ukraine was treated by the obama administration, by financing the coup deat a time in ukraine, so we helped create this mess. host: that's florida, independent, good morning. caller: good morning. i was particularly intrigued by your first caller. my father joined the military in 1945, and he served till 1965. and all that time he was in the military, he didn't have the right to vote. so i think our biggest foreign policy is right here in the

united states. and that is we have to get our act together, because right now we're dealing with voting issues again. and people gerrymandering elections so they can stay in office. our own former president said our election system is rigged. so how can we move about having a democracy summit and talking about foreign policy if our homeland is not in order? host: richard in florida. it's a little after 7:30 on the east coast. we're having this conversation this first hour of the "washington journal" on your top foreign policy challenge challenge facing the united states. a preview of the schedule today on capitol hill, the senate is in at 10:00 a.m. eastern. the house is in at noon. but house committees holding hearings already this morning. coming up in about two hours, at about 9:30 eastern, a hearing before the house oversight and

reform committee on examining worldwide threats and foreign terrorist organizations, including al qaeda, isis and others, that available at 9:30 eastern. you can watch it on c-span.org. and then later this afternoon, 2:00 p.m., we're expecting a white house briefing. jen psaki will brief reporters, and we may have information then on how that phone call went with vladimir putin. joe biden's virtual phone call. and then one more hearing this afternoon, 2:30 eastern, the undersecretary of state for political affairs will be before the senate foreign relations committee. that on c-span3, 2:30 p.m. eastern. you can also watch on c-span.org. all of this available on our free c-span now video app. so plenty of foreign policy conversations throughout the day that you can watch on the c-span networks. earl out of indiana, republican, what do you think the top

foreign policy challenge is facing the united states today? caller: i think we are in deep trouble, because biden has no inkling of what's going on. the vice president, she knows nothing. and what we're headed for, people will be blinded to the truth. we're headed for a global war, which is the battle of armageddon, and everything centers around israel. people do not realize what the second world war was about. host: earl in indiana. this is mara in amount lake city, utah, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. i want to thank the screener for allowing me to speak on the air. i am of advanced age now. and i've been watching c-span since 1979. when it suddenly popped on the channel lineup.

regarding the -- exactly how to put it, top foreign policy challenge, thank you. i think it's obvious to me at least that russia and china are our biggest foreign policy -- i'm sorry -- i've been up all night. i'm usually more articulate than this, but russia and china are the problem. i think it they both have nuclear weapons now. but i really don't think that they will use them on us, because it's a guarantee of mutual destruction. both nations have enough nuclear weapons to blow the whole planet. and i think that

self-preservation is the most basic instinct that humans have. host: on the nuclear weapons front, one of the three potential global crises that is tacked about today in the column in "the wall street journal" is the collapse of the iran nuclear talks, saying it's one of those issues that's perhaps more dangerous than many americans realize. a focus on that by the editorial board of the "washington times" today. they write that the negotiations held in vienna meant to bring iran into compliance with the 2015 nuclear pact came to a screeching halt on friday when the middle eastern nation demanded that complete economic sanctions relief must precede its agreement to comply with limits on uranium enrichment. it's the past hoe years have taught anything, it is that iran has no intention of relinquishing its quest to serve its own existence by acquiring the power to anew hail its

neighbors. the united states is left with only one recourse, they say, defend its vulnerable allies with unblinking vigilance until the long-suffering iranian people find their courage to replace their bullying masters. until that day, they say further talks are likely to be a nuclear waste of time. jesse in florida, republican, good morning, you're next. caller: yes, sir, i think probably the biggest challenge we have in the foreign policy arena is we don't realize our limitations. we should use our resources to support things that are of vital interest to the united states. ukraine, if ukraine goes under, that doesn't really affect the united states. we have no vital interest in ukraine. we need to limit our resources, especially our military resources, to things that really

matter to the american people. ukraine goes under, it doesn't affect the american people at all. host: what would you classify as our vital interests? where are the places you think we up need to focus our resources? caller: i think we need to focus our resources on our own people. we have problems here that extend far beyond the military, and certainly we don't need to go butting into other people's businesses and trying to prop up governments that are not even friendly to us. we do that all the time. host: what about governments that are friendly? how do you feel about the nato alliance? caller: i think the nato alliance needs to pay more for their own expenses. i think we need to belong to nato, but certainly we should not be the majority contributor there. we're not the ones that's most

in danger. i think we need to start using our resources for american priorities. host: doris is in atlanta, georgia, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. i think our top foreign policy challenge is that we are weak from within. we're not going to be able to fight russia, china, or any other country because we have people in this country who are saying and telling us, just boldly, they would rather see this country destroyed rather than for us to work together in order to fight any enemy. we have people who are ready to destroy the democracy of this country and turn to people like trump t. and an authoritarian government. that's what they want.

host: jean, pennsylvania, independent, good morning. caller: good morning, and god bless you. i wanted to remind everybody what december 7 really is, a national day of remembrance from pearl what are bar. -- harbor. i vanity even seen it on any post this morning. we're the greatest nation in the world, with the most godly men and women, who since day one have defended us. i do not rely on the government to keep me safe. it is our military, our good people, and people of faith. i can't hear you, honey. host: i'm lisping to you, jean, keep going. caller: i just wanted to say, these are anxious times for people. but we won a world war and many other things since through the faith of god and good people who

gave their last good measure for us. the political angst back and forth with immortal men, i trust god, and we know that we are the greatest, freest nation in this world, and every day we should pray and be thankful. host: that's jean from pennsylvania. one other story from today's papers on the 8 0eth anniversary of the attack on pearl harbor, from the metro section of today's "washington post," telling the story of the twin brothers leo and rudolph who were 16 when they applied to join the navy. they were so young that their navy had to go to the recruiting office in omaha and give them permission. rudolph wanted the navy career, leo wanted to learn a trade. it was 1938, and the boys slept with their family in a two-bedroom house in a neighbor of russian immigrants in lincoln, nebraska. they enlisted that may.

three years later on december 7, 1941, they were killed when their ship, the u.s.s. oklahoma, was sunk during the japanese attack on pearl harbor. for 78 years they rested among hundreds of the ship's fallen who were recovered but never identified, buried as unknowns in a cemetery in hawaii. then in 2019, a remarkable pentagon forensics project identified them as part of an effort to put names with all of the ship's unknowns. now, after identifying the bones of the boys and almost 400 other own own men, the defense p.o.w./m.i.a. accounting agency is closing down the program. on tuesday, the 80th anniversary of that attack, the last of the remains that could not be identified will be reburied in honolulu's national memorial cemetery, known appears the punch bowl. if you want to read more on that program and those men from today's "washington post," the metro section. jim, pennsylvania, republican, good morning.

caller: good morning. i would like to first off like the lady just said, i would like to thank all the veterans, all the serving military personnel, all the police officers that keep us safe on a daily basis. my second thing is i just heard that joe biden is going to send 18 million gallons of oil reserve crude oil to china. is mr. biden supplying the oil for the chinese military actions over there in china? i do believe our biggest foreign policy challenge would be to get rid of mr. biden. mr. biden is a disaster. disaster. look what he is leading us into. host: that's jim in pennsylvania. perhaps referring to this fox business story, focusing on

president biden's move to release some of u.s. strategic petroleum reserve. fox business saying it's expected to supply chinese and indian oil needs as gas demands have led to global shortages. the white house said the energy department announced recently that it would release 50 million barrels of oil held in the reserve, 18 million of which had been congressionally approved for sale. china and india have been actively purchasing u.s. crude oil produced in the gulf of mexico. crude containing the higher level of sulphur, and we talked about the release of that, an effort by the biden administration to help lower gas prices and inflation at the pump. alan in east chicago, indiana, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. good morning, so nice to see you today. all praises to the veterans on this day.

god bless them all. i wish we could do a lot more for our disabled veterans that we have out in this country i'm worried about. i would also like to say, a couple of things about foreign policy. i'd like to see you have another show on it. you have in the past. i think we need to re-evaluate our foreign aid. i'd like to have a discussion on our continuing support of israel and the occupation of palestine. i really think that we're on the wrong side in that. especially what's happening to the palestinian people, and i would like to see if we can have a discussion on that sometime. i think we should look at that twice. and the second thing is, i think we should leave iran alone. we have messed with those people

for decades and they are only reacting to us, continually beating them with a stick. and i'd like to see it seize a that. and we are a sovereign state, and we do have a right to defend themselves, especially after what we did in iraq. and that's with it. thank you for taking my call. i love "washington journal," best show on tv. host: thomas, democrat, you're next. caller: good morning. i am calling to -- disabled american veteran, and we respect the lives that were lost 80 years ago, but nobody mentioned all the lives lost in vietnam. only young men, 18, 19 years old are gone. we have been at war for 20 years, in war.

we cannot prosper if we going to continue to fight wars. we have to think about america. we have to determine that we got to fight for what's right here. and if we do, we will win t. we can't keep dividing and we can't keep fighting race against race in america. we're not together. we divided. so we have to come together and stop this. we can't even protect our schools from killings t. do not pass bills to protect gun laws. our youth are being destroyed in wars and our own homeland. let's protect america. host: thomas, i wonder your feelings on the withdrawal of afghanistan and the end of that 20-year war. caller: same thing with vietnam. we had vietnam in the same situation. with vietnam, we run out of there, we left things, same

thing did over there. we always about in. we leave equipment. we leave people. we leave the country destitute and broke. so it's no different from then and now. they forget about the vietnam war and what happened. it's no different than it is in this war. host: thomas in north carolina. florida, republican, good morning, you're next. caller: i would like to discuss our american bar association and the fact that we have so many lawyers in our government, and then they employ 80,000 lawyers themselves. host: help me understand how that gets to america's biggest foreign policy challenge t. caller: well, the fact that, how can we run our country when our

judicial system is so corrupt? host: we're focusing on american's top foreign policy challenge, we only have a few minutes left in this segment to do that and plenty of callers who want to talk about that subject. republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002. this is daniel out of pennsylvania, democrat, good morning. caller: hi, good morning. you hear me? host: yes, sir. caller: ok. if i may, pearl harbor. it's a new casual list. february 17, the navy department announced a new casualty list today, including the names of 21 dead, positive wounded, and 17

missing which brought to 23,282, the total number of marine and coast guard casualties announced since pearl harbor. the list included my uncle, first class lawrence murphy, and the story i got prosecute my other uncle. a proclamation from congress is he said that he had gotten locked behind -- locked them behind something when he had gone back to rescue someone. and the uncle that told me this, he was in the pacific on a destroyer at nighttime, and someone had fallen overboard.

he jumped in after him. and then he told me that it takes 60 miles for the destroyer to turn around. luckily they found them. he got a medal and all that stuff. i asked him why, and would you have done something like that? and he said, well, he had red hair, and he was a good guy. well, is that some bizarre tribalism or something? he said i guess so. and thank you for taking my call. bye. host: daniel in pennsylvania. and this is anna in clayton, north carolina, independent. good morning. caller: good morning. i am an immigrant from ukraine, and i just want to say that, for me, and i'm a historian as well, so i studied history of russia and ukraine for a long time. and what i see, like one caller

before said that america has to leave them alone, because those countries are basically the same people. ukrainian and russians, they have the same language, same culture, same religion, and what's going on, they have problems with their government. it's just the governments who want to fight, start the civil war. and people don't want to fight because they're brothers and sisters. thank you. host: that's anna in north carolina. our last caller in this segment of the "washington journal," but stick around, plenty more to talk about this morning, including up next, we'll continue this conversation on foreign policy and military policy with democratic congressman anthony brown, a veteran, a member of the house armed services committee. and later, former trump o.m.b. director russ vought joins to us

talk about his new group, center for renewing america and its role in the parents movement in u.s. schools. stick around. we'll be right back. ♪ >> coming up today on c-span, defense and state department

officials testify about terrace -- terrorist threats facing the u.s.. the houses back at noon for general speeches, legislative business. on c-span2, the senate returns to take up executive nominations including president biden's choice for chair of the federal communications commission and the u.s. customs and border protection agency. at 10:00 a.m. on c-span3, u.s. capitol police inspector testifies on the january 6 attack. then in the afternoon a hearing on u.s.-russian relations from the senate foreign relations committee. everything is also available at c-span.org, or our free video app, c-span now. ♪ >> get c-span on the go, watch the day's biggest political events live on our mu -- new

mobile video app. access top highlights, listen to c-span radio and discover new podcasts for free. download c-span now today. >> "washington journal" continues. caller: we are joint -- host: we are joined by anthony brown, a retired u.s. army colonel, and in the first hour of the program we were asking viewers their view of the top foreign-policy challenge facing america right now, i would you answer that question? guest: i would probably say china, but of course we know that our challenges abroad are not really just limited to china , although it percent -- it presents the most challenging case economically and a human rights standpoint and projecting values of democracy, freedom and

liberty around the world. what we are seeing on the eastern border of ukraine with the soviet build up, it is more important today than ever before that we show that our relationships with our nato allies are strong. we have to demonstrate support to ukraine and the people of ukraine and europe, so that certainly is a top priority, and i would also include in that iran. their unwillingness to come back to the table to negotiate a deal that would limit if not eliminate their ability to develop nuclear grade warheads and capabilities which there already well under the -- well under way to doing. i would list those as three of the top priorities, but the challenge that we face are numerous. host: on china, what is the diplomatic boycotts of the olympics do? guest: it sends a strong signal

to china that the human rights violations, particularly against uighur muslims in china, and also, although not the main thrust, but also a strong signal that there expansionism, and aggressive -- aggression and -- in the south china sea and india is unacceptable, and the united states will continue to compete with them, and the united states will not tolerate that type of behavior. so, i fully support the diplomatic boycotts and i am pleased we did not extend that to a boycott of the athletes. i believe that the olympic games are an opportunity to try to at least expand friendship, and goodwill around the world, that is what they were intended to do for the last 100 years, so these athletes have trained hard and

can still be ambassadors for goodwill across the world and from the united states. and the diplomatic boycott is certainly appropriate. host: ukraine, president biden set to hold the high-stakes call today, what does he need to say? guest: i think he needs to say that the united states is firm and its resolve to ensure that the -- that russia will not expand further into the ukraine, and will not violate ukraine's territorial integrity more than they have because we know that they already have, and that we will be ready to defend our nato allies even though ukraine is not a nato ally. i think it is important that we demonstrate will, and i think it is also important that we convey that we will fully support the ukrainians, whether it is

advisors or equipment, but nobody wants to pursue war, escalated war. it would be costly in terms of cost of human lives, the cost of dollars, but, i think the sure way to demonstrate to vladimir putin how costly it would be is to demonstrate the united states' resolve to support ukraine in or against any action taken by russia. host: is there a scenario in which you can see u.s. boots on the ground in ukraine? guest: no. it is over the horizon, you do not see that. more importantly if this descendant armed conflict, the most important thing we can do is to provide equipment and supplies to ukraine, which we do, right now, mostly defensive types of equipment, but in an armed conflict you will probably have to scale that up to employ

a range of equipment, systems, and weapons. i think we would certainly step up our advisory role, but i certainly wouldn't, and i do not believe the american people would want to see u.s. boots on the ground. that i believe would lead to even greater escalation. the key of the -- the key of deterrenance started before today with strong support to ukraine, which includes a clear statement from president biden to vladimir putin today about the u.s. resolve and our commitment and what we are willing to do, because deterrenance is the best way to see this resolved. diplomatic efforts, conversations, demonstrating also to russia that it would be a great mistake. personally i do not think the russian people have the stomach for what vladimir putin is

threatening, i do not think the russian people want to go to ukraine and see body bags coming back to their homeland as well. host: let me give you the phone numbers for viewers to join the conversation. republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002. as folks are coming -- calling in, the national defense authorization act, the road ahead and what is your biggest priority in that big piece of legislation? guest: my priorities broadly speaking are to make sure that men and women in the armed forces have all of the resources, the training, the leadership and the equipment to do the job do it well and come home safely to their families and the nation that we love. that is the easier part of the defense authorization. the debates that we have about the number of f-35's or how

quickly we moved to a 300 35 ship navy or whatever the navy -- whatever the magic number is and how we improve our procurement so we could get the latest technology to the war rather sooner than later. those are difficult issues, but they are not the most is of -- difficult issues. the most difficult issues often revolve around how do we take care of our men and women in uniform, and you think that should be the easier issue, and what do i mean? i think this week we will debate the extent to which we in -- we reform the uniform code of military justice. right now we know that sexual assault has been in many ways ignored by too many commanders. they have been unwilling to prosecute offenders. we are going to make meaningful steps towards addressing that this week, this year. one area i think military justice system fails our men and

women in unicorn -- in uniform is that commanders are over prosecuting black and brown service members. if our young airmen you are two times more likely to receive punishment either nonjudicial or a court-martial under the uniform code of military justice the same conduct as a white servicemen or white airmen, and we have to address it. it is a problem documented for more than five decades. i think this is a year where we need to take meaningful steps toward greater equity, fairness, and justice in the uniform code of military justice. host: plenty for you. stephen, chatsworth, illinois. independent, good morning. caller: good morning. first thing, our first giant -- country is china, and our second threat is the mexican cartels,

bringing the fentanyl into our border. killing over 100,000 americans each year. it is tragic, we have to stop the flow of sentinel. we have to stop the cartels, and we have to start -- stop china from bringing this fentanyl. this is a major problem. host: i will let the congressman address it. guest: whether it is -- they are illegal drugs, whether it is undocumented immigration, which during my town halls i get a lot of questions about that. we need to do more and more to address the flow of people and products into this country, and one of the best ways to do it is to focus on ports of entry, i think about baltimore harbor, a

major port on the eastern seaboard, the port at long beach and los angeles, as well as across the southern border at our ports of entry. what we need to do is to use the best technologies, and that we are properly staffing custom and border protection and control at those ports of entry. we need to incorporate more technology and fully staffed those people and ensure that when they carry out and conduct their jobs they are doing it in an appropriate way that protects the privacy and integrity of people coming -- people and products coming across the border but are also doing the job and ensuring that threats to our country are not coming forward. the other thing we need to do is address the sentinel -- the fentanyl and opioid crisis at home and make sure that we are supporting those who for a variety of reasons have been addicted to the drugs and

painkillers. i know in my district, anne arundel county, has taken action against manufacturers of these drugs that have been inappropriately marketed and promoted rampant distribution in our communities, we need to address that and ensure that we have an addiction treatment and counseling programs and ensure that first responders are well-equipped. often on the front lines whether ems, firefighters and police, make sure that they have the training and supplies to save lives and those crisis situations. there is a lot that we need to do to focus on it domestically and the demand as well as cutting off the supply into the ports of entry. host: from the old line, this is al on the democrat line. caller: my first question is

about ukraine. why is ukraine and american interest? europe has medical care that includes dental, vision, and also includes various needs. we cannot get that in our system. why are you fighting for ukraine, which is the european problem. that is the first question. host: let us take the question. guest: i do not think that they are mutually inclusive -- in -- exclusive or un-compatible problems. one presents an international challenge which we were talking about our earlier. ukraine is important, maybe one day they will be a nato ally or not, but they are on the eastern border of our nato allies in europe, and that is important. if we do not deter russian encroachment that i am fearful that the baltics are next. so i think it is very important

that we demonstrate our resolve to prevent a russian encroachment. in terms of medicare, i am completely on board with you. i am supporting the build back better act which passed out of the house, and i encourage and support senator schumer who is trying to get that done by christmas in the house. we expanded medicare to include hearing devices. i would have liked to see us expand medicare to include dental services and vision services. this is a great country with vast resources. need to tap into our resources to make sure that all americans have access to quality care including through medicare. i am with you on that and i think we can do both. host: owings mills, irene, an independent. good morning. caller: i am basically responding to your next to the last caller that you had who

stated, and basically restated putin's statements that do ukrainians and the russians are basically one people with one language, one culture, and etc.. using that ridiculous argument, what language are we speaking in this country? what culture do we have in this country? using his argument, the u.k. what have a good reason to invade us, right? the ukrainians have shown, with their blood and a lot of blood it was, and with their votes that they are independent, they are a separate people, and wish to remain so. host: thank you for the call. responding to the last caller from our first segment, i believe. anything you want to add? guest: language and culture,

traditions unite people, and often when people are united they do that within the same political boundary called a nation or a state. often they do not. i think about the large continent of south america where brazil is -- the official language in brazil is portuguese but the remainder of the continent is spanish-speaking and they have shared cultures and traditions, and yet 20 nations make up south america. so, i think it is -- there are factors that unite people, they are not necessarily determined in terms of political lines and divisions, so certainly any argument that vladimir putin is presenting because they have shared culture and language they should be part of russia, let the people of ukraine make that

decision. as of today, that is not the decision they are making, and that is to be part of russia. host: the last two colors from the state. why do you want to leave this job that you are in and run for the job of attorney general. guest: is less leaving the job at moving towards and not is attorney general. 16 years ago i was actually running for attorney general, i had returned from iraq and was a member of the general assembly and looking for an opportunity to make a big impact in the lives of marylanders and then mark o'malley asked to join him as lieutenant governor and i accepted that offer. we had an excellent eight years making progress on the environment, and education in higher education. i see myself in a similar situation. the work i have been able to do with my team on congress, i am proud of, whether it is supporting military families, the work we are doing in our

district office. but when he announced his retirement of attorney general, i believe i can make a bigger impact in maryland. we have great laws and too many barriers and too many marylanders whether in housing, health care, policing, the workplace, the criminal justice system, so i am running to be the chief legal officer so i can eliminate or dismantle barriers and try to make government work better than what we have seen over the last eight years, and says fight for the kinds of changes that will protect everyone and empower all communities. host: do expects democrats on capitol hill or the house to be in the minority next congress? guest: history is on our side, we know that when an incumbent president, first-term president typically, his party loses the majority, we have seen that in all but two scenarios in the last 70 plus years. history is not on our side.

i think it is important that we do continue to push an agenda that is supported by the majority of the american people. well back better, we need -- build back better, we need to comedic age on the benefits that americans will feel as a result of our investments in the structure, and you want to point out where obstacles are in that republicans have been an obstacle for voting rights, criminal justice, or police reform. it would bring our message and break it down to what it means in the lives of everyday people. we have an opportunity. it will be tough and the odds are against us, but we will have an opportunity to maintain the majority come november. host: back to the calls. ed in florida, a republican, good morning. caller: i have a question for the congressman regarding the policy that the secretary of

defense put out about national guard being able to get additional training and recruiting, and retention. the florida guard numbers are down as far as the population goes, and we are concerned about our community in the sense that if we have a hurricane or a national disaster we cannot bring people in to assist the civilian population. host: what is the policy you are concerned about? caller: the policy, the way i understand it is that soldiers will not be able to get bonuses, they will not be able to get training, extra schools, and the way understand it probably they cannot join in the sense that they do not have the vaccine. host: it is the vaccine issue for florida national guard members? caller: it is a defense issue in the sense that the secretary of

defense came out with a policy regarding the guard, and not being able -- if they do not get the vaccine, they cannot get bonuses, or any extra schooling. host: just wanted to make sure i understood what i was talking -- what you are talking about. guest: look, let me back up because about a year or so ago there were thoughts to mandate the vaccine for men and women in uniform, i was against that and i said i do not think we should mandate the vaccine for our men and women in uniform if we are not going to do that for our civilian, federal workforce and other essential workers. we have since mandated the vaccine widely, certainly federal government employees and federal contractors and i fully support that. i believe firmly that vaccination is an important step if we are going to defeat this virus and the ever evolving

variant. and how we reduce it to flu. vaccination and is important and encourage listeners to get their boosters. for men and women in the military, for as long as i have been in the army, and i was in for 30 years and i cannot tell you the number of jobs i got in my arm for all sorts of vaccinations and immunizations and i accepted that as an important part of keeping me safe and healthy, making sure that i was deployable on a moment's notice to go to faraway places, minimize my risk and threats to my health. i think that the covid-19 vaccine is part of that regimen of vaccination and immunization that men and women in uniform should be mandated to have. it is a protection issue and a readiness issue and it is part

of the overall effort to ensure that our nation in the world contains the covid-19 to a much more manageable level. unfortunately there are not just members of the guard but the service and an active duty will who will continue to resist vaccination and i support the secretary of defense will choose to either limit benefits or remove those men and women from service, and i trust that and we are seeing numbers moving in the right direction. it is a smaller percentage of men and women in uniform who are not vaccinated. host: this move by meredith -- mayor bill de blasio to require private sector, in person employees in new york city to be vaccinated. guest: i was in new york city with my wife recently visiting a show, so we enjoyed going back

to new york city. the reason broadway was able to open is because any place that you go in new york city, whether it is a show or theater or other public places you have to show proof of vaccination, and of course the mask mandate, so, it is an important step that you new york city has taken. i support mayor de blasio in making that decision. i get how first summit is offensive to their notions of liberty and individual freedoms, that i think it has to be counterbalanced with the more collective need to eliminate this covid-19 virus. host: what show did you see? guest: ain't too proud. host: how was it? guest: the musical show their life and the life of the group, and it was really good. host: david, ohio, independent.

good morning. caller: top of the morning to you. what i would like to talk about is something that you have addressed a little bit earlier about illegal immigration. there was a new election in honduras that basically put a woman in office, i hope that this country basically will support her, and what i mean by that is that in 2009, the president in honduras was taken over by a coup supported by the american cia that put hernandez in office, which turned the country into a narco state. the reason we have the vans coming up here from honduras, guatemala, and el salvador is bent on that. there is one thing in congress that i hope you will vote for,

the human rights act on honduras which basically stops all of our aid to honduras to support the police and the elite military, which have gone on to make human rights violations with impunity. this is absolutely ridiculous. the last thing that i really want to bring up is you have, in congress, right now a budget, a 776 billion dollars for the armed forces, and it seems to me that we are outstanding -- outspending the next 11 countries combined. we are not getting our money's worth. guest: two questions and i will take them as briefly as i can. i traveled with speaker pelosi and a number of other members in congress to a central america -- two central america just before

the pandemic looking at the causes of migration, what is pushing and compelling people to come, extra additional mixed conduct and killings are certainly a part of it. much of that conducted by officials, so we do definitely have to get after that, we have to get after the lack of employment and educational opportunities and, of course drug cartel activities. vice president harris has been given that portfolio. she visited the region as well. for a small investment, whether it is supporting the independent judiciary, or addressing police corruption, or trying to incubate micro businesses in that region, i think a small investment will go a long way to improve the quality of life in those countries and to reducing migration certainly, involuntary migration. i'm to go to the second part of your question, the large defense budget.

keep in mind that i know all that often that the united states spends more on defense in the next seven countries. knight estates does with no other country does. we have an expeditionary force that is worldwide. we are 5% of the world's population but we generate 20 to 25% of the commerce, gdp and economic activity. what does that mean? we rely on lot -- a lot on markets around the world and products around the world to support the quality of life in our country, so we need a navy that keeps the oceans and seas open for freedom of navigation. there is no other nation that you can do that. pirates offer -- operate off the coast of africa unless the united states navy is there. china encroaches in the south china sea and tries to impede commerce and such a large percentage of commerce goes through the south china sea, unless the u.s. navy's presence. the same could be said of our

air force and army around the world. it is expensive having an expeditionary force around the globe. we also do our very best to make sure that our men and women in uniform have good pay, great health care, good military housing in the same cannot be said for militaries around the world. there is a reason we spend what we do, but i agree with you, we have to make sure that we are transparent and accountable and efficient. the dod has not passed an audit ever, and they completed their first audit three years ago and we are giving them a number of years to come online, that is a good step, holding the dod accountable for it spending and that is the responsibility of the members of congress, the house armed service committee and the senate of armed services committee and the oversight committee to make sure that the taxpayers are getting a good return on their defense dollars and all federal dollars that are spent.

host: in alabama, jamie, republican. good morning. caller: i have a comment to mr. brown. i cannot understand the separation of the country. i mentioned -- he mentioned earlier the black and the brown. to me, i think the black and the brown is trying to do away with a lot of people, and all you all are doing is you know -- dividing the united states more and more all the time. that is all i have to say to him. guest: thank you for the comments. i think you and i see things differently. i go back to the founding of this country and this is a great nation. and it was founded on a document

that treated me as only 3/5 of a person, right? and we were a country that was at civil war because of the difference between black and white, and black people's desire to enjoy the human rights of freedom, free of slavery. we have a civil war that almost tore the country apart and in many ways it did but we are resilient and a country today. we went through three construction and jim crow laws. you hear black and brown people say we want equity and fairness, that is not saying we want to somehow deprive white people of anything, what we are saying is, and i talked about the uniform code of military justice. black and brown service members are 43% of the men and women of uniform but they represent a higher percentage of the men and women in uniform prosecuted for crimes.

you know, and so this is what we are talking about with equity and fairness in treatment. i know during the show we talked about military justice but the same could be said about the criminal justice system, labor market, educational and health care disparities. this is not a zero-sum proposition where improvements for black and brown people, at the expense of white people. this is a great country, it is a vast country with ample resources. there is not a limited pie, there are opportunities for all of us to enjoy the prosperity and freedoms, the liberties of this country, and as people who've been denied that call out for that, i would just ask that you view that not as an attack on white people, but as a quest for freedom, equity, and equality. host: congressman anthony brown, democrats from maryland, a

member of the armed services committee and transportation and infrastructure committee in congress. we always appreciate your time. guest: thank you, take care. host: up next we will be joined by a former president trump omb director to talk about his new group the center for renewing america. and big changes coming to the national flood insurance program and we will take a closer look with chad berginnis with the associate of state floodplain managers. we will be right back. ♪ >> weekends on c-span2 are in intellectual fees. every saturday you will find events and people that form our nation's past. on sundays, book tv brings you the latest on nonfiction books and authors.

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video coverage of the biggest political events from live streams of the house and senate floor. to white house events ends supreme court -- and supreme court opening arguments and even "washington journal." download the app for free today. >> "washington journal" continues. host: a conversation on the role that parents play in their children's education. explain first what the center's mission is and how you got involved. guest: thank you for having me on. the center for renewing america and what we are trying to do is regain a consensus that i think we have lost about what keeps us as a country and a nation. our mission is to rinse store -- to restore a consensus that we are a nation under god and our

enjoyment of liber ash liberty and freedom is from just laws. it is a corrective in some respects based on how we have understood ourselves, especially for those on the right. we think we have been too secular, imperialistic and individualistic, so we have not thought on the cultural issues that have been prevalent so the probe is the foundation has been weak, and we look at a situation in virginia where parents have risen up and said we do not want critical race theory training taught in our schools, we do not want transgender ideology that is taking over to be taught in our schools, and they are standing up and saying we want to have a different result in a different type of curriculum and we are here to support efforts like that and have the agenda setting process in washington, d.c. lean into those issues in a way that the republican party has not for many decades. host: americarenewing.com is the

website for the center. we have until the top of the hour to talk about the issues. the phone lines are split. republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002. much of the debate here centered around who determines school curriculums, how much of a veto parent should have over the curriculums. in your view, what is the right balance? guest: the right balance is for parents to be incredibly involved to the extent that they are able to be responsible for their -- for the schooling of their students, whether that is in a home school setting or in a private school setting. the same principle should apply in a public school setting. it is important for school systems and districts to be able to have a lot of parental involvement in the debate in virginia was coming down to that where you had the former

governor articulate that he did not want parents being involved in the curriculum and that is something that we need to change and change across the country in ensuring that there is transparency, not just transparency but a difference of opinion that parents have the ability to say these are concepts that we are just not going to either allow the school district to be teaching, or it is not age-appropriate for where they are as the student at that level. host: "it is not just virginia, education and critical race theory on the ballot across the united states in 2022." your view on what this means for the midterm elections? guest: i think it will be a central issue. critical race theory, as it manifests in schools, for parents are increasingly waking up to it. they saw it as they were monitoring the zoom sessions. they see that -- vestiges of it in their own employment and they know it is there. i think this will be something

that plays into a number of elections across the country and in general, cultural issues will dominate because the administration is very aggressive on these issues. and, state governments are as well. you see people and school boards that are resistant to parental involvement at the school board meetings and that just inflames people to be more involved in the political system. you have a department of justice who says we will treat these people as domestic terrorism. what impact does it does? it ensures that people realizes that they are over the target and what they are fighting for is so critical to their kids' education and long-term development that they will stay the course. host: the administration argued when that issue had been brought up, the fda -- the fbi and the justice department's role is concerned about threats to educators, how should -- how

should they treat that issue? guest: these educators have local police departments that are protecting the local populations, and there has been no evidence of actual violence against schoolteachers. when the school board association that sent a letter to the department of justice and had a long list of evidence that they thought supported their claim, and all of it was baseless. none of it was something that a local police officer or police department would not handle. this is an effort to scare parents from being a part of the political process and i do not think it will serve the purposes of what it was intended to. host: what is your view on covid mandates? guest: i do not think there should be covid mandates in schools or anywhere else in this country. i commend the governor of florida for taking steps to make sure that covid mandates are not a part of their system.

i hope that additional governors take steps along that path. it is critical that our schools remain open, that our kids can go to school and be able to receive the education. we probably lost an entire year and a half for development. you think about that, for watts. for no reason given the fact that covid does not impact kids at that age. so, very troubling. we have a medical establishment that takes great risk on behalf of the people that they are meant to protect, often not relying on the science in making these critical decisions. host: americarenewing.com, the website for the center for renewing america. our guest is with us until the top of the hour. let us talk about that. plenty of calls. brad in kentucky is up first, an

independent. good morning. caller: i would just like to second the gentleman on there should not be covid mandates anywhere in this country. but as far as our schools go, there is a bigger problem besides the crt thing or whatever, which i have yet to determine is -- if it is an issue, i suppose it is. there is a bigger issue going on where we have deflated the teaching spirit of our nation's teachers. if you talk to teachers or if you have anybody -- these are some of the saddest people you can talk to because we have ruined the school life for them and they -- and we are doing this for the kids with covid. everybody knows that, and we know what is happening, we can

see it happening. we do not understand the hurt we are doing to our kids. there is an article in a kentucky paper talking for example, this is not kids but it goes with what we are talking about, of an adult learning center that had to cut back on the days that it served the community because of covid. so, one of the parents was talking about how their developmentally disabled adult that was their child had regressed and they had once been verbal, and because of these days canceled that they were not attending this learning center or whatever that the individual will regress from being verbal to nonverbal. ok, and that is a good representation. that hurts to even think of, but we are doing this to our nation's kids.

guest: i think that covid has had a tremendous impact on our society, and that we are still reeling from many of the policies that were put in place that do not encourage people to live their life and take the precautions that they need to on an individual basis and a family basis, to the extent that there are lockdown policies or locked down like policies that are still prevalent, that is a problem and something that our center exists to push back on these things and encourage people to live their life and take adequate precautions, but to be able to push past this and be able to get people back into the workforce and schools, and bring back the joy of teaching or whatever the particular work that someone does. not back into play. host: california, democrat. good morning.

caller: i want to first state about the last caller's and your commentary back to him. it is not individual liberty to not take the vaccine, or to close schools during covid, it was a collective act to save us. i have as much right to be protected and there are many acts that we do like that to protect each other and come together. as far as critical race theory in school, i am sorry to say that it is not taught in elementary school and not in high school. it was a curriculum that was made for specifically law schools to teach their law students about how race and affirmative action are different -- and different things are represented by black and brown

people, mostly black people to set policies for how we move forward to make equality and justice. yes, i agree, i live in the bay area and many school boards get lively around discussions about how we should teach our kids and what curriculum should. first and foremost let me explain something to you. the first americans are late of -- our native americans and the curriculum should be taught about the genocide that happened. i am sorry if more anglo-saxon and white people feel that every time we ask to be represented in a book or have our stories and our histories told as either lack and brown people -- black or brown people, white people feel offended and cannot handle the truth. host: you bring up a lot of issues. guest: let me take a crack of

the central argument that you made which is that this is not being taught in the school and emanated from the law school. it started in the law schools in the sense that there is a view that racism is embedded in the minds of the critical race theory into the law and the law cannot be colorblind because it up self upholds white supremacy. and that is a rejection of the civil rights movement, which was purporting to move towards a colorblind society. so, that is where it started. where it had begun to be a paradigm to allow teachers to be able to think through and have all of the curriculum based on this. we see that with third-graders being asked to plot themselves on the oppression matrix, or high schoolers being taught that they need to rank their privilege. that is what we are opposed to. when we say we are opposed to critical race theory, we are not articulating that some classes replace social studies, what we

are saying is we are opposed to the concept that say that one race is in harriet lee more superior than inherently more superior than the other or more responsible for the ill that we see in society, or the country itself, public education is meant to provide a basis for strong civic engagement, the country itself is inherently racist when we know that the declaration of independence set the broad trajectory of dignity for this country. so, that is why we argue that this is in the schools. and then you see the department school system in detroit say absolutely critical race theory is being used. it is in the schools, parents know that it is in the schools and it has an undistinguished history that emanates in legal schools and universities across the country and that is one of the reasons we are trying to make sure that it is not taught. host: from the online

conversation on twitter. on this issue of crt. elaine saying "i took a required state class and crt was there. i got a lesson in my own bigotry . i do not mind being where dust made aware of stuff but no one has the right to tell me i have to retrain my brain. preconceived notions are not necessarily racial." "what people are calling crt is just civil rights. it is not being talk it." -- taught in schools or you can call and like bob did from columbus, ohio. good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. caller: a quick comment. are you there? host: yes. caller: critical race theory is a made up issue designed to stir people's emotions and challenge their common sense. it is not being taught, per se,

anywhere in grades k-12. as a matter of fact the state of texas not too long ago had high school history textbooks that referenced african slaves as guestworkers. we need to be teaching history as to what actually happened. i am well past 60, and what i learned in school and what i found out later on were quite different, and we should just be teaching -- teaching what actually happened. guest: let me find some commonality with the very last thing he said, let us have a real history that teaches about what happened. when i grew up i learned about civil rights and i learned about the history that led to our civil war and about our founding documents and what our country was built and intended for and the fact that it is the greatest country that the world has ever seen because of the freedom it was founded upon. i am all for teaching history and ensuring that our curriculum

shows the strong points of our country and where we have struggled. and so i think that should be a part of the curriculum, and in the bills that have been moving in state legislatures have in fact allowed for that. all they are doing is prohibiting the types of concepts that i mentioned on the previous caller. host: about 10 minutes left. if you want to call in on the issues, the phone lines are split by republic by political party. he has a president for the center for renewing america. if i can draw on your experience for a second as budget director during the trump administration. we saw another continuing lezz -- resolution pass last week in the wake of a previous continuing resolution. what does this mean from a budgeting protect -- perspective for federal agencies, how are they able to plan ahead when they do these things just a couple of months at a time. guest: the budgeting process is

completely broken. congress does not budget, the administration continues to budget but congress largely ignores what they sent to the hill. the budget committees do not choose documents, the appropriations committees get jammed and either pass a continuing resolution or a massive bill that no one has ever read. it is incredibly broken, and the continuing resolution is something that is hard for agencies to plan on, but it is an annual per appropriations process. my view is that the challenges that it has allowed for the system to break down in a way that we do not have any real oversight over the agencies and that the individual appropriations bill and allowed with a lot of amendments in consideration and debate on the floor of the house and the senate. none of that exist anymore because the members do not want to take tough votes in the leadership in particular wants

to protect them for that -- from that. it is a real problem and we see it with the ongoing cr's and it is an unfortunate state of affairs, and i do not think it will change until the members themselves demand that we go back to the way that the system was meant to work with budgeting, and passing laws under regular order. host: when was the last time a full budget was passed under regular order? guest: i do not have a date for you, but it has been several years. i think that congress is a behavior shaping institution, and if it is not recent it is like it never happened. the challenge is that as members go through congress they do not have any experience about what an open amendment process is or how big a deal it was to pass the party budget and not just kind of passed a resolution under unanimous consent. we are talking about spending a week on the main budget with

alternatives and in -- and 10 year span plans. that is what the budgeting process was meant to be. host: other than doing it the way it was supposed to be done, what incentives could there be to get members to go back to regular order? guest: i think that as inflation continues to be a concern, and the fiscal situation in the country is deteriorating, as we get out of covid and have to take significant steps to deal with the pandemic and the shock. i think there will be efforts as a result of that to focus on ways to get a handle on spending. that is what the political class always responds to. what is the bond market doing and what is happening in inflation, and that generally leads to bipartisan government looking at these and that is my hope that we see more of that. host: before we leave the budgeting issue, the u.s. debt according to the clock is

currently $29 trillion and counting. a question we always ask is how much debt is too much? guest: i think we have too much and the problem is that you are always the world's reserve currency until you are not. you're never in a problem until you are. that is a challenge with all these fiscal matters, we do not have a clear sense of what is the moment in which you create a real precrisis. the warning signs are starting to take off in terms of inflation, and i think that is what cause or should causes serious statement -- statement to take a look and say do we have the type of flexibility to deal with emergencies that we've saw. we have significant emergencies like the pandemic and economic shot -- shock that we had to respond to and we will have emergencies like that in the future and it is important to

have an economy and fiscal foundation that is strong when we meet those and it is not to the breaking points. host: let me try to give you as many calls as we can. doug in florida, the line for democrats. you are on. caller: yes. i would like to say good morning, and america and ask him a question. actually 2, 1, exactly where in america is crt being taught right now, today, and two, we are not going to go back to where we were 30 years ago when some states were only teaching creationism in school, but when those kids got to college and other states they were looked at as a government because i had never been taught the other theory. so, what do you say? guest: it is being taught and i

will give you example. loudoun county is paying for a consultants to be able to develop a curriculum based on critical race theory. i mentioned the oppression matrix in cupertino. on and on, you will find evidence of this. and people in my own neighborhood and said i appreciate what you are doing. i see this in our school systems and i hear the way they are being taught about it from my kids, and i am opposed to it. that is what we reject and something -- a ban like that does not mean that you cannot teach history and like i mentioned to previous callers, teach it accurately and ensure that people have both the good end the bad of this country. host: kyle, buffalo, new york. republican. good morning. caller: i do agree with the gentleman for the most part on

the topics that they have been talking about. we in buffalo see out just call it clri, and the point of it is a two -- the point of it is to include different cultural topics within the curriculum, including and especially the african-american side story. a lot of the times you are talking about different type of topics and it only comes from the white side. the point of it is to bring some type of black person into the topic whether it be scientists during the industrial revolution. just bring out the part about the industrial revolution, i am sure there were plenty of black people that did stuff in the time period that are not mentioned and that is the whole point. i do not know what other states are doing. but that leads me back to the question of why do we have the

federal department of education if each state can do what they want to? that doesn't seem to be logical, because if each state has their own rights, why do we need the department of education? i will take your response off of the air. guest: so, i would agree with you. i do not know why we need a department of education and your question presupposes that the problems at the department of education has in our education system. education should be a local level and parents should be intimately involved to the extent that parents have a hard enough time getting a say in loudoun county and expect that they will have an opportunity to sway the department of education, and what the challenges we are facing is that there are so many federal dollars flowing that it is almost impossible for the department of education not to have too much of a say to what

local education curriculums look like and it makes it easier for this types of ideology that the american people can broadly reject. we saw them broadly reject it in virginia and i am sure that it will be broadly rejected on a national level. when you have a department of education with intimate ties to many of these critical race theory networks, teachers, and terrorists, we have a big problem -- theories, we have a problem. i agree with an aspect of your question. we need to have a significant debate on whether we need a department of education that is pushing critical race theory into local school districts. host: how much have you learned going back and looking at the november election about how much actual impact that this had on the final numbers at the ballot box? guest: it certainly had an impact in terms of people voting on the basis of parental

involvement about whether cultural issues that they are seeing in their community will be dealt with and protected from at the governor's level. from my perspective, this was an opportunity where all of the old tools that they didinvolvement o call someone a racist or a bigot, the tools didn't work because you had these mama bears that new the ground they stood on and what they were defending and that they love people of all colors and races and of those arguments just weren't going to work anymore and i believe that this is one of the number one issues of the virginia election as opposed to just the kind of overreaching aspect of what the left has been pushing with their agenda with what the biden administration has been up to. host: time for one more call -- kansas city? caller: i would claim to be an

independent. what i will say is that all of these things we are talking about have some importance. there is so much divisiveness and so much, in my opinion, just distraction in the conversations in the political arena. all based on distraction. rich against poor, black against white. meanwhile, the rich are only getting richer. the poor are only getting poorer . too many in the middle are steadily falling to the bottom. if we really want to bring about a change in america, we need to wake up, america. right now america is pacified and kept asleep and we need to wake it up. host: i will give you a final minute here. guest: i largely agree with the sentiment. why are our elections so close?

because we lost a consensus on a bipartisan basis about what this country is about and what has made it great and that is one of the reasons we have stepped forward to make sure that we can regain the consensus so that as americans we are not as divided as we have a shared understanding of what we are trying to do in the public policy space. it's important to make sure that we conducted these public policy debates with respect, dignity, treating people as created individuals. we do that not just in articulating that we reject critical race theory for those reasons but how we treat people in that debate. host: russ vought, former omb director, appreciate your time this morning. guest: you bet. thanks. host: coming up later we will talk about the changes to the national flood insurance program.

that conversation with chad berginnis, coming up in about half an hour. until then it's open forum and the time when we turn the phone lines over to you. any public policy, political, or state issue you want to talk about, republicans, go ahead and start calling (202) 748-8000, republicans -- republicans, go ahead and start coming in at (202) 748-8001, democrats (202) 748-8000, an independents (202) 748-8002. start calling in the end we will get to your calls right after the break. ♪

. >> how exactly did america get up to its neck in debt? >> we are striving to provide equal opportunity for all citizens. >> the video documentary competition 2022, students across the country giving us behind-the-scenes looks as they work on their entries. if you are a middle school or high school student, you can join the conversation by entering the c-span studentcam competition, create a five minute to six minute documentary using c-span video clips answering the question how does the federal government impact your life? >> be passionate and express your view, no matter how large or small you think the audience is to receive it.

and know that in the greatest country in the history of the earth, one view matters. >> to all the filmmakers out there, remember that content is king and be as neutral and impartial as possible in your portrayal of both sides of an issue. >> c-span awards $100,000 in total cash prizes and you have a shot at the grand prize of $5,000. entries must be received before january 20 of 2022. competition rules, tutorials, and how to get started, visit our website, studentcam.org. washington unfiltered, c-span in your pocket. download c-span now today. "washington journal" continues. host: time again to turn the reins of the program over to

you, the viewers. it's our open forum. public policy, political, state issues you want to talk about, an update on the schedule on capitol hill, the house will be in at noon today for morning hour. two for legislative business. the senate is in at 10 a.m. eastern this morning and we are expecting a briefing from the white house today with plenty of hearings for you to watch throughout the day. all available to watch through our website, c-span.org. had to our website for our listings throughout this tuesday morning on capitol hill. to your phone calls, want to hear what policy issues and political issues you want to talk about. lonnie, north carolina, democratic line, you are up first. caller: how you doing? good morning. i wanted to say a couple of words about the crt. why is, excuse me, but why is

white people so scared of crt? white people has been villains throughout history. starting with the vikings coming over terrorizing. white people putting chinese people, asian people in concentration camps. they went to africa. hitler's tried to annihilate another race. white people are scared that people in the world is going to find out how rotten they have been throughout history and they are trying to cover up and make themselves look good to. everything that the white race touch is -- touches is disastrous. host: when you say they, do you mean all white people? caller: basically. 82% of white people. they think silence means

consent. when they don't help equality, they are quiet. look at the senate. republicans are quiet. that means consent. you know? i don't know. what are they trying to do? white people have always been like people, man. host: sophia, the bronx. republican, good morning. caller: good morning. it's horrible, this guy, what he said? i always smile when you ask who are the they. that's the word he uses it. anyway, you guys always handle it. it's horrible what he said. i have voted for the first time. but i did not vote for trump the second time. what he said on sunday, what he said last night, the truth, he came back to god. he find god.

he was interviewed by fox on sunday night at 8 p.m.. the host asked him, whatever the question, he always twists it. he said he found jim comey, interrogating, trying to find out my private life and if i didn't find him, i wouldn't be sitting here speaking to you and that's the truth. host: you said you voted for him in 2016, you did not in 2020. would you vote for him in 2024? caller: no, baby. no. i can't. but i forgive him. i prayed for him for good things . last night, the same propaganda machine, newsmax, they were shocked. two of them. one of them was at the white house. spencer, i forgot his name, the

short guy. they asked him the question about things. he said you know, he's a good man. but why he didn't do about the november 4? host: that's sophia. this is don out of texas, good morning. caller: seasons greetings. why do we need a department of anything like defense with this bloated budget? the issue of education, the united states it says is ranked 37th out of 199 countries as far as education standards and our

children meeting those standards. right there in washington, d.c., looking back on the federal acts, everything from 65 education act to, even back to brown versus topeka board of education on up through education, no child left behind and even the every student act. these days. they are not having the outcome for black and brown students, if you would. right there in washington, d.c., the nation's capital. 60% of high school african-americans graduate on time and it's the same for hispanics. same in las vegas, nevada. 60% of the minority groups, if you will, are graduating high school on time and it's a big gap between the asian american communities and washington, d.c.

and the white community and the brown and black communities. we are talking 25% to 35% difference in graduating high school. so, we have these pockets across america where the education, we have these school shootings, 28, 29 school shootings so far this year, 2000 21, not to mention pandemic and all those things against mandates to fight the pandemic. are we going to hold up the mantra that education is a gateway to opportunity? and that we have to have all our children apply their skills and knowledge to move into the 21st century? host: plenty more calls to go in this half-hour here of our open forum. patricia is waiting in temple, georgia. democrat, good morning. caller: good morning, yes.

i'm sick of this black brown. it's all the poor people. they need to teach the truth in school. white man came over and took the land from the indians. they took the black-and-white people as slavery. i have ancestors that were out there in that cotton field along with the black people picking cotton. it is the poor people that the rich are against. host: to david in texas, republican, good morning. caller: i pretty much agree with everything the fella before the last lady had to say about the education. that the white race is responsible for every bad thing that has happened? i would like to remind them that in 1250 or so to 1370, the mongols of asia under genghis

con and his grandsons captured absolutely all of asia, a good part of eastern europe, parts of sicily and italy. if it hadn't been for the bubonic plague in 1360, there's a pretty good chance we would all be speaking mongolian. genghis khan was a tremendous leader and did some amazing things, including calling the first council of religion to come to his capital and meet and argue about what the best religion was. something that could not have happened in another western society. in any case, then of course you have the muslims after mohammed died in 620, they spread very quickly across north africa. up into spain, they took over literally all of spain. host: that's stephen in texas. we will bring it to 2021 this morning as we talk about the

political and policy issues that are important to you. we mentioned the capitol hill schedule today. we also want to note that what we talked about in the first hour of the program today, that video virtual meeting between president biden and vladimir putin, as tensions continue to increase in ukraine and on the ukrainian border. warnings of troop buildups by the russians on the border of ukraine. that call is expected around lunchtime eastern today. of course, president biden and head of that call on this pearl harbor remembrance day, taking time this morning to head to the national world war ii memorial on the national mall. president biden and the first lady are there, greeting the individuals, paying their respects at the national world war ii memorial. that greeting, that visit to the memorial coming of the day after

the death of the last major party candidate who served in world war ii, major party presidential candidate, bob dole , who died on sunday, now expected to be laid in state at the u.s. capitol later this week . those plans are still coming together and of course watch c-span later this week for that coverage. the president and the first lady there, on the issue a bob dole, several major papers today running this op-ed written by bob dole and it was drafted earlier this year, set to be published around the time of his death with several papers carrying it today. that bob dole column saying in part that many nights during my time as majority leader in the senate i would step out of my office balcony overlooking the national mall and be reminded of what made my journey possible,

monuments to the nation in chief, the author of the declaration of independence and the president who held up the union during the civil war. in the distance where the graves of those who gave their lives so that we could live free. the inspiring view came back to me as i watched the riots at the capital. i imagined the view of the monuments and headstones obscured by clouds of tear gas and the symbol of our democracy consumed by anger, hatred, and violence. 4 host: the words a bob dole written in that column before his death. he died sunday at the age of 98.

carey, democratic line, good morning. caller: how are you? host: doing well. caller: a couple of things i would like to discuss this morning. first, we are celebrating the anniversary of the attack on harbert and for that reason i would like to ask everyone to put aside any bitterness they have about our leaders, about political parties, and just take today and reflect on what happened to us. we did not want to enter the war, but we were forced to do it . we lost men and women of every race and every color and we should honor those people today, if we do nothing else. also, regarding bob dole, i respected him and i thought he was one of the great leaders of the senate. i thought he worked across the aisle and he is probably one of the last people who had the

dignity that we no longer see in many members of the house and the senate. the bickering, the lack of professionalism, the lack of trying to work across the aisle to actually get things done instead of criticizing, criticizing, criticizing. finally, i would like to talk a little bit about critical race theory and let's say let's just take that name away and just teach the truth about america. there are some good things in america about our history and some very bad about america. many countries share that same good and bad, but we cannot cover up the bad, just like we don't want to cover up the good. we need to talk about everything and make sure our children understand what happened and why it happened and let them make their own decisions. that's all i have to say and everyone have a great day. thank you very much. goodbye. host: michelle, staten island,

independent, good morning. caller: i just want to say, i know this is open forum, to me the most important thing we should all be talking about right now is the john lewis voting rights. without that bill, everything else is nil and makes no sense. i called on the independent line. i was democrat. i had to switch because we have everything and yet we have nothing. i know he is trying hard to pass -- host: to pass what? i think we lost the call. chris, maryland, republican line, good morning. caller: good morning, hello. two things. one, the military i think, we have issues with our military. i think that we need to fund them, fully fund them.

i think that our constitution mandates that that is probably our first priority when it comes to the money from the public. that is the basis of the constitution. they are not fully funded. and with chinese looking to find a port on the atlantic and i'm not so concerned with russia, but it certainly is aggravating that they just don't take the current administration seriously. i don't think any type of diplomacy will work with them. i think many callers have called into mentioned that. last, i have an 11-year-old daughter in public school in washington, d.c., and my comment on critical race theory is that, is that i do think there is a progressive agenda and that there is a backlash against it. especially in cities that are

far left, d.c. included. something should be taught in the home. i understand teaching the scope of american history but there is a trend pushing to the left among app -- among applicant mx -- among academics. youngkin tapped into that in virginia. teaching children in the elementary age about lgbtq celebration, i think it's coming up in june, the d.c. public schools has lgbtq celebrations scheduled for june and it's at the elementary level. i have problems with that. i think that is something that should be taught in the home and left to the parents to discuss. if they want to teach that sort of thing in the public school, high school level, sixth grade, seventh grade and beyond, but at the elementary level? no, that's inappropriate. plenty of people agree with

that. that is why people struggle with wanting to leave the public system and go to parochial or private school systems. last, if i would, back to the military quickly. i think the draft should be reinitiated. both male and female and i think there should be mandatory service. i think that would go a long way in bringing the best quality people into the military, government, and easing the, the infighting going on between the left in the right. i think the military is a great leveler, it's an even playing field for everybody. if there is one. and i think that everybody, many countries around the world, everybody does their three years, two years, four years of service and then back to the private sector. i think that would go along way. anyway, thank you for taking my call. host: hattie, houston,

democratic line, good morning. go ahead. caller: first of all, i would like to, you know, with them, they were very kind. my husband was a military man. i was just wondering, why is it that, you know, he served his country very well and everything and everybody should be treated equally. now i'm very, very disturbed the way that a lot of the democrat, the, the republican and the democrat, they need to work together. because we have a very, very bad position right now. the virus, we have so much. the people have lost their jobs,

their homes, and every thing else there. really, the republicans, i heard them. all of those poor people there, they just want tax cuts for the rich and everything else. this is not right. i'm a white, indian, and black dissent. my black granddaddy was, and a white man, and a grandmother who was a cherokee indian. and my granddaddy was a black man. i'm into this. i have very good friends. like i'm saying, like my granddaddy. host: that's hattie in houston, texas. a few minutes left in the open forum. you can continue to call in on the phone lines. as usual, republicans, democrats, independents.

yesterday we found out that devon nunez plans to leave his seat in congress at the end of this month and become ceo of a new media company founded by former president donald trump. 2002, he was reelected last year for a 10th term. if the gop took back the house majority, the congressman would be in line to chair the house ways and means committee. by stepping down he would potentially be giving up what is considered the most powerful committee gavel. early drafts of the next congressional mapping california put him in a less republican district in the fresno area, one that backed up a bite and by nine points in the 2020 election . before the announcement on monday, republicans were watching to see if the congressman would switch to a new seat that was safer for his party, potentially pitting him against a republican colleague. that is all from "the washington

post," reporting. william is next out of smithville, tennessee. independent, good morning. caller: this is william. my whole family used to be for the democratic party and in the last two years they changed to republicans. i don't know what they're thinking is. stop the pipeline. higher taxes. i don't understand their thinking on america. i hope everyone else kind of sees the way i do, but they may not. it's just hard for me to understand the democratic platform. that's about all i got to say. host: ron, kentucky, good morning.

caller: thank you for taking my call and c-span thank you for the forum allowing citizens to express their thoughts. first of all, if we would turn our hearts back to god, putting god first, that would cure a lot of bills. secondly, this is the greatest country that has ever been. folks, government is not the answer. the answer is to be the best version of yourself you can be through education and hard work. government can't cure everything. government was never meant to. so, if we can work hard, improve our own selves, love god with all our hearts, love our neighbors as ourselves, maybe we can change our country around and be what we want to be. you can't make someone treat you fairly. you can't make someone give you something. you have to work hard and go as

far as your talent and god-given ability will take you. that's about all of got to say. thank you, c-span. host: that was ron in kentucky. roseann has been waiting. caller: i'm going to try to pack this in as fast as i can. that budget director you had on, the man who worked for president trump, popular vote, popular vote, the number of people in the country, elections are not close. as far as the budget, i called in a month ago and responded to representative keller. the $8 trillion debt that president trump ran up, his only response to me was that the money hasn't been spent yet. well, where is the money? no one is saying where is it? where is it at this point? when you are worried about money for stimulus to help the people

and money for rebuilding the roads? that's less than what president trump ran up in national debt. the third thing i wanted to say is yes, he should be teaching critical race because you cannot progress as a nation and care about each other unless you go back in history and see the mistakes that we've made. we can't just put that under the rug and forget about it like it never happened. people are still suffering because of what happened before and we need to address that. and we need to get on with making this a better nation. thank you so much for taking my call. host: last caller in open forum there. stick around, big changes ahead for the national flood insurance program and we will take a look at what those are with chad berginnis of the association of state floodplain managers. we will be right back.

>> many people don't want to believe that the citizens of the southern states were willing to write and die to preserve the road -- morally repugnant institution of slavery. there has to be other ids -- another reason, we are told. well, there isn't. overwhelmingly it was by a wide more -- wide margin slavery was the most important reason for the civil war. these are the words and opinions of thai sigil, who taught at west point for two decades. he lays out his views in his book "robert e. lee and me," a southerners reckoning with the myth of the lost cause. >> the book notes podcast, wherever you get your podcasts.

>> at least six presidents reported conversations in office and hear those conversations in our new podcast, presidential recordings. >> season one focuses on lyndon johnson in you will hear about the 1964 presidential campaign, the gulf of tonkin incident, the march on selma, in the war in vietnam. not everyone knew they were being ordered. >> certainly his secretary's new, they were tasked with -- new it, they were --kknew, they were the ones who made sure that the conversations were taped as he would signal to them. >> you will hear from some blunt talkers. >> i want the number of people who were assigned to kennedy the number, the number the day he died and the number assigned to me. if i hand ever go to the bathroom, i promise you i won't

go anywhere. i'll stay right behind. >> presidential recordings, find it on the c-span now mobile app or wherever you get your podcasts. >> a new mobile video app from c-span, c-span now. download today. "washington journal" continues. host: turning out to the topic of the national flood insurance program, our guest is chad berginnis. before we get into the mechanics of the flood insurance program, explained to us who your group is made up of and what your mission is. guest: absolutely, thank you for having me. the association is part of a national nonprofit organization with the mission of reducing flood risk in the nation and recognizing that national --

natural functions of floodplains. our nearly 7000 members are primarily comprised of local and state officials but also private sector consulting engineers, mappers, mitigation folks, and we are all working to try to have a more resilient future. host: a mission to reduce flood risk. is the mission getting harder as we move into the future? guest: it is getting harder. flood risk is increasing. from the 1990's the average annual loss has nearly doubled from about $5.5 billion per year in the 1990's to nearly $20 billion per year in the last decade. host: are the flood risks increasing because more people are moving to areas where there is already flood risk or because more areas are at risk in a time

of climate change? guest: i think the answer is yes to both. i was speaking to a gentleman earlier who said they bought flood insurance for the first time but that the view of the river is killer and the reality is that we are drawn to water, as human beings. we want to congregate near it, settle near it, purchase homes and businesses near it. at this i'm time we have climate change driving several flood related risks higher. whether it is extreme precipitation in land or increased sealevel level rise or stronger hurricanes. host: background on national flood insurance, it purchases flood policies for americans and they are currently provided to the tune of 1.3 trillion dollars, at least that's the coverage as of october of last

year, developing to implement floodplains standards in the country. what is the current status of the program, both its fiscal and legislative status? guest: nf ip is a really important program for the country as it divides sustained and sustainable availability of flood insurance but it has led to the adoption of minimum land use standards for communities across the nation. 20,000 communities there. today we find that nf ip is $20 billion in debt, largely due to pricing of the flood insurance product, but also in terms of legislative status, nf ip is also up for reauthorization. now, the continuing resolution just passed by congress extends the program through february 18 of 2022 but there are

legislative proposals right now looking at doing some reforms to the program. host: phone lines for the segment to join the conversation as we talk about flood risk and flood insurance, split up regionally this morning. (202) 748-8000 if you are the eastern or central time zones, (202) 748-8001 if you live in the mountain or pacific time zones. a special line for those who live in flood risk areas, might have more experience with this program, (202) 748-8002. chad berginnis, why would somebody buy insurance for flood risk is their private flood insurance as well? guest: private insurance is actually a fairly new phenomena, though it has always been somewhat available. the reality is the reason the program came into being is that the private sector thought that flood risk was too risky to

ensure -- insure in the country but some of that has changed as we have improved modeling to better understand where flood risks are, private insurers have begun to enter the market and so, so there are also private flood insurance alternatives in some parts of the country. but the end of five he has been theirs consistently since 1968. regardless of how the private market might ebb and flow, the nf ip will continue to be there. host: is this something that the federal government eventually sees turning over to the private market? this coverage being something regulated through the private sector? or is this something i guess we will find out in the reauthorization process, if the federal government wanted to continue? guest: i would say that in the last 20 years or so there have been voices in congress and elsewhere that perhaps federal

government should get out of the flood insurance business but i would be hard-pressed to see that happen in the near term because the reality is that on the private market have seen private insurers go into the market, come out of the market when losses are too great, and remembering the other benefits, 20,000 communities have local codes that help to protect against flooding now. nf ip produces some of the best hazard maps in the world showing flood risk and they have mitigation programs that help to provide resources for app risk in existing buildings to make them more resilient to flooding. host: what happens if the program is not reauthorized? guest: if it's not reauthorized the most immediate impact will be on the real estate market where folks cannot get the necessary flood insurance policies they need and that will be compounded if there isn't a private alternative available

and if it didn't get reauthorized, from a long-term standpoint there would be, you would probably see communities not participating in the program, maybe rescinding regulations. we wouldn't have flood mapping and we wouldn't be contributing resources to mitigate. host: these processes for reauthorization always come at times when congress considers reforms to various programs, so what are the programs being proposed for national flood insurance? guest: every time nfip is up, there are dozens of reforms that can make it through congress that are considered. from the pm point of view there are a number of reforms we are trying to support and one of them includes making sure flood maps continue to be produced robustly and include future conditions. on the floodplain management side we are working on

increasing and improving technical assistance to the program. we also want to see the mitigation parts of the flood insurance program strengthen through the coverage called increased costs of compliance. on the financial solvency of the program we need to restructure it so that we are not incurring these massive amounts of debt and have the nf ip -- nfip financially right sized where the extra debt would no longer be a debt to the program but would actually be paid for by congress in recognition of all the benefits that the nfip provides. host: the association of floodplains managers, their website is easy to remember, floods.org, if you want to check them out. chad berginnis is taking our questions about the national flood insurance program and this effort to reduce the risk and

impact of flooding. a question for you from twitter, this is tony, he wants to know how much flooding is coastal flooding and how much occurs on river lines. tony says it seems to him that's also a function of land and water management. guest: actually both coastal and river rain flooding are a function of land and water management and it is significant in different places. for example, in land the climate change impact, especially of more intense rainfall events, is making a type of flooding, storm water flooding, more significant than we have had before. in coastal areas i like to say you almost have a triple whammy there. again, in addition to heavier rainfall events you have the threat of sea level rise and increased, more intense hurricanes that can drive big storm surges up the coast.

but in both cases, with effective land-use management and building techniques we can do a lot to reduce the risk. host: d is on the phone from okeechobee, florida. good morning. caller: good morning to both of you. i have two comments and i would like to answer -- and to answer one, if i may. the flooding that he's talking about, number one, we turned this country into a cement jungle. the pictures he showed, looking over every piece of flooding and it's on the streets of the country. 7, 8, 9, 10 ways of highways. cities where you can find ablative grass if they paid you to find one. there are not enough lines on the roads, ok? cement does not drink water. that's the biggest problem in these guys never, these so-called scientists, these

brain people, ok, they never mention that. like i said, cement does not drink water like trees do. host: well, let's talk about it. guest: you have put your finger on something important. cement, buildings, rooftops, urbanization really increases the risk of flooding and honestly, from the standpoint of managing flood risk, we have not done a good enough job of managing that kind of flood risk , the urban stormwater flood risk that we are having and that's probably the kind of flood risk we are seeing increased most rapidly right now and a lot of that again is due to the fact we are getting a lot more rainfall over shorter periods of time and you know, when you use to have more grass, forests, tree canopy, that kind of thing, at least it could absorb the water but as you rightly point out, what's happening now on tops and roadways is that stuff

immediately runs off, goes into the rivers and streams and makes the flooding go even higher. from a management standpoint much more robust stormwater measures that are focused on flood volume and water volume, not just water quality. host: brad, georgia, good morning. caller: good morning, i am a member of both. you can explain the difference in terminology, because that is where we really have problems. a firm, a flood insurance rate map, is not a flood impact risk map. so, there are different types of modeling that goes into it. insurance doesn't work the same way as floods work. terms like hundred year flood, 100 year -- like 100 year flood,

we don't do a good job of explaining the risk. you have mentioned the stormwater system. when they do those engineering drawings, it's a flood impact statement. they are not monitoring it to look at the impact on the watershed. so, i hope you will address that. host: before you go, you say you are cfm, what is that? caller: i will let your guest explain. [laughter] guest: it's a certified floodplain manager. that means that brad prepared for and successfully took an exam that confers the title on him with continuing education to make sure that he keeps up with that credential. brad is absolutely right on the mapping. let me ask wayne some of the dimensions of the mapping. i set this earlier. looking at it overall, we have some of the national best sets

of flood maps around. that being said, we have only mapped one third of the coastlines in the country. flood mapping itself only identifies this kind of statistical and unique kind of 100 year flood plane or a 1% chance floodplain and it has a 500 year floodplain on there as well. the reality is we have kinds of -- multiple kinds of floodplains. levee failures, those that operate as they should. what i always advise folks his use of flood map as a beginning -- beginning, not the end. they are to be used to say here is one kind of flood risk we need to be aware about if i am a person interested in buying a

home or that kind of thing, i might call the community. each community has a designated flood plane manager. see if there are historical reports, those kinds of things. brad is absolutely right. we have messed it up by calling them flood insurance rate maps. now with the new program, other than showing where flood insurance is wired, they don't have much of a tie to flood insurance rates anymore. great comment. host: when you say we have this map, we know where they are but you are saying that we don't know where the water goes when it overflows the banks for those rivers and streams? guest: yeah, that's correct. part of this conundrum is really a product of fema not having enough resources to map, to get the job done mapping the country so they had to prioritize resources and what fema had

historically done is map areas with high risk. we are building new subdivisions on small creeks, rivers, and streams without risks. the likelihood is higher if fema has never mapped it. you don't have a mapped flood risk. development occurs, we don't know the flood risk, it encroaches on the floodplain. afterwards, now that there is risk, everyone is mad because fema put a floodplain on them. the flood risk has always been there. but we are doing it all backwards. i think one of the highest priorities we have is to get the job done mapping out risk in this country. host: this is from twitter, how reflective of the actuarial risk is the pricing of federal flood insurance? guest: well we are in a great transition time right now. fema rolled out in october.

i would say that prior to risk rating 2.0, if you just looked at the facts about the program, the kind of speed for the. prior to that, the fit was $20 billion in debt. clearly there was something wrong with the writing. it was a simplified approach that hadn't been updated since the 60's. with 2.0, fema took the best practices of the insurance industry, consulted with used a lot of modeling techniques to come up with a modern rating system that used a lot of variables. to be honest we are still trying to sort out what it means when it comes to the actual ice. instead of writing properties and groups, each property is individually rated based on a number of variables, including things like distance from water or elevation above water or

ground. whether you are in a coastal area or in land. so, on risk rating 2.0, to look at that, we are certainly taking fema at their word that they put a lot of effort and time into that and that the new rating structure should be more sound than the old one. host: gold hill, oregon, darlene, good morning. caller: good morning. the federal government also needs to look at fire insurance in the western united states. many of us here are not able to meet the insurance requirements to have fire insurance with are no longer insuring areas that have had or may have forest fires.

i personally believe the government needs to extend this. guest: to the west coast, to the midwest and east coast, every state and most all communities do have flood risk. i thought that was an insightful comment on fire insurance. going back to one of the earlier russians in terms of foreseeing the need for the federal government to be involved in the nfip, what you just heard was how a fully private hazard

insurance industry works and in fact there are coverage gaps in areas where insurers choose not to write in particular areas. one of the benefits of nfip is to create the insurance availability and we need to crank up the standards to reduce the risk to keep the tie to the nfip to simultaneously make insurance available and also have good floodplain management to reduce risk and have insurance widely available. a great insight. host: how did you get into the world of flood management? [laughter] guest: believe it or not, it was through the national flood insurance program. when i was a sophomore in college at ohio state university, i went to an internship fair, he gentleman pulled me aside and we started talking about flood insurance. i needed an internship but i was scared that i was getting roped

into having to go door to door to sell insurance policies. when this gentleman basically told me about the uniqueness of the nfip and the fact that we would be more -- working more on land use codes to adopt standards and things, it was really intriguing. ever since 1993, when i was an intern at the department of natural resources, i have never looked back. it's just an interesting field and i'm fortunate to have been in it for a while. host: how many states have you worked in, in your various roles? guest: a lot of my career was in ohio, but i was also private sector so i did get to work nationwide in that role. to the comments of one of the previous callers, i remember working and updating the state hazard mitigation plan for the state of idaho, so i really got to get into earthquake and fire

risk. again, each of these hazards most has its own unique science around it that you need to understand to understand that risk management and now i'm here in madison, wisconsin. largely physically in the midwest but i have work nationwide. host: we have just over to the house oversight and reform committee hearing that they are holding this morning by the national security subcommittee on terrorist threats facing the united states. until then, your phone calls. lionel, indian trail, good morning. lionel, are you with us? caller: affected heavily by the floods over the past few years, dating all the way back to katrina. i know that george bush takes a lot of criticism.

one question i have about flood insurance is, what is the size of his nest? host: going to margie, apologize for that. margie, good morning. caller: i'm calling about national flood insurance. 2018, we had a flood at our house, our store, affecting the appliances in the basement. our insurance didn't cover. national flood insurance, i heard from the people that have it, they are picky, we don't cover this and that. very annoying. if you pay insurance premiums every year. we called the county and they said they had to have a certain special to get insurance coverage in the area.

we were left out in the cold and it's not right. ok, thank you. host: what does the national flood insurance program cover and what doesn't it cover? guest: not being an agent or expert, i don't want to get into the specifics of the policy other than to again, i can certainly sympathize with that concern. if you are paying premiums every year, you expect certain things out of your policy. one of the things i would advise everybody to do is take a look at your policy to see the certain coverages and exclusions. john, you had asked earlier about some of the reforms. one of the reforms on the insurance side that we would like to see is that the nfip be on more equal footing with private policies and what we mean by that is increased coverage limits and types to

make sure that if you do have that basement, if you have contents and things like that, baby you can buy it up to ensure that those things are covered, because right now there are limitations on nfip policies and fema needs to have some more flexibility from congress to make sure they can actually provide a policy that meets the expectations of people. nfip -- host: if you want to learn more about the national flood insurance program, floods.org is a good place to go. chad berginnis is the executive director of the association of state floodplain managers. appreciate your time this morning. that will do it for our program today. but now we take you over to capitol hill, where the house oversight and perform subcommittee on national security is already underway with their hearing on terrorist threats confronting the