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montgomery from the foundation for the defense of democracy's center. later, becky pringle joins us to talk about how covid is affecting public schools. host: this is the washington journal for january 5. the u.s. set a record this week for the most omicron related cases in a day, with more than one million reported monday. cdc data says that 50 million omicron cases have been reported since mid-december, and over 3 million have been hospitalized. for the next hour, we want to hear particularly from people who had or have covid, and particularly we want to hear about your treatment and recovery experience. here's how you can share. in the eastern it -- and

central time zones, (202) 748-8000 is how you call. mountain and pacific, (202) 748-8001. if you want to text us about your recovery experience or how you are dealing with it, you can do so at (202) 748-8003. post on our facebook page at facebook.com/be span and also post on twitter, @cspanwj. wall street journal looks at those cases. it highlights that one million figure that was earlier this week, saying the u.s. reported 1.0 a million infections monday as most states work to clear backlogs. that pushes the seven day average of daily reported infections to 480,270 according to a johns hopkins

analysis. this also adding that the case data is always underreported end of true number -- over the holidays, many states slowed reported going key metrics and started to catch up after work, adding today searching testing demand -- at home tests often are not reflected in that data. when it comes to the reporting. when it comes to hospitalizations, the wall street journal also taking a look because of what is happening with omicron, saying those confirmed or suspected covid cases reached a seven day average of 105,100 38 tuesday according to data posted by the u.s. department of health and human services, below the peak on january 10 of 2021.

this adds also that while covid tests remain in short supply over much of the u.s., testing was less robust, complicating comparisons. those are the statistics but when it comes to experience, we want to hear from you who watch us as far as how you are dealing with covid currently or how you dealt with it if you have already dealt with that. if you want to share, that is (202) 748-8000 for those of you in the eastern and central time zones. (202) 748-8002 mountain pacific -- (202) 748-8002 -- (202) 748-8001 mountain and pacific. many of you posting on facebook. that is facebook.com/c-span. beverly on our facebook page saying i have it. it is not a laughing matter. dw rogers talking about his son-in-law having it. all three shots. deborah saying not jabbed or boosted, had it or 10 days, for

five days, didn't eat, headache and cough. she said, by the way, the past for years, i have taken vitamins. i'm 64 and slightly overweight. for those 10 days, i was taking amoxicillin. i feel great now. that is some of the people posting. let's start with james in rome, georgia on his periods with covid -- his experience with covid. caller: i had a bad experience because of president trump and his admitted ration. that his administration. once they found out this was airborne -- host: did you have covid or not? caller: i called last year around the middle of last year. host: what was your experience then when you caught it? caller: mia my wife in the

hospital -- me and my wife in the hospital. they did not diagnose us with covid. she had blood clots. she stayed in the hospital for about two weeks. host: how long did you stay in the hospital? caller: about three days. this is what i'm saying to her she's obese. i stayed in the hospital for three days. they sent me home early because i did not have insurance, the reason being. the government was not assisting people with this and a lot of people were going home and dying later. a lot of my friends died. host: how is your wife doing currently? caller: she is suffering from lung covid, still has a cough, barely can walk. why you put up when trump bragged about china dashcam and -- about china -- him and xi. host: we will leave it there.

patrick? caller: hello. it was amazing. i had all the symptoms when -- this was right before the diagnosis, same with the guy who just called. i had no sense of smell, no sense of taste. it was a nightmarish flu, but i am very good at organics, so i was capable of being able to get over it. what was astonishing is, when you have a hyper sense of smell, when that is gone, it's ironic that that that -- ironically that that was the worst experience. last week, i was hospitalized with what i thought was omicron. it turns out i had the flu. everybody's getting the flu at the same time. it is all over the place and now

i find out that there's a new variant that is showing up in south africa, not south africa, south of france, and they are saying there's even more mutations on this virus. host: how to the experience you currently have -- the experiences you currently have change your daily life? caller: dramatically, because unlike some of the poor souls that went through this, i have to tell you, when i was in the emergency room, it changes your perspective. excuse me. it changes your perspective on how incredible these people are and what they are facing and what the nation is facing because we need to advance our perspectives multiple generations ahead and prepare for each wave way ahead and i think that we are actually doing

it now, but my whole reality is i don't know if i even want to live near a city in this old reality -- this whole new reality. have a good day. host: mentioning the flu. that is discussed in the washington post this morning, saying compared with last winter's use, social distancing and masking are far less widespread. exporters have moved -- it's borders been more than open -- its borders have been more than open. israel received their flu jab so far this year compared with 24% in the same. of last year and when he percent in 2019.

you can add that to the mix. let's hear from cindy in connecticut. below. caller: -- hello. caller:hello. i don't know anybody whose life has not changed dramatically because of covid and everyone's experience will be unique. my daughter has seen some terrible things and i know from her experiences -- -- for a few

hours and that was it. we are vaccinated, not boosted. none of the rest of the household did get it. i believe handwashing is the best thing you can do, as with any disease. host: what was your access to testing like? is it easy for you to get testing where you live? caller: well, you know, i had bought some before thanksgiving to have on hand. we plan family get-togethers. i had kids traveling from other parts of the country, so i wanted to have some before i had guests coming. i wanted to make sure in case somebody had a cold or any symptoms that we could test before i had people in my house. and he literally just had sniffles for a few hours. he was vaccinated. so maybe it was less.

or maybe we are just panicking. who the heck knows? it is confusing and i don't think we can vaccinate our way out of this. i am not anti-vaccine but i think we need to have other tools. we cannot say we are not going to have therapeutics because we want to punish the unvaccinated. people who are vaccinated are getting this to you well and we are pushing our health care workers by not -- this too and we are pushing our health care workers by not. host: let's hear from joe any ohio. your experience with covid. caller: ok. i just got over it about two weeks ago and i didn't even realize i had it and my wife caught it and she took the home test. the home test said that she was negative, that she didn't have

it, but she still felt sick so she went in took a rapid -- another test from -- i believe right aid, and it said she had it, so these home tests they are passing out, they are telling you don't have it, but actually you do, so you are going out in the public and you are giving it to other people thinking you don't have it but actually you do have it. host: how did you discover that you have it? caller: because, when my wife -- i had it and then my wife got the same symptoms that i did. she was doing the exact same thing. she decided to go to rite-aid because i took the home test and it said that i didn't have it. so i knew that i had it. host: how are you and your wife feeling now? caller: right now, we are feeling good but we had all the symptoms. we ended up getting -- we went to vegas on a plane the thing about -- on a plane into the

thing about that as you have people with masks at the year or end everything -- at the airport or everything and you don't know how many of them took tests that say they didn't have it but actually they do. so you are vulnerable. host: was it that trip to vegas they gave it to your wife and you? where do you suspect you got it? caller: i believe we got it from her grandchildren -- from our grandchildren or younger kids in school that come back with it. host: ok. caller: it was right when we ran into her grandchildren that we got the symptoms. host: joe in ohio sharing his experiences as you can too if you want this morning about your asked your answers with covid -- you can call the numbers send us a text.

danielle says, i had a cold. i got a negative test. she went into labor. had her son on the 11th. gave her an iv fluid bag. i thought i was fine, no symptoms. diana rosario says, after avoiding it, one case in my family has turned into eight and it is not done. testing every two days for work now. so. far,so good . you can talk about the aspects of testing. where testing has gone -- has gotten you. this is steve. hello. caller: good morning. i am 74 years old, vietnam veteran, not against vaccines.

i cannot tell you home if he can times i got -- i cannot tell you how many times i got jabbed in 'nam. in december of 2020, for nine days, i could not taste and i could not smell anything. other than that, i felt great. my kids came over for christmas eve. they did not get it. thank god. the v.a. took care of me. january, i got my first shot, pfizer. got my second shot, got the booster to were three months ago. the funny thing is my daughter tested positive. she wasn't feeling good christmas eve at our house. she took one of the tests that you buy in the walgreens and it came out positive.

she is feeling fine now. her husband has it also. he tested positive. my wife and i were around her. she didn't get it so far, thank god. i will say this. get the vaccine if you can. i respect those who don't but get the vaccine. that is all i have got. thank you. host: steve in missouri. he talked about tests. the wall street journal reported two outlets are raising prices for testing, walmart and kroger, raising test prices after the expiration of a deal with the white house to sell the kids at cost, $14 -- the kits at cost, $14. walmart said it is raising the price to $19.98 a box. kroger sells them for $23.99. those tests are not available on amazon.

representative said they filled their commitment -- they fulfilled their commitment to sell them at cost and are working to make tests more available. peter in memphis, tennessee, your next. -- you are caller: hello. thank you. i developed a terrible fever, cough, pain, fatigue. i knew it was sort and ammonia as a physician. i had seen patients. because i have a history of rheumatic fever when i was nine, i was 63 then, in 2020, so i qualified for a new monoclonal antibody, and ironically, it had just been approved nine days before i got sick, so it was almost providential, and i was extremely ill when i went to get

the outpatient treatment, and literally, it was almost like a resurrection. i in catholic so i have the strong faith it was as close to a religious experience as i have had in my life as literally within will need four hours -- within 12 or 24 hours, the symptoms resolved. i was left with a cough and some tiredness. i had the vaccine in february of 2021. for president trump, but for him and his warp speed program, i could have died because of my history of heart disease. host: have those experiences change to the way you go about living now? caller: no. i take precautions. i always took precautions with

face masks. in the icu, we use n95 masks. but i tell patients -- i send patients as quickly as possible now when they are positive for the sars virus, i set them up for the outpatient in the -- outpatient antibody therapy. it will keep you alive and out of the hospital. host: what is the cost for something like that? caller: actually, i don't know, because, when that was approved by the fda, at that point, there was no cost because it was emergency use approval. i think it is covered by insurance now, but as to the actual exact cost, host: i'm not aware of that. ok. caller: they are lifesaving, it is miraculous. host: peter in memphis giving

his experience. let's go to independence, missouri. this is barry. hello. caller: hello. they are doing the vaccine administration's wrong. -- administrations wrong. they are doing them wrong. my experience is that they are doing the vaccine administrations wrong. host: have you had covid were not? caller: everybody is going to get covid. what kind of question is that? host: ok. let's go to brian in pasadena, maryland. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: i had covid in a hotel's to 2021 and -- i had covid in august of 2021 and i stayed out of work for probably two weeks. my wife, she works at a hospital in baltimore.

everybody there is fully vaccinated. right now, they have a major outbreak. just about everybody in her department has the new variant. she is currently out over work right now because of the variant . my biggest problem with the whole administration is, you know, the whole time they are preaching, you know, get the jab. it will stop you from getting covid. it doesn't. host: to your wife's experience, what is it like for her with everything going on? caller: she is stressed because they are short staffed and they need to have people for services but it is difficult. people are working double shifts and weekends and all that. host: and what is her field of specialty at the hospital? caller: vascular ultrasound. host: so as far as being in close contact with people, that

is pretty much day today i would think. caller: yes. just before she came down with covid, she was seeing about five people a day that were fully vaccinated with covid. host: that is brian talking about his wife's experience. you can roll that into the mix too. we want to hear about people and their experiences with covid. some people have talked about their experiences in their family, family members. you could do that too. (202) 748-8000 free straight-ahead central -- (202) 748-8000 for eastern and central time zones. president biden yesterday, talking with his team, taking a look at covid, gave what he thought -- at least his impressions of the rise in cases in the u.s. some comments from the president. [video clip] >> i will give it to you straight. we are going to see continued

rise in cases. omicron is transmissible, transmissible variant, but much different than anything we have seen before, but you can protect yourself. and you should protect yourself, quite frankly. get vaccinated, boosted. there's plenty of shots. wear our mask in public. because we -- because what we know is this. the impact from rising cases depends on the effect on a person based on whether that person is and what their vaccination status is. those are fully vaccinated, especially those with the booster shots, and by the way, we have booster shots for the whole nation, ok? you can still get covid, but it is highly unlikely, very unlikely, that you will become seriously ill. we are seeing covid-19 cases

among vaccinated in workplaces across the country, including here at the white house, but if you're vaccinated and boosted, you are highly protected. d concerned about omicron but don't be alarmed. and if you are an vaccinated, you have some reason to be alarmed. many of you will -- you know, experience severe illness in many cases. some will die needlessly. host: we are getting a sense of your experiences with covid, whether you have had at or have gotten over it. you want to tell about those experiences. scott in california in roseville, you are next. caller: thank you. i will not waste your time with good morning. host: you are on. go ahead. caller: i am a long-hauler. 2009, i had a brain and yours

him -- a brain aneurysm and i went into covid, but i was scheduled medication for that aneurysm and, oh my gosh, i have had so much nausea, fevers, night sweats, horrible things. do you have any questions for me? host: know. thank you for sharing. don in pennsylvania, hello. caller: good morning. how are you doing? by was supposed to shut down this virus here. 200,000 something died under trump. 418,000 died under biden. host: ok, today, as far as covid is concerned -- excuse me. what is your personal experience with covid? caller: i didn't get no shot.

that's number one. number two, biden's inauguration said -- host: we believe it -- we will leave it. john in florida, good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? host: fine. what is your experience with covid? caller: i had covid early on down in florida. it was quick and thankfully didn't affect me. i work in a business that rinse boats down in florida. about 50 boats. it is almost as if we are in two different worlds. nobody wears masks here. everybody is going out on their boats having a great time, getting plenty of vitamin d. it is amazing. i look at everybody up north. i have family up north. everybody is masked and they are petrified, scared to death. here in the free state of florida, we are having a great

time. host: your experience with covid, elaborate on that.what happened ? caller: i felt bad for a few days and that was the end of it. no muss, no fuss. i'm 60. host: where you tested? caller: i was tested specifically for covid, absolutely. host: after that, you are fine? caller: a few days, no fuss, no muss. i went back to work. i took a test, tested positive, then negative. i went to the doctor, tested positive, then negative at the doctor's office again. he said, go back to work. everyone is welcome down here. host: your employer is ok with the fact that he was back to work as quick as you did? caller: absolutely. we are going to make money. it is all about money. can we stay home for months on end? i need to work. i have to work. so does everybody.

we cannot continue to stay home and fear. host: ok peerless hear from anthony new jersey -- ok. let's hear from anthony in new jersey. caller: i got a call the sunday before christmas that i had come into contact with somebody who tested positive. i went the following day to my doctor to get tested. it took two days. by wednesday, i was feeling kind of lousy. my doctor said he tested negative. when i told her that i didn't feel well, she said, you have to get another test. so i don't drive, so i walk. she came to my house to a minister the test. i was quarantined through january 1. i'm better now. i'm getting through the last of

my symptoms. but if i could nominate my doctor for a nobel peace prize, i would because she did a house call. host: you had two tests they gave you entirely different results. caller: yes. by the time i got my results back on the second test, i was sick. i had the worst sort throat i ever had. i was feeling achy and was pretty bad for three or four days. i was quarantined through january 1. host: when it comes to you were contacted about this, do you think it was the result of -- a family event, a gathering? how do you suspect you contracted it? caller: well, i had been visiting relatives and one of the relatives -- every sunday before they go to work, the following day, and they tested

positive, so they called me and told me. host: i have been asking -- it is a repeat question i have asked a couple people. as far as your life now, do you do things differently? caller: well, i am just getting back into the swing of things. i volunteered at a church for a couple days a week. i wasn't doing that. slowly starting to get back into the routine of living my life again. host: do you think you might live differently? i will put it that way. caller: well, i don't -- i'm not a shut in, but i wear masks, and i had my final booster shot the first week of november, and if i could say one thing, i see a lot

of people discarding masks and gloves on the ground and they are still medical waste and they should have the courtesy to put them into the garbage can instead of throwing them on the ground. host: that is anthony new jersey giving his assessment of having covid and what he might think that's what he thinks might happen and -- we are interested in hearing from you. share your experiences. in the eastern or central time zones, it is (202) 748-8000. the mountain and pacific time zones, it is (202) 748-8001. texting us, you can do that too at (202) 748-8003. some of you posting on our social media sites as well. we will continue with those calls. the events of january 6 taking place, as the anniversary is

tomorrow, a couple things to watch for in regards to that today on capitol hill. the u.s. capitol police chief talks about the cost of defending lawmakers with a senate committee nearly one year after the events. you can see that hearing today at 10:00 on c-span, c-span outdoor, c-span now. when it comes to memorials tomorrow, house members will share at 2:30 in the afternoon, the same platforms you can watch that on. later on, a vigil will take place on the steps of the capital at 5:30, the c-span now have also available for you to monitor that. that tomorrow. back to your calls. looking at covid and how you are dealing with it. perry in south dakota, you are

next. go ahead. caller: my wife and i both had the virus in august. we had a couple different types of happenings. we went to the emergency room with my wife. she was in very bad shape and her oxygen count was down to 74. the nurses went running to get her on oxygen. and we have relatives that came with his. -- with us. i could not get into the hospital. there was only one person allowed. so this person said we would like to try the treatments, the therapeutic type treatment, one drug and three others with the. the doctor said, well, i have never given that prescription, but i am going to do it for you. let me know how this works out. so she took -- i went and got

the therapeutics. it cost me $28 -- we are both on medicare, but, anyway, we brought her home and within two, three days, taking these four drugs that this doctor prescribed, she was up and running. i took the antibody shot in my arm. my wife couldn't take it because of her low oxygen count. she couldn't talk to shot in the arm of these antibodies, so i took that. within three days, we had an oxygen machine. we got rid of that. i mean, it is a miracle, using these more or less -- texas drugs -- the things president trump took when he had it and got over it so. host: so you are still enjoying

good health after these experiences? caller: yes. we just bounced back. the only problem we had was loss of taste. she never did have lots of taste. it was just kind of a miracle. then we heard back from what happened. this good doctor that did this prescription. we got back with the nurse and h e wanted to know how it worked. my wife said, she was kind of -- it felt like a miracle the way she came back when she was just about ready to die when she reached the emergency room. and this doctor? we came to this doctor and said, if you make those prescriptions -- he had given out four of

those prescriptions. we were the first, get about three. they came to him and said, if you write another one of those, you are out of here. you are not working for us anymore. host: that is. in south dakota talking about his wife's experience, his experience. in delaware, you are next. good morning. caller: good morning. i'm calling in about my experience with the. i has been vaccinated -- i've been vaccinated. currently waiting for my booster, which will be in a couple months. i have gotten covid and gotten over covid. wearing a mask, washing hands constantly, you know, where my mask out in public. when i was my taste or smell, i smoke marijuana and i'm cured. host: let's go to chuck in

dolores, colorado. hello. caller: good morning, pedro. thank you for c-span. i came down with the virus in 2019, december of 2019. i went to visit my mother. she was ill. my mom and dad worked over the world. people would stop in and visit from all over the world, so they were probably patient -- he was probably patient 1, or one of them. anyway, i brought it back to colorado, isolated myself, but my wife still came down with it. we both came down with long-haulers. she. still has memory problems. -- she still has memory problems. i could barely breathe.

i was on methadone for pain management for my back. and i took a blood oxygen count and my blood oxygen was down to 74, so i titrated off the methadone. and i can equate that with having covid. every joint in my body ached. i went through methadone withdrawals because i had to go to the va hospital. host: when it comes to your covid, specifically to covid, how long did you deal with it? caller: about two weeks i was in bed. about two weeks. i could barely. -- i could barely breathe. you know when you spit up sputum, a lugee, when you have a cold? you spit it in a bottle and it will slide down.

this stuff don't slide. it is like gorilla glue -- host: host: ok. that is chuck. a visiting professor at george washington university, talking about covid and what to do in response, writes "omicron is bad but we don't need lockdowns." some of her perspective. she says "the u.s. has three options for dealing with this. we could reimpose lockdowns. i believe it is a nonstarter here, even if lockdowns could more quickly bring it under control, there is no political appetite or public backing. second, we could let it run its course. this would almost assuredly run some hospitals over the edge. there's a third path.

we don't need to ask people to stay home but require they wear high-quality masks in all indoor public spaces. we should mandate proof of vaccination and boosters for indoor dining, gymnasiums, movie theaters and sporting events." more on that in the washington post. we will go to mac, i'd of south carolina, somerville. .hello . caller: my experience has been the following. when i first heard about covid, i started masking up. in february of 2021, i took my first shot. i took the other pfizer shot february 22. november 3 of last year, i took my booster shot. so far, so good. i am still wearing my mask. some people feel they have the right to unmask. that they can be the incubation

that is spreading it. so continue to wear your mask even if you are ok or think you are because i don't want your saliva in my face. host: michael, appleton, wisconsin, you are next. caller: hello. my wife and i fell ill to covid last friday after returning from a trip to lake placid. we had symptoms. we went to the drugstore and bought the last kit. she took the test and was positive. i took the test the following morning and i was positive. so we headed to -- so we had adhered to everything the cdc was telling us to do. we had our vaccination, booster, flu shot. one of the things you need to do

if you want to beat any disease is maintained good records -- suddenly i couldn't breathe and it was like someone hit me in the chest with a bat. i got to the clinic. they tested me again. they did a p.r.c. test. they did another quick test. i was positive, confirmed. and they immediately put me in the chair and put me on an intravenous drug.

in terms of monoclonal antibodies. and sent me home. that took 45 minutes. they watched me for half an hour after that to see that you are not dizzy, etc. i managed to get my wife scheduled. she went to the hospital, have the same treatment. we went home together. literally by the end of that day, literally by the end of that day, we were walking around, no fever, cough. i could breathe again. and it was a miracle. so for people out there, listen to the cdc, keep your relationship with your doctor current, fresh. make sure your medical records are current so they can rely on those. if you want a great doctor to treat you well, he has to have the information. i know it is difficult, especially as you get older, but there you have it. good luck and i wish everyone

well. host: michael in wisconsin offering his thoughts on his wife and himself and their experience with covid and treatment. testing one of those things that came up yesterday in that discussion with resident biden -- with president biden about that. here's the president from yesterday. [video clip] >> testing. this remains frustrating. it is frustrating to me. we are making improvements. in the last two weeks, we have stood up testing sites all over the country. we are adding more each and every day. google covid tests near me. go there. google covid tests near me on google to find the nearest site where you can get tests often and free. the capacity for in-person

tests, with it, we should see lines shorten. if you want to test at home, we have options now. one, drug stores and online websites or restocking. two, well, actually, more tests will become available. next week, our requirement that your insurance company reimburse you for at-home tests takes effect. you can get reimbursed. if you are insured, you can buy the testing get paid for them. the second thing i want to mention his many state and local governments and health care providers are passing out re-at-home tests -- out free at-home tests you could pick up. the federal government is launching a website this month where you can get tests shipped to your home for free on request.

host: if you want to see more of that from the president, you can go to our website. i would also invite you to download our c's phone -- our c-span now and. we can show you things happening on this network in real time. let's hear from ted in pennsylvania. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? host: i am well, thank you. how about yourself? caller: good. i got my first pfizer on 2/25 last year, the second april fools' day. i was at yankee stadium in april, july, and they were testing, and i got my third shot, so i am thrice jabbed. i got my booster a couple weeks ago. no big deal. host: you had a total of four

shots? caller: i got four shots. host: how did that work. caller: no problem -- host: how does that work as far as -- plus you are mixing vaccines. how did you do that? caller: i had no reaction from the first two pfizers. and -- listen. public health is not a personal, in my opinion, public health is not a personal idea. public health is for the betterment of the public. host: ok. we will hear from linda in florida. good morning. caller: good morning. host: hi. caller: yes. i went for testing often and was negative. there were so many cases around me that i decided to get the shot, so i got the moderna. 10 days later, i thought i had

the flu and i went to the immediate care, and she tested me and i was positive for the covid. and then i was sent up to the clinic about 30 miles away to get the other shot, the mono shot, and the stomach and under the arm. and i drove myself. i did let anyone get around me. i wanted to stay away from everyone. then i became very, very ill to the point i nearly died in my own home. my someone come to the door to bring me some needs like food, but i had no appetite. i didn't want to drink anything, but i was so thirsty in my mouth that i had to sip on water, which just went straight through me, and then i realized that i need to eat, so i took bites even though i didn't want to. it was horrible. i felt like -- i didn't have any

fever. i was dehydrated. i went to the mirror and felt like i was 10 years older than i -- i looked 10 years older than i was. i was so sick that i don't how to explain it except that it was like hell honored. -- hell on earth. host: you traveled 30 miles to receive a treatment? why so long of a distance? caller: that treatment was -- a new clinic had set up in florida. without that, if i had lived in florida, i think i would have died, because -- and i wouldn't go to the hospital because i have one of those instruments for my breathing and i was almost to the limit. but because i could still breathe fairly decently, i didn't go. my body was dehydrating and

would not accept fluids. until eight food. knowing about this, i knew i had to eat some bread and healthy food often. then i started collecting water again and might mean started filling up. -- and my veins started filling up. you could not put a needle in my arm at that point. i thought it would kill me. my son, i did not think he would survive. i did not think i would survive either. i had one shot and another 10 days later. i nearly died. i was sick for a month, maybe two months before i started going out. now i am afraid to take the shot. that is where i am at. host: so you pad -- -- so you've had --what scares you? caller: the first shot, i may be died 10 days later with a case

of the virus that almost killed me. host: ok. let's go to sheila in oklahoma. purcell, oklahoma. hi. caller: thank you for taking my call. i am 73 and i am a diabetic. in last june -- and last june, my throat felt scratchy. it felt different. so i thought, i am going to go get the covid test. now, i don't mind other than just my throat. my son is a doctor so i went up to his office and i did test positive. and also, i think it is a transfusion, or whatever they do, my son set up an appointment for me to go get that, and about three days later, i was to go

get that. in the meantime, i went home and i gargled with -- mouthwash. it kills 99%, you know, of your germs. and i hit my throat with that probably eight or nine times that day. within two days, my throat was ok. and when i had gone to my doctor's clinic, i did not have a fever. so i never felt sick. when i felt like i was over the covid, because i didn't have symptoms, my son had me tested on day five and six, and if you tested negative both days, then you were ok. host: what type of medicine does your son practice? caller: he's in austin -- he's a doctor.

in oklahoma. i had the shots. that was probably almost -- i don't know. a year, the pfizer shot. but anyway, i was lucky. i had such a mild case. i know there's others that have it different because i have heard of people dying. i've had two friends that have died from it, but -- and they were not vaccinated. host: ok. we will hear from cutler in new hampshire. hello. guest: good morning -- caller: good morning. how are you doing? my experience with covid was last march. my wife and i got the johnson vaccine. and we were doing fine. but then, this christmas, one of

the granddaughters texted after christmas that she had covid. so my wife went and got tested and she tested positive. then she wanted me to go get tested so i went over to the v.a. and they said, do you have symptoms? i said no. well, come back if you have symptoms. so then, i called the v.a., and the lady referred me to a mobile unit downtown in manchester, new hampshire, and i went there on thursday, and i didn't have symptoms yet, so i took the test and you had to wait 72 hours for the results. the results came back on monday that i was ok. but, starting friday, i started getting a runny nose. i had a fever. i had chills.

i had diarrhea. and complete fatigue. so i went back to the v.a. and got a test and that said that i was positive, so i am now in quarantine in my house until january 9. my daughter was out of work for 11 days. she just went back. so she had it and my wife has it also and she's struggling with it, so that's been our experience. host: when you say struggling, trouble breathing, other symptoms? how would you describe it if you don't mind? caller: i didn't have any trouble breathing. host: i was asking about your wife, actually. caller: my wife, no, she's just got a dry cough. it won't go away and she seems to be fatigued.

and it has been -- well, she got tested last tuesday, so, i mean, she's had these symptoms a while. i'm on day six right now of mine, and i think i am coming out of the woods because my fever is gone, diarrhea is gone, i don't feel tired, so i think i'm on the mend here. host: can i ask -- you said you got the johnson & johnson vaccine. did you have an option to get others? did you choose that one specifically or was that the only one available where you live? caller: no, i liked it because it was the one shot and it was at new hampshire speedway, where they had a fabulous set up. it must've been 3000 or 4000 people there over the weekend, and they did them all. i mean, it was amazing. i was scheduled, today, to have the moderna booster at the v.a.

and also a doctors appointment. i had to call up and cancel those because i'm in quarantine, so that's been my experience. host: best of health to you and your wife. thank you for sharing that experience. john in idaho, hello. caller: hello there. i got a shot. i got the johnson & johnson one shot. my wife also got that. that was quite a few months back to your we both have had a cough since then. -- back. we both have had a cough since then. i want to know why they are not pushing me monoclonal treatment more. trump showed that it helped him and his family. and all the doctors were hesitant to use it but they find out now it is something they should be using. host: to your experience with your cough, have you had it checked out? caller: yes, actually prayed i

just had checks, x-rays yesterday, and they found nothing wrong. host: you have not been diagnosed with covid, then, you or your wife? caller: no. we have been tested multiple times. host: ok. let's go to tom in new jersey. hello. caller: back in 2019, my wife and i both came down with a deep chest cough and the two of us went to the doctor's office. i did not even go see the doctor. i figured it was a cold. she checked and he said it is the cold. but it was right after that, a week after, i lost my taste. everything was like eating cardboard, so i lost 30 pounds. i lost my taste. everything was fine otherwise. then about a year later, i went

to the doctor for a checkup. my platelets were down in the single digits, so he sent me to a hematologist and the hematologist put me on steroids, heavy doses of steroids, and of course, that brought my taste back and everything else. so it is possible that the two of us had it thin, but it was so early they did not even know at the time. now of course we did get the shot, but as far as bringing my taste back, if it was not for the steroids, i would not have -- i would not have had my taste i guess. host: has your lifestyle changed at all because of your experiences? caller: not really. we did get the two pfizer shots. right now, there's so much conflict about whether the booster is good, bad or indifferent, so we did not get a booster yet, but so far, no problem at all. host: go ahead.

finish your thought. sorry to interrupt. go ahead. are you there? as far as your booster, because of that, are you reconsidering that? will you get it? where are you at? caller: right now, i would say no, but i would not rule it out completely. host: what changes your mind? caller: you keep on listening to the cdc and whatnot and they keep changing the story about you need a booster shot, two booster shots, and three. as far as masks go, i do not wear them unless i absolutely have to i do not think it should be mandated at all, that it is a personal option. host: one more call from bessie, albany, new york. caller: hello. ok. host: before you start if i may ask, can you turn down your

television, please. caller: yes, sir. just a moment. caller: while she has -- host: while she is doing that, again if you listen to a television there is a delay between when we say things here in washington, d.c. and where you hear things on your television, so that sometimes halts the conversation. are you there? bessie? good morning, are you there? she might still be turning down her television. let us try. are you there in albany new york? go ahead and finish your thought. host: i believe -- caller: i belong to the seventh-day adventist church and i do not eat meat. i had margarine which was a product of meat and had some and

it made me terribly sick and i went into the hospital and i still have the band on. i went to the hospital the day after my birthday, the 28th of december, and they let me come home on the 30th because they understood that medication makes me sick. so, now i am home, and as long as the covid is concerned i have a dry mouth and that is practically all. i did not get sick otherwise and i think it was because of the margarine i had eaten and i'm getting rid of that. host: that is bessie in albany, new york. in off this hour telling about your experiences with covid. thank you for those who appreciate -- who participated. two guests, we will first hear from mark montgomery a senior director for the cyber on's -- the center on cyber and

technology innovation discussing cyber vulnerabilities when it comes to water and wastewater systems. later on we will talk about schools and how they are dealing with covid and omicron with the president of the national education association, becky pringle. those conversations coming up. ♪ >> u.s. capitol police chief talks about the cost of defending lawmakers with the senate committee nearly one year since the january 6 attack against the u.s. capitol. watch live at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span, online at c-span.org or follow on c-span now. >> one year ago protesters broke through police security and occupied the u.s. capitol. on the one-year anniversary of the january 6 attack on the capitol we look back live beginning at 7:00 a.m. eastern

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james golden better known as bo snerly would greet callers. he has written a book about his time as call screener and official show observer and producer with the most popular radio talk show during the past 30 years. rush limbaugh died february 17 2001. in his book which is a tribute to his former boss and friend, he writes about his love of radio and how the limbaugh program came together behind the scenes. >> on this episodes of book -- episode of booknotes+ which is available on the c-span now app or wherever you get your podcasts. ♪ >> get c-span on the go, watch the biggest political events live or on any time and anywhere

on our new mobile video app, c-span now. access top highlights, listen to c-span radio, and discover new podcasts. download c-span now for free. >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us is mark montgomery with the foundation for defense of democracies senior director at the center on top -- on cyber technology and innovation and is the senior advisor for the cyberspace solarium commission. thank you for joining us. a couple of things about your organization, what is the foundation and particularly when it comes to cyber issues, what is your main point of interest? guest: the foundation for defense of democracies is a nonpartisan nonprofit think tank that looks at a number of security issues, and it specifically has three centers, one on military power, one on economic power and one on cyber

and technology innovation. i run the cyber and technology innovation center and we really focus on how we make our critical infrastructure more secure both from nationstate adversaries and criminal actors. host: when it comes to your other title, the cyberspace solarium commission, what is that specifically? guest: it was set up by the fiscal year 2019 national defense authorization act because senators like john mccain were becoming increasingly uncomfortable with our ability to deal with cybersecurity threats, particularly below use of force, otherwise threats done by nationstate criminal actors that did not engender a response from the united states. what senator mccain came to the conclusion was that the theory

was not working throughout all of cyberspace. that the lower level malicious actors were able to do whatever their damage to our critical infrastructure. he did what any congressman would do and set up a commission. the reason he believed in this is that he has been working for 10 years to get cybersecurity more secure through working with the executive branch or legislative changes and it was not held -- not happening. working with republicans and democrats and a commission was set up and senator mccain, really a smart man on how to get things done. he made sure that we had four congressional members on the commission. senator angus king, an independent who caucuses with democrats. senator ben sasse, a republican. jim landsman, a republican -- a democrat. and a republican from wisconsin. in addition we appointed four executive branch managers to

bring the information in, the fbi, the deputy director -- secretary of defense and deputy secretary of homeland -- of homeland security. in addition we had six outline -- outside experts, the ceo of companies or government officials, think tank leaders. they were supported by the staff that i led that studied the cybersecurity problem and mccain said you have one year to come back with real solutions which is a fast turnaround rate. in nine months be produced a report that we issued in march, 2020. we put out additional papers looking at additional issues. we spent the last 18 months, fiscal year 2021 and 2022 trying to turn the recommendations of that commission into law and we have been highly successful. we had 82 original

recommendations, 50 were legislative and we have accomplished between 60 and 80% of those recommendations. they are either in law or being carried out by the executive branch which is a high strike rate. the commission itself stood down over the weekend, it reached its natural length by congress, and we are now setting up a non-governmental organization led by the same congressman, same outside experts, and i am serving as director again and it is a 501(c)(3), a nonprofit advocating for implement those original reports. host: as far as the issues we hear a lot of them, many are common to americans including ransomware. you focused on cyber security when it comes to water systems. what got your interest in this? guest: that commission pointed out there were three or four of

our critical infrastructures by presidential executive order. president biden came and showed us this list and said stay away from these critical infrastructures. but we looked at those 16 and several of them concerned us greatly. one was pipelines, another was water and a third was health care provision. the commissioners asked a bunch of us in different think tanks to take a look at some of these issues in detail. the water one concerned me and the reason i took it up personally is because i think that water is a critical infrastructure that is the nexus of national security, economic stability and public health and safety. water is in all of the ways to become a global superpower. it enhances, informs, and enables critical infrastructure. energy relies heavily on water as a cooling medium and it

system so if water is not functioning in a certain region it is likely that rapidly thereafter energy production will not be functioning. seeing this as a critical infrastructure and the weakest link in these critical infrastructures. we went and took a study on it. host: because the op-ed talks a lot about the specifics that you highlight the experiences of one small town in florida. what is that experience and what does it say about the larger issue of cyber threat towards a water system? guest: the event we highlight was in oldsmar for, florida -- oldsmar, florida just before the super bowl. what happened was a malicious cyber actor, still not identified, had gotten into the system probably through either a pre-existing flaw, or the

delivery of pfishing, but that has not been revealed by the fbi. they were able to manipulate the system. what this person targeted was unusual in the sense that she or he did not try to turn the system off and ransomware back control of the system or lockout the operators. they decided to change the chemical injection settings so the amount of lye, which controls the acidity of water, initially at low levels it makes the water more appropriate to drink and at high levels it can make the water poisonous or detrimental to health. and, began to attempt to increase the level of lye in the water. fortunately, the malicious actor was doing this at the same time and was moving around the systems at the same time an operator was sitting at the

console. this operator was able to see this inappropriate activity going on. he sought twice. the first time he did not do anything about it in the second time he reported to its -- to his bosses and they were able to stop this potentially harmful change in the chemistry but it was just a random act of luck that we were able to stop this. i am glad that we were lucky that it points to the fact that our systems are vulnerable to malicious acts by either criminal actors or nationstates. there is a number of other examples. water has not been exploited at the same way that banks have because criminals are going to rob money and there is a much more lucrative path to success. what are critical infrastructure is exceptionally vulnerable to cyber penetration. host: our guest is with us until 8:45 and if you want to ask

about the vulnerabilities that he talks about and highlights you can call 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8001 four republicans. 202-748-8002 for independents. you can also text us at 202-748-8003. talk about the water aspect that also vulnerable systems. what makes them vulnerable, generally. guest: generally, i will go with water and then take it out generally. what makes us vulnerable in the water industry is that there are two elements, how much does the industry spend on it cybersecurity? the second is how well does the government agency that is paired with that engine -- industry support it. if both of those are strong you are in good shape. i will give you an example in financial services. the banks have learned that we are really susceptible and we

are being targeted heavily by cyber criminal actors, so some banks are spending upwards of $700 million a year on cybersecurity. that is more than most federal agencies except the department of defense, that is more than most countries. an individual u.s. bank will be spending that. they are fairly high -- very highly supported by heavily regulated industry and supported by the department of treasury, that is a marriage that leads to very high cybersecurity. now, you cannot say that about the tens and thousands of banks of america but you can broadly say across the industry and specifically about the biggest banks. when you get down to water, water utilities are generally more than, i think it is 88%, are publicly owned and operated by your county, town, some kind of local government organization

which is not the definition of an organization that will be rich with excess funds or able to rapidly give a grant or funding to solve a developing security issue. they are very much covered by rates that they are allowed to chars, violent -- charge, bonds to raise money, it is a slow mechanism. the complicating factor is about two decades ago we began to heavily automate the water industry, otherwise take the man and woman out of the loop and make the valve, pump, and chemical injection system operate by computer order. at the time there did not appear to be a cybersecurity threat, so the savings were invested in other areas. 20 years later there is a big cybersecurity threat and we have heavily automated these systems. we do not have the excess funds to pay for them. the industry itself has got to do more and spend more money on

cybersecurity. in that regard, the government, the sector risk management, the environmental protection agency has not been properly resourced or organized to support the utilities in the cybersecurity effort. the epa is a big federal agency with lots of important roles and spends its efforts on important issues like removing the lead-based piping in our water systems and working on climate change issues. they have not focused through multiple administrations on a bipartisan way and they have not focused on cybersecurity. as a result they are ill-prepared to support a weak industry in terms of cybersecurity. and the best example of this is their office of water cybersecurity probably has under five people in it. when you compare that there are 55,000 water utilities and 55,000 wastewater utilities,

five people trying to help 70 -- 75,000 bureaucratic organizations. what you have to get is a good government support agency married with a good and well-funded industry, that is when you will have tight cybersecurity. host: mark montgomery with the foundation for the defense of democracies and senior director of the center on cyber and technology innovation. if you want to ask him about cyber concerns and technologies that you are worried about, you can call him or send us a text at 202-748-8003. james, washington, d.c., independent line, you are the first up. caller: thank you. my question is that is our energy grid at risk as well? the second question, how do we move forward with legislation and get our legislative branch to act on this because it seems like we are now in the 21st

century and they should've been taking care of in the 1990's, to be honest with you. guest: those are two great questions. energy is in a better position and a couple of reasons drive that. a lot of energy is privately owned and not publicly owned and they have the ability to adjust rates which may not always be in a comfortable thing as a utility payer, but allows them to respond to these issues more agile he. -- agily. it is more attentive 15% electrical facilities versus the 88% in water. the department of energy has been an exceptionally good risk management agency. they have an assistant secretary that deals with cybersecurity, which happened during the trump administration. the biden administration has not appointed anybody and the secretary of energy indicated

that they might drop this and yorty of that draw. democrat and republican senators have pushed back about that. they do make sure there is enough funding for the organization, 20 to 30 times the size of its water equivalent when it should be about the same size. so i feel better about energy but that does not mean that energy is secure, it just has the opportunity. there are still vulnerabilities, the same kind of fbi, nsa, department of homeland security report that came out about water, the warning that caused us to write the op-ed. we have had similar warnings in the energy sector. they are under assault from criminal actors, particularly ransomware, but from nationstates that implant mao weller into the electrical grid. -- malware into the electrical

grid. an energy is tied to water. if the water fails energy is in trouble. as far as action, the legislature -- the u.s. congress has done more in the past two years than in the previous 20 years. i would consider the last three years of cybersecurity a bonanza. there have been 40 laws passed and three years ago, 60 two years ago and 40 last year. there was some independent bills and cybersecurity passed within the bipartisan infrastructure plan. so, they are doing something. you are correct in saying that they have not done everything that they need to do. in fact in our report we detailed three or four different areas where legislative action is still required and i will give you a specific one.

one of the things that is extremely disappointing and frustrating is that while we do set aside $14 billion, that is over a five-year period, so about 3 billion a year in very specific grants water utilities, cybersecurity is allowed to compete with those but what they are competing with is that we tell a water utility that you can spend this grant money on droughts, on severe weather issues, natural disasters, rising sea level or cybersecurity so your basic glee telling the water utility you can -- and you are basically telling them that they can spend it on signs the apocalypse or cybersecurity and most of them are spent on the signs of the apocalypse. cybersecurity is easy to ignore in the short term but the long-term failure to fund upgrades leads to a long road as

if you are having a drought and rising seawater -- sea levels are a natural disaster. you need to have cyber sorry -- cybersecurity unique funding, and that is all the utility can spend it on to ensure that the utility identifies risks in the system beyond their ability to fund a repair. they have a place to go for a grant or low-interest loan depending on the size and attributes. host: that is some of the recommendations that your organization makes when it comes to government giving more power to the epa and the risk management agency directly -- directing some of those programs and directs the cybersecurity and infrastructure security to support water structures and increase the federal government support as well. ian in winter park, florida. republican line. caller: hello. mr. montgomery, i want to thank you for being here.

it is very -- i really appreciate being able to talk to you. and, so i am an ecf graduate and i have been in central florida for quite some time and i will say that the water here has been abysmal for quite some time, and i am curious in your personal opinion what can the central florida environments do to improve the water here? it has been really -- it is absolutely terrible for quite some time. host: in florida. mr. montgomery let me take that as a step further -- further as part of the system you are speaking of. how modern our systems at critical locations? how would you describe that? guest: the caller had a great

point, it is inconsistent and on there are some very small what are utilities that have a real challenge in upgrading and improving the quality of drink ability and also the security of the systems. when i say there are 50,000 drinking water facilities in america, over 40,000 serve communities of less than 3000 people. you can imagine with just getting the payments from the 3000 people and a small profits, there is almost no room for long-term investment. really, that is where the government has got to come in. when you set up a system like this, where something is distributed as it is, and the government has to come in and help a little. water, like energy and transportation are one of the things where the government provides the backbone to private sector and public utilities, so

let me talk about one of our recommendations and how it could help. we have a program, the department of agriculture has a program called the circuit rider program. i imagined the marlboro man on a horseback riding around the west. this is what mom-and-pop and really small water utilities that serve rural areas and they are not on horseback. they are probably in an f-150 driving around and giving advice. the problem is is the advices how should my piping be laid down and was the pressure on this manifold and stuff like that. but probably not breaking out their computer and giving cybersecurity advice. we recommended a program small in terms of cost but it will make a big impact which is to fund 50 cybersecurity circuit riders and this is with the

national water association that championed this. they are one of the associations. but now you have 50 guys, men or women, servicing these rural or farmland areas that are in a prius driving up and showing up with our computer and saying let me run some penetration. to make sure that you are not subject to ransomware. these small systems are vulnerable to small ransomware criminal -- criminals as big programs are. we could run that for $5 million a year and enhance smaller industries and get the water & -- the cybersecurity of the water on par with some of the issues with the circuit rider program. host: clark in florida as well. democrats line. caller: i for sure have a lot of

care about cyber, but i also have a lot of care about industries, pollution, runoffs, sewers, and i think it is a much bigger problem. he personally i would rather have -- me personally, i would rather have that monitored and money going in that direction. host: ok, let us hear from debbie in silver spring, maryland. democrats line. caller: good morning mr. montgomery and "washington journal." as a tax credit and public service since water is tied to energy, why do not all of the oil companies pay for it? why is that not regulated through the department of energy as a mandatory servicing tax?

host: ok. guest: i do think that the use of the water is generally associated with energy production. and they do pay for the water they get as a cooling medium, so there is the requirement. how much to charge for it will be determined, but the truth is that the water utilities have not been putting the money they have into cybersecurity, so i'm not sure that increasing that rate would increase water cybersecurity unless you we -- in less we lean on these facilities and say you got the benefits of automation and you have a lot less people standing watch and operating valves and pumps. particularly in these large terms of size rural systems. they will have valves and pumps that are 20 or 30 miles away from the headquarters of the distribution manifolds.

near the reservoirs and such. that has been automated. the benefits that they have, they need to make investments in cybersecurity. and, i would like to keep management of this with the epa. they are responsible for all of the elements of water and they do do work on the cleanliness and the leadpipe abatement and they do a lot of great work at the epa, they just need to come up to speed for the cybersecurity issue. host: we saw to trillion dollar infrastructure bill passed by government -- congress and signed into law by the president. how much is that dealt with cybersecurity issues? guest: that is a great point, the president said yes talking points. this does a lot with resilience in cybersecurity. it is one of the very first appropriations bills that

highlight cybersecurity specifically, so that is a win. here's where it is less of one. in the 1.2 trillion, there was 2 billion worth of cybersecurity and when you do that mathematically that is two over 1200 over 0.1%. it was great that it was called out but it was a pretty small percentage overall. what it did was it gave specific money to the cybersecurity, and infrastructure security to a critical agency and the department of homeland security and it is the quarterback of the federal government's cybersecurity response. they work with every federal agency and every private sector and the national cyber director at the white house. there kind of that quarterback workhorse issues and they were

given $5 million worth of funds for different things to do including what is called a cyber response and recovery fund, which is for providing money after the fact, after there has been some kind of cyber event or crisis to help restore systems rapidly and get them up and going. it is an important thing that our commissioner had been asking for for two years. it also provided $1 billion to state and local governments for cybersecurity of their ip systems. some of that can go towards water. by not having a direction to do it in the law, probably much less than we hope will go to that. that will go to the cybersecurity and i.t. modernization of state and local governments. this was noticed during the covid response when an excessive number of people were applying to unemployment that the state and local systems were under duress because they were outdated.

they are also unsecure. the money for serious cybersecurity, a lot of that will be spent on i.t. modernization which will improve security a little not efficiently. and so, that is in there. finally in their is the money, -- in there, is the money, $14 billion, or grant programs for water utilities. my concern is that cybersecurity with -- was thrown in with the four signs of the apocalypse. at least historically, cybersecurity is an add-on, the money does not spent and it has a lot to do with how the utilities think but also how the epa is organized to handle them. host: ryan in michigan. independent line. caller: good morning pedro and mr. montgomery. benton harbor recently learned

that the water in our county was worse than flint when flint had their crisis. we are about an hour and 15 minutes from flint. so what i want to ask is that i do not see the urgency that is coming in at all, so i want to know how that system works with the money that just get spent on infrastructure, how are we following the money to make sure that we are getting the proper response as we should, and in the future, that this does not happen again that the system needs to start getting down and looking at the infrastructure whether it is 100 years from now or whatever because i know the infrastructure has not been touched and probably 100 years. host: thank you. guest: i will say one quick

thing, having studied the infrastructure bill closely there is money for those sorts of things also. the epa in a bipartisan way has been trying to identify needed investments in water infrastructure, and there is a significant backlog of hundreds of billions of dollars if you look back at the latest studies. there is a a lot of money in this infrastructure bill and appropriations for the epa. i think this administration is taking that seriously. host: pat in new jersey. republican line. caller: hello, i am a former i.t. person and my question is why are these systems closed to outsiders? why don't you have a list of extremely limited people able to access the systems to make changes?

thank you. guest: that is a great question, and i will tell you, it is -- they should be close. they need to be connected to the internet because they are talking to systems downrange. but what is generally happening, the most likely source of penetration by the malicious actor is spear pfishing -- phishing, emails to the operators that enable a piece of malware by clicking on the link and the adversary is in the system. in general there are three things you can do that will make you 99 points that -- 99.9% secure. a complex password, multifactor authentication, and do not answer emails from nigerian princes or more typically, do not go spear phishing.

if you do does -- if you do those three things, you aren't going to make yourself and the company and your water utility more secure. unfortunately those are not practiced often. multifactor authentication is not required but those are the kind of things that i think would drive and improve cybersecurity. host: from stephen in salem, oregon. independent line. caller: good morning, can you hear me? host: you are on. caller: for once, someone i would like to talk to. i would like to say the cool thing about sustainable energy and the water and the thing that goes with it is that it is off the grid and eliminates having to develop a cybersecurity plan for it and then local jobs get developed. and we have people in their own area working on things that if they do break down, such as they

do, and it eliminates and alleviates having to worry about it which is what is so cool. i also want to say that seip -- cybersecurity experts will need to be there. what you said about spear phishing is awesome and i appreciate you and i just hearing from you is awesome. i like to get ideas and solution and your people wants me to -- make me want to think more. mr. montgomery, when it comes -- host: mr. montgomery when it comes to recommendations one of the one that you put forward is a joint oversight program and amongst other things to amend the american water infrastructure act and increase waste whether utility risk assessments. to that first point, are there not programs already between the government industry on these issues? guest: surprisingly, there is very little in water, and i

compare that to say financial services where think tanks will tell you do not have one federal agency regulating cybersecurity we have three or four. what i would tell you is that in this, there was a law passed several years ago called the american water infrastructure act. in their it directed water utilities to pick up risk assessments and create long-term emergency response plans to recover. and, the apa could provide some guidance, -- the epa could provide some guidance. but in the area of cybersecurity until recently on their website they said we are not giving you a standard, and that is a real fault, they should be providing some corn -- some kind of standard to look at.

it could be based on the scott -- on a scale, but they really should. i am at a point where we need a joint industry government program, there is an oversight function, but the real nuts and bolts of it, banding -- managing the standards of development, that needs to be done by the water industry and there are a lot of good water industry associations, something called the water information sharing -- it is just a group, and there is a waes, which is a water sector cybersecurity counsel, that helps and works between the government and its associations. they can provide that standard and use the department of homeland security and most importantly the national information standards of

technology -- the national institute for standards of technology and they provide a ton of standards, recommended standards for different pieces of technology. those together can develop the water sector cybersecurity standards and work together, consult with different stakeholders, and eventually, build themselves towards a regulatory regime if necessary. if you get -- if you can do it through a joint oversight that would be great. the epa is years if not a decade away from being in a position to regulate this industry because of their current lack of investment in organization. that is kind of how i see that government industry oversight going. it has to be heavy industry led for the first decade. host: chris in louisiana. s democrat -- democrats line. caller: mark, i want to mention

something. in your explanation, it seems that from my understanding that the epa is a malfunctioning organization. the more i listen to you explain a lot of things and when it comes to what they are doing i keep hearing how they are not doing this when they could be doing that, and they need to be doing this and they need this and that. this is a malfunctioning organization. what i am thinking is that folks in washington who sit on these different boards who are in control of the epa, they need to go in there and i would say restructure everything and replace people if necessary because mark, this is so important. i will give you an example. host: we are a little bit of time and i apologize for that.

go ahead. guest: that is a great point. i would sharpen it a little bit. the epa is doing a lot of things well. they are doing this poorly because they do not resource for it and as the caller said they are not organized. i would recommend reorganizing and funding them. the trump administration had an increase from 8 million to 10 million and the button and administration recommended an increase. the real amount needed is between 45 million and $50 million. you cannot do that in one year, you do not triple an agency's budget in a year that is like burning money in an oil barrel. but over the next three to five years grow this office to be the support element to the private sector that they are required to be by law as a sector risk management agency and the answer that they can provide us with those citizens good oversight.

we want a high-performing cybersecurity program and then get the support from the places i mentioned, get a little bit of support from the department of energy where they have expertise, and i think that is the solution. that is slow money in the overall epa budget but it requires money and organization to get it right. host: mark montgomery you can find their website at fdd.org. thank you for your time. guest: thank you. i appreciate you tackling this issue. host: coming up we will talk about the state of schools as they go back into session and concerns about omicron from some with becky pringle who joins us next. ♪ >> u.s. capitol police chief talks about the cost of defending lawmakers with the senate committee nearly one year

since the january 6 attack against the u.s. capitol. watch live at 10:00 a.m. on c-span, online at c-span.org, or follow on c-span now, our new video app. >> one year ago protesters broke through police security and occupied the u.s. capitol. on the one-year anniversary of the january 6 attack on the capitol we look back on that day live on c-span beginning at 7:00 a.m. eastern on washington journal taking your phone calls, facebook comments and tweets. then president joe biden and vice president kamala harris deliver remarks. 1:00 p.m. eastern carla hayden leads a discussion on january 6's place in american history. 2:30 p.m. eastern lawmakers share their thoughts and reflections on the day. five: p.m. eastern, members of the house -- 5:30 p.m. eastern, members of the house and senate

will gather on the steps ray vigil. the anniversary of the january 6 attack on the capitol. live at 5:30 on c-span or watch on the go on the mobile app or watch on c-span.org where you will find all of the programming plus archival coverage from that day. ♪ >> c-span offers a variety of

podcasts that have something for every listener. weekdays "washington today" gives you the latest and " booknotes+" has interviews with writers. while the weekly looks at how issues of the day developed over years. and "talking with" features conversations with historians about their lives and work. many television programs are available as podcasts. you can find them all on the c-span now mobile app wherever you get podcasts. >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us now is becky pringle, president of the national education association. thank you for giving us your time. caller: it is good -- guest: it is good to be with you again. host: to what level are you concerned about omicron and how

it might impact those who go to school? guest: you know, we are coming up on two years, aren't we, with this pandemic? one of the things that we know is that it is ever-changing, it is throwing us curveballs when we think we are coming out of it. that certainly happened with delta, and now here with omicron. but, we have seen strategies and tools in place. if we take advantage, school districts have taken advantage of the american rescue plan to ensure that we can put in place all of the layered mitigation strategies from vaccinations to testing, to distancing, to cleaning surfaces and hands the ventilation. all of those working together, we can keep our students and educators say. host: we saw $130 billion, specifically for school. $10 billion for testing purposes. can you say that that's money has been distributed or is it now the school's issue?

guest: it has varied kind of an evenly depending on what was going on in a particular state. i know you saw that happening in the fall where some states and governors were refusing to allow school districts to use the money. secretary cardona did intervene to make sure that the school districts did actually get the money they needed so they could purchase those tests and make sure that they had enough for all of their students and educators, making sure that there were repairing ventilation systems. but we know that there are still schools that do not have the resources available to them, or they just have not had the time yet or do not have the people to do the kinds of repairs needed to ensure that all of those mitigation strategies are in place. we have to stay vigilant, because we know that there are schools that have work to do. host: you probably heard the

word, the decision by the chicago's teachers learning -- union about concerns about testing among them. they are not the only union or school association expressing concern. what is your message to teachers if they are concerned about omicron and going back to school to teach? guest: i taught science for over 30 years and this is what i know and what i have heard from teachers all over the country as i travel from los angeles to kentucky. they want to be back with our students. they want to be in person because i know that is the best and safest way for them to be and the best place for them to learn and for teachers and other people to teach. they want to work collaboratively to do what they must to keep our students and educators safe and to keep them in person, and so they continue to make sure that everyone, all of the stakeholders are at the

table, educators, parents, community members, infectious disease experts and students themselves to make the decision that is best for the school district in that area depending on what the virus is doing, how high the transmission rate is and whether they have tools in place to keep students safe. our guest host:host: -- our guest is becky pringle. 202-748-8001 -- 202-748-8000 for educators. and all others, 202-748-8002. that being said, is there a scenario that you can envision or maybe the nea has talked about if a certain amount of caseloads happen, people or schools would be recommended to go back to eight remote learning scenario? guest: what i have been saying from the beginning very consistently is follow the science, listen to the experts

and bring together the people who are closest to the students and those communities to make the decisions. they have to collaborate, communicate and develop contingency plans which we saw school districts doing before the holidays. they did not know the impact in their area because they have to deal with the virus community by community. the spread varies from one committee to another, so they have to have comprehensive contingency plans in place because not only do we want students to be safe but learning in person -- and learning in person together but we have to make sure that learning continues even if we realize that the infection rate is too high to bring them together or we have so many educators that we cannot bring them into in person learning because we do not have enough teachers or

school bus drivers or educators in that building but we want to finish -- figure out how to minimize distractions and provide equitable access to learning and that requires collaboration, communication and comprehensive plans. caller: is -- host: as part of those plans would you recommend a mandatory test for teachers and students returning to school? guest: we have seen different schools doing different things. those who came together to make the decision about what was best for their students are the ones who are open right now and have all of the safety precautions in place. they have all the tests that they need, they have all the testing location set up so students can come in and get the tests and help with testing and uploading this so they have all of that information. we have some school districts that said they would delay the opening, we are going to learn remark -- remotely for the first week or couple of weeks because we did not get the resources that we needed to be able to

test all students and make sure they are safe. we have been living with this virus for two years and we know that we will see a surge in cases right after holidays. it has happened each year and happened again this year. those school districts that planned ahead, whether they got the additional tests or realized that they needed to postpone the in person learning, they made those decisions together and then parents knew what was going to happen and educators knew what was going to happen and the students continued learning. host: as far as vaccinations, what is the rate -- how has the rate of vaccinations change. what is happening this year as opposed to last year? guest: we know how important vaccinations are. we have that evidence and we are working hard partnering with community groups and with the department of education to increase those numbers of adults who are vaccinated. that is so critical.

we already have seen this happen, we know that when we do not have high rates of vaccination within a community, that is what really feeds those variations in the virus, and we get these mutations and you get different strains like delta and omicron. we have to get the vaccination rates up. we are so encouraged by the number of students who are getting vaccinated in our schools, and the continued work by our medical communities to not only increase the number of vaccinations, but also to increase the medications that are used to treat covid. we are getting more tools every single day, but vaccinations absolutely essential. and, especially right now when this omicron variant is so infectious, masks are an essential mitigation strategy. host: your first call from jerry

in minnesota, a parent. you are on. go ahead with your question or comment. guest: ella -- caller: hello i have a couple of questions. you say you have to listen to the experts and experts are going back to school and teach. the chicago situation is ridiculous. when you said we need to get more vaccines, we are vaccinated it does not start -- stop the spread. the teachers are vaccinated and the kids are at no real risk. the omicron, people saying the sky is falling, as of five days ago, i saw one person documented as dying from it. and all of the experts in all of the science and all of the stats say that teachers should be in school, and then you unilaterally say that you are not going in a place like chicago, something is really wrong. they should not be paid and stripped of their benefits. you do not get to say where you

are going to work as an employee. you want to do that you become an owner. i find this so wrong. host: jerry, a parent in new mexico. guest: so, we are saying exactly what the experts are saying, that we want students to be in school, in person, learning. the experts do not stop there. they say we have to put in place those mitigation strategies beginning with testing. so, we know that for those school districts that were not able for whatever reason to get the tests so that students and educators could be tested many of them made a decision to delay the opening until they got the tests. the resources arrived so they could do that and all of the students could start together in person learning and minimize those disruptions because it is so incredibly important to do that. if we have teachers and students who are getting covid and they have to isolate, that will

disrupt their learning and we might not have enough educators in our schools to teach our students. so, we have to take those recommendations by the experts together. we cannot pick and choose. we have to do them together. host: an educator in florida. vanessa, hello. go ahead. caller: what are they doing within the schools to make sure that there is sufficient airflow within the classrooms? guest: that is a really important question. we said from the beginning that ventilation, proper ventilation is essential and actually, it is not new information, we already knew that we had crumbling schools, particularly in urban areas. we knew that our black, brown, and native students schools that they were going to had been built almost 100 years ago and never been updated.

so over the last two years what we have strived to do is to learn more about what we could do to improve ventilations, and some school school districts han those steps, but, honestly, that is a band-aid. it is why we continue to fight for the passage of the infrastructure money in the build back better plan. that will allow us to address schools across this nation. the modernization of these schools we have been talking about for decades. now it is front and center. everybody can see they are not adequately ventilated. we have buildings we send our students to for a long time. this is the time to repair our schools, build new schools so our students are going to safe schools. host: how is that addressed through the american rescue plan? guest: billions of dollars went to cities all over the country.

they could use those dollars to upgrade their ventilation systems. that is what many of them did, but we know that is a short-term solution. we have got to build new schools in this country. host: connie in west virginia, good morning. caller: my name is connie. i am a grandmother here in west virginia. i have grandkids. in west virginia, we have been going to school, the students here, and i was a cook for tyler county schools. we have had not a lot of problems with the children being in schools. they wear masks. why is it that we cannot just do that everywhere like we do here in west virginia? guest: connie, thank you for helping to feed our students. that is an important role, as you know.

as we look through the fall of this year, we started school. our schools, the majority of them started in september. they were all in person. it varies from community to community, whether or not they had to move back to virtual, remote learning. sometimes it was because in that area there was an outbreak. too often, that was because they were not wearing masks in the schools. that has been a conversation through the fall. in places where they were wearing masks, that kept down the infection rate. if infection rates were not managed, what was happening was it was spreading through the school and we were having more and more sick students and more and more sick educators. we did not have the educators in school to keep those schools open. the majority of our schools throughout the fall, even throughout delta, we were able to keep them open because we were vaccinating adults and students. we were insisting they wear masks.

we were insisting where possible we were employing strategies to keep schools clean and they had proper ventilation. host: as far as cleaning of the schools, is that possible if students are in school all five days a week? guest: we have had our custodians all over the country do an incredible job to keep our schools clean. our school districts have worked with them to develop a schedule so they were cleaning schools initially. some of the schools would actually close down for a day so they would do that. -- that really intensive cleaning. sometimes they would pay custodians to come in after school, at night, to do that intensive cleaning. we have had challenges of retaining our custodians, making sure we have enough, paying them enough to do the job they did not ever think they would be

doing. all of our educators are facing that now. we are facing shortages with custodians as well. those schools that work with our custodians provided training so they knew how to clean our schools properly and provided resources for them to do that and hired additional staff to make sure they could do that so students could stay in a safe schools. those are the schools that were able to stay open safely. host: this is becky pringle with the national education association. caller: i was wondering if the education association is going to back the chicago teachers union for deciding to close to keep kids safe even though they merit chicago had pushed the mandate -- mayor of chicago had pushed the mandate that said they would close restaurants of kids were not vaccinated. it seems she is taking profits ahead of our kids' safety.

yet we can keep restaurants open for the same reason why they chose to close the school. guest: i will continue to talk about, and educators all over this country are doing the same, that when we work together to keep students safe we are ensuring that we have all of those mitigation strategies in place for our students. that is what we need to do. we must come together to build relationships that through these last few years school districts all over this country and parents and educators, health care professionals, have built so they can have and use those collaboration strategies that are focused on making sure our students have what they need and what they deserve. we have the resources to ensure they have the testing.

they are taking this other mitigation strategies into play so our students can stay in person and continue to learn. we have to come together so we can ensure every student has access to those safe tools so that they can come together, learn together, and they can continue to grow and thrive. host: you have been talking about the need to have students in school from the experiences of students who spend time learning remotely during the early stages of the pandemic. is there any evidence that shows the education they receive has been impacted in any way? guest: we certainly over the spring and summer took a look at making sure we did diagnostic assessments to understand what gaps existed for our students. we knew we were welcoming

students back into in person learning, into our school building, who had suffered trauma. they had suffer loss particularly in our black and brown and indigenous communities. covid-19 impacted this humidity is to a greater degree and the crises it spawned from the economic crisis to the housing crisis, food insecurity, all of those things impacted those communities to a greater degree. we did an assessment of gaps, not just academic gaps, but social and emotional learning gaps. what we put in place in the spring and fall was accelerated learning. we did that from that place of not only did we have to close academic gaps but we had students who had not been together for a year or longer. we had to help them learn how to do school, coming together and working together in a way that

fostered safety within the classroom and lunchrooms. there was a lot of work to be done over the spring and summer and the fall and throughout this year. we will continue to do that work to assess where students are and how we are going to work collaboratively to close this gap. host: let's hear from jennifer and delaware, and educator. caller: i have a student who is in high school. i tutor students through the program upward bound. the student just recovered and she is concerned about going back to school and catching it again. she is concerned about her safety. i told her to reach out to the school and see if you can ask to go online if you are concerned, but she is not comfortable with that. that was my recommendation to her, to reach out to the school

because it was hard. she had to quarantine. she was not super sick, but she stayed in her room to keep her family safe. it was hard on her. mentally. host: ok. thanks, jennifer. guest: that is an important story to lift up, pedro. as i have been talking with you this morning, our students are part of our stakeholder ship. we have to include them in the conversations we are having. they have been living with this virus for two years as well. their lives have been disrupted, their lives at school, at home. they have had loss. they are afraid. we have to talk to them and listen to them. her advice to reach out to the school is good advice. i would add that she needs to

talk with her parents or family, involve community members in those conversations so those people who are in decision-making -- making those decisions and have the power to make those decisions, that they are listening to students an understanding that this is impacting them in ways that may not have them feeling safe to come back to school. they need to start that conversation, part of developing a solution, so they can feel safe, understand what is happening, and continue their learning, whether they are in person or remote. host: is the remote situation still available to a student or family that decides they are still concerned about covid and still wants to teach their student at home? guest: it does vary from school district to school district. most districts will work with

families, with students who are struggling. either they are predisposed to getting covid, they have health conditions already there challenging for them, school district will work with them to ensure they have tools they need to continue to learn. it is a good idea to reach out to the school district to see what can happen for that family so that student has what they need and deserve. host: canton, ohio, this is dave on our line for others. caller: can you tell us the difference between your organization and the other teachers union, the american federation of teachers? can you tell us why randi weingarten is always on tv but we never hear from you? can you tell us how many teachers there are in the united states? guest: we have two unions in

this country, the american federation of teachers and the national education association. we represent not only teachers but professionals and bus drivers. we represent higher education members as well as students aspiring to be teachers and we represent bus drivers and retired teachers. we also represent nurses and counselors. we represent people who have made a decision to dedicate their lives to educating students of america. we work closely together to ensure that not only do all of our students get what they need and what they deserve but that we deal with issues of equity and access come a that we deal with issues of resources -- access, that we deal with issues of resources. one thing we said early in the pandemic, march of 2020, when

the nea convened over 60 organizations to talk about what we were calling a homework app, now much more, we were talking about the lack of technology and digital tools for our students. we wanted to work with the federal government, with state and local governments, to close that gap. that work has continued through the pandemic. we still have issues of equity and access. that is a priority for our organization, making sure our students have what they need, making sure our educators have what they need, including respect, professional authority, compensation, and working conditions we know are essential to get to the heart of what we are seeing now, a huge shortage not only among our teachers but among our support staff as well. host: as far as staff as a whole

, are the number of teachers we saw before the pandemic back in schools or is there a teacher shortage? guest: we have a teacher shortage, a shortage we have been sounding the alarm about for at least a decade and a half. we looked at the number of students enrolling in teacher preparation programs and we have seen a steady decline over the last decade in the number of students who are making the decision to become teachers. it is alarming. certainly the pandemic exacerbated that with additional stress and workload. we know too many teachers and professionals are going into classrooms, into schools, and they arrive at school and do not have enough subs so they have to cover classes over their lunch break. they have to combine classes so some of them are teaching as many as 80 students in an

auditorium. those are not the conditions students need. we are concerned about the teacher shortage and working hard to address those issues and to address other issues leading to that shortage. for example, teachers being asked to do so much more than what they were trained to do or should be responsible for doing. we are promoting community schools to make sure we have in our school districts additional supports that students need. we are also promoting residency programs and mentoring so our teachers feel they have the support and are ready to teach and have support. we are doing lots of things to address it, but in this moment our teachers need -- we need to address the well-being of our teachers. they need to hear from us. they need to know we care for them and we are doing things to

help them. host: if there was a teacher hesitant on going back to the classroom because of covid concerns, what does the union do for them? guest: we have been working closely with our teachers and other educators across the country to build those collaborative working relations with their school districts, administration, school board, parents so they can have that collaboration throughout the system so they come together to resolve those issues at the local level so all the students are safe, so educators are safe, so they are communicating and know what plans are as we continue to live with this ever-changing pandemic. host: nick is in pennsylvania, our line for others. caller: thank you to all the educators and the amazing work you do every day. i wanted to ask -- connie

mentioned earlier food in schools, important to educate our children and feed them. one of the things that covid has brought to light is the fact of lunch debt in america and the fact that there are over one million students who cannot pay the full price for a school meal. the average meal debt per child is about $170 yearly. feeding america calculates one in five food insecure children lose in a home in eligible for -- in eligible for free or reduced lunch. we ended up making sure every kid could get a free and reduced lunch. i wanted to ask -- what is the nea doing to make sure once we come out of the pandemic every child in america is never

ashamed, never denied a lunch, and that they can get a free breakfast and free lunch for just being a student in your school? host: that is nick in pennsylvania. guest: that is such an important issue that you have lifted up. we have worked hard through this pandemic. the light was shining on the inequities. teachers, food service workers saw this every day. they saw students who did not finish their lunch and put it in their backpack because they knew they had hungry parents and other family members at home. they were not even eating all of their lunch. they were taking it home to parents. what we saw through the pandemic is these heroic teachers and bus drivers and food service workers who put their lives on the line. we lost a lot of bus drivers and food service workers early in

the pandemic because they kept cooking those meals and delivering them to schoolyards and libraries all over the country and they did not just feed the kids. they fed their families as well. what we knew we had to do is ensure that we had resources to feed our students and their families and all the students. that is what we fought hard for and was included in the american rescue plan. we are not done, as i said before. we have to pass the build back better plan because that includes in its healthy meals for all students -- and it healthy meals for all students. those need to be on -- in it healthy meals for all students. those need to be ongoing meals. kids cannot learn if they are hungry. if they go home to a hungry family, that family cannot help them.

that is the work we have yet to do and we are calling on congress to get that work done so our students can be healthy and safe and can continue to learn. host: there is reporting democrats have put build back better on hold in pursuit of other things, including voting rights legislation. how do you respond to that? guest: we are not putting our advocacy on hold. our members live in every congressional district across this country. they are using their power and voice and influence to demand that members of congress get this done. you will not stop fighting for it because not only are we talking about healthy meals, we are talking about universal pre-k. we all know how important it is for our students to have access

to kindergarten. we know that is important. we have evidence of that. we know those child tax credits are essential to our families who are struggling the most. we also know it is essential that we have the resources for addressing the modernization of those schools, for addressing teacher shortages. all those things are in the build back better plan. we will not stop lifting up our voices and demanding that our elected leaders do their job so we can do ours. host: has your organization directly contacted the white house or congress? guest: we have contacted members of congress, senators, the white house. we will continue to do that. we are not working by ourselves. we are working with community partners all over this country because we understand the importance of this legislation

not only to our students but to working families. host: ms. pringle, just after christmas the new york post talked about the influence of teacher unions on the ministration, quoting your organization, they wrote in part -- they talked about emails provided to this watchdog group, americans for public trust, saying it revealed the biden administration not only consult a national teachers union before releasing school reopening guidance to the public but put a heavy thumb on the scales in favor of the union agenda. it says the message showed the white house staff arranged a meeting between rochelle walensky and yourself. to that take place? -- did that take place? guest: when i started teaching, i did not have a clue that as part of my professional responsibility i had to concern

myself with the people making decisions about my students and my classroom. i learned a long time ago that every decision made about my school is made by someone who is either elected or appointed. i had a professional responsibility to lift up my voice, to use my influence so i is the educator, as the person closest to my students, my voice , my professional expertise was what was used to make decisions. i have been doing that for a long time. i will continue to do that. so will our members because they understand they have to speak up. they have to be the voice for their students and we will continue to do that. host: did that meeting take place and dictate what the administration would do as far as school reopening guidance? >> we have and will continue to

work with the administration to ensure we do everything possible to keep our students safe and keep them in person learning to provide resources to do that. we will continue to work with them to ensure we understand and can follow the science. we know as soon as we can what these experts are saying, how that might impact schools, and what we can do as educators, as members of our communities to keep our students safe, to keep them in person, learning together and growing together, and to minimize those disruptions so all our students can continue to learn. host: let's hear from mark in massachusetts, a parent. caller: it has been so long since i have gotten through. the last time i called, i talked to brian lamb himself. host: you're on with becky pringle of the nea. caller: school budgets come from

property taxes. that is why schools in low income neighborhoods look like condemned buildings. the taxing has to be different. i think the chicago teachers are using covid to hide the decrepit buildings they have to work in. i think it is a lot to do with how the property tax is set up for school budgets. that has to change. guest: we absolutely have to deal with the inequities built not only into our educational system but all the social systems that impact our students' ability to learn and the quality of education we provide. we have known for decades is an inequitable funding system. as a society, we have got to live up to the promise we have made to our students.

we know we have structural inequities built on race and economic status, on his zip codes, where people live. that is not ok. we are saying to some of our students that they can get what they need and they deserve and to others that they do not. we have got to get to the heart of those systems of inequity. the work we have done so far over the last year and a half to try to get at some of those systemic inequities to provide resources that will begin to tear down those systems is a beginning, but it is not an ending. as a country, we have got to be able to say that when we say we are providing resources for every student that we actually mean every student.

that will require that we address the inequitable funding system in this country. host: in wisconsin, we will hear from a parent. this is mary. caller: i want to know if there is a hotline for children if they are being physically or sexually abused at home. where do they reach out? they are sitting at home in their environment where they can be abused. they have had that happen on zoom. there is a girl that killed herself because she found out she was not going to be able to go back to school because she was being abused at home. what do those teachers do for those kids? maybe the teachers should go to school instead of being at home the kids are on zoom so kids can run to the school if they need help and cannot voice concern on the phone. i think the teachers should be in school, not sitting at home, so they know where the teachers are.

i think safety is of utmost importance for children. host: that is mary in wisconsin. guest: our educators are absolutely concerned about the mental health of our students. it is why they came together early in the pandemic and provided additional assistance for them. we have been fighting to increase the number of mental health professionals in our schools, from our counselors to social workers to psychologists, and building partnerships outside of schools so our students have access to things like hotlines but not just that. they need access to mental health care professionals, so we have been fighting for those resources so they have access to that. as a teacher, i can tell you this is not new. the mental health of our students has been a challenge

for us for forever. the pandemic, like everything else, exacerbated that. we know we have many students living through trauma and dealing with abuse and depression and hunger and all of those things. as a society, we must come together and not only meet their needs as we are in the middle of this pandemic but build those social systems that continue to meet those needs because we know our students will continue to have those needs. we are working on increasing the number of mental health care professionals our students have access to and we will continue to do that work. host: this is becky pringle, the president of the national education association. thanks for your time and happy new year to year. guest: thank you and happy new

year to you. please stay safe. host: initially, this hearing was supposed to start at 10:00. it bumped up a half-hour, just about to start now with tom manger to talk about the events of january 6 and where the capitol police are today as far as security and safety. that hearing set to start momentarily. you can watch it at c-span and on our c-span now video app. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2022] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

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