a.m.. both the house and senate return in january for the start of the second session of congress. they take up the build back better plan despite joe manchin's announced opposition to the bill. democratic leadership also hopes to take up voting rights alleges nation -- legislation. there is a deadline for both houses of congress to pass budget legislation to avoid a government shutdown. you can watch on c-span now, our new video app. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. ♪

host: good morning everyone on this last day of the year of 2021. it is the year in review this morning on the work -- washington journal. we want to know your top news story of 2021. republicans dial in 202-748-8001 . it democrats 202-748-8000. independents 202-748-8002. you can also send us your top news story i texting with your first name, city and state to 202-748-8003 or post it on facebook at facebook.com/cspan. you can send it with a tweet at http://twitter.com/cspanwj. we will get your thoughts in just a minute, but the year began nearly 12 months ago on january 6 with hundreds of protesters storming u.s. capitol.

protesting the certification of the 2020 election. since then, over 700 people have been arrested across 45 states according to u.s. day today. it took hours on that day to secure the capital. lawmakers continued on with the certification that evening. following that day, impeachment charges were drawn up against former president trump for inciting violence. presenting their case to the senate, upper chamber and the votes that followed. >> this was most -- this was the most partisan presidential impeachment in the history of united states. and we know impeachment are reasons we can explore at some other reason also is often becomes partisan, but this was the most partisan impeachment event of the country.

it was also the largest vote for presidential impeachment. 57-43. we have a clear and convincing majority of members of congress who think the president incited violent insurrection against the union and against the congress. senator mitch mcconnell just went to the floor essentially to say that we made our case on the facts. he believes that donald trump was practically and morally responsible for inciting the events of january 6. he described it as we did, disgraceful dereliction of duty. the desertion of his office, and he made a series of statements that we didn't even make saying that this was not over yet by a

longshot eventually and that there was the path of terminal prosecution for the former president, the disgraced and now twice impeached former president. host: the lead impeachment manager for the second impeachment of president trump. it was the january 6 insurrection your top news story of the year? according to a poll that is out today, americans verged on the lessons of the january 6 capitol attack and what they found is 59% of those believe that the attack was an attack on the government while 35% said no. when they broke it down by parties, 29% of republicans said it was an attack on the government while 66% said no. 93% of democrats said it was an attack on the government and

only 5% said it was not. here is your independent numbers. your top news story of 2021. that's our conversation. democratic color, we will go to you. good morning. caller: good morning to you and thank you for taking my phone call and merry christmas and happy new year and i hope next year will be better. host: so your top news story 2021? caller: the topic that has been in broadcast right now today and we are at a crossroads, whether

democracy will stand against the tyranny of trump and his allies. host: ed, akron, ohio. your top news story. good morning. caller: the january 6 riots. they still call it an insurrection. if it was an insurrection, somebody should have been convicted of insurrection by now. the investigation that is been going on through congress, still just another headhunting option. they don't want to know how people got in there or why people got in there. they just want to say our ex-president trump sent them there and they are out to get trump. that's what i believe. they did it from the beginning before he was ever in office and they are still going after him

today. if you ask me, we had world peace with president trump in office. we were a self-sufficient country as far as energy. our president today, he ran on he's going to take care of the covid crisis. today, last week he says is not up to the federal government. i think we should defines the federal government because they don't spend our money properly. there are so many things. everything that the bided administration did, if you asked me, is -- biden administration did, if you ask me, is wrong. he said our president said we

will leave no americans there. he said we will leave at this date and we left. host: michael, democratic color, -- democratic, on the line. caller: i like to switch it over to california with all of these ships and coming indicate get unloaded. we know throughout the whole state of california at the speed limit is only 55 miles an hour. some places in the united states it's eddie five miles an hour, but when you get to california -- 85 miles an hour, but when you get to california got to get to the whole state that wayne got to look at trying to get california -- that way and we've got to look at tried to get california.

host: arizona, democratic, anthony. what's your top news story up to thousand will do one? caller: happy new year and to the team members all over the world. my top news story would be art versus science. i have used that strongly because politics are like an art. science is a study, in-depth. i want to phrase it in for --four areas. recycle, recovery, regenerate and renew. we are in a recycle where we cannot figure out what we are doing, what's going on. we are in recovery will be start to realize what's going on.

we are in a regenerate will we start to take action, and i spoke about change. there we are in a renewal when we recognize we don't want to go back to that situation before, that we can do better. and that's why i say that we have let science drive us for a long time. it has helped us through many wonderful things, and now people are saying don't trust the science. so now they are using art to say science doesn't work. host: james, north dakota, republican. caller: how are you doing? of course it's the january 6 brian -- write it. that -- the january 6 riot. they build on it and use it at

the weapon and lead us over the head with it. january 6 hasn't benefited us and the republicans. it benefited the democrats. it started off as a riot. then it was an insurrection. the next was a deadly attack. how was it deadly? there were five people killed. nobody had any guns on the trump side. there was no insurrection. one guy died of a stroke. one guy died of a heart attack. another guy was trampled. and ashli babbitt was murdered. another police officer, we were lied to about the fact that he was attacked and hit in the head with a fire extinguisher. he died of a unrelated medical issue days later. the only people who died in the attack were protesters who were killed or dropped dead.

up and this was a resurrection of the parallel in history. in germany 1930 three, that was their capital and was believed later the germans themselves set the fire and blamed it on the communists. there was a young communist kid they put on trial and they executed him and interviews that the client down on all of the remaining media that was against him in the newspapers. it benefited the nazis. host: we will leave it at that. a couple of colors back mentioned the withdrawal of afghanistan -- couple of the callers back mentioned the withdrawal of afghanistan. after the president announced the withdrawal, nearly 20 years of war 10 days as spent an

estimated over $2 trillion on the war effort in the past 20 years. here is biden in august announcing the withdrawal. >> we succeeded in what we set out to do and afghanistan a decade ago and we stayed for another decade. it was time to end this war. this is a new world. the terror threat has mis-tessa sized across the world well beyond -- al qaeda affiliates and isis attempted in syria and iraq. the fundamental obligation of a president, and my opinion, is that to defend and protect

america, not against threats of 2001 against the threats of 2021 and tomorrow. that is the guiding principle behind my decisions about afghanistan. i simply do not believe that the safety and security of america is in the hands that is enhanced by continuing to deploy thousands of american troops and spending billions of dollars a year in afghanistan. but i also note that the terrorism continues in this pernicious and evil nature, but it is changed, expanded to other countries. our strategy has to change. we will maintain the fight against terrorism in afghanistan and other countries. we just don't need to fight a ground war to do it. host: president biden announcing

the end of our involvement in afghanistan. take a look at the poll don that found --poll done, the president criticized for this handling of this situation. what republicans had to say about the way that the u.s. left afghanistan. >> several weeks ago, i said that this president will have blood on his hands. this week, we had 13 servicemen come home in flag draped coffins at dover airbase. last night our planes left in the middle of the night. we left afghanistan as the taliban celebrated its victory and we've all seen the images and how sickening it is that we had an unconditional surrender to the taliban.

this president announced complete withdrawal with no conditions, that was a surrender of the united states to the taliban. they are celebrating their victory over the united states of america. i never thought i would see this in my life. it is everything. it is shameful and it's wrong to our veterans who served so well. we have emboldened our adversaries, and weakened our alliances. the military has a saying no man left behind. no one left behind. it's so hard to watch. i spent this last weekend on the phone as many of my colleagues did, state department, dod, trying to get these people out last weekend. trying to get our afghan partners out. american citizens out. school buses of young girls that

were adopted in the choir at the university of afghanistan only to be turned away into the hands of the taliban. host: michael mccaul of texas and top republican on the foreign affairs committee in the house reacting to the end of military involvement in afghanistan. is that your top news story of 2021? we will go to shelley in wisconsin, independent. caller: hello, good morning. happy new year. host: we're listening. go ahead. caller: the january 6-inning cannot be put under the rug. we all know that trump instigated this. he was behind it. it cannot be. that is so despicable. this video is all over the

world. he started this. to go against the congress and trying to steal the election, it's wrong. he cannot accept defeat and that's why he did this. host: pete, new mexico. thanks for waking up early with us. caller: i think it's the southern border. i don't know why the world, you know, the wall isn't finished. the wall is there. our tax money was spent on that. all these people coming in and our tax money is going to be spent on them. they are fly in them all over the united states. nobodies safe. they are letting people in that

is crime, rape, theft, dealing drugs, all that. and i believe this country needs to set their foot down and let the government know that, no, we are not going to pay taxes if you going to that's if you are not one to use our money to protect us. host: here's an exchange between the homeland security secretary and senator lindsey graham at a judiciary hearing last month where they are talking about the border crossings and enforcement. >> people who come here illegally, how many of them have been released into the country? >> senator, i can break that down to the best of my ability. nearly one million, approximately 965,000 have been

subject to expulsion under title 42 of the united states code. >> how many left? >> approximately 40,000 have been removed under our immigration authorities it in the department of homeland security like an hundred 40,000 no no approximately at 965 thousand were expelled. approximately 40,000 have been removed. approximately a hundred -- 125,000 unaccompanied children have been transferred to the custody and shelter of health and human services. the balance to the best of my knowledge and immigration enforcement proceedings -- >> where does that leave us?

how many people are still here? >> of the 1.7 million, how many people are still here? >> i would ask the mate approximately 375,000 -- i would say approximately 375,000. >> do you believe if you had an immigration hearing, that person should be removed? >> i do. >> why is one million people still here after they get a final order of deportation? >> senator graham, as i responded to -- >> is the system working? >> the immigration system is broken. >> it's really broken in 4 million people have been ordered to leave and they haven't left. >> do you believe there remain in mexico policy is cruel? >> as it was implemented, i do.

>> do you support permanently doing away with the remaining mexico -- remain in mexico policy? >> i do. >> do you think that will increase illegal immigration if we do? >> i do not because of the other efforts we have underway. host: an exchange between senate judiciary committee and the homeland security secretary. was that or is that your top news story of 2021? russell, south carolina, democrat. welcome to the conversation. caller: good morning. my top news story is how the hypocrisy of the republican party and how they seem to represent the greatest threat to public health as well as an argument whether we have a

democracy or a democratic republic because there is a threat to that. none of the republicans voted for the antimissile bill -- anti-muslim bill. it's amazing because we are supposed to be a country that has freedom of religion. it seems that the only religion we have freedom of is whatever religion republicans want to embrace. no other religion has that freedom. the hypocrisy runs so deep, they say they are about election integrity. but to me they represent voter suppression. they say they are about freedom of choice, but they tell women they can't have the freedom to choose what they want to. i wish people would use the c-span archives to look at senator whitehouse when senator

whitehouse, what he did when the supreme court showed amy coney barrett down our throats. a great example of the hypocrisy of the republican party. they seem to only accept, and i'm a veteran and i'm also an african-american, but it seems like the republicans only accept black people or black republicans like clarence thomas, larry elder, tim scott. people of color don't like, don't accept. it's hard for us to even stomach them. look at the representative in florida, a big his name is mcdonald. i've heard a lot of c-span

people call him and say we should run -- he should run for president. he talks a that she talks against critical race theory like it's being taught all across america. we already know they don't want to teach black history in the red states. when i said the red states, the southern red states. host: alan, durham north carolina. caller: happy. i just want to follow-up with the gentleman to praise -- critical race theory. i'm a conservative. i'm not a republican. i'm not a democrat. i stay away from that. i want to do what's right for the country. i want to bring to point out. critical race theory, it is needed as far as our young kids of color and white kids to understand what people of color have contributed to this country and the great things that have been done, what they have done

and the things that have been done to people of color to put us behind in reference to wealth due to the system and tip -- due to the system in which we are using today. a person of color has to never get my way through the judicial system as well as through the economic system. i'm not a victim. i'm too intelligent in using my strategies against this to giller system against me. however, i do well. dealing with the prejudice, donald trump cause this problem. he allowed white people to say it's ok to be prejudice and i'm better to you that's better than you -- better than you. host: is that your top news story? >> what happened -- caller: what happened at the capital. you these people denying that

something went wrong. it was horrible. on our capital. your white people, not all, but there's too much prejudice which donald trump brought out. host: kirk in jackson, michigan. democrat. caller: hello. i guess my biggest issue is the people who keep calling in and pretending ashley barrett was -- ashli babbitt was murdered. guns drawn warning you not to and not get shot. everybody knows that's exactly what was going to happen. that's what happens every time, but again that's my bigger issue which was donald trump and the

action. i don't understand how people can know his own attorney general, his deputy, they all testified. trump repeatedly tried to get them to interfere in helping them steal the election. this is a direct attack on our democracy. this cannot be tolerated. i don't get it. i really don't. i'm sorry. i just don't get it. host: as the year comes to an end, escalations and tensions are on the rise between the united states and russia as russia puts troops on its part -- border with ukraine. president biden held the phone call with president putin of russia. they warn of danger to relations

if danger to ukraine increases. harry, norcross, georgia. top news story of 2021. caller: as far as i'm concerned, the biggest news story of this year is donald trump is still not in jail. the ex-president who tried to stop the election is still out conspiring against our country. and he is free to do it for some reason. i don't understand why this man is not in jail. i'm going to lose a $1000 bet with my son-in-law. i bet for sure some member of the trump family would be in jail for now.

ok thanks. host: mike, michigan, republican. caller: i'm wondering why, i hear all the top news stories, but nobodies talking about everybody starts with when slavery came to the united states, but there's 300, 400 years for that that things were being done to the natives that nobody brings up. why doesn't the news ever cover that story? that's the biggest story missed. host: you gotta listen and talk to your phone. bill, ohio, and dependent. caller: my biggest story is afghanistan.

the big story to me is we left the airbase and 5000 prisoners were released and it turns out one of them was wanted, the suicide bomber that killed 13 of our servicemen and to retaliate, we killed a worker and seven kids. i believe that's all joe biden skill -- all joe biden's fault. host: on the capital nearly 12 months ago january 6, 2021. the hearing, a hearing was held investigating the january 6 the tag. representative liz cheney serving on that committee. >> in the weeks before january 6, president trump's appointees informed him repeatedly that the

president's claims of election fraud were not supported by the events and that the election was not in fact stolen. president trump intended to appoint as attorney general so that mr. clark could alter the department of justice conclusions regarding the election. mr. clark has a -- has advised this and intends to invoke his fifth amendment privilege against self-incrimination. as mr. meadows nonprivileged reveal, meadows communicated multiple times with the member of congress who was working with mr. clark. this meadows has no basis to refuse to testify regarding those communications. he is in contempt. january 6 is without precedent.

there has been no stronger case in our nations history for a congressional investigation into the actions of a former president. this investigation is not like any congressional inquiries. our constitution, the structure of our institutions and a rule of law, which are a part of what makes america great area -- are great -- makes america great are at stake. we cannot surrender to president trump's efforts to hide what happened. we will persistent, professional and nonpartisan. and we will get to the objective truth to ensure that the january 6 never happens again. host: liz cheney who serves on that committee investigating the attack on january 6. is that your top news story 2021? some mentioned you disagree with

the investigation taking place on capitol hill. a republican on the floor talking about his criticism of the committee's work. >> the group is trampling on america's constitutional rights and the rights of the house or the rights of congress, like mr. meadows and current members of congress. they even include americans according to chairman thompson planning a legal, permitted and first amendment protected political rally. thanks to media reports, we know that democrats have seized their enemies and tax records, geolocation data and personal contacts. we know of hundreds of instances, it could be more, all we know for sure about this partisan investigation is that it is massive. it is happening without

accountability and it is happening in secret. the select committee should serve as a warning to all americans, this is what you get with -- when democrats get free reign. harassment, contempt for the rules of congress. it all ends with their opponents in jail. host: republican there who wanted to serve on that committee. he was rejected by speaker pelosi. is that your top news story? logan, west virginia. democratic caller. caller: how are you doing? certainly, a lot of things happened 2021 that should've been the top news story. the pandemic leaving afghanistan -- the pandemic, leaving

afghanistan. and certainly we should have left afghanistan. that war should have been ended long before this. the top news story has to be the january 6 incident where a segment, one of the two major parties in this country has acquiesced to a to radical, republican president to overthrow the government. how could that not be the top story, not only of 2021, but in the history of the united states. we cannot allow this to happen. the republican party acquiescence to this is a major story. we will no longer have a democracy if this is allowed to continue.

host: next week marks the one-year anniversary of the january 6 attacks. there is going to be a hearing on capitol hill before the senate rules committee with the u.s. capitol police chief talking about what changes have been made since january 6. you also mentioned the covid-19 pandemic. want to share a couple of headlines with you. the washington post this morning, fda is poised to authorize booster shots for 12 to 15-year-olds next week. at that decision expected next week. you also have this headline in the new york times this morning. the global virus rate exceeds one million per day with this new omicron variate. ajay, republican. caller: good morning.

thank you for c-span and washington journal. i think the biggest, among the wrong line. i should apologize. i'm independent, but i hope i can speak. my opinion is that the biggest story for 2021 is the elevation of disinformation and misinformation to an art form. i listen to the collins and i hear the stories that they must have been getting from fox and newsmax and basically propaganda and i just wrote a few things that i'm waiting to come up and speak with you. open borders, this idea that open borders and people born across the borders. trump was bragging about having built the wall, and now all of a sudden the borders are open. how do you explain that? five years of immigrants

spreading covid. the pandemic isn't real or an attack by china. the vaccine has side effects. they are dangerous. all of this is false information being spread through right-wing propaganda media. january 6 with antifa and black lives matter which is amazingly crazy. even the idea of antifa is crazy. it hardly exists as an organization. the economy was better under trump than it is now. that trump was a godly man. they joe biden is sleepy or incompetent or suffering from dementia when he is very clear. a very aggressive agenda to

reform this country. the idea of burning america, which is again, i hear it from the calls and i realize that a lot of people really believe this stuff because they repeat, that idea till the big lie and repeated enough and people will believe it. the idea that biden is sleepy is nonsense. he is getting a lot done. host: i want to show our viewers and exchange on capitol hill related somewhat to what you are saying about the pandemic. here is an exchange between republican rand paul and dr. anthony fauci over funding and the wuhan lab leak theory. >> the preponderance of evidence reports toward this coming from a lap and what you have done and that's is change the definition on the website to try to cover your asked.

that is what you've done. you changed the website to have a new f initiative does not include the risky research that's going on. until you admit that it's risky, were not to go out that's when i went to get anywhere. you have to admit that this research is risky. >> you are still unwilling to admit that when they say they became sicker, the new virus, that's not gain of function? >> according to the definition that is currently operable, let's make it clear for the people who are listening. the current definition was done over two to three year. -- to three years, outside bodies, to conferencestw --o conferences, we commissioned external risk-benefit assessments and then on january

2017, the office of science and technology of the white house issued the current policy. >> on the same day the nih said that yes there was a function in wuhan. the same day the new definition try to define away what's going on in wuhan. until you accept responsibility, we are not want to get anywhere close to trying to prevent another lab leak. you won't admit that this is dangerous and that lack of dangerous, i think it's time that you resign. >> i would like to give the time to dr. fauci. >> if there were so many things that were agreed just misrepresentation, i don't think i would be able to refute all of them, but just a couple of them for the listens to hear for. you said that i'm unwilling to take any responsibility for the current pandemic. i have no responsibility for the

current pandemic. the current pandemic, ok. number two, you said the overwhelming amount of evidence indicates that it is a lab leak. i believe most card-carrying viral virologists would disagree with you that it is much more likely even though we leave open all possibilities, it is much more likely this was a natural occurrence. third, >> 80,000 animals and no animals have been found with cobit. >> -- with covid. >> you made a statement moments ago that is completely incorrect, when you say we continue to support research at the wuhan institute of virology. >> august of last year >> no no, your statement. i wrote it down as you were writing. you continue to support research at the wuhan institute of

research. >> you still support the research over there. you said it a month ago. >> i have allowed dr. fauci to respond. >> he ought to be challenged. >> we will allow dr. fauci to respond after you giving accusations like that. >> i don't have any more to say except to say as usual, and i have a great deal of respect for this body and senate and it makes me very uncomfortable to have to say something, he is agreed usually incorrect in what he says. host: last month exchange between dr. fauci and senator rand paul of kentucky. top news story of 2021 is the conversation this morning. there are the phone lines on your screen. michael, connecticut, independent. caller: thanks. my biggest story has got to be

the pandemic because that has changed everybody's lives in ways, it's incredible. the fact to stop the steal actually works. it was only one person trying to steal the election and that was trump and he lost. stop the steal actually worked. you have to thank trump for that, for bringing the whole thing up. in those nitwits sitting in jail complaining that it's too tough for us because we attacked the capital. that's all of them. all of those people there? this january 6, i don't think anybody's going to show up like that. if they do, they have a different party to deal with. the concept, they are going to have guns this time. another thing to watch out for. the pandemic is probably, it changed my life, changed your

life, changed my wife's life. she's known from school almost every day. it can only get better because hopefully it can't get much worse. trump is not coming back. stop the steal. it worked. host: tyrone, new york. caller: thanks for taking my call. the big story for me was china, russia, all these people that were considered a threat to america is not the real threat. they are not the threat. i realize that. four of our american presidents have been murdered by americans. all of the major issues to take place in this country is because of our own stubbornness and not realizing that -- and until we recognize that, we are going to continue to do the same thing over and over again trying to

take once step forward and two steps back. we need to start paying attention that we are in the same boat together, and the same country. we need to work together to move this whole country forward. when they said white extremists, lack extremists. that stuff is only tearing down this whole country. if we don't get our act together , we don't have to worry about russia, china. we don't have to worry about all that. we going to do it to ourselves. host: scott, wyoming. it's your turn. caller: i wanted to comment on the january 6 troubles. i drove from wyoming to weston d.c. and did not go to the capitol building.

i was at the washington mall. probably one million plus people. i wanted to dispel a huge myth that there was a white supremacist thing. i supported trump. 25% of the people there were not white. there were recent immigrants, the point i wanted to make is our freedom was not won in an election or through public discourse. it is through standing up for freedom and the fbi investigated me for going to the rally which was a peaceful rally. i didn't even go to the capital. the fbi, the united states government, nobody can take your freedom because millions of us will rise up. the same fate will befall the enemies. host: if you do not go to the

capital, why would the fbi be investigating you? caller: i was called and extremists because i sent out some text or somebody called the tip line and reported me as a dangerous extremist because i said the election was stolen. host: what did they do? what did the fbi do? did they come to your house? caller: first they went to my son's job on the eighth of january. asked him where i was at and if i had training. i'm a military veteran and they know what training i've had. two agents tracked me down at a hotel in winchester and agents came and talked to me for about 20 minutes. i wasn't personally injured, but

there are millions of us who are not going to surrender our freedom. those who try to take it away are going to fail. host: brenda, indiana, independent. caller: my top news story for the year is the insurrection denny berry six. i believe it was in insurrection -- january 6. i believe it was in insurrection , the end where it happen. if people stayed outside the capital behind the police barricades, it would just be a good old-fashioned protest rally. but they viciously attacked the capital. the bigger question for trump supporters to ask is why didn't their great president issue a blanket pardon for everybody? he came out and made a statement that he loved everybody and he thought you were so special, but then he turned his back on you

and walked away. and he left you on the battlefield. by not issuing a blanket pardon to his supporters, they are facing federal time. they are going to lose their guns, their voting rights. i think the big question trump supporters should be asking is why didn't their great president issue everybody a blanket pardon? thank you. host: tom, illinois, republican line. caller: i think the biggest problem is the censorship. it covers every story. it covers big january 6 where we have all of this video, we can't see exactly what happened. they won't show us what happened. we have all kinds of, with the whole wuhan thing, the censorship from the beginning that it did not start and will hand -- wuhan. i think the coverage of the

media, anything about hunter biden, anything about the money, and on hill -- fiona hill. she makes and yet she was out there talking about president trump and others people in ukraine. you have all the bidens making all this money and it's not covered. the censorship on elections and medicine, everybody trying to fight this nasty virus. medical doctors in the medical field that work with this stuff can't even say stuff online without it being censored. host: the pandemic obviously dominating for a second year 2021. it was also the year that president biden announced mandates, vaccine mandates. the supreme court we got friday is going to hear oral arguments

into two cases dealing with president biden's vaccine mandates. republican governments have pushed back like ron desantis of florida. this is what he had to say about blocking the vaccine mandates. >> tennessee has done something and people were saying this was not something that was going to end up happening. if they understood what was going on. i made the call to say we've got to do this now because people are actually losing their jobs right now if we don't do this protection so we need to do that. and they stepped up so i think this is going to make a lot of difference for a lot of people. we are respecting people's individual freedom in this state and this is something that is very important. and ultimately, i don't know how it ever came to this point, but at the end of the day even dr. fauci, even these people would

say no mandates and now they are saying you should not be able to work if you don't get it. some people think kids should not be able to go to school and this has gotten so far out of whack. of florida from the very beginning, when they were, all they wanted to do was bog down. we were opening the state, keeping the state open, keeping businesses open. host: ron desantis on vaccine mandates and what they are doing in the state of florida. one headline this morning, wildfire burning and hundreds of homes are under fire in boulder county forcing the evacuation. officials say the likely -- what likely sparked the fire is

downed power lines as the wind gust exceeded 100 miles per hour. that story still developing out west. wildfires burning in colorado. gary, indiana. good morning to you. caller: the top story is the insurrection because if you know about history, that's what the great roman empire was corruption and infighting. supposed to be one nation under god. this shouldn't have been allowed to happen. the people responsible should go to jail because it was an act of treason and they should be held accountable. host: more than 700 people have been arrested across 45 states. at roger, michigan, republican. >> it's kind of funny about the

caller: -- kind of funny about the insurrection. people do what they want to do regardless of the issue. it wasn't donald trump. it was every body else who did it. a president only has so much power to do certain things. just like joe biden. he does the same thing. i'm unvaccinated and have been for two years. we are a very healthy and so as far as the mandates go, let's go brandon and let's try to make this year a better year. and we need to get rid of the people who hate america and give america back to the people where it's always been. you have a good year and god bless everybody and let's go brandon. host: gary and georgia, democratic. caller: i just want to say the

guy just said a keyword, america. where is america? that's what i want to know. i used to love this country. i still love this country. but it's a lot of fun justice. people just turned their back on america. america used to be a place where people can look up to. it's not like that no more. i go back to january 6. were coming up to the anniversary. disrespected democracy. being a democrat, we went out there, we won the election. republicans did not want to accept that. donald trump did not want to accept that because he's a loser. if obama lost, and i love obama, but if he was -- we are supposed

to be doing things the right way. republicans need to quit their crab. a lot of them, -- quit their crap. united, where united. how come brothers and sisters can go defend our country and they're right here we can't even get a rock dust get along with each other. we got the rich don't care about the poor people. the government don't care about people. where are our borders at today? our democracy is being torn away. january zeus, the makes us look real bad. and it's a sad thing. and with coming up to the new year right now. to a new year, but the same old stuff. host: lebih go on to john and florida, and dependent. what's your top news story? caller: the election of

president joe biden. the election was stolen from donald trump. i'm a military veteran and the thing i don't like about the democrats is they are further dividing this country. from up three class system to a two class system. they want to have a haves and the have-nots and that's not right. that's all i have to say and god bless america. host: sergio, florida, republican. >> -- caller: good morning. how are you? happy new year to you. my top story is president biden pulling us out of afghanistan. it was a waste of time of us being there and he did the right thing by pulling us out. we should have never been there in the first place. host: kathy, louisiana, and

dependent. your turn. caller: good morning and happy new year to everybody. i'm really got -- i really glad we got out of afghanistan, but i'm definitely disappointed that we love to of dollars worth of military attributes and assets for the people we fight. i'm very concerned about the censorship. that should be the top news story. if you don't know that there were people who worked with the fbi trying to make people while the. they're calling everybody to go into the capital when most of the people over there were praying before and after donald trump's vote. i just can't see them strike with tactical precision on our capital. it's totally

that this was not something that people did, it was something that was caused. people did not do this that are questioning the election. when you send out more ballots than are people that vote, when they come out with more ballots than our people registered to vote, you have a problem and you have a right to question it. and when you won't let republican poll watchers see what is going on, and you put up sheet boxes to what is going on. people have a right to question what is going on. host: what we are seeing on the screen, is this questioning it? caller: if you look at what happened and governor whitmer's kidnapping, it was the same mo. it was more fbi people involved in that.

host: what proof do you have of that? caller: look at -- he is an informant for the fbi they won't let you see that film. host: how did you see it? caller: how did i see it? it is on the internet, and it is proof, because it is coming out of his mouth. how did i see it? it was hard to see because they are not letting people see it. host: dan in columbia, maryland, independent, good morning. top story of 2021. caller: there was a statement on c-span sometime last month that said there was zero evidence of election fraud and that told me because i saw a video out of atlanta of people pushing poll workers out and then pulling out

cases of votes. the second one is this morning i heard somewhere that the mission in afghanistan was accomplished a decade ago and if that is the case, why didn't the government get us out then? why did we linger on for another 10 years or so? host: all right. david in texas, a republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i was actually thinking you're asking about what the biggest story was going to be for 2022, but also what is happening now with covid and lack of testing material and the new antivirals coming out and the current lack of inventory. it would appear that the biden administration must've term warp speed overboard. they signed the agreement with

merck and pfizer back in june. what trump did was place orders with 10 companies to create the vaccines, prepaid all of them to go ahead and produce them, can they were pre-positioned. the day that they got the preapproval, a week after the election, those things were being handed out almost immediately because they had been prepaid and manufactured to avoid the delay of the manufacturer. you go back and look at what happened with the testing as far back as i was able to go, i was looking at the reports, they started testing in june i believe, pfizer did test for a few months and then the next group of people. the trump administration looked

at what needed to be done and a prepaid, and had pre-manufacture and pre-position. anything from a bureaucratic standpoint they could put aside, they put it aside. now we don't have enough tests. there is already huge demand for tests, but what is going to happen is you have to have the test for the antivirals, because they will only have 265,000 of the pfizer antivirals it is for january pit will start to produce them for february. you look at the timeline on this particular version of omicron, it is probably going to be gone by then. they have to test before they can give you the antivirals. host: the d.c. mayor is requiring children to get a negative test for they return to

school after this holiday. washington, d.c. becoming a hotspot for the coronavirus due to the new variant. we are talking about the top news stories of 2021. no one has tensioned president biden's agenda and capitol hill and senator joe manchin, democrat from west virginia, shooting down the health version of the build back better plan the headline in the washington post this morning, rising anger at manchin underscores a party divided. here is president biden last week on abc's world news tonight talking about the future of build back better. [video clip] >> let me turn to build back better. many say it is in peril right now in large part because of senator joe manchin. universal pre-k, the child tax

credit, historic money to fight climate change in the words of your administration. you met with senator joe manchin a number of times. then he is on cable saying he is a no. how were you not able to close the deal? pres. biden: we have passed mark major legislation than anybody in the first year ever, ever. i am not given up on this. >> senator manchin's main sticking point is the child tax credit. are you willing to take that out if it means bringing him on board? pres. biden: i want to get as much as i can possibly get done. i still think we will be able to get a significant amount of what we need to get done, particularly as the american people figure out what is in this legislation. it is extremely consequential. host: president biden doing an

interview with abc last week. your top story of 2021. gail is in oceanside, new york. caller: good morning i just want to say i voted for president obama and i voted for donald trump. i feel the story is that the democrats are making the january 6 the biggest story. i feel that they abused trump before he went into office, when he was in office and after he was in office. i believe that the people went there because they really feel that the democrats are doing everything so trump could not be president again. i don't believe they should have attacked the capitol, but they definitely should have had protests in front of it. i voted my whole life and when

someone i didn't vote for became president, i said, he is my president and i want my country to do good. this is the first time in my life -- host: a few in north carolina, democratic caller. caller: thank you for taking my call. i wanted to say about the january six insurrection, it is appalling that nobody realizes how crucial this is to democracy. especially with states passing laws where they can put anyone

in there --i bring up their own electors. host: we believe it there. we will return to the top news stories in 2021 in our last hour. when we come back, we conclude our weeklong author's robert woodson founder, and president , emeritus of the woodson center, discusses his book “red, white, and black: rescuing american history from revisionists & race hustlers.” ♪ >> next week on c-span, wednesday the senate rules committee holds a hearing on the u.s. capitol police since the january 6 attack. live coverage begins at 10:00 a.m. eastern. beginning at 7:00 a.m., coverage

throughout the date marking the one-year anniversary of the attack. friday, the supreme court hears oral arguments in two cases dealing with the biden vaccine mandate for health care workers and the vaccine mandate for larger private companies. live coverage beginning at 10:00 a.m.. both the house and senate return in january for the start of the second session of the 117th congress. the senate takes up the president's climate and social spending plan known as build back better, despite west virginia senator joe manchin's opposition to the bill. also voting rights legislation which may require changing filibuster rules. there is also a february 18 deadline for both chambers of congress to pass additional spending to avert a government shutdown. watch these developments on c-span. or watchful coverage on c-span now, our new mobile video app.

also had over c-span.org for a video live on demand anytime. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. >> book tv, every sunday on c-span two features leading authors discussing their latest nonfiction books. at noon eastern on in-depth, a civil war historian joins us to talk about the intellectual street of the united states. his books conclude gettysburg and robert lee. at 10:00 p.m. on afterwards, a former georgia cauldron -- republican congressman discusses the lead up to the first impeachment of donald trump. he is interviewed by a colorado

republican. find a full schedule in your program guide or watch online anytime at book tv.org. >> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back shooting journal is concluding our author series -- welcome back.