which is described as a leftist guide to the conservative movement. join with your calls, texts, facebook comments and tweets next on washington journal." ♪ host: this is "washington journal" for january 15. that is a shot of the u.s. capitol and at state capitols across the nation governors have been giving speeches highlighting accomplishments and problems they feel need to be addressed ranging from education to health care to criminal justice reform. in the spirit of those speeches for the next hour we invite you to tell us what major issues are facing your state, how you would like your state's leadership to address those issues.

for those in the eastern and central time zones (202)-748-8000. for those in the mountain and pacific (202)-748-8001. you can text us at (202)-748-8003 and you can also post on twitter @c-spanwj. the national conference of state legislatures in their top issues will watch for in 2022 they highlight some of these and you may want to weave them into the conversation. one of those topics is the topic of money. states are awash in federal stimulus and policy makers will need to think about spending the money on one time spend it yours rather than creating ongoing costs. on the other hand, programming costs may be offset by revenues performing well, particularly state tax, as they buy goods

during the pandemic. the topic of infrastructure one of those. states will focus on implementing the $1.2 trillion in jobs act for transportation, safety, water, disaster mitigation and cybersecurity projects. elections something to watch for and governors address in their speeches throughout the nation saying in 2021 there was more attention about who was running the elections rather than standardizing processes. election audits are hot. two thirds of the states have a postelection audit of some kind and when it comes to childcare a significant increase in federal funds for childcare, including $50 billion in direct funding, presents opportunities for states to rebuild childcare which is essential in helping parents get back to work rebuilding state economies. that is the assessment for national conference of legislatures. you might find those playing out

in your area. for the next hour we are inviting you to tell us what major issues are facing your state. in the eastern and central time zones (202)-748-8000, mountain and pacific time zones (202)-748-8001. you can text us at (202)-748-8003. across the nation governors have been giving the state of the state speeches. if you go to our website at c-span.org, you can find a collection from republicans and democrats across the nation. one of those in her first state speech as governor democrat kathy hogle of new york. she talked about leadership in her state proposing the topic of term limits. here is a portion of the speech from earlier this month. [video clip] >> across the country trusting governorship is reaching all-time lows. we know why. misinformation and lies on social media, a widening partisan divide, gridlock in

washington. it is getting harder and harder for people to believe in their elected leaders at all levels of evernote or ship. how do we restore their faith? in new york, we demonstrate what good and honest governance looks like. we announced our first step. we are submitting a proposal to the legislature to enact two term limits for statewide officials. for government to work those of us in power cannot continue to cling to it. we need to continually pass the baton to new leaders with different perspectives and fresh ideas. our reforms include a ban on outside income for state officials because our only job should be to serve the people of new york. but that is not the only part of the system that is not working. it is no secret recent events called into question the effectiveness of the joint commission of public ethics.

i will introduce legislation to place that commission with a new ethics watchdog, one that answers to new yorkers and not politicians. none of these will fix our government overnight but having these guards in place will not mean most of us will not stumble and make honest mistakes once in a while. by putting in much needed reforms we can begin to restore public trust by focusing on what really matters to our constituents. host: governor kathy hochul and her first addresses governor. that and others available at c-span.org. you can call us on the lines to let us know the major issue facing your state and text us at (202)-748-8003. robert in virginia beach, virginia. go ahead about that major issue in your state. caller: good morning. i would say a major issue in

virginia, as you know, we are inaugurating governor youngkin today. the democrats failed to do any major advancement for labor rights and that is going to be impossible that the republican house and governor, the democrats only have the state senate. the second issue is there were really no progressives coming up through the ranks of the state of virginia. it is really a shame that the democrats or had no interest in repealing of the right to work status. that was a big slap in the face to all the labor organizations that fought so hard to give democrats control of the state of virginia. host: as far as governor northam's term which ends today what do you think were is a

major accomplishments? caller: i think he did a lot for almost every other democrat leaning group, environmentalists, pro-choice. but when it came to labor he was a big slap in the face. host: ok. robert in virginia beach. he mentioned the governor-elect slated to become governor today. if you want to see that ceremony at 7:00 is how you can do that. c-span, he will be sworn in as the 74th governor. we will show you the inaugural address at 7:00 tonight on c-span. let's hear from greg in colorado. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you to c-span. one of our biggest if not the biggest concerns in colorado is human because climate change. i am sure everyone has seen the

massive fire in boulder that caused the most damage we have ever had. last summer we had the three largest fires in our history burning at once. things are not good here as far as that goes. our water is drying up. i live near the largest reservoir in the state. it is at its lowest level since it was built in 1916. host: your governor is jared polis. how do you think he is addressing the issues? caller: i think he is doing a great job. the fire that just happened in boulder did happen so fast, the wind was so strong, there was nothing anyone could do. thank god so far we have only lost one life in that fire but something needs to change. host: when it comes to climate issues overall how would you

rate the governor's concerns or how he is addressing those issues? caller: i think he is doing a great job. you know, he has got a lot on his plate right now and i totally agree with the way he is doing things. host: governor polis giving state of the state on c-span.org plus the others that we will show you today. some we cannot show you because of matters of time but all of those available at c-span.org. climate change being the one viewers' call. we heard from virginia concerns about labor. you can add those to the mix if you want when it comes to major issues facing your state. from kentucky this is david in louisville. hello. caller: there you go, louisville. the major issues facing our state of kentucky and louisville

is our governor andy beshear having to address republicans about climate change and crt and primarily the coronavirus. having to fight the legislature to get things done in the state to help all of us. host: when it comes to climate what is the fight about? caller: about people being willing and ready to do the things necessary to promote climate change and the governor is fighting them tooth and nail every day. host: and with crt, critical race theory, is that an issue in your state is far schools are concerned? caller: very much so and it is a red herring. republicans throw it up and everybody knows it is not being taught k-12. host: finally you mentioned the coronavirus. what is it about the governor's

handling or the issue facing your state? how would you describe that? caller: the governor is fighting a good fight trying to get everybody to mask up and get vaccinated and the republicans are just trying to fight him in getting people to mask up and get vaccinated. the majority of people who are filling the hospitals now are the unvaccinated. host: david in kentucky giving as his thoughts about those major issues. dan short off facebook saying, because indiana has a conservative business from the policy and budget surplus rather than massive deficits the concern, he says, jobs are moving here bringing liberal leaning employees with them. derek friday says when it comes to concerns snow tonight and tomorrow expected. wish us luck in the great state of north carolina. #climatechallenges.

another saying federal overreach and dictate of mandates and quid pro quo funding and unregulated edicts. chris caray, the government run schools have failed. governor desantis making education a keynote of his state of the state address. find it on c-span but he talks about those issues when it comes to the coronavirus. here's a portion from the speech from tuesday. [video clip] >> in pockets across american schools are closing once again. these closures are a normal sleep destructive and they will not be tolerated in the state of florida. florida has led the way and putting our kids first. in summer 2020 when it was not fashionable we made clear the kids needed to be in school and we faced opposition from hysterical media, unions and the

politicians they control, we even faced lawsuits aiming to close the schools. but we would not allow fear or politics to harm our kids. we were right and they were wrong and millions and families in florida are better for it. [applause] while it is important to embrace high academic standards and measure student achievement the test is not the best way to do it. i am proposing the elimination of the fsa and replacing it with periodic progress monitoring. this will lead to meaningful feedback for parents and teachers and reduce the amount of time dedicated to testing

leaving more time for learning. this reform will be better for students. it will be better for teachers, better for parents, and it will help florida remain a leader in education reform. host: that was governor desantis of florida earlier this week. that speech available at the website. candace off twitter says, in maine a huge issue is the cost of home heating oil. lower middle income earners have to make difficult choices. cynthia also say the most pressing issue facing indiana as a republican legislature continuing to waste tax dollars promoting their political agenda. once again making as a laughingstock. you can put those into the mix if you are from those states, including gary in indiana. hello. caller: good morning, c-span and america. i wanted to make three quick points. past and present callers, i

sympathize with your problems and good luck making things better. if you are in indiana there are three things, concerning me. disenfranchised constituents. a lot of people are not getting a fair break and i am talking about legalized people who have been legitimately registered. somehow because of their race or their party they are still being done unfairly. that is a concern. there is rising food cost. it is amazing how that builds beyond the cost-of-living, the cost-of-living limit for people. the last thing is crime. it is unbelievable how many irresponsible people are getting out of control and there is not enough authority to withstand it. we are going to need to be under martial law if it gets worse. host: when you talk about the crime issue is it something you

are seeing in cartersville or is it around where you are living? caller: there is a good part of it here yes. we have a drug issue you would not believe. but it is everywhere else too. host: how was your governor addressing these issues? caller: that is a good question. that is something i have not looked into directly but i am still in the process of -- host: let me bring it down to the level where you live. you talked about crime. how is it being dealt with in connorsville? caller: i feel like the law enforcement here is inefficient. it is hard for me to specify

certain things in regard to it but i know there is people that get away with stuff more than they should. like a cop that arrests somebody. he might know that somebody and say, oh, he is not that bad. there is too much leniency and there has got to be a crackdown. host: angel in marysville, washington state you are next. caller: hi, pedro. washington state -- i am bringing this from an actual website -- washington state continues to mandate vaccinations for certain workers and they are mandating also the masking. my daughter is working for amazon as a driver because they don't mandate the masking. it is ridiculous what is going on in our state. washington is a little scary. but i am trying to keep safe, trying to keep hope. i have a youtube channel.

one of my songs is full of hope. host: let me ask you this, your governor, how do you think he is dealing with these issues? caller: oh, i don't want to say that in polite company. i will say have a beautiful new year. love you bunches. host: his state of the state address that he gave tuesday one of the things he talked about as far as his administration and what he would like to address is the topics of homelessness and poverty. here are some of the speech. [video clip] >> we simply have to provide rapid, supported housing as soon as possible this year. we also realize we need more opportunities for everyone when it comes to housing itself. we cannot get more people housed

if there is nowhere to build housing. we must pass legislation that removes antiquated barriers to middle housing options in our cities such as duplexes and townhomes. and provide more housing supply to make sure it is available to all income levels. look, we just can't tell our constituents we are fighting homelessness and not provide ways to actually build more housing. so this means we need to allow housing that meets the realities of our tremendous population growth and economic growth this century. it is also a generational issue if you think about it. if our children and grandchildren are ever going to be able to afford rent or mortgage, we simply need more affordable housing. the budget also reflects the need to take direct action to reduce poverty. i created a poverty reduction

workgroup made of people who have lived experiences in poverty so they can inform us. using the recommendations my budget would create $125 million reinvestment fund to address economic and social disparities across decades that of the legacy of federal policies that have hurt communities of color. host: you can hear more at the website at c-span.org. what major issues are facing your state is what we are asking you for the next 40 minutes. we are taking the idf from the state of the state speeches -- the idea from the state of the state speeches. you can add your thought to the mix may be pegging off the thing the governors have addressed, other issues you think are important to address as well. (202)-748-8000 for those in the eastern and central time zones, (202)-748-8001 in the mountain and pacific time zones. in new york this is inis, if i'm

saying it correctly? . caller: inez. host: inez, sorry. go ahead. caller: we have a new mayor, sorry, and we have a new governor and we have a new world. everything is uncertain and i don't get tied up with so much democrat or republican do right. make it make sense as much as we can and everybody look after each other. host: you think new york has one major issue? is there a major issue in your state that needs to be dealt with? caller: that is tough. let me speak on new york city because new york state is a very large place and different and nuanced. in new york city yes, we have an

exceptional skyrocket of crime. with our new mayor i don't know how he is going to approach it and how that is going to stop given what we are in for in this country because that is what pandemics -- i hope we are getting to an endemic -- but it is scary. you walk around on the street, there is a lot of hardship and there is a lot of sadness. i don't know how it is going to get fixed and i don't want it to become back when i was a kid. lock everybody up. it is unknown and it is scary. i think everybody should keep their eye on it to make sure it goes right. host: inez in new york talking about new york state.

she mentioned new york city. to get more granular the city and state of new york website saying when it comes to the incoming mayor eric adams the aim to cutting city government spending by 3%. let's go to chicago, illinois. alex is next. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? host: fine thank you. major issues facing your state. how would you describe that? caller: right now the police in chicago are not performing really well. you just had two kids 14 years old killed the other day and another female, 29, that was pregnant killed outside her home. i don't know what the police are doing in our city. host: that is the city. how do you think governor pritzker is addressing those issues? caller: he is doing a great job,

i have got to give it to him. i am a republican in illinois but i have decided he is doing a good job. host: specifically how would you describe him doing a great job? caller: he is doing pretty good with the ppd? host: for the acronym, what is that? caller: that is helping out the covid. he is doing whatever he can for the majority of people with covid in our hospitals to be overwhelmed and everything. so far he has been doing pretty good. he is working for the city and for illinois. host: rob in new york city, if i got it right. hello. caller: hey. thank you for c-span. i am going to take a different view on the state and specifically new york city. the governor announced a week

ago -- i'm sorry, yesterday that one week ago is when we reached the peak for this omicron and the numbers indicate it is starting to come down. that's good news. new york city has had its share, more than its fair share, of this omicron and the delta virus a year ago. and it is also been in the news recently about new york city that empty available apartments are on the decrease. more people are moving back to the city and that rents are going up. the city is coming back. certainly we had a horrific fire in a building in the bronx that

was very sad but the city is coming back. i called in a couple years ago and said new york city is an affordable place for people anywhere in the country who want to move here. one can live in the suburbs, sorry the outskirts of manhattan, and ride the subway and live in an apartment in queens or brooklyn, which is fantastic. host: as far as your incoming governor, what are your hopes for her as far as leadership of the state overall? caller: you know, i think she is everywhere. when something comes up and she has to be there and address it she is spot on. i think she is a great governor. talking about the governor in any state, i don't care if it is a republican or democrat or

anybody in government, if there is a creepy guy or creepy girl doing something unethical, they will take their leave and the new person that comes in can be, you know, fantastic and do really good for the state. host: that is rob in new york talking about the city's problems. you can address state problems if you wish. in the spirit of the state of the state speeches from governors from the eastern and central time zones (202)-748-8000, mountain and pacific time zones (202)-748-8001. you can text us at (202)-748-8003. the caller mentioned the drops in omicron. fox news picking up that with the headline states heading for the peak, highlighting the covid-19 drop in hospitalizations. let's hear from a floridian, chris, go ahead. caller: good morning.

i would say, and i am in the clearwater, st. petersburg area, and we are dealing with the massive influx of all the illegal aliens biden flies in the middle of the night and dumping in florida. if you go into a walmart, it is like stepping into tijuana. it is amazing. i was in a whole foods the other day and there was a person doing the amazon delivery, which the other caller talked about. did not speak a lick of english. 35-year-old man. someone was trying to explain he had to do something. it took three people before someone spoke spanish that they could explain what he needed to do. we are getting overrun. we are not on the border. we are getting overrun with these illegals biden is dumping in. host: what is that mean for governor desantis do you think? caller: he actually has a plan. whether he can execute it or not

but to load up all the illegals on buses and drive them to delaware and dump them into delaware. if biden wants them here so much, ship them into his state. host: and mr. desantis has expressed to that specific plan? caller: governor desantis yes said he wants to get buses because he cannot fly them because the federal government controls the airwaves to be able to fly but he could get buses and drive them up to delaware. just like they do here where they fly them in, drop them off at the airport, and leave them at a shelter. do the same thing up there. host: let's go to victoria in texas. good morning. what is the major issue facing your state? caller: good morning, pedro. i have been here for a while. right now i see a rise on mortgage fraud. i reported a case to the fbi

that personally involved me. this is the second time. i am not political but i know the dallas county family court is mainly democrat and this is the second time i property has been taken from me. the first was in bankruptcy and now the second one is active. it was pending in family court. my husband died from covid and they allowed my property to be sold. it is pending in court in a family matter and it was sold by my husband's daughter and a broker for $585,0000. i also reported this to the fbi and the dallas county district attorney's office. there is documents being removed from the public records office and i know governor abbott has been really working on border

patrol and i support him on that. i am a veteran and i have lost the first property and these are things i struggled for all my life serving this country. i cannot get any help. i am always up against dallas county. when i speak out they target me. they sent policeman to my home. something has to be done. host: that is victoria in texas. let's hear from david in louisiana. hello. caller: good morning, mr. pedro. i am an independent and i am from independence. i want to talk about the great state of louisiana of which i am a lifetime member of. everyone heard of the corruption in the historic problems louisiana has, ok. it is not by accident. it would take every judge,

politician and lawyer the last 150 years to be in on the corruption for louisiana to be in a continual state that it is in. it has never changed my whole life and there is nothing here. if you grew up in texas, arkansas, mississippi, the surrounding states, they have 10 times what we have. you can leave this area and you see improvement. host: give me an example of the corruption concerns you have. what would you specifically point to? caller: my god, have you ever heard of cancer alley? this is what louisiana does for a living, it exploits its citizens. let me tell you about the surrounding states. host: you mentioned a specific -- for those who don't live in louisiana, what do you mean by that? caller: i think we are used as a toilet by the rest of the nation.

the majority of the states, they all take advantage. they all benefit from us being the toilet and if you knew anything about louisiana you would know it is true. host: again, i am asking you to say how that is the case specifically. caller: well, i have lived here all my life. i remember in the ninth grade going on a field trip with our civics class to see the brand-new governor sworn in. he was going to be our hope for the future and his name was edwin edwards. he stood up there and said, i know it is messed up in louisiana now -- this was around 1972 -- but things are going to get better. i am going to fix it for you. not a damn thing changed. host: that was david in louisiana. pennsylvania is next.

leigh, hello. caller: how are you? host: i'm fine thank you. what would you describe as a major issue facing your state? caller: more politicians are breaking pennsylvania with insurance fraud, health insurance, auto insurance, home insurance, taxes going up, gas prices are through the roof. i reported the health insurance fraud. i got fired for whistleblowing. i have been harassed going to the authorities. no help from the fbi or oig and not one of them will help me. host: you say health insurance fraud. specifically how? caller: false claims. there is a program that runs across the united states. i am sure i live in multiple states. i voted in multiple states, i got a voter card thanking me for

registering in new york city, i live in pennsylvania. i was registered for years and the last election i got a card saying, thank you for registering in new york city. it came from my pennsylvania penndot. host: lori is another pennsylvanian. hello. caller: the lady before me was from pennsylvania as well and what is happening here right now is our legislature -- the biggest threat are the constitutional amendments they are pushing through to change our constitution and the way our government works. the republicans have controlled the governorship and both state legislatures for 23 out of the last 27 years and we ranked 25th in health education, 30th

inaffordability, and 42nd in economy. i don't understand -- so far they have limited the governor's ability to issue the mask mandate and respond in a health emergency. they have a package now, five constitutional amendments on one ballot limiting the executive branch's orders, allowing the governor to pick their running mate, allow legislators to disapprove of regulation without facing a governor's veto, setting up a procedure for election audit, and requiring a voter id all unconstitutional amendments. host: what is wrong with that approach in your opinion? caller: the people, the motions

are hot, they are angry. these legislatures are encouraging that anger and it is easier to get our people to vote to amend their constitution when they think it is going to do something good for them. host: that is lori in pennsylvania. if you go to the website of spotlightpa.org, they highlight the proposed amendments she highlighted saying two of the amendments when sent voter id already rejected as unnecessary or potentially harmful to marginalized groups. one would require government issued identification for both the other the state auditor general to look for accuracy. another would give simple majority in the legislature power to override executive orders and administrative regulations. reactions to governor wolf's

actions and the announcement pennsylvania would join a coalition for regulating carbon emissions adding the pennsylvania constitution requires the state house and senate to pass proposed amendments in two sessions before they appear on the ballot. going to the south, steve in south carolina hello. caller: how are you doing? henry mcmaster is our governor here and i will give you some positives and a couple negatives. like desantis and abbott he is doing his best to keep the state open, to keep business moving, and to keep things rolling. he is a pro-vaccine, anti-mandate guy which i am too. when i say anti-mandate people say, ugh, you are crazy. i got the booster. i was exposed weeks ago to my grandson who had covid. i did not get it. he is 10 years old and he's in

the fourth grade and he had to sit out of school and take a test for covid because one of the children in the class was positive. he had a fever one day and no other symptoms. he had to lay out of school for a week. he has been playing. this forcing kids to do certain things is crazy to me. we know children under a certain age are not affected that badly. host: would you say a major approach to omicron is the major issue of the state? caller: of course, everybody i talked to, including my doctor. my doctor said everybody's going to get omicron it is that contagious. unlike sotomayor people are not going to end up in the hospital on ventilators. host: is that the approach or how your state is reacting that is the major issue? or are there others? caller: it is not a major issue in my state. henry is saying, hey, do what

you're supposed to do, social distance, wear a mask if you want to, get the vaccine if you want, quit living in a bubble. there is a couple of issues and by the way, when i see these sh elves empty, we keep the port open 24/7. we have an inland hub up in greer. the two major things is dealing with schools and schools closed down section by section, district by district, may be a we get a time depending on what is going on. the other problem is getting people in the hospitality industry back at work because unemployment benefits are so generous. host: ok. that is stephen south carolina with a host of issues for his state.

republican of alabama dressed in her speech tuesday infrastructure. she mentions the ports but also it is going on with roadwork across alabama. here is a portion of that speech. [video clip] >> we are delivering on decades projects like the four-lane highway that will connect mobile all the way to tuscaloosa. [applause] we are tackling other projects to increase capacity like six lanes i 10 and west mobile from theodore to irving. tonight i am proud to announce we will be widening i-59 from chalkville.

[applause] thanks to rebuild alabama we are making improvements to alabama's deepwater port in mobile. with the current global supply issues having an international resource at the port of mobile is ever more critical. as a matter of fact, our exports are up almost 25%. here in alabama we are not having issues like they are in california. to the rest of the nation say loud and clear that alabama's port of mobile is open for business. host: that is governor kay ivey from alabama on her state of the state speech.

a federal government allocating to fix bridges. pennsylvania has 33 bridges in poor condition. california will receive $4.2 billion. 24 states will receive $24 million over four years in texas and florida will split less than $800 billion between them. some viewers off twitter and facebook highlighting issues for their state. jodey off twitter says the major issue affecting the state is coronavirus. no schools scheduled to be opening, mandating all schools go virtual this week. it must be done now. mike does not specify the state but says there is no covid tests available, empty shelves in

grocery stores, high prices everywhere, adding that gas prices are too high. mike also adding crime is a major issue. florida next. go ahead. caller: can you hear me all right? host: i can. caller: my name is george and i live in sebring, florida. not to enumerate all the problems we have existing in the state of florida but the main issue here is governor ron desantis. that is all i have to say about that. host: specifically why is he an issue for your state? caller: particularly in education. the fact he has tried to force the teachers -- some of the

children's families don't want them to wear masks, typically something that is going across the united states. but the state of florida with ron desantis is that he supports that. he is described here as donald trump, jr.. host: as far as the mask issue, why is that a concern for you? caller: why is it a concern for me? because i am an 85-year-old x air force retiree -- ex air force retiree and i wanted to live in a country that is free and equal for all. unfortunately in the state of florida, because of people like ron desantis, we are not all equal and it is one of the

states that is trying to gerrymander the voting where people have to go to the polls. closing certain polls, forcing people to fill out an absentee ballot that may not have someone to be able to get that to the box on time. host: let's hear from cj in minnesota. hello. caller: good morning to you, good morning to america and good morning c-span. thank you for allowing me to give my two cents. minnesota is treating the american people so bad they are being arrested for protesting the pipelines. up in the northern part of minnesota and the news media had a blackout on it. a few times they speak on they make it seem like the native american people that are protesting this pipeline are the bad guys.

the governor has not spoken on it at all. i am watching the news media every day but the information station i get my information from his native groups radio that comes on in the evening time. there is a very famous native american -- i cannot pronounce his last name -- but he is a famous guy that got the washington redskins to change their name and this guy has been an activist for many years fighting for native american rights. host: which pipelines specifically are they protesting and why do you think your governor has not done anything about it? caller: the biggest thing is the pipeline three -- there is a couple of them -- but it is in violation of the treaty going

back to 1861. when you hear about it they don't go -- the treaty violations are the pipelines. they are not supposed to be doing water lines. host: you are saying as far as the protesters are concerned from the native american groups, they are not getting their voices heard? caller: not only are they not getting heard they are being thrown in jail and being charged with felonies. host: how did you become aware of this? caller: on native american groups radio. they are one of the few -- it started with democracy now when democracy now did the story during the obama administration when his administration started it. it was on his way out in his last year when they started the pipeline. democracy now started the show

on it because i listened to it all the time. i went over to native groups radio and then a few stations picked it up when there was a car on fire that had nothing to do with anything. all of a sudden native groups radio that comes on every evening they are doing their due diligence to get the word out about how native american people are being treated in the state of minnesota. host: cj in minnesota highlighting the plight of native americans. chris in alabama saying, legislature just went into session. the major issues before them are adopting the texas abortion law and spending $400 million to build a prison. by the way, mo brooks is leading in the primary to replace richard shelby. this is a viewer in texas saying, governor abbott's program for migrants that avoided a border patrol sign stopped by a federal judge.

all migrants will be turned over to ice. the migrants not cot by texas police to give their noises clean or leave the state. immigration might be one of the problems you highlight for your state. you have about 10 minutes to let us know what those are. another floridian. jerry, good morning. caller: good morning to all and thanks for taking my call. i have an issue with those two guys previous hoop called from florida -- who called for florida to put governor desantis down. there is nothing illegal about busting illegals out of the state. i'm reading from the governor's website right now and they announced proposals to fight illegal immigration and protect floridians from the biden border crisis. this is all upcoming legislation so nothing has been done but

what they are going to do, the state will not provide discretionary benefits to illegal aliens and prohibit state and local agencies from doing business with any private entities that facilitate the resettlement of illegal aliens in this state. host: would you highlight immigration as the major issue in your state? caller: i would think so. well, i don't know. there are so many issues. the cost-of-living right now, you know, all of us seniors down here, they took part of it away for medicare. how much of it do you really see? the covid thing is hanging around around here for like two years. everybody is just walking in the shade.

nobody feels settled. if you come down here to retire -- that is the other thing. a lot of people are coming into florida because they think it is a safe haven and it is for me, but on the other hand the traffic is increasing incredibly. i think that is really hard for the local police forces. people in the state are looking around and they want to stay here, maybe live here. host: that was jerry talking about the issues and flirty. this is sean. you are next up. caller: how are you doing today? host: i am fine thank you. caller: high think one of the issues -- there are several issues facing pennsylvania -- economically we are lagging when you look at other states, specifically florida and texas. i don't know if our economic environments at the state level

is conducive to growth which i think can be seen in the decline in population growth we have seen. in addition to that -- host: what do you think of the driver of those declines economically? caller: i just think there is really no incentive to come to pennsylvania. if you look at property taxes, i think we have the second highest gas tax in the country. i just don't know if workers really make that decision to come to pennsylvania. especially in these northeastern states it can be difficult. and there was a lot of solutions i think we can get to solve the problem. i think one of them could be consolidation of school districts with reduced costs and may be a countywide school district rather than having individual school districts and consolidation of smaller towns

could be helpful where you have shared services in reducing property taxes and make it more conducive to have this population growth where businesses and corporations would want to come here and invest. obviously i think there is some forms governor wolf did. i am not a huge supporter of his but in terms of getting us out of that pension system for the teachers in making the decision to allow them to go into a 401(k) style investment program has been helpful. and i think one of the other major issues facing pennsylvania, if you take a look at -- i am from the philadelphia area -- but the crime over the last several years since the pandemic, since larry krasner was elected in philadelphia, has been a disaster and it is sad. there is a lot of homeless

people and it is just not a clean city anymore. i think it is really unfortunate what was once a great city is now just sort of, you know, fallen by the wayside. host: that is sean and pennsylvania. gilbert in birmingham, alabama. hello. caller: thank you for c-span and happy new year to all. i was so glad you showed the governor of alabama a minute ago when she was talking about all these highways, all she was doing was promoting -- your people mentioned about the $400 million the state of alabama wants to use to build penitentiaries. that is being challenged by 24 groups here. it is a wide known fact in 30 miles from the state capitol they are suffering from raw sewage and lack of running water. about two or three years ago all

of the cleaning buildings were closed and alabama. i would say the $400 million will be challenged from the federal money to build penitentiaries could have been used to try to open some of these clinics and hospitals that were closed in the state. host: to your first point really quick, is the current state of infrastructure good, bad, or indifferent and alabama? or are these improvements not needed in your opinion? caller: in my opinion not needed . separation like george washington set, separate for forever. host: house so? caller: -- host: how os? so? caller: building these highways

and building them further away from the other cities just promotes even more accidents and more concrete being poured to make the climate worse. host: joseph in virginia. good morning. caller: we get a new governor today but biden is a total idiot. host: as far as the major issue in your state how would you describe that? caller: biden is in charge of the country and he is an idiot. host: we are going to the state. i will give you one more issue to talk about the issue in your state. caller: biden's -- host: you have said that three times. thank you to all who are participated and we will give it another go in 45 minutes. if you did not have the chance, call in and make your thoughts known. we will highlight two topics for the remainder of the day. education being one of them. education week's mark lieberman

will talk about school systems in the u.s. and how they used covid-19 really funds. later on in our spotlight on podcasts series matthew sitman, cohost of the podcast "know your enemy" joins us. it is described as "a leftist's guide to the conservative movement." we will speak with mark lieberman on education issues when "washington journal" continues. ♪ ♪ >> next week, live on the c-span networks, congress returns tuesday. the senate will begin debate on voting rights legislation and may vote to change filibuster rules to pass a bill. the house plans to vote on legislation to automatically enroll -- enroll new military veterans. numbers might also take up a bill on coronavirus aid for corona but -- for public schools. on c-span3 the u.s. supreme

court hears arguments in the case of the federal election commission, ted cruz for senate whether this campaign can sue to challenge restrictions on repayment on federal loans and whether they violate the first amendment. 2:00 p.m. eastern, and armed services committee on the prosecution of sexual assault and harassment in the national guard. thursday at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span3, the agriculture secretary testifies before the house agriculture committee on this state of the rural economy. watch live on the c-span networks or on c-span now or on c-span.org, for scheduling information to stream video or's desk for scheduling information or to stream video. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. >> book tv, every sunday on c-span2 features leading authors

discussing their latest nonfiction books. 8:20 p.m. eastern, the former new jersey governor chris christie provides his blueprint on how the publican party can win national elections in his book "republican rescue." the north carolina democratic congressman shares his book "the congressional experience" providing expect as providing -- providing insights into how congress works and how congress could work better. watch book tv every sunday on c-span two and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at booktv.org. >> "washington journal" continues. host: this is mark lieberman from education week joining us. he has a reporter that focuses

on school financing and -- when the federal government decided to give money specifically to schools because of covid or covid relief what was the main philosophy? guest: the federal government has given schools three rounds of funding during the pandemic, one in march, december, and one in march of 2021. the first two were geared towards responding to the immediate pressures of the pandemic, things like purchasing masks and personal protective equipment for students and staff, cleaning supplies, staffing for the unusual situation, as well as purchasing technology, laptops, wi-fi hotspots, and things like that to ensure that students can learn remotely while still -- while school buildings had to be closed. the third round of funding came a couple months into the vaccine rollout and was geared more

towards recovery, providing resources for students who had missed instructional time, mitigating the effects of the pandemic while emerging stronger than before. and, i think that funding came before some of the current crisis situations emerged, and so a lot of it at the time was year towards recovering from -- geared towards recovering from the pandemic. host: just to show the viewers at home, the american rescue plan offering a relief aid package from december 2020, $15 billion. 15 billion from the cares act. so around figure of $190 billion. how much of that has actually made it to the schools? guest: at this point the majority of the money has made it to school districts, however it has pretty long deadlines for

when it has to be spent. the initial deadline -- the initial round had a deadline of later this year. the final-round had the deadline of december 2024. school districts have a lot of the money available, many have had to submit plans for how they were going to spend the money to the state governments before they could access it. all 50 states have compiled the plans and spent the money. right now the school -- the challenge is facing when to spend the money, what to spend it on and how they will prioritize their wide-ranging needs. host: that was kind of the comments. becky pringle was on our program recently talking about money delivered to schools and i asked her about the idea of what schools are doing with the money. i want to play you her response and i have a couple of follow-up questions. [video clip] >> very unfortunately, we find

it unevenly 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. the secretary did intervene to make sure that those school districts did actually get the money that they needed so they could purchase those and make sure that they had enough tests for all of the students and educators, making sure that they were repairing ventilation systems. 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 types of repairs that are needed to ensure that all of those mitigation strategies are in place. we have to stay vigilant because we know that there are schools with work to do. [end video clip] host: that is her approach. you talked about that. can you elaborate now that the schools have the money.

how do they go about deciding what to do it with -- what to do with it? guest: it is an enormous challenge, school districts are juggling a wide range of priorities. in the last two years school budgets have become more complex because the additional rounds of funding come outside of the normal budget cycle. so school finance administrators are having to reset and pivot. sometimes, numerous times in a year. now, another challenge is that the trajectory of the pandemic remains on fort -- uncertain. in march of 2021 there was a hope that things were on a better footing, the primary priority for the year would be to address the learning time that students had lost during the early days of the pandemic. what we are seeing now is that schools are finding that prior

to spreading rapidly we are seeing closures as a result of outbreaks from schools and a significant challenge in terms of staffing. you know, a combination of people having to be out for covid related reasons and reluctance to take positions in schools for a variety of reasons that we will get into later. i think the big challenge that we have right now is trying to balance the urgent need to provide services and support to students who have had very challenging and trying times, many cases are way behind in their studies, while also addressing the imminent and present needs of ensuring that students are properly taken care of in the buildings when they are therefore in person instruction as the majority are. it is a really tough balancing act.

host: we will talk about the money do to schools with mark lieberman of education. if you have questions here is how you can call. 202-748-8000 for parents of school aged children. current educators, 202-748-8001. all others, 202-748-8002. and you can also text us at 202-748-8003. when a school or state gets the money, what are they required to do with it? are they required to do certain things only related to covid? guest: that is a great question. this money has a wide amount of flexibility in what -- in terms of what schools overtook -- are required to do. the american rescue plan fund requires 20% to be spent on measures that address learning loss among students. however the definition is pretty broad and there are lots of

different things that one can assign to that, that all into the category. obvious things like tutoring and summer school seem directly tied to that but things like mental health support and social and emotional support and providing a foundation for students to learn things in school, and so that is a pretty broad mandate as well. in general the funds are supposed to be in some way tied to the pandemic, so if a school district cannot demonstrate that an expense has -- is related to the pandemic than that could be a problem. but the nature of school operations is that everything is interrelated and many schools are finding that there is a wide range of things that they can do and spend the money on within the parameters of the regulations, you know that address the effects of the

pandemic and the urgent priorities. host: we have an interesting perspective from a viewer off of twitter. this is steve. "we were already buying technology so our district use the funds to have all students k-12 getting a chromebook. now we can go virtually at a moment's notice. ." one example and a way that funds can be used. can you elaborate? guest: schools were really caught off guard by the sudden pressure to pivot their entire operation to online. higher education is more experienced overall with online education. there are scattered schools in the country that prior to 2020 were doing some form of remote learning, but nothing on the scale that we saw in march through may 2020. and so, i think that that chaos exposed a lot of gaps. there are tons of students who

lack internet access at home, tons of schools that did not have the numbers to supervise each student at home and schools are recognizing that while there is a pretty reasonable emphasis on returning to in person learning and the value of that as opposed to sitting at home, isolated learning, i think that schools are increasingly realizing that having the capability to go remote whether it is an emergency situation like a pandemic, flu outbreak or hurricane as well as for individual cases where students need to spend time at home or prefer to spend time at home for social and emotional reasons, i think schools are recognizing that they want to have that ability, and purchasing technology should do that and it is a key step. caller: let -- host: let us use that as an example. to the schools have to go back

to the federal government and say this is exactly how we spent the money? how specific does the government want to hear? guest: this has been an area of interest because as i mentioned to the funds have a pretty flexible set of guidelines, and so individual states expect schools to report to them what they plan to use the money on, but because the funds do not have to be spent right away those plans can change. there will be some accountability because we have school districts that have gotten large amounts of federal funds so some audits or state investigations afterwards, but there has been a fair amount of scrutiny and handwringing among those in education where tracking the funds have not been so specific -- has been sophisticated. the federal government is tracking state plans but at the local level it is more opaque.

it is difficult for me to figure out how these funds are being spent, it also for families and school staff who are curious how the money, so i think there is a bit of a transparency issue that is the product of the diversity of the landscape, and the complexity and bureaucracy of ensuring that these plans are publicly posted and uniform so people can prepare them. host: $190 billion given in the general sense and mark lieberman talking about those issues. 202-748-8000 for parents. 202-748-8001 for educators, if you are current. our line for others, 202-748-8002 and you can also text us at 202-748-8003 or post on our twitter and facebook feeds. that as hear from daniel in pennsylvania, our line for others.

good morning, you are on. caller: good morning. i was wondering if there is a possibility that in the future that you might investigate our secular curriculum on the basis of it would be a critical ecology theory and critical etiquette theory. thank you. host: ok, not exactly in our purview as far as what we are talking about but let me give you a line from one of the stories you wrote in relation to spending and i will let you elaborate. you wrote that on december of last year "some districts are investing big money and initiatives that do not appear strictly covid related. miami-dade schools plan to spend $86 per student on cybersecurity. raleigh county and west virginia

spending $800 per student to expanded elementary school adding nine classrooms, expanding the kitchen, and separating the cafeteria and the gym. the newport news school district is spending $840,000 for a new student information system to catalog student's academic progress." those are the specifics, elaborate on that. guest: what i was trying to highlight was that there are a lot of priorities that school districts had prior to the pandemic that have not gone away. the school building is overcrowded, that did not stop being a problem when the pandemic started, and even though expanding the school building might not seem like a direct response to the spread of a virus within the school community or building, i think you can make a connection there and i think school districts are trying to do that in terms of improving the learning experience, especially the most

recent round of funds. it was really pitched towards providing schools with the tools to be able to grow from the pandemic and emerge stronger than they were before. with the example of expanding a school building, there are various ways to connect that to the pandemic, more classrooms, fewer students in the classroom and it will help with social distancing capabilities that you would not have in a smaller building. more modern school buildings have modern ventilation compared to the school buildings that are old and that has been a big issue that school districts are confronting, there is a wide range of schools in the country that are 90 to 100 years old, and the ventilation systems are so old that they cannot necessarily be right to -- to be repaired. the materials to repair them are no longer manufactured so they are facing a situation where the only option is to entirely to redo the building. and so, i think that i would

urge people to think of the federal funds as -- and i think schools are saying it this way, as an opportunity to take some of the items that have been on their list for a long time that are holding them back from providing the ideal school experience and using the funds to strive for that in the midst of a crisis situation that is putting pressure on them in different ways. host: i suspect there is a perception or if such is shared with tony. he says "it sounds like schools are awash in money seeking a problem to dress -- to address" and that might be a problem they have to fight. guest: one of the challenges is talking to the public is when you hear that schools got $190 billion, that number is so big that it is kind of abstract. the vast majority of people

cannot really picture what $195 billion looks like. on top of that, this money did not go equally to each school in the country or to even each school district in the country. it was filtered through the federal title i formula geared toward providing federal aid to schools with a high percentage or proportion of high need students or typically low income students or students with poor families. the money, if you've where for example to look at two school districts with an equal number of students, one in a high poverty area and low in a poverty area, even though they are the same, the district would be a higher concentration of poverty and would've gotten more federal funding through the covid emergency package than the distinct -- the district with a lower number of portions with poverty. this is painting with a broad buck -- broadbrush but it is illustrating that some schools

got very very little from this pot of money, while some schools got more than $20,000 and a vast majority got somewhere in between. that is one thing in terms of understanding the impact of the funds. the other thing i would stay -- i would say in response is you know, this money is going very quickly in some places or going to a wide variety of costly priorities. construction costs are going up and schools are trying to improve their ventilation and the money is not going as far as it would three or four years ago , that is increasing and that is in part because of high demand and school districts. and that is because of institutions or entities, and that is one example. schools are finding trouble staffing their buildings and in some cases are trying to increase rages -- wages for

substitute teachers, bus drivers, cafeteria workers and others in an effort to extract more qualified candidates to staff the school building on a daily basis. i think that is a need that many school districts did not anticipate earlier, but it is one that they are finding serving as a significant source of their priorities for the funds. and so, i think that while it may appear on the surface like tools or sort of sweating money, if you talk to administrators, many of them are appreciative of the funds and excited about the opportunity on things that they have hoped to spend them on. i think that many of them are not -- are having trouble -- are not having trouble finding things to spend them on, they are having trouble narrowing down the things that they want to buy in order to fit within

their allocation. host: mark lieberman joining us. victor on -- victor in florida. you are on, go ahead. caller: i think they need to start putting more money into the early childhood education and to have better testing to pass these children on that are behind in reading and math because of covid. once they get behind they need tutoring. we need half a day of tutoring on saturday for any kids that are below grade level in reading and math, so that starting at age three up to the fourth grade is where the money needs to be spent. most productively, and you also need to listen to the teachers. they do not listen to the teachers, everything is top-down. it is ok to have a new facility but the most important thing in education is to have a

well-qualified teacher and they are hard to find because teaching reading and math is very difficult and so kids are not getting a lot of support at home and we need professional tutors to work half a day on saturday and that is where i would like to see the money spent more than on physical things. host: that is victor. coda school district decide to use this to -- could a school district use this to increase teacher salary? could you expand on it? guest: many school districts are finding a lot of areas. the challenge to use this money to raise salaries is that it is finite, there is only certain amount of it and there is only a certain amount of time. once they spend all of that they do not have an assurance of getting more through this mechanism. what it means that is if you hire a teacher or increase their

salary significantly for the next three years, and you run out of funds your options are either to find another source of funding, to maintain the teacher's high salary, or risk losing that teacher or having to cut their hours or find another way to make ends meet. so school districts are hammering right now over how to balance what this caller is talking about correctly, which is an urgent need to retain the teachers that they have and to grow the teaching course and to ensure that there are enough qualified adults to provide students with the support that they need in various contacts. while also being clear eyed about the fact that the federal funding is a temporary lifeline but not a permanent one. and, i think that many districts

are taking the approach of saying we know this money will run out so we are going to spend it on one time priorities and to lay the foundation for better things to come but we are not going to invest in things that are ongoing and recurring costs because we are worried about having to abandon those in a couple of years. on the other hand some school districts, i talked to the chief financial officer at cleveland schools in ohio and he told me that his philosophy with this funding for a district with a high percent of low income students and students with significant needs, is to use this money as an opportunity to invest in all of the things that the school district previously had not been able to with the hope that the effects of those purchases will be so significant and such an improvement on what came before that there will be widespread support for these initiatives within the community

which is more support for things like raising taxes to acquire more local funds, and perhaps even being able to convince the state to increase education funding with these initiatives. i think there are different schools of thought about how to make the most of this money in the time that schools have, but that is really the challenge with staffing needs, figuring out whether to make a bet on being able to find money from another source later, or being more cautious and spending money on things that are one-time costs. host: john in california. go ahead. caller: i am really concerned that you want to raise teacher salaries. they have failed at their job. you tell me that teachers are doing a good job, the teachers are doing a good job across america?

out in california, the public schools are terrible. baltimore is not learning anything. not one kid in baltimore high school could pass a simple math test. host: so, because our guest is dealing with money specifically for covid relief funds do you have a comment towards that? caller: he said he wanted to use the relief funds to raise teacher salaries, he things that is a good use of these teachers who are lousy? host: i will let him respond to that. go ahead. guest: absolutely. i as a reporter do not have pacific things that the funds should be used on, that a lot of schools are trying to find ways to pay their employees more, for a variety of reasons. i think that certainly teachers and other school -- and other employees are beleaguered, many of them have been working in person for quite a long time, every day risking some would argue their lives in terms of

the possibility of contracting covid in the classroom and on top of that students are coming back to school after a long period of remote learning and disruption caused by the pandemic in a really tough place. a lot of them are also struggling emotionally with the effects of being isolated from their peers. up people and their families caused by economic forces that have been disruptive and teachers are having to deal with that on top of the fact that a lot of my reporting is focused on schools that are struggling to adequately staff their building as i mentioned. what i mean typically is that if you cannot find a substitute teacher to fill the classroom for a teacher that is sick with covid the only alternative really is to find somebody who is already working in the building to cover the class. i talked to teachers who essentially are giving up their

break. -- their break period to substitute for a class, teachers often work nights and weekends to serve students. but we are seeing a lot more of that and we are seeing things like rinse bows and administrators cutting behind cafeteria lines and helping the school bus to just ensure that the daily operation of schools is happening and that is purely talking about the logistics of the school day going from morning until afternoon, and that is what we did. all of this is part of the challenges of providing a robust instructional experience for students, especially given that students are dealing with what is really an unprecedented disruption in their learning process. so, certainly i think parents and those in education have a right and should expect big things from the teachers and from their schools in terms of

serving the students, and i think teachers and schools tend to feel the weight of that responsibility. a lot of my reporting is focused on the ways in which those jobs are extremely difficult and it is sort of an uphill battle to get through the day, let alone achieve everything that they want to achieve. it is a tough situation for everybody whether it is teachers, parents, and school administrators. it is time where there is pressure from alta -- from all sides. host: a parent in wisconsin. hello, mary. caller: if the kids were treated with love, those children would obviously want to come to school. and, you cannot expect a child not to have a goal, maybe prayer, maybe just to teach one commandment. they have taken religion out of

schools and schools have been failing. host: those are not the topics for our guest. he is dealing with covid-19 funds. do you have a topic addressed to that? caller: my husband is a physician and he works in the hospital and some of the money that has gone to teachers should be going to the nurses and technicians and the people in dietary because they are the ones that bare the burden of taking care of everyone and they all got covid. host: mary. to that end, do school nurse programs or nursing programs or health programs within schools get the money specifically? guest: yes. one of the things that the school districts is using the money for is using it to improve their health departments and protocol. obviously school districts are accustomed to a certain extent to dealing with illness within their buildings. you know, schools are known as a hotbed for germs just given the collision of students and adults

on a daily basis, so flu outbreaks and most things are familiar. so the extent of what schools are expected to do from a health perspective has really never -- we have never seen this before. a lot of schools are offering masks to students, hosting vaccine clinics in their communities even for people who are not attending the school or working for the school. of course, we are seeing one of the conditions for schools reopening that the schools have to provide or schools are finding that they need to provide some extent of covid-19 testing for the students and staff to ensure that outbreaks are not occurring in the building, and all of these things are responsibilities that school districts did not typically have and that people who work in schools typically did not have to do. i worked at a place where school

districts were hiring additional nursing staff so they had the regular nurses to handle the covid end of things and additional nurses can deal with all of the other medical issues that come up in the school building on a regular basis. i think that is crucial with what we are talking about today is that covid has created a situation in schools where all the things that they normally do is harder and there are a lot of things they have to do now that they never really had to, and there is only so much time in the day and so many people to carry out these responsibilities. and so a lot of being -- a lot is being placed on school districts' agendas that i think is proving a big challenge. so, absolutely. nursing and medical staff are among the priorities that schools are finding the general funds are useful for. host: pittsburgh, pennsylvania,

diane on the line for others. hello. caller: i am calling because i am a resident of the pittsburgh public school district and to hear that they are sitting on a surplus from the covid-19 funding, from -- from the federal government and yet taking up property taxes. we received an increase of 3% from 2022 school year, they are sitting on $145 million just on a reserve, and in addition to that, the pandemic relief money from the federal government, who audits them? they are not held up out -- held accountable for answers for where these funds are going to go or sit there for the future when they are sitting there making the taxpayer pay for the funding of their so-called shortfall. host: thank you. guest: i cannot speak to

pittsburgh in particular, but i will say a couple of things. one, the federal government's most recent set of funds came with a requirement for school districts to seek meaningful consultation with the community about how the funds are being spent. meaningful consultation is a term that can be defined in a lot of different ways. but i think the overall thrust of the requirement is that schools need to be actively engaging with the community that they serve in order to understand what they expect to be doing and how they expect the funds to be spent. there is really an obligation for school districts to be as transparent as they can and proactive to engage with families and maybe with those who do not typically interact with the school system on a regular basis but have strong ideas about what they want the money to be spent on or stories would really inform what school district most -- district's most

significant needs on. i think members of the public should feel empowered to have school districts engage with them on these issues. in terms of the interaction of federal funds with schools reserves or state and local funding. in a typical situation is that a majority of their funding comes from state and local sources. and these federal funds have created a situation where they have a bigger slice of the pie in terms of school funding than it normally does. going back to what i said earlier about these funds being temporary. school districts epic -- recognize that the surplus that they are experiencing right now in places where they are experiencing that is temporary and andalusian. the funds are going to run out at some point and they expire.

whether they are spent or not. many school districts are trying to find a balance between dealing with the immediate needs that they have and addressing the chaos in the school building and while also taking a long look on what is our budget situation going on in five or 10 years, and i think they are finding as anyone can appreciate having our current conditions in the pandemic, predicting that far out what is are going to look like is tougher than it has ever been. in 2019 the school districts made a five-year plan, and i think many of them would be looking back and saying we could not have done this with anything has happened in the past few years. i think that some of the efforts to whether it is raise taxes or look further out in terms of sources of funding reflect a

desire to not be caught offguard by unexpected developments, and to take a bit of a more proactive look at what might be coming or might how it -- or how that might impact the school district. host: what determines how much a school will receive? guest: in terms of federal funding, the title i formula is a complex formula but the essential purpose is to identify students in poverty and to direct more money to schools with high percentages of those students than students with low percentages. there are some who say the formula is outdated or an aspect of how it works does not fully capture all of the students who would benefit from additional funding. the idea that being that students in poverty are at a disadvantage in terms of resources that they have at home

and they might need more help from a school than a student who is not in poverty. the federal government chose to use the title i formula to funnel the covid relief in part because it was an existing formula geared towards schools with high needs, and they did not have to create a new mechanism for sending funds. like i said before, we are seeing some school districts with quite a bit of money for a student to work with a well -- as well as some school districts that are using this for useful things on the margin, may be buying new computers or purchasing masks as many schools are doing again in light of the omicron variant. so, i think you are saying that some school districts it is more transformative than others. host: mike in michigan. hello. caller: thank you for taking my call.

per the previous caller who was saying that the teachers are not very qualified or not very good, does mr. lieberman see that in the future, teacher salaries will increase so the workforce and the number of teachers can be expanded to relieve the teachers that do get covid? thank you. guest: that is a great question. i think there are a few answers. in general right now a lot of schools are seeing the teacher retention and teacher hiring issue as one of their biggest priorities. a lot of schools are seeing that teachers are burned out, they are frustrated, that they are disillusioned with the experience that they are getting from the work that they do, or the balance of the reward that they are getting from their work versus the amount of effort and

sacrifices that they are making. we are seeing a lot of schools really thinking hard about prioritizing ways to entice people to want to work in schools. i think one principal told me from north carolina said that she had trouble hiring people for her school and i think it was a middle school. she was saying that part of the challenge is that she used to be able to say yes, we do not pay as much as x company, but it is a more rewarding experience to serve students than it is to work at whatever that company might be. the problem she says she is having is that because of the pandemic and because of the chaos in schools and the political pressure on schools in various directions it is harder for her to convincingly tell someone that this will be a really rewarding and pleasurable experience and i think that makes it more challenging to recruit people who are qualified

and wants to teach. the other thing is that prior to the pandemic we saw a surge in activism among teachers, essentially agitating for better pay, and we are still seeing that in pockets around the country like in mississippi there is a polished increase -- a push to increase teacher pay and that is one of them -- one of the states that pays teachers less on average. i think you are seeing that in concert with the broader movement in the labor force in america to demand that are working conditions and better pay for vital contributions to society, i think you are seeing teachers really recognizing their value and sort of their place in the world, and the importance that has been placed on them in terms of shaping the world of tomorrow. and, you are seeing a lot of

them really expecting to be treated better than they historically have. host: from alabama a parent. good morning. caller: good morning. i always watch you just for the ties. host: you were on with your guest. if you have a question or comment for him, you can direct it to him. caller: here in alabama the legislature flights like cats and dogs trying to divide the covid money, it seems like they are trying to line their own pockets than helping people. people who do not think this covid israel, and since november -- is real, since november 15 my brother has lost a son my wife has lost a nephew, and last friday we buried my mother. so to all of you that do not wear a mask and get vaccinated i just want to say thank you.

that is all i have got to say. host: i am sorry for your loss. we will go to jorge, new mexico. the last call for our guest. good morning. caller: thank you for c-span. i think the way to raise the pay is to save the money, and a couple of ways to do that is going solar, saving on energy costs, and utilizing the space better. i envision each classroom having an indoor walled garden, plants are known to clean the air. teachers are already busy enough, and so maybe the kids -- the schools could hire a gardener, or a groundskeeper that can go into the classrooms, show the children how to garden.

for maybe bigger schools with more land they could also incorporate animal husbandry and supplement the food, -- host: we got the thought. what is the potential for future money, even on top of what has been granted? guest: absolutely. i would say at this point there is not a lot of optimism among school districts that they will be receiving a fourth round of congressional aid tied to the pandemic emergency. stranger things have happened. there has been some early talk reported about another stimulus package geared toward small businesses. we are not seeing a huge push on capitol hill for additional funds in part because of an area of schools getting a ton of money and working through that. there was talk last year, president biden's proposal for his big bid -- build back better

plan that is languishing in congress. part of that proposal had 100 billion dollars in funding for school modernization. it is complicated but school construction is funded separately from the annual operating fund that schools are dealing with in terms of the daily operation. so those funds would have been geared towards improving the state of schools around the country. a lot of them are poorly -- pretty dilapidated and in need of significant repairs and some of them are 50 to 100 years old, and in some cases they might be unsafe for students and adults to be in on a regular basis. that funding has fallen out of the package negotiations, so advocates are looking for congress to fund a school modernization in a separate bill that has been introduced in the house, but i do not believe is imminently moving forward.

at the moment that he does not seem to be particularly optimistic prospects for emergency funding. there are some conversations at the state and federal level about expanding funding for schools on a more permanent basis, those conversations are ongoing. host: mark lieberman reports for "education week" and you can find his work at edweek.org. thank you for your time. we will spend about the next half hour returning to the question that we started with this morning. in the spirit of the state of the straight -- state of the state addresses we want to ask about the major issues facing your state and here is how you can let us know those issues. 202-748-8000 for those in the eastern and central time zones. 202-748-8001 in the mountain and pacific time zones. you can text us at 202-748-8003. we will take those calls when " washington journal" continues.

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>> "washington journal" continues. host: what are the major issues facing your state? we are taking this in the spirit of the state of the state addresses that have been taking place. you can see them on our website at c-span.org, and you can talk about the topics that are major things pressing. 202-748-8000 for those of you on the eastern and central time zones. 202-748-8001 in the mountain and pacific time zones. text us at 202-748-8003. one of the people giving his state of the state address was arizona's governor. one of the things he talked about in monday's speech where the topics of concerns of the southern border. here is a portion of the speech. [video clip] >> our budget will make significant new investments to strengthen the border strike force. provide advanced equipment to

aid in the pursuit of dangerous criminals and to deploy the latest drone technology to bolster surveillance and to stop the cartels in their tracks. [applause] next, the rule of law. this is not just a public safety crisis, it is a humanitarian crisis. the human traffickers that prey on the desperation of people looking for a better life need to pay the consequences. it is time for us to increase the criminal penalties against human smuggling, and provide more funding to border counties to ensure prosecution and incarceration. [applause]

third, boots on the ground, and multistate intelligence sharing. border security is national security, and the lack of action from d.c. puts americans at risk. in november, i dispatched arizona's top ranking enforcement officers to partner with their peers in texas. major general carrie mewling back, department of cart -- of department safety colonel and department of security director kim roemer. in december we finalized the plan. texas governor greg abbott and i are teaming up to form the american governor's -- governors

border strike force, a commitment between states to do what the biden administration is unwilling to do, patrol and secure our border. [end video clip] host: with immigration and border issues might be a concern where you live and there might be other issues as well. tell us your major issue. this is from ithaca, new york. a major issue in his state. morning. caller: good morning. and, happy dr. king day to you. all of our listeners as well, and before i begin, i would love to thank all of the people behind the scenes that put each and all of us on no matter where we come from and whatever we think or believe, and our debt to them over all of these years at c-span. as pastor michael vincent crea,

born in staten island, living in ithaca, new york, i am pleased that we have a governor who appears to have both be an elected and even prior to taking the office as lieutenant governor has had ethics and her own individual initiatives. there are a few things i would like to address that not only affect new york, but affect both local, as tip o'neill said when i lived in d.c. and started my ministry 30 years ago, all politics are local. so, ms. hochul has to face the fact and the country has to face the fact that we are talking about systematic change. all of the laws that we pass our rendered to nothing if we do not

put them into a system that actually operates as president biden said last week, dealing with issues directly. point, case and point, and owner of property that has done a wrong, like to myself and my service dog putting us out of my house in less than 30 days. a court can order someone into court for 15 days and put you out of your home in 30, but why can we bring the brutal cop in? or the hater in in 15 days? we need to put new coffee into new filters. host: ok. we appreciate the perspective. perry in chandler, arizona. you are next. caller: good morning. you just had doug ducey on and i want to talk about the leadership here in arizona. we have hoffman, who has signed

on as a forgery to the certification of the election, we have kyrsten sinema, who is a so-called democrat, which my wife and daughter voted for, but will not be voting for again. because, of her status against voting rights and filibuster. i just want to put that out there. we have a legal legislators trying to overturn the election from out of arizona. we have a person, kyrsten sinema , who says she is a democrat but stands directly with the republicans on every issue. thank you very much. we appreciate your time. host: daniel in michigan, bloom -- bloomfield hills. good morning, we are talking about major issues in your state. howard you describe that? caller: the major issues are

taxes, they are too high. and our teachers, they will not teach. so, i think really we need to organize the ability to teach at our local schools without the teachers, in other words get volunteers, people who have a college degree to come in, volunteering, and teach at the schools, and forget about the teachers. look at them as a thing of the past. host: going back to your first point, taxes, you said they were too high, what is the property tax rate where you live? caller: our tax rate is -- i do not know the tax rate per se. i know that the taxes are going to go up because the property

values are going up, so they will charge us more, meaning that like right now they have all of this money, almost every state has a ton of extra money, and so they are trying to find somewhere to spend it, basically. they get the money from the government and taxes are going through the roof. california has all this money, new york all of this bonus money. host: but what is the tax rate inmates again -- and michigan that causes you concern? caller: but, i would say if you wanted to cut taxes you would eliminate these schools. host: you made that point. hubert, indiantown, florida. hello. caller: good morning. the major issue in florida is incompetence with covid response from the government or data from

the governor and state legislature. it is getting ridiculous. host: when you say incompetence what do you mean specifically? caller: first he was supporting the good policies and all of a sudden he was good friends with former president trump, and he change the whole thing and he keeps hot -- fighting the mask mandate and vaccine and stuff like that, and it is killing people. i have had members of my family who have died from covid so it is just getting ridiculous. and as a citizen of florida, it is alarming that this government , this incompetent government keeps promoting these policies that are killing floridians and it should not happen. host: let us hear from candace -- kansas' governor. she used her speech not only to talk about the state's surpluses but she made several proposals

on how to spend the money. the speech took place earlier this week. [video clip] >> because we have managed the budget responsibly -- responsibly, i am proud to announce that every working kansan who filed taxes in 2021 will get a $250 rebate this year. $500 for mary's -- for married couples filing jointly. that is money back in your pocket to pay for child care and take your family on a mini vacation, or to buy groceries. while we are on the topic of groceries here is something we all know. food in kansas costs our families way too much. and, even as we sit here with a record surplus, kansans continue to pay higher taxes on groceries than anyone in the country. it makes no sense. for years, many of us on both sides of the aisle had been

calling for an end to the state sales tax on food. now, with this surplus in the bank and increased revenue because of our economic growth we can finally responsibly afford to totally eliminate the grocery sales tax. [applause] i have called on the legislature to send the bill to my desk, to end this tax, once and for all. it will save kansas families hundreds or thousands of dollars a year. this is a commonsense policy on which democrats and hello.

caller: good morning. the issue with texas besides the gerrymandering, if you look at the growth of texas, from people moving to texas, i'm not saying what party they are affiliated with, texas has increased by two congressional representatives, from 36 to 38. if you look at new mexico, colorado, kansas, oklahoma, missouri, arkansas, texas has as many representatives as those states combined. they are called these districts. northeast texas has -- is the

largest city. dallas and fort worth, the growth is there. they're going to carve up those district. in waste -- west testis, it is for districts. they are going to cut up the districts in east texas and not have representation of the people. texas has low taxes. the other issue is crime. we have to get a handle on crime. not so much civil access forfeiture, we must go with criminal access forfeiture. if the federal government had local law enforcement in these states, surely they can have some equitable share when it comes to voting rights.

host: the texas tribune reporting that texas will have 38 congressional seats. it's the only state that will get more than one. in austin, this is roy. good morning. caller: how are you doing this morning? i think our biggest problem in texas is the fact we've got a president of the doesn't care about the protection of our southern border. we live it every day with the influx of illegal immigrants. the other problem we have in texas is we are getting a plethora of california democrats and democrats mother places that voted in certain ways to ruin their state and they are moving to texas. host: the previous caller mentioned there is a growth of congressional representation because of that growth. caller: this is true.

what the caller needs to understand his representation is based on population. when we are talking about west texas where you may have 10 people, it's different than houston where you've got 5000 people. he needs to understand it is totally based on population. host: as far as your governors response to the first issue, immigration it, how do you think he is managing that? caller: i think he's doing a bang up job. i just saw on the news that one of the courts has shut down his initiative to stop the influx. they had a case here in travis county where a judge said and illegal immigrants rights were blocked because the state laws don't supersede the federal laws.

that opened the door for how many other immigrants to play that card and get out of jail. host: let's hear from someone in maryland. this is julia in baltimore. guest: good morning. the three-year limitation on benefits from social security when a person. it is not filed within three years, they lose the benefits. the windfalls tax provision has been an issue for years. the person that cannot get social security because of a pension.

host: let's go to carol in tennessee. caller: how are you this morning? in regards to every state, people are being affected. they raise the health insurance part of your social security. it doesn't even balance out. i realize our vote is like money. it has value. if it didn't have any value, people would not be fighting to keep us from voting. we must continue to fight for our right to vote. them trying to keep us from voting shows how valuable are vote is. it is just like money. it has value.

if it didn't have any value, people wouldn't be trying to keep people from getting a bottle of water. host: that was carol in clarksville, tennessee. major issues facing your state. this is jim in georgia. caller: good morning. i just want to say you are not the topic not see. you might be the inquisitor. are you there? host: yes. caller: in georgia, we have this camp fellow in office. unfortunately, i didn't vote for them. i only voted for them because i could not bring myself to vote for somebody who wanted to take the confederate memorial off stone mountain. there is that. i don't know the woman that was

running would have been any better. host: do you mean stacey abrams? caller: yes. i have studied her record. i'm not impressed with her. i am just not going to give her a pass because she's african-american. i am not going to do that. she probably is very well educated and has good programs. i think i would vote for her. host: what is the pressing issue in your state? caller: it's coming up for election soon. i heard on another radio program the spending on this gubernatorial race in georgia may exceed $1 billion. there's that. i don't want to get sidetracked.

i want to focus on camp. i think he's a big danger to our republic in that he does in fact subvert. he does subvert the vote. he's not allowing these ballot drop boxes and things like that. i think -- i can't believe people voted. i didn't know any better a couple of years ago. on reelection it, i can't see people voting for this guy. host: that was jim in georgia. governor kemp is running for reelection. one of the things he talked about was the state of health care. >> i told george and i would focus on bringing an innovative solution to our health care challenges. not just expand a broken

government program. that's why a worked alongside members of this body to craft the patient's first act. that would create access to our most vulnerable while lowering costs for millions of georgians. today, we see the benefits of that plan across the state. when i signed the act in 2019, gorge had only for health insurance carriers offering plans. today, we have nearly tripled that number with 11 carriers offering plans. in 2019, only 26% of georgia counties had more than one carrier offering insurance. now, 98% of all counties have more than one carrier. that means expanded choice and lower costs.

the states 100 39 million dollar investment in georgia access included in my budget is helped reduce premiums by an average of 12%. that is $850 in annual savings for georgians on the marketplace today. in rural counties where prices were highest, choices were few and options for care were limited. this has contributed to premium reduction from 25% to over 30% in some counties. host: we will hear from ron in california. caller: california is a mixed bag as everyone knows. we do have a lot of people leaving to go to texas because the price of gas is $2.97.

here's the good and the bad. the good about california is we are going to a mail-in voting system. that means we will have to be sure everyone is registered to vote properly. then they won't have to drive anywhere, they won't have to wait two or three hours in line to vote. they won't have to do any of that nonsense. people don't understand. you're not just voting for the president and vice president. we were voting all the way down the ticket. you are voting school boards. you are voting the local sewage boards. all of these things have to be voted on. in california, we have initiatives. we wind up with maybe 10 initiatives that have to be voted on.

if you actually are sitting the pamphlet, you have to read and actually discover what you were going to vote for. this can't be done in the voting booth. we have drop boxes now. that's good. i'm going to get off the voting thing. host: i want to go to another caller. thank you for your input. go ahead. caller: good morning. if you listen to republican politicians, if you listen to c-span, there is a constant drumbeat, the border is out of control. i'm just wondering, what evidence is there that the border is out of control. i haven't seen any evidence at

the border is out of control. have you seen any evidence the border is out of control? i suspect what's going on is fox news, which is a very dubious source, is saying the border is out of control. host: is this an issue in your state or not? caller: i live in suburban washington dc. i don't see any evidence the border is out of control. host: i am going to stop you there. before we go to scott, one more governor. this is ralph northam of virginia. he used part of the speech he gave wednesday to talk about criminal justice reform.

>> too often, our punishments and practices have their root in a more discriminatory and unfair past. i know some of you clapped on this one. that's why we have made marijuana use legal in the commonwealth of virginia. i want to thank senator lucas, delegate herring for their work on this, which is complicated. that's why we have ended the use of the death penalty in virginia.

the first southern state to do so. it was applied unfairly. we couldn't rely on the system to get it right. thanks to delegate mullen and many others who worked on this for years. i want you to look at the martinsville seven. black men, seven black men who were convicted of rape and sentenced to death by an all-white jury. in virginia, it was almost entirely black men who were sentenced to death for rape convictions. it was clear these seven men were executed because they were black. i was glad to acknowledge that wrong in some measure by granting them a pardon earlier this year. our administration has restored the civil rights and voting rights for nearly 126,000 people

and issued more than 1100 pardons. host: that was earlier this week. his last day of work as the governor of virginia. it was the first day for a publican glenn youngkin. his ceremony takes place today. we will show it to you tonight. one more call, this is from scott in georgia. go ahead. caller: i live in georgia as you said. i live in rural south georgia. i love coming to atlanta quite a bit. i've done it for years and years. the number one issue is one simple thing, lawlessness. i have noticed over the past two years when i am in atlanta.

after 4:00, you can't walk on the streets anymore without being accosted, somebody approaching you, they are generally age 14 or 15. they are standing in the streets, they are trying to sell water bottles. they don't care about you. they will hit your car. they will approach you on the street. there is no respect. there is no police anywhere. if you need to go to bed early in a hotel and you are up past 11:00, there is dragracing in the street. there are no police anywhere. you have private security guards in these shops.

you do not feel safe at large. host: that is scott in georgia, finishing off this section. i appreciate all of you that participated. typically, we tell you about our podcast series. we will be joined by matthew sitman. we will get more of the insight from him when washington journal continues. >> weekends on c-span are an intellectual feast. you will find events and people that explore our past. it's television for serious readers. learn it, discover, explore,

weekends on c-span. >> 2022 is shaping up to be a big year for nasa with two major missions underway. the first is a redirect. the second is the james webb space tellico's -- telescope. sunday night on q&a, those missions will be discussed. >> earth has been hit by asteroids. that's not new. it will happen in the future. there is no known threat to the earth right now from asteroids or comets. we are tracking things.

we haven't found all of the asteroids yet. this is an important thing. we want to find all the asteroids to assess that better and be ready in case you needed to. >> i love observational astronomy. i get new data. on the first person to ever see this. sometimes you can't predict what you're going to find. probably some of the most exciting science results are things i'm not sure i can tell you right now. >> sunday night at 8:00 on q&a. you can listen to q&a on all of our podcasts. >> washington journal continues. host: it's time for our

spotlight on podcasts. joining us is matthew sitman, the cohost of the no your enemy podcast. thanks for joining us. >> i'm excited to be here. host: how would you describe your podcast? guest: it's a leftist guide to the conservative movement. it's a show i cohost with one of my great friends. we are both leftists. we are socialists of some kind. we are coming at this from the left. what we try to do is provide good faith episodes about aspects of postwar u.s. conservative movement, the republican party, things that are going on. host: what convinced you this was something that was needed? guest: we did think there isn't anything quite like it out

there. we are very critical of the ideas and political movements we examine. we try to be good faith about it. we try to expand on their ideas, explain what's going on in a way that even the people we are talking about would recognize. sometimes we have conservative guests on the show. we thought there wasn't anything quite like it. we just decided to follow our own instincts. it's a pretty nerdy podcast. our listeners really get into the in depth conversations we have, the guests we have, the books we examine and talk about. it's a kind of unique podcast in that sense. what we try to do is hopefully refreshing. host: i am curious about the title. how did that come about?

guest: we get that question all the time. it's very tongue-in-cheek. in part, we are referencing the german jurist carl schmidt, who is experiencing a revival on the right. his idea was politics was about wrens and enemies. we are kind of making a joke on that. also, as a christian, we are taught to love our enemies. you have to know them. as a christian, i stand by the title of the podcast. host: you are also the editor of something, called commonweal magazine. guest: it's a 96-year-old magazine published by catholics. it's a more progressive catholic publication. i've been an editor there for six years.

i am grateful my colleagues let me do this podcast. it's a great magazine. partly what i do on the podcast comes from the work i do as an editor. some of episodes we've done on various species of right-wing catholicism. those parts of my work go together. host: were their perceptions of the conservative movement that you and your cohost had going into developing it and because of doing it you have had them changed? guest: i am in conservative. i grew up a young conservative when i was in college. i was very involved in the conservative movement, especially its more intellectual wing. i knew the movement from the inside.

i haven't been surprised by what i have encountered. i can say this, there are very interesting ideas to explore. there were intellectuals who even if i think they are wrong, i think doing the podcast is a reminder that people can have good reasons for things they believe then, even if you strongly disagree with them. we get in trouble sometimes for being too empathetic. i also think the podcast is an exercise in trying to understand the minds of other people. that i think is one thing people find refreshing about the show. we don't pull our punches. during the show has reminded us that people have reasonable justification for their views

sometimes. what's behind the point of view could be interesting and fascinating. host: our guest with us until 10:00, if you want to ask questions, (202) 748-8000 four democrats. (202) 748-8001 republicans, (202) 748-8002 guest: independent voters. most of our episodes are about the conservative movement in some capacity. we've done episodes on william f buckley, the founder of national review. he ran for mayor of new york city in 1965. we had his biographer on it. other times, we will do something more topical like the

catholic integral lists. critics of the 6019 project. we do have guests on. we have had the newer times columnist on it. we had sam goldman on. recently, we had nate hoffman. he figured into an essay my cohost wrote about the new generation of young intellectuals on the right. we try not to just talk about conservatives. we want to talk with them. host: what issues do you have with the conservative movement? guest: go down the list. pretty much every substantive political point of view, we are coming at it from a different perspective. i would say in particular, one thing we focus on has been it's

been more prominent, the troubled relationship to what i call multiracial democracy. we picked up on the anti-democratic tendencies of the right and what their ideas were giving them permission to do. as the trump presidency skidded toward its end and we saw what happened on january 6, those became part of our critique of what's happening on the right. that's not just about different policies, what you think the highest tax rate should be or what you believe about trade or how we should govern or break up big tech. identifying the troubled relationship to democracy was

something that transcends those issues and gets to the heart of the perpetuation of our system. host: it goes more to philosophy and stems out to specific things? is there a way to boil down the conservative philosophy? guest: there is a wonderful definition. we like to use it on the show, i am paraphrasing here. they believe there are those the law protects. there are people the law binds but does not protect. basically what it means, i think a lot of what we are trying to get out on the podcast is behind the conservative philosophy is a view of who should count in our system. who deserves the protections of

the law and who falls outside those boundaries. the title, who is in and who is out. that is our biggest right, is ta restrictive definition of who should count in our political community end be afforded the rights and privileges of that. we have seen a lot of -- we are thinking a lot of climate change and the migration, movements of peoples caused by destruction of our planet. those people are coming from different parts of the earth. do they deserve protection or not? these questions, who's in and who's out, will only accelerate. host: let's start with steve, steve from florida, with matt sitman, the cohost of the know your enemy podcast. steve, go ahead.

caller: thank you for taking my call. mr. sitman, i knew you were going to be on the call, so i've spent the morning reading information about you, and i feel like you are a breath of fresh air. i kind of an anti-neoconservative. i was just graduating from college and starting my first year in a factory in the rust belt, a city of pennsylvania, when ronald reagan got elected. the next thing we knew, all of our cities were boarded up with plywood in the main streets. i feel like it is very difficult to be able to air your political views these days if you are not a hard-core conservative. they are self adamant, and, you

know, i listen and i never really say anything. one of the things i was listening to on c-span, today they were talking about the border, and it just sort of summed up my feelings about american conservatives these days. they were talking about, you know, the border is out of control. they are letting a document and people come into the country, but over the last 40 years, american corporations and american employers are dragging these poor people across-the-board are in order to find very cheap labor and undermine the american wage and labor standards. i mean, that is just one of the things that basically, i'm going to be, you know, reading a lot more about this, because, you know, i guess you could say i am a socialist. [laughs] host: matt sitman, go ahead.

guest: well, you know, it is interesting, he mentioned coming from a rust belt town, working in a factory. that is kind of where i grew up. i grew up in central pennsylvania, from a working-class, blue-collar family. i grew up conservative, as i mentioned. i am kind of an ex-conservative. what i'm trying to find some sort of empathy or good faith engagement with people, because i used to hold these different beliefs, i think that is possible. and also, because of where i grew up, i think trump had some appeal, actually. i understand people who work and live in some of these towns that have been gutted by our trade policies, by the decisions of major corporations and financial players in our country. i understand people are struggling and why they may look for alternatives. that is one of the reasons why, you know, i was a big bernie

sanders supporter. i thought he offered take constructive solution to what trump was offering. so the caller said he is a socialist, and i am, too, but i think that if the alternative to what we have now. people are looking for scapegoats, and there are plenty of politicians to offer them. one of the things we do on the show is explain why that is happening and offer an alternative way of thinking about it, a more constructive and helpful way of thinking about these problems. host: let's go to illinois, independent line. let's hear from bill. caller: go ahead. good morning. caller: good morning. [no audio] caller: the nazis were natural

socialists. what happened in the soviet union works communism. what happened and is happening in china is communism. 100 million people in the 20th century died at the hands of hard-core socialists, and people say well, the question is not conservativism, the question is liberty. and my last that i do, i encounter many people from cuba, from venezuela, romania, ukraine, soviet union, and they are terrified of what they see here, because what they saw in their countries, what made them leave their countries was a lack of liberty.

and the problem is, socialism, it is not simply an economic system, it is a system of the repression of liberty, and until you can explain to 100 million people of the 20th century, i would say, to me, it falls on deaf ears. host: ok, that is built in illinois. guest: i don't have a lot to say to that, but his thing about focusing on liberty is interesting, because one of the things i find that, you know, drives my political and economic abuse is the profound sense that a lot of people are not that free in the united states. meaning if you are totally hemmed in by miserable wages, a terrible job, how free are you? if you can't go to the hospital if you are sick, how free are you? what kind of life the people have? freedom to me is not just being

left alone, it is not just the absence of constraint, it is actually the conditions in which people, or people, can use their god-given talent and abilities and live creative and decent lives that's not totally hemmed in by, you know, by necessity and want. so i actually hold the political views i do, i think, because of my understanding of freedom, that a lot of people in the united states, they might be, you know, formerly free -- formerly free, but what kind of ricer they actually have? that is one thing i would say that caller. host: in indianapolis, democrats line. caller: thank you for taking my call. what does he think about an issue that happened in 1988, and how that has precipitated the rise of right wing media in this country and the rise of

total brainwashing of people because of all the misinformation that is spewed every day on right wing media, talk radio, fox news, oann, and all of these other channels because of that event in 1988. guest: thank you, caller. that is a great question. it is one that we discussed at length on the show. we had on an author who specifically wrote about right-wing media, and i asked about the fairness doctrine. it turns out it is pretty complement -- complicated. they thought they could actually use it to get decent time, so to speak. they fight no, we want to keep this, because we can use this as a weapon against the "liberal media." but also, rush limbaugh, it

turns out, it is actually pretty complicated. he was a syndicated radio host before it was repealed. we are not sure exactly how much the repeal of the fairness doctrine actually led to his rise. more broadly, we can talk about how something like the fairness doctrine should be reinstated or how effectively it was used at the time, but i do want to say that is something you hear a lot is actually pretty complicated. i think the forces that are behind something like, you know, the disinformation by fox news about vaccines, the pandemic more broadly, i am not sure you can pin all of that on the fairness doctrine -- or the repeal of it. host: who are all those other, you know, people that people point to, as far as the key, you know, shapers of the conservative movement? caller: sure.

well, this is something we try to think through on the show. you have more popular radio hosts, fox news hosts, like rush limbaugh, and then you have more highbrow, intellectual thoughts, like the national review. but you see that bill buckley was a big fan of rush limbaugh's. the national review has given rush limbaugh awards. we make a decision between highbrow and low-brow, but sometimes the line blurs. some of these distinctions we like to make, or we like to quarantine out the intellectualist from the more popular figures, that is not quite the right way of thinking of it. host: here is sean in new york on the republican line.

go ahead. sean from new york, are you on? caller: yes, i am here. host: go ahead. caller: how are you both doing this morning? host: fine. go ahead. caller: i am just curious, like the previous caller from illinois setting, he has known people from socialist and communist countries come here and that they are scared. i kinda find that myself with some of my friends who lived under communism and socialism. i am just wondering, have you ever been to a communist or socialist country yourself and seen the plight of the people? also, since you are in new york also -- i am in western new york -- are you aware of the bill that was on the floor quite a few years ago about new york being its own entity? because new york is basically a divided state, almost like a virginia and west virginia. would you think of new york city

being its own entity would be a good thing? when you look at the maps in previous elections, new york, if it weren't for new york city, would probably be a red state. thank you both come and take care. guest: i am interested in the caller's idea that if you take out new york city, the new york state would be a red state. why would we do that? is there a sense that people who live in new york city aren't real americans, for, you know, are so different from other people in the state that we cannot be part of the same political entity? i am intrigued by the caller's sense that by living in new york city, i am not a real new yorker, that we cannot live together in the same state. host: that was sean in new york. connecticut is next. maria from new haven, democrat'' line. caller: good morning. i'm so sorry i forgot your name.

host: it's ok, you are on with matt sitman. go ahead. caller: ok. i'm going to be very candid with my comments, because i appreciate your refreshing manner of opening up dialogue for discussion about such difficult moments that we are living through as americans. i love history. i look back at history, and i observed history repeating itself. the era of mccarthyism. i see so many parallels and similarities of that era

occurring in modern-day political society. there's always a spin and undercurrent beneath the messages that are put out there on the surface. for instance, january 6, you know, there's a spin on that from so many different angles. "it wasn't that bad." bullshit! excuse my french. how can anyone save the dangerous occurrences of that day -- now as time goes, there is more and more being revealed about the conservative movement and its rise with power and

money? host: ok, caller, we will leave it there. for future callers, watch the language as you engage with our guests. mr. sitman, go ahead. guest: it is interesting that the caller mentioned mccarthyism. i think we can already see, from some of the callers on the republican line, how often that i am a democratic-socialist, that is all they have been talking about. stalin this, cuba that, have i been to a socialist country, that kind of thing. it is all they are talking about. they are not talking about economic policy come about anything, it is a scare tactic, it is a red scare. and they use the term "socialism" or "marxist," or how

they try to tie critical race theory to marxism. i think the caller actually put her finger on something, which is it is a kind of a moral panic, and the term "socialist" often gets thrown around, you are not really american, you are not really patriotic, your alien, you are other, your dangerous, and therefore, you know, as i mentioned earlier in the cup station, you are far -- the conversation, you are far outside the bounds of political decency. the caller said i should not even be in the same state as him because i live in new york city. host: you said the two sides at least can gain understanding from each other.

with someone coming on the podcast, my friend nate hoffman, who i mentioned earlier, i know them. you know, it is not like we to agreements and hash things out or figure things out, and it is all kumbaya, everything is great, it is not just about having a conversation, but elements where you do disagree, or the precise nature of why he disagreed, to figure out hair and why we disagree is better than just screaming at each other. host: in the world of politics, mr. sitman, what do you think about the term "moderate"? i ask this because one of the discussions, at least on the senate side, joe manchin is constantly being referred to as a moderate, especially when it comes to things like build back

better in the lig -- and the like. guest: i hate the term "moderate." does it mean, you know, you are in the middle on every issue? or does it mean you are, like, one left-wing view or one right wing view when it comes to issues? it is useless. it does not mean anything. it is just something the press likes to use when they think you're being responsible. but manchin is the opposite. he is a radical. not taking action on climate change is radical. confining millions and millions of people to our horrible fate on the planet. to me, what is moderate, what is radical? to me, being radical is actually the physical policy, because it is actually responding to the particular needs of the moment. it all depends on what action

needs to be done. the crisis actually facing the country and, you know, the proposals being discussed to meet those needs. host: you talked about your support of bernie sanders. i want to get your assessment of this almost year into the biden administration and president biden as president. guest: well, you know, like a lot of people, i would and with high hopes, and it has been frustrating. i try not to be totally pessimistic or negative. i mean, biden has done some things, like he is appointing judges at very high rates. he did pass the infrastructure bill. he has done something that, you know, i am glad he has done, and he is a more responsible, generally speaking, president than president trump, but obviously i am disappointed moore hasn't been done. i would like to see a fullbore, build back better package.

i could ask particular questions about biden, but it has been a real mixed bag. i think he has totally dropped the ball on the pandemic. the testing situation particular, it is just baffling to me what is administration is doing, his press secretary laughing at the idea that we would just mail test kits to americans, when that is one of the most sensible ideas that could happen, and now they are backtracking on it, buying millions of more tests. host: on the voting rights issue, particularly with the president as president and democrats controlling both the house and the senate. guest: i'm glad you mentioned that, too, because a particular, the other thing i mentioned, our podcast's concerned with the state of the american democracy, not so dramatic about it, to me, those were reasons to beau biden and to support democrats in general.

the hope that they couldn't come into office and implement reforms and it comes to voting rights, people's access to ballots, and not just that, but the way we count the votes, too. reforming the electoral count act. not only did donald trump try to steal the 2020 election, it is clear, the fact that he supposedly had that election stolen from him is on the right and they are clearly planning and plotting to do it again, if they have the chance. they are replacing the officials that stood up to donald trump. anyone with eyes can see what is happening. so i think the failure to secure american democracy, a year into his presidency, has been disappointing, too. host: let's go to bob, pittsburgh, pennsylvania, republican line. caller: hi. he mentioned a document a, illegals.

a black killed a white woman, and just about every democrat city, all socialist doing this, everybody, and the doj came out, 90 percent of blacks are being killed by blacks, and you support that, right? that is one of the things you support. asian people, 80% of them -- who is racist in this country, white people or black people? host: ok. guest: i don't have anything to say about racist trash like that. host: from mitch in lawrence, kansas, independent line. caller: how are you doing? host: i'm fine. you are on with our guest. go ahead, please. caller: if i may, just a couple of comments about c-span before i get to the question i'm so grateful for this channel, and more importantly, for not only

your vote book "washington journal," which allows everyone to comment. so thank you so much. i am a 20-year radio host of a similar broadcast that allowed everyone in, so it is wonderful to have you here. now, let's get to it. [laughs] host: oh, i apologize, caller, i thought you were done or lost the signal i apologize. mr. sitman, i apologize as well. lottie from north carolina. caller: hi. top of the morning to you guys. host: good morning. caller: good morning. i'm kind of confused about this cit, critical race theory, because conservatives say it is on the rise. i just got three things in.

i would like to see if this is, critical race theory, my understanding if they do not want the little white boys and white girls to feel bad in the classroom about certain history. but let's take a look. when baby jesus was born, and there were three magis that can come and description called them -- that came, and the scripture called them "foreigners," will they take that out? or when christ was carried to his death, will they take that out? or when they put thorns on his head and pierced him inside -- when do you think they will take things out of the bible, because they do not want little white boys a little white girls to be sad? host: i will leave it there.

mr. sitman, you can respond, if you wish. guest: i actually like some of the comments come in the sense that i think it is useful to remember when it comes to critical race theory, which is, you know, a whole topic, what is interesting about critical race theory as it is not about making individual people feel bad or looking for the hint of racism in someone's heart, it is about more objective, structure material, identifiable, measurable, impacts on african-americans and others in the united states that comfort policy, that -- that come from policy, that come from design, that are not just what people feel but what people have done. so conservatives acting about it just makes white people feel bad, that has always been confusing to me. the caller is right. we see they are trying to get books out of schools now, in states across the country, from toni morrison's "beloved" tinny

books dealing with lgbtq issues in a relatively sensitive or inclusive way, they are coming for our books. they are taking them out of our libraries. anything their kids can read or study in school. it's quite alarming what is happening in schools and libraries across the hundred now. host: we have of you are asking, i guess because you talked about religious beliefs, and here is the question, robert from twitter, "i would be interested in the guest's assessment, as he describes it, of religious principles." guest: my left-wing political convictions are very much related to my christianity. i don't think, necessarily, that being a christian means you have to, you know, have one political views, down the line.

there are different ways people can be faithful christians in our political life, but that said, to me, it is quite clear that the overwhelming burden of the gospels is to teach us how to love one another, to care for the widowed, the sick, the stranger, the migrants, the people in need, you know, the least among us, and whatever else you take from the reading of the bible, and the gospels in particular, that is clearly there, and that informs my political views. and, you know, so i guess other christians of other political views would want to argue or debate me about that, i am very comfortable doing that. i am also a big fan of pope francis, who, you know, when you read his documents and messages as pope, he is a critic of, you know, trickle-down economics, the way we treat migrants and strangers, the way we are indifferent to so many people

struggling around us, from the young and weak to the old a needy, people we just don't give our time to, either. it is not just about money, it is about caring about each other in a broader sense. yes, my christian convictions and political views are very implied. host: one more call, reagan syracuse, new york. go ahead. caller: good morning. i will be short and sweet. mr. sitman, you do not know your enemy. i know this because i know trump supporters and trunk voters. i know more about them than you ever will. i do who they are, and anyone who can be convinced that those people are criminal or violent are fools. you do not know these people, therefore you do not know your enemy. now, i don't care to engage in any other talk about it, but you

don't know them. host: stay on the line, because i want to see if he doesn't want to engage you. mr. sitman, go ahead. guest: i do, actually. i have family members who voted for trump. they are not all violent criminals. i don't know where he got that at all. i grew up in blair county comeuppance up as a vignette, that when over 70% for trump. i love trump supporters. maybe they voted for the wrong person or hold some beliefs that i wish they wouldn't, but no, the caller is not correct about that assumption. host: mr. ray from syracuse, your response? caller: i'm just taking your words as you said. obviously, i'm not stupid, i'm not saying 100%, but those people who display that behavior on january 6 were not trump supporters. they were not there for trump.

they were there for a different purpose, their own purpose, and anyone who thinks that those people in any way represent trump, they are fools. host: ok, that is ray from new york. mr. sitman, you can have a follow-up. guest: well, you know, a rally at which trump spoke. he told them to fight and take their country back and they did. they listened to trump and he stood by as they did what they did. host: how can people find your podcast? what do you have planned for upcoming programs? guest: i want to say they can find us on all channels, apple and spotify, etc. dissent magazine is a sponsor of the podcast and they have done great work. you can support the podcast on

patreon. we have a bonus episode for patrons. upcoming apostles, we watched -- relaunched one on joan didion. we talked about her life and career, her early conservatism. that is just out and we have lots of great episodes coming out. as things unfold in these crazy times, we keep an eye on that. check us out if you want smart commentary from the left that pays attention to the right. host: the podcast is "know your enemy." thank you for your time today. guest: they cue, it was a pleasure to be with you. host: another edition of "washington journal" comes your way tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. ♪

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the agency's to defend earth against asteroid. the second is the james webb telescope which will study the origins of the universe and search for life beyond earth. sunday night on "q&a" we discussed those missions with nancy from the johns hopkins and meredith macgregor from university of colorado boulder. >> it is not new, it has happened in the past and will happen in the future. there is no known threat to the earth right now from asteroids or comets. we are tracking things. there's nothing on the course to hit the earth. that said, we have not found all of the asteroids so this is an important part of the terry -- of planetary defense. we need to take the first steps to be ready before you need it. >> i love observational

astronomy because you can point at any object and i get new data and i know i am the first person in the universe to see this. you cannot predict what you're going to find. we find completely new things. some of the most exciting science results coming out of webb i things i cannot even tell you yet. >> nancy should vote and meredith macgregor sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on "q&a." you can listen to our podcasts on our new c-span now app. ♪ host: this is "washington journal" for january 15. that is a shot of the u.s. capitol and at state capitols across the nation governors have been giving speeches highling