help support our nonprofit operations. shop now or anytime at c-spanshoporg. download c-span's new mobile app and stay up-to-date with live video coverage of the day's political events from live streams of the house and senate floor and key congressional hearings, and supreme court oral arguments and even our morning problem just morning program " washington journal." c-span now has you covered. download the app for free. >> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back, and we are going to our open forum segment where we want to hear from you on what your most important political topic of the day is. we will open up regular lines meaning republicans,

202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002 and you can always text 202-748-8003 . before we start taking calls we want to point out that just after midnight last night vermont's democratic senator patrick lahey cast his 17,000 vote, becoming the second most senator in history after former senator robert byrd of west virginia. senator lahey, who joined the senate in 1970 five is retiring after the end of his term this year and we want to bring to you that historic vote on the senate floor from yesterday. [video clip] >> madam president. >> the leader is recognized. >> just after the clock stuck -- struck 12:00 we have a number -- a wonderful announcement. senator lahey has cast his 17,000 vote. [laughter] -- [applause]

one more thing, only one more senator strong -- nope. robert c. byrd has cast more votes than senator lahey and the history of the united states. [applause] and so, we will have a two hour recess to celebrate. no we are not. [laughter] >> i thank him for his comments. i will speak further about this next week. i came here as a jr. most member of the senate and i did not expect to be in this position,

but i have had the privilege now of serving slightly over 20% of all of the senators who have served in the history of this country. and, that -- and somewhere very good senators, and all of them were senators. all were senators, somewhere very good. i will speak further about this later in the week and i will not hold everybody up. i appreciate the comment and it has been a privilege serving with all of those hundreds of senators that i have served with. thank you. [end video clip] host: we want to know what your most important political topic is today. let us start with ruth from washington on the democrat line. good morning. caller: hello, sorry i called on the wrong line. i really want to appreciate you

having the homelessness issue on. semi, that is probably the most -- to me, that is the most important issue. we are not dealing with the root cause. i am hearing anything else, we throw all kinds of money at the problem, but we are not solving the root of the problem which is early childhood trauma. virtually every one of those homeless people had early childhood trauma. it changes your brain. addiction, we know from research that addiction and all kinds of mental illness comes from abuse and neglect, and then i would kind of like to know how come we are not talking about that and dealing with it. host: david calling from los angeles, california on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. i am going to stake on this homeless issue. because, some of the things that

i have been listening to and as we have been discussing this, it has to do with an attitude that has been cultivated over a period of time that has actually created a -- this has been at the crux of what america is about, anti-black. right? anything that has to do with trying to -- are you still with me? host: yes. go ahead. caller: anything to do with making black people whole. we come up with a political, economic, military, and other -- every other systematic wise as to support whatever efforts there is for progress, and so what we have here today, for example, like in kansas with its tornado touchdown. these people are made homeless by no fault of their own, right?

but the impetus of the government is already such where those people who have been made homeless, the governor, a republican conservative fellow along with mitch mcconnell, who always votes no against any kinds of social welfare program to re-build kansas city. the money will be there. it is not a matter of whether or not the money is there, but the will of the people. and i would suggest to everyone, every black person listening to this per dr. program to hear what the hell -- listening to this program to hear the attitude toward something that has such a disastrous effect on our community, what you do not have. this is not our government helping us to kind of alleviate

these problems. host: sheila from massachusetts on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning, and happy holidays to all of you. there is a topic that nobody seems to wants to broach. and it might not be the top topic. however, i am very concerned at this idea that transgenders are being allowed to compete in women's sports. this needs to be addressed. otherwise women will have no chance at surviving in the sporting world and other worlds. it is pathetic that people are afraid to address this problem. men do not belong in women's sports, and i do not care how much gene therapy they have not had or whatnot, but this is wrong, and i want to know where all of the feminists and women

who support women's issues are hiding. host: let us go to linda from connecticut on the democrat line. linda, good morning. caller: good morning, happy holidays to everyone. i want to first, as a woman and as a black woman, let you know that those things dealing from pregnancy on, there are so many women of color, all different backgrounds that have come to the u.s. looking and seeking a better life and, those that are born in the u.s. who have tried to work with different programs, both from a racial perspective, an injustice perspective that lead into all of these domestic violence issues and things that

you know, from growing up as a child as one of the women said, there are traumatic things that have happened. males and females, and you cannot blame mother, father, grandmother, grandfather or anybody else to have not been able to participate in a lot of the programs that have been available and brought into use for urban areas, but all of a sudden that money that has been set aside for education, health care, proper nutrition, those out to the suburban towns and high-class towns where people really do not need those types of things. but, they control the politics and economics. they control the banking system. thank you. host: debbie from sanford, maine on the independent line.

good morning. caller: i am calling about -- hello. i am calling about the homelessness issue. when you look at it and you think about all of these americans on the streets, especially our veterans that die at 22 a day because of suicide, it is like they fought for our freedom, but when you think about 1.2 million illegal immigrants that have come across this border in this past year, where are they laying their heads at night? they are going to host cities, they are getting dispersed in the dead of night to host cities. and host families, and sanctuary cities and we are spending more on illegal immigrants. i have no problem with immigrants coming in legally, but it is so sad to think that all of these americans are on the street through no fault of their own, some of them may be, but it is not for us to judge,

but take care of our own american people, especially veterans. host: james from pennsylvania on the republican line. good morning. caller: hello. my name is james, i am glad to be able to call. my problem is i need my drivers license, and i need help getting it. i have done everything i could to get it. but the system seems to be against me. and i just do not know what to problem. nobody was to deal with it. host: i would suggest by -- i would suggest art by calling your mayor or local county

member. if you don't get help from them, start with your state senators. if you don't get help from them, move to your congressman and senators. there should be who helped get your drivers license. let's go to brian calling on the democrat line. caller: are we life? -- are we live? host: are you there? go ahead, brian. caller: number one question, what happened to steve berg. host: what do you mean what happened to steve berg? caller: isn't td director of homelessness? host: his section has ended. caller: can i ask another question?

i was in washington, d.c. in the summer of 1994. i was with one of my brothers. we were just walking around and egos, brian, look at that -- and he goes, brian, look at that. there were homeless underneath the bridge. in downtown washington, d.c. host: let's move to ty calling from south carolina on the independent line. caller: good morning. the most important issue and i don't know how anybody can disagree is the failed coup.

if we lose our democracy, we lose everything. i think we americans are helpless. there are great people in the democratic party. -- spoke of the voter rights and he put it so clearly. the leaders in the democratic party cannot do that so i am independent. i think we are just helpless right now. nancy pelosi, chuck schumer, and those guys, stepped down and let some of those young, good minds get up there that can talk and think on their feet. joe biden is really old. i voted for him because trump was a disaster. i had no choice. he was not my choice.

i pray every day those guys get it together. i hope our voting system is not corrupted towards the next election. if they take away the house, we are in trouble. i think that was the most important issue. that should went over everything as far as joe biden and build back better. we will not be able to build back better if we lose our democracy. host: speaking of the january 6 investigation, there has been a major sentencing that happened in washington, d.c. yesterday for one of the people who participated in the capitol riot. i will bring you that story from the washington post. " a man who watched and cheered the capitol riot and then moved to the front of the mob and hurled a fire extinguisher, a plank, and a pole at officers

was sentenced to more than five years in federal prison, the longest sentence given so far to someone charged in the january 6 attack. robert else palmer -- robert palmer pleaded guilty in october to assaulting law enforcement with a dangerous weapon and agreed to its addicting range of 46 to 57 months. after his plea and his entry into the d.c. jail, palmer arranged to make an online fundraising plea in which he said he did go on the defense and throw a fire extinguisher at the police after being shot with rubber bullets and tear gas. that was a lie, he admitted friday. he had thrown a fire extinguisher twice, a large plank, and a pole at police before he was struck with a rubber bullet. he also had failure to accept responsibility for his actions.

wendy u.s. district judge agreed, she increased his sentencing range from 63 to 78 months. that is from the -- from 63 to 78 months." that is from the washington post , the longest sentence in the january 6 riot so far. we want to know what your most important political topic is. let's go to jack calling from texas on the independent line. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. you were talking about the homeless earlier. why would somebody open the border and let millions of homeless into a country that has

a homeless problem? it seems like they have no idea what they are doing or they are doing something that will benefit them. that is democrats. thank you for taking my call. host: let's go to percy calling from los angeles, california on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. one of the issues that has come up in regards to the congressional districts that has to be removed from california is the largest voting hispanic district in the u.s. is the one being disqualified and the issue being why is it if minorities start to gain political power they are disenfranchised? it is like giving them the catlike with the engine that does not work, the roof that leaks. why are minorities always the subjects of the problems that

occur once they start to acquire political power? they are disenfranchised. thank you for taking my call. host: let's go to paul let calling from florida on the democrat line. good morning. caller: hi, good morning. it is almost my 20th anniversary went -- anniversary when i was on with the bad election with brian lamb. i have so many issues with our country. i'm still trying to understand why the january 6 folks thought it was okay to disrupt our capital like they did -- our capitol building like they did. i am trying to get those trump ateers to explain why they think it was okay.

-- host: let's go to peter who is calling from pennsylvania on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. i have a bachelors degree in political science and at the risk of over symbolizing things -- over simplifying things, somebody wanted to know why we are called the republic. if you check the pledge of allegiance, you will get a clue. as a pluralistic society with interest groups with needs and wants, has anybody ever heard of the program abc, a better chance? host: let's go to jodi calling on the democrat line.

good morning. caller: i have four basic questions. the first is the government needs to get out of household affairs. second, we have too much systemic racism in every individual city. it is empowering white supremacy and all of these negative people who have a blanket of collectivism over our minority people. then, we have another issue with transgender's. it is okay to say to give these people rights. at the same time, you have not acknowledged the rights of black people being murdered in the streets. i honestly believe corona is, organized removal of native americans signed by trump. you need to do something about

that. host: let's go to brian calling from folsom, pennsylvania on the republican line. caller: good morning to you. i saw something in the news yesterday regarding new york city not allowing new construction. natural gas is pretty much going to be eliminated in the city of new york for heating and cooking and things like that. i do believe, and hope america is listening, this is very dangerous. they left climate change activists are very dangerous because natural gas is a great element to heat our homes, to

cook with. if we go to all electricity, people in new york remember the blackouts in the 60's. it could be catastrophic. the only battle to help that would be to have large generators. those generators probably will have to run on natural gas. we have to fight from the middle left. the far left is gone but we cannot continue to have this climate activism taking over our country. host: let's go to mary calling from michigan on the independent line. mary, are you there? let's go to bronson calling from pueblo, colorado on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning, america. i am a disabled veteran, served

during the vietnam war. born in mexico. i crossed the border to defend this country. my take issue with people using coming across the border as a scapegoat. the covid virus they blame it on hoppers. hoppers are people who hop on airplanes and travel all over the world. they are the ones that are spreading the virus. we forget about the black plague . it was the disease in europe that killed billions of people. we forget about the europeans

bringing the measles to the native americans. 90% of the american indians died from diseases brought by the europeans. don't be blooming for scapegoats. don't make -- don't be blaming. scapegoats. . host: we would like to thank all of our callers who called in for our open forum segment. coming up next, beckett graham and susan vollenweider will be here to discuss what is coming up on their podcast and what they are looking for in the new year. stick with us, we will be right back. ♪ >> how did america get up to its neck in debt? >> we believe one of the

greatest things of being american is trying to strive for people -- >> students across the country are giving us behind-the-scenes looks as they work on their entry using the hashtag #s tudentcam. you can join the conversation entering the c-span studentcam conversation. create a five to six minute documentary using c-span video clips and answer the question, how does the federal government impact your life? >> be passionate about what you are discussing and express your view no matter how large or small you think the audience will receive it to be. in the greatest country in the history of the earth, your view does matter. >> content is king. remember to 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 of winning the grand prize of $5,000. entries must be received before generate 20th, 2022. for rules, tutorials, or how to get started, visit our website at studentcam.org. >> the u.s. supreme court took up two cases that could decide the fate of roe v. wade, the landmark ruling on abortion rights. sunday, joshua prager talks about the complicated life and times of jane roe, the person behind the case, the activism, and the impact her actions had on her and her three daughters. >> what is interesting is her life is such a member and window into this whole big thing of abortion in america. the pro-life wish to say look at her, look at the cost of abortion. she never had any abortion.

she is a fascinating testimony to the cost of adoption. she struggled immensely with giving up her children to abortion -- children to adoption. >> you can listen to our podcasts on our new c-span now cap -- she's been now mobile app. >> >> washington journal continues. host: we are back with our spotlight on podcast segment. we would like to welcome beckett graham and susan vollenweider of "the history chicks" podcast. thank you for being with us today. we want to ask them what their podcast is about.