prices in ukraine with john hurts to serve as u.s. ambassador to ukraine during the george toebbe bush administration. later houston public media politics reporter andrew snyder talks by the texas primary election and voting ♪ >> this is the washington journal for the first day of march. it is also the --while dealing with domestic policy. we will take into account the united states effort in supporting ukraine during the current invasion by russia. you can watch the state of the union starting at 8:00. in our first hour you can comment on two nights speech or russia's invasion of ukraine. there is how you can call us. (202) 748-8000 democrats(202) 748-8000, (202) 748-8001 (202)

748-8001 republicans (202) 748-8002, and independents (202) 748-8002. if you want to text us you can at (202) 748-8003. you can post at our facebook page. the bbc providing the latest when it comes to continued attacks in ukraine. their website saying that an opera house, concert hall and government offices were hit in freedom square. that is in the center of kharkiv. at least 20 people were injured. authorities are still trying to clarify the death toll. the attack came as -- quote this is the price of freedom. this is what our morning looks like. there were no military targets in the square nor in the residential districts of kharkiv which, under rocket artillery fire. the website of the bbc shows photographs of that take convoy

that you have probably seen in other places as well. vehicles going towards keith. this subtext saying it saw little progress -- again that is at the bbc website. when it comes to tonight's state of the union address associated press says that when president biden addresses senators and legislators in that chamber, when mr. biden stands in the chamber tried to make good on what -- he may find that the threat from russian president vladimir putin has become the unexpected force to pull american political parties -- strong bipartisan support for the president. that is chris coons from delaware. the story of events also saying that -- foreign policy not been the drawl that it has been in the last 20th century.

factions on the right and left have broken off most definitively on the wars in iraq and afghanistan. chiseling away at a shared mission. that is the associated press. that all coming together for the two nights speech, our coverage starts at 8:00. you can see it at c-span.org and our free c-span now app. you can comment on the state of the union address. or comment on both. (202) 748-8000 four democrats, (202) 748-8001 four republicans, (202) 748-8002 for independence. (202) 748-8003 and textus at. one of the things playing out concerning ukraine, this is chuck sue schumer -- check

schumer. >> in the coming weeks the senate will also work on a bipartisan basis and in lockstep with the biden administration to build a robust systems package for ukraine. the administration has asked for a $6.4 billion package of humanitarian aid, economic aid and the kind of military aid that will help you needs defend themselves. we intend to work on a bipartisan basis to include it in the up coming omnibus bill. already, reports of civilian capital -- civilian casualties in ukraine is tragic. at least 350 civilians have been killed according to the craning government. amidst the violence one thing is clear. ukrainian people are giving putin a tougher fight than he and his monomaniacal overconfidence bargained for.

there are two people in particular that deserve recognition in these early days. president zelensky and president joe biden. on the one hand, president zelensky is facing the worst nightmare any head of a state can face. his bravery and defiance is inspiring. many -- putin thought he would run away. he thought even though i am his number one target -- he stayed. that gave the ukrainian people and all of the people in the western world courage and strength as well. to unite and give -- and do everything we can to help the ukrainian people keep their independence, their freedom and their sovereignty. president zelensky is admired all around the globe and of most by the ukrainian people who he stood stows drawing for. president biden also deserves

credit that he is due here for successfully bringing democracies together against putin with crunching sanctions and an outpouring of assistance. today, president putin is more isolated than ever before while democracies have rallied together. this is much to the credit of president biden. he has done an amazing job. >> those are comments from senator chuck schumer. the washington post adding -- say that he and other senators are finalizing a letter to the president that went out the administration to give protective status to the roughly -- ukrainian nationals who are on various u.s. visas. -- who could face significant threats if they return home to their -- return home to their

home country. -- people here on visas, that is something that we could and should do immediately. do your calls on either the state of the union or what is going on in ukraine with his invasion from russia. springfield, virginia. on the democrats line. caller: good morning. i just cannot be moved more by what zelensky said. he said they are fighting for freedom and freedom square. every part of ukraine is freedom square. it really moves me, this man has this much courage and that much belief in the freedom of his country to say that. host: we will go to terry in tennessee. republican line. caller: this is terry mansell.

i want to know why biden worries about another country's borders as he is leading in all of these terrorists come in from mexico and other countries. all they do is come over and tear up and rob and steal, bring drugs. he is not lifting a finger to stop them. host: we will go to george in bristol, tennessee. democrats line. caller: that previous caller there, -- he is going off the beaten path. i think zelensky is one of the most brave people that i have ever saw in my whole life. another thing, it seems to me that everybody, they are all doing as good as they possibly can.

everyone figured this nuclear business here. there is one thing they are not going to be able to do, news media anymore is say anything about why biden came out of afghanistan. if those people had one tenant of the courage that these people in ukraine have, it would be no problem whatsoever. but those people were trained and given the best equipment, they put their arms down and said take us. boy, i am telling you. they will never be able to say that again about why biden came out. he should've came out for or five years ago. host: george in tennessee. we will hear from a texan. this is howard on the republican line. caller: this seems like this

might've happened two years ago. they were so worried about impeaching a president instead of working on things that should've been worked on. this is a very weak i do not want to say president. occupying the white house. host: why do you call it that? caller: because it is true. he is not a leader. host: do you think he has had influence especially among the world community involving ukraine? caller: no sir, he never has since he has been in politics. what has he done. host: as far as nato and they international community? caller: he has not done anything on our border. what has he done? host: on our republican line from texas. we will hear from the minority leader mitch mcconnell also talking about issues on the senate floor involving ukraine

read >> it would deter further aggression. if putin is made to pay a significant price. sustained sanctions that undermine his ability to wage war. into the future, will be necessary. sanctions will not be enough. russia has massive currency reserves, it has options to -- and to impose counter costs. at least in the near term. the sanctions that would hurt -- moscow the most would also have significant impacts on europe. they will continue to be resistance -- to date the biden administration has sent mixed messages about its policies. or months we heard prospective

sanctions were being drafted to deter putin's aggression. last week, the president said he and his advisers never thought sanctions would deter russia. now they are finally imposed some sanctions but short of everything that is available read so to what end, exactly? what is the administration's coherent plan? i believe we should have used more of these tools prior to this brutal escalation to deter putin and to weaken his capacity to wage war. now, we must use these tools aggressively to impose tools -- to demonstrate to other aggressors that we mean business and to degrade putin's long-term ability to threaten nato and compete with the west. ultimately, sanctions are no substitute for military power.

they are no substitute for the steps that we must take to help ukraine and to defend ourselves in the future. moscow and beijing will only be deterred from aggression if they see concretely that military force cannot achieve their objectives and the cost of military aggression will be too high. >> senate minority leader mitch mcconnell on the senate floor yesterday grade you can go to our website to see more. you can comment on events there, also you can comment on tonight's state of the union. our coverage starts at 8:00 in the speeches expected at 9:00. when it comes to military efforts which the minority leader had referenced axios reported that -- urges that president biden are impose a

significant no-fly zone over the country. -- if the western allies do their part. adds that the president, our president has ruled out sending u.s. troops to fight russia in ukraine. that -- that would require the military to roughly engage with russian -- it also adds that president zelensky who remains in ukraine said in a statement -- if the west does this, ukraine will defeat the aggressor with less blood. xo reported that. ursula in north carolina. democrats line. caller: i have been listening for years and you have a marvelous program. i am a world war ii person if

that tells you anything about my age. if we look back, we supported the russians to get the nazis out of everywhere which was great. people need to think about it. if we had not let the russians do to us what after world war ii we would not have that problem now in the ukraine. host: would you by that? caller: it was horrible. for the russians to walk into berlin and act like they were the ones and we are the ones who sent ammunition and guns to them . i think it sucks. i am sitting here and crying every morning because i think this is on us, what is going on in the ukraine. we should've put our foot down after world war ii and said ok you go back to where you came

from, we have to get your part of the country back. you stay there. host: this is kathleen in michigan. independent line. caller: i would like to say that putin, trump and kim jong-un, these are the three men who want to lead the nation. they all want to be number one. donald trump knew he had the russians mob over there. they are friends. all of them tried to flex their muscles but the problem is this. war is not good for no one. you get innocent people killed for no reason because all these countries, these three men want to be number one. host: president trump is out of the picture. what do you think of president biden? caller: kim and put our friends.

host: what do you think of private president biden's efforts? caller: he got himself into a lot of mess. he is only one man. look at what donald trump did. he told the fbi to kisses asked. host: we will go to anna in connecticut. democrats line. caller: good morning. i hear a lot of people saying what is putin's endgame. i am worrying that after he does what's he wants to with ukraine, he may try to do something to our president. the united nations. i am hoping president biden will give a virtual message tonight. everybody knows where he is,

everybody knows what time he will be there. he needs to protect himself. host: he will bring this before the joint session. at the capitol building, what you see pictures here. aphids already going up around the capitol building as far as security preparations are concerned. the fence was put back over the perimeter. several pictures you can see online as far as preparations for tonight's events. we'll see president biden speaking live to members of congress on issues. there is another picture provided by our camera about the current security issue going on there. as we show you that, we will take our next call from mike in arkansas on the independent line. caller: like everyone else, i am

very sad for the people in ukraine. i do not agree with what putin is doing there. it brings up a good point that i am glad ukraine is not part of nato. if they were, we would be at war with russia right now. it brings up the concern about all of the other little countries that were part of the warsaw pact that are now nato members. if he moves against them in the future, we are going to be committed to having conflict with russia. can you imagine back during the warsaw pact days that canada and mexico had been part of the pact? host: do you see this as extending? caller: i do not think those countries that were formerly part of the soviet union should be should have been made part of nato. that probably would be nuclear war with russia. host: mike, independent line.

we will hear from george in st. paul, minnesota. democrats line. caller: i just want to say that we are doing what we can do at this juncture as regards to ukraine. it is very obvious that the next step would be to engage russia militarily and that is going to be very problematic. i think that we should continue the measures and restrictions we put on russia's economic system and just continue to isolate them and blow medically around the world. now, unfortunately, it is falling on the russian people who for what i understand are not 100% behind what putin is

doing. we need to be a little bit patient here and just keep going and see how the economic and political restrictions work. host: the president has said that he would not send u.s. troops to engage in issues in ukraine, do you believe that? or do you believe that will have to change? caller: i believe at this juncture we will have to keep doing what we are doing and give it a chance to see if these restrictions will work. host: but do you think the situation might change that warrants the u.s. directly involving itself? caller: that is a good question. we are pretty much in a wait and see. i wish it could be different but we are looking at a very destructive war that i am sure a lot of people do not want to engage in.

now, of course, we are in love with the fact that putin has launched this war against this much smaller nation and it is kind of like a bully. to me it is very obvious that ukraine was never really a threat to russia. it is pretty much -- putin took it on himself to hopefully increase his popularity, his hold on power. that seems to be -- all we can do is wait and see. we cannot relent at this point. we have to keep going on the economic restrictions. host: let us hear from teresa in arizona. republican line.

one more time for teresa. let us hear from diane on democrats line in michigan. caller: thank you. i think this is an unnecessary war. it is an unprovoked war. the question about the whole thing is why are they letting that 40 mile convoy of armament, flamethrowers, bombs, everything they need to attack civilians -- wyrick they stop again. why aren't they bombing out the road ahead of it? why are they just letting them waltz into ukraine? it is very simple, why are they not stop again? host: who are the day you are referring to? caller: is it the russians? please tell me i am wrong. isn't it the russians of convoy.

host: russian equipment. caller: if they stop it convoy they are going to save a lot of lives. host: who are the day if they are going to stop it? caller: ukrainians. they have planes, why do they not stop them, bombed out the roads? it will save lives. why aren't they doing that. host: when it comes to the actual state of the union speech and other topics, the washington times highlighting that resident biden will talk about domestic issues and looting gas prices and the like. -- he will unveil a four-point plan to tackle rising prices from the gas pump to the plan including making more goods in america, bolstering supply chains and reducing the deficit, promoting a petition among workers.

this dory also adding -- lowering -- strong economic recovery. according to a senior administration official. white house officials did not say he would use the word inflation during the speech. independent line. caller: thank you very much. i would like to applaud the world, actually, on defending ukraine. and to stop out communism. people would read history books there would be a lot more informed about what they are saying. the whole point of this is, to not have as many casualties and do not have -- pushing back the russians it is a goal but the main goal is to stomp out communism. that is my thought on it during i would like to applaud everybody for stepping up and defending ukraine. host: you think that as far as

the efforts that the united states and nato and other countries have made to date, how much further can they go? do you think they are prepared to go the distance when it comes to helping ukraine? caller: of course. they have got to go the distance . the sanctions are obviously helping. whatever president put on putin. in the kremlin -- is the goal. the main goal is to stomp out communism. that is my input. host: that is cliff in arkansas. when it comes to the topic of refugees from ukraine heading to other countries, the wall street journal has a breakdown of where most of those refugees are going. poland is top of that list. 281,000 refugees going to the country. that is followed by hungry a -- and moldova yeah. 32,500 plus two romania,

slovakia and belarus. others going to russia. one of the things united nations that you can find online at our site, ukraine's ambassador to the ambassador is reading a text message from a mother to her son. here's a bit of that from yesterday. >> i would like to read from the screenshot of the smartphone -- who killed a russian soldier. that is an actual screenshot. why has it been so long since you responded? are you really in training exercises?

asks the mother of the killed soldier. moments before he was killed. mom, i am no longer in crimea. i am not in training sessions. where are you then? -- is asking whether i can send you a parcel. what kind of a parcel, mama, can you send me? what are you talking about, what happened? mama, i am in ukraine. there is a real war raging here. i am afraid. we are bombing all of the cities together, even targeting civilians. we were told that they would welcome us and they are falling

under our armored vehicles, throwing themselves under the wheels and not allowing us to pass. they call us fascists. mama, this is so hard. this is several moments before he was killed. >> imagine if you want to just visualize the magnitude of the tragedy. you have to imagine next to you, next to every nameplate of every single country in these general assembly more than 30 souls have killed russian soldiers already. next to every name of every single country in this assembly,

30 plus killed russian soldiers. hundreds of killed ukrainians. dozens of killed children. and it goes on, and on, and on. host: you'll find more of that on our website on c-span.org and c-span now. that is the chretien ambassador to the united nations. from louisiana, mary on the republican line. caller: thanks for taking my call. listen, they need to send ukraine -- they need to get joe and hunter -- host: where is mary who started this call? put her back on.

caller: i think it is terrible. i think it is terrible that russian went in and killed all these people. host: what do you think about the efforts that are going on as far as hoping ukrainians out either by the united states or nato or a combination of those things? caller: i think the u.s. needs to help them help -- needs to help them help. host: increased military effort? caller: yes. host: do you plan to watch the state of the union tonight? to hear about what is going on in ukraine or domestic policy? caller: yes i do.

host: let us go to david in panama city, florida. independent line. caller: i am from bradenton. president biden is doing a terrific job being able to unite the whole world against this -- putin. something that is not been done since world war ii by roosevelt. he is the only president that has done that then. no other president has done that. also, i would like to say there is a parallel with the city of that the russians are attacking now. host: car keys? caller: kharkiv.

or any other city that russia is attacking. the germans were surrounding -- for six months. now, ukrainians are doing the same thing in their own cities. by defending it. i see a definite parallel. this time the russians are attacking ukrainians and last time the nazis were attacking the russians. host: do you think ukrainians can sustain their pushback against russia? caller: [laughter] i think if there are is a lot of casualties i have a feeling so what is going to have to stand, get in there and stop it.

if there is going to be mass murders of people, so what is going to have to do something. this cannot go on. moldova -- the russians that are getting into it, i wonder if it -- it gets the west and excuse to go in and help the ukrainians. now you have another foreign country getting involved against you rain. does that give permission to other countries to help the ukrainians? i think that should be considered. host: you can comment on for the half hour or so that we have. you can comment on tonight state of the union which is expected to deal with issues in ukraine and other policy issues. (202) 748-8000 four democrats. (202) 748-8001 four republicans. (202) 748-8002 and independents.

you can text us at (202) 748-8003. when it comes to tonight address , the new york times has a story looking at democratic governors who are running for office across the nation. this is out of florida. at eight weekend fundraising retreat, several candidates for governor and donors -- was damaging the party more than expected. they hope that mr. biden state of the union address and serve as a pivot point. it could reorder the political landscape. the invasion of ukraine, the first to bring court nomination for mr. biden, -- it quotes roy cooper saying the environment is not where we wanted to be right now but it is going to be -- get substantially better. -- including crucial

presidential battlegrounds. plus maine, nevada and -- from maria in laguna hills, california. republican line. caller: i think the ukrainians got to bomb the hill out of those troops that are coming in. they are like sitting ducks there from the air. i think they should just blow them out. -- there is a lot of life that is going to be lost but otherwise they -- they will destroy the whole city. i believe that nato is doing a great job and i am so sad because i think the people that we elect in the united states, these are the results we get. by electing a week president, putin would never have done this with donald trump. host: al is next in ohio.

caller: i think your callers have very good solutions. ukrainians can bomb the roadway. they do not have air but they can bomb and delay the russians from coming in. i know in america, we have our roads, if you bomb them they have to cut them off. you can slow the convoy down. that is my comment. host: the wall street journal adding that when it comes to the energy portion of what is going on, they report that the u.s. and other major oil consuming nations are considering releasing -- barrels of oil from their stockpiles. -- a growing concern over supply after russia invaded ukraine adding that prices jumped on

monday as the broadside of -- sanctions snared -- it goes on from there. if you want to read about the various energy components from the wall street journal story. jeff. caller: thank you for taking my call. i want to talk about the state of the union address tonight. there is been a lot of misinformation spread out there about biden and his having of certain things. right now, we are dealing with pressures on the economy but the economy is in much better shape than it was at the beginning. i waited for some of that. as for as this russia ukraine situation, we have to be very careful about how we place sanctions on the country because of the worldwide effect it will have on prices going forward.

especially oil. if we decide we are going to get to the point where we are going to cut off russia's supply in the oil market be prepared to pay higher prices here at the pump because you're going to see oil prices go to at least 120 or 120 -- 130 miles -- per barrel. host: how much of an increase in gas has that been over the last couple of weeks? caller: i follow the commodity markets very closely and so far the price of oil has jumped up $10 a barrel since the russia invasion. most people need to understand that the price of oil is based on supply and demand. right now we have more demand and less supply. at the bottom of the pandemic when the pandemic was at its highest, the count in the united states -- now the rate count --

eventually you're going to have more supply in the market. if you cut off some of that supply, for mercy, you're going to see -- higher prices. host: you said that when it comes to improved economy, president biden took credit for some of that? caller: one of the problems we have in this country, we have more -- if anyone knows the thing about economics, it is a supply and demand issue. what we have in the united states, we are more demand which means consumers have more money to spend. what is happening is the supply side of the economy has yet to catch up. that is the reason you have inflation. one of the problems manufacturers have is the labor side, getting their labor staffing up to the point where you can create more supply in

the market. that is the reason you have inflation. once that catches up, then prices will start to go back down. that has not happened yet. one of the things that is always happening in economics, you have a lag between supply and demand. that is what is going on right now. host: it seems you follow it very closely. jeff, thank you for the perspective. it is a story that is reflective in the wall street journal story about the economy. the headline that -- consumer spending in the first half of february was up 2.7% -- according to data from artist research which tracks credit and debit card purchases. economist at citigroup said -- u.s. payrolls grew by more than 500,000 in february. morgan stanley estimates payroll

grew in february. they are saying the jobless rate -- joblessness rate fell. the decade before the pandemic, monthly increases around 150,000 to 200,000 were more normal. that is go to brent in south carolina. republican line. caller: to address the two issues on the banner there on the screen, no, i will not be watching the state of the union because joe biden is basically irrelevant to the ukrainian situation. this is one of the reasons why we have a ukrainian situation because it was pretty clear that vladimir putin believed -- he basically watched the news, watched joe biden in a feeble condition, stumbling and stammering around and not quite

sure of where he was or what he was saying. how is that a deterrent when you want to -- when you want what hit their called liber strong? putin so the opportunity and moved. secondly, the russian invasion of ukraine is an issue that goes back much further than just the last five to 10 years. it is something that has roots in the dissolution of the soviet union 30 some years ago. it is suspicious, the timing is suspicious. we are now beginning to see stories where our government is admitting to us that there may be problems with these so-called vaccines. the masks that they told us we

all had to wear, they are not all that effective and they are starting to trickle this information out now. these admissions, i should say. host: how do you draw the line between those two things? caller: look at how this is all disappeared from the news. host: are you saying that the war was a factor in that? a factor in what you are not seeing in the news? caller: sure, for two years the story for two years has been covid and here comes the russian integration -- russian invasion of ukraine. i am not saying that it is a conspiracy but it is suspicious. it is very difficult to take all of this handwringing and bleeding, if you will, figuratively from american citizens who spent the last two years insisting that people who are not vaccinated be treated

like second class citizens but now all of a sudden they want to fight oppression. these are the same people who have spent the last however many years insisting that our border with mexico be essentially wide open. now, they want -- ukraine has a sovereign border. america is not permitted that. host: when it comes to the vaccine, another story, the president probably referencing that tonight. at least issues related to coronavirus. washington post reported that -- these estimates were compiled by this cdc and show that 43% of the country has been infected by the virus. the study says the majority of children have also been affected. the blood study that include

infections throughout the pandemic but counts people only once, the only coronavirus -- re-infections are counted again and again. -- double the people -- were government agencies as of late january. it says that blood -- including all the study measures the presence of antibodies, it does not indicate whether there is strong -- that is the washington post if you want to read there. we will go to doug in staten island on the independent line. caller: good morning. just to the gentleman, before i mention anything else. he has some -- there could be a conspiracy.

this is the state of affairs that we are in right now. as far as biting and the rest of it on this ukraine war. something that came out in the wall street journal, but i am not sure if it was the wall street journal or the washington post. this apparent economic sanction began in november. three departments of the administration started working together with the european union, nato and so on getting this all in place. this is why the sanctions took over so quickly. it is been documented and authenticated. the story i'm telling you. you can find it. that is important for us to remember. the whole idea that we are going to pay a little bit more for gas and so on, this is a sickly the whole idea of mr. putin decided that he is going to re-create the russian empire. he wants to go down like the czar nicholas, peter the great

and stalin and so on. he seems to be a bit, besides a real megalomaniac, a bit paranoid the more i hear them speak. we have to worry about that and try to give him an offramp. the only way we are going to do this is with brute force. unfortunate, brute force is going to have to be unleashed economically on the people. in the middle class there finds they cannot want vacations and their credit cards do not work, there is going to be some pressure. that is the only pressure you can bring to bear on putin. host: that is dug in staten island. one of the weapons that is being used according to the ukrainians ambassador to the u.s., something called a vacuum bomb. the potent vacuum bomb is being used according to the ambassador. a vacuum bomb is also called a thermo barrack weapon.

-- use in a civilian setting. it would constitute a war crime according to the ambassador. the bomb describe it -- destroyed a ukrainian town killing 70 soldiers. the administrative chief there said that images -- being gutted by the blast. that is the in politico. we'll go to missouri. caller: i got a couple of things to say. it is very suspicious as far as the president, i will be watching him tonight. it seems awful suspicious when you remember that donald trump held monetary funds from ukraine to start with. him and his buddy got together and decided that.

he is doing what he can do. host: how do those relate to things for today? caller: that is what happened. i think donald trump and putin got together and plan this because he knew he would not when the election. he stole one election from hillary clinton. host: what do you base that on? caller: just look at it. it is very suspect -- it is very suspicious. host: what do you base that accusation on? caller: i base it on what i hear in the news. he held the funds of, he and putin already had this planned. host: that is robert in missouri. i want to show you a bit from yesterday. this is florida republican. he is an army veteran. he lost both of his legs in afghanistan while serving there in 2010. he released this video on

twitter dealing with issues in ukraine. here's a portion of that video. >> today i came to orlando on my way to washington dc with the intent of delivering two of my prosthetic legs to go to people in need. but i was not aware of was that where i received my prosthetic care in orlando, i would make a new friend. andre, from the ukraine. he will turn to the ukraine later this week. he will go to battle. the legs that i brought here to give to recipients, we will make sure he returns home with the most advanced process take legs that he could wear into battle. i think it is one of those examples, it is the truth in this world that god is at play even when we least expect it and

may be totally unaware of what is happening. number one, i have proud and honored to be able to say where this into battle. >> and to give a message to the ukrainian people, and that is this. the american people and congress and by self, we stand with you. host: again, if you want to -- you can go to the twitter feed for more that. one of the things that took leasing congress yesterday, the house passing a bill to make lynching a federal crime.

the new york times says that the measure passed on monday would categorize lynching as a crime carrying a penalty of up to years in prison. democrats ever public in health the action is historic. one of the house most conservative members made a request of -- memorialize for posterity and for all americans to know and recognize that the united states house of representatives can come together as yet. we may disagree on so many things -- against certifying -- after the january 6 -- we can come together unitedly. that is one of the things that took place on capitol hill yesterday. you can still see that on our website at c-span.org. let us go to market nebraska on the republican line. caller: thank you for taking my call. i wanted to point out a couple

of differences between zelensky and biden. i think it is very stark and becomes apparent. where zelensky and bodies strength, he inspires his people, he fights in the streets, he is not asking to leave the country. he probably does not ask the people around him if they have been vaccinated or he don't have them take a test before he engages with them on the streets. where biden really shows weakness in so many areas. he tries to strike fear like e closes the embassy in ukraine instead of staying in there and fighting for it. he can't protect our embassy in russia. instead of going out into the street he is known to hide in his basement in delaware. zelensky is young. host: biden spent most of his

time in the white house here. caller: even with the pandemic, when he was running for office, he'd hid in the basement for the pandemic. can you imagine people on the streets trying to kill him where he hides? he has been 60 years of politics where zelensky did not come from a political background. he was an actor, kind of like donald trump. you do not have to show strength in leadership, you do not have to be in politics for 60 years. host: jan in virginia on the independent line. yorktown, virginia. caller: you have the patience of job. i think joe biden has done a wonderful job the past year. he has brought honor and respect to our white house and to our government. he has united people around the

world in a peaceful way to address ukraine and to assist with stopping the war. i think i would recommend that nato get involved and may be due an emergency clause to bring ukraine into nato right now. that would help tremendously against the aggression of this terrorist putin. all in all, joe has done a tremendous job. we are pleased to have him. these people who do not get it, they will never get it. host: do you plan to watch state of the union tonight? caller: always. i am ever navy nurse. i support joe. everybody else, get a life and unite. host: aside from ukraine, what other issue should he address tonight?

what is the top issue she he should address? caller: the pandemic which is ongoing. they will have to watch the hospitalizations. and make sure people are getting vaccinated because there will be variant coming out. you should also address inflation which is temporary. it is expected that we would have inflation issues. god bless everyone. host: we will go to teresa in florida. democrats line. caller: i know i would like to hear the state of the union but i do not know if president biden will stay at. a little over a year ago donald trump told zelinski of ukraine that if you get hurt, -- of getting your country -- that

played into putin's hands. the brave ukrainian people are the real freedom fighters, not the troopers and the ones in the trucks coming with the caravan, do not tread on me because we do not want mandates. they are the real freedom fighters, the ukraine's. i am disgusted with the republican party. host: that is teresa in florida finishing off the hour of calls. thank you all who participated. we will continue discussions -- also the senior director of the -- we will have that conversation on washington doing journal later on -- in texas today that might play out into the midterms today. andrew schneider of houston

public media joining that conversation. we will be right back. >> i can report to the nation, america is on the move again. announcer: tonight, the state of the union. president biden addresses congress and the nation, laying out his agenda for the year ahead. begins at 8:00 p.m. eastern, the president speaks at 9:00 p.m., followed by the republican response. the state of the union, live at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span, c-span.org on the c-span now video app. announcer: american presidents' website is your one-stop guide for short biographies and rich images that tell the story of the presidents' lives and

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c-span's 2020 do congressional directory. this compact spiral-bound book is your guide to the federal government with contact information for every member of congress. also, contact information for state governors and the biden administration cabinet. order today or scan the code with your smartphone. every purchase supports c-span's nonprofit operation. "washington journal" continues. host: john herbst was the former ambassador to ukraine from 2000 and-2006. -- from 2000 to 2006. thank you for doing this. you have heard about the ukrainian people and their ability to push back on russia, how long is that sustainable for them to do so? guest: forever.

if you want, i will explain. look, the kremlin has either the second or third most powerful conventional forces in the world. the ukrainian military is strong, but not in comparison to that. while moscow is having troubles but not against the new offensive, if they bring all their military might to bear they may be able to capture several ukrainian cities, they may be able to establish a corridor down to crimea, maybe even onto odessa. but if they do that, or even if they were able to somehow decapitate the current ukrainian government, there will still be a military that will fight for the ukrainian people. there will be a resistance that moscow will be unable to deal

with. and i have no doubt if they were to take kyiv, which if they want, they will still have ukrainians fighting. and they cannot occupy the whole country without facing that resistance, and ultimately the resistance will defeat them. host: to have the military to do that, what is their capability? guest: resistance, as we saw against the nazis, his resistance of the people who are conquered and occupied, yet they still have small arms, they still have explosives, they still have a will to fight and resist. the russian people do not want to be in a war against the ukrainian population. if the military offensive was successful, putin would still face this. host: as far as the support you

have seen from other countries in the european union, from nato itself, what else can be done as far as that support? guest: we need to send as many relevant weapons as possible, most especially javelins which killed tanks and stingers, which kill aircraft. and predator drones, the type that the turks sold to the ukrainians. those things will make it hard for the russians to amass forces in a way that could bring a victory. we need to make sure arms continue to get there. host: you were quoted in a newsweek story talking about the lead up to this as far as the biden administration is concerned, as far as weapons that were sent and i think you had criticism of that. go ahead. guest: you are absolutely right. the biden team laid out a three-part approach to this

crisis, more arms to ukraine, upping nato defenses in big sanctions on moscow. but because of a certain illusion about having better relations with moscow, which was a pipe dream, they held back. we should have sensitive get weapons to ukraine after the russians threatened this in a year ago in 2021. in this crisis, the administration only sent additional weapons in late january, way too late. we should have sent stingers. having said that, the old world policy is a solid but this is a serious weakness and ukrainians are paying for it with their lives. host: as far as additional weapons, are there avenues to get them into ukraine or will they be blocked by russia and

other forces? guest: we can no longer ship than by air, which is easier. but we can still send it over land through poland and through romania. i would suggest we call on the old trail to send weapons. host: john herbst, the former ambassador to ukraine joining us on the conversation. if you want to ask him about events in ukraine, you can do so. 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans. independents can call 202-748-8002. the president of ukraine has called on the biden administration and nato to set up a no-fly zone, what is the feasibility of that? guest: i am very sympathetic to the situation in ukraine which led the president to make that request, but i do not think it

will happen because the way we establish no-fly zones is we make the airspace completely safe for our planes we. -- we have to attack preemptively the russian systems and russia itself, and they may consider that an act of war so i do not see us doing that. look, i mentioned the the biden administration regarding arms. there's also protecting american citizens in ukraine and ascending humanitarian assistance to ukraine. we did this in georgia in 2008. we should announce to moscow that we are sending a cargo plane to kyiv with humanitarian aid and of american citizens. also, we should announce we are sending navy ships to odessa

with humanitarian aid and also to pull out americans. this is a way you can provide humanitarian aid, it will be a shot in the arm for ukrainians, and c, it complicates russian military planning. host: as far as the refugees, as we have been hearing about, that is one portion of the story. the countries they are fleeing to, what do you think about the ability of these countries to take care of them? guest: it looks like that is happening. obviously, that is a very good thing. it's unfortunate you do not see a similar willingness in europe to accept refugees from the middle east. host: when it comes to the recent comments or the increase of nuclear posture by vladimir putin, how should the u.s. and nato except -- accept that?

guest: here is where we need statesmanship. what putin did the other day, talking about raising the alert status of nuclear forces, is not new. he likes to show off his nuclear strength in order to intimidate other nations, but he took it to a another level by raising the alert of all -- alert level. our response was mild. there was a condemnation, but they should have reminded putin that we have nuclear weapons too and we will not be intimidated. host: so you think it will stay a threat or is this an actionable thing on putin's part ? guest: you cannot say it is impossible, but it makes zero sense in terms of russia's interest actually use nuclear weapons because we have them, too. i also think that if he was to

give such an order, it's not certain it would be carried out. we saw over the past eight days, how senior russian security officials are deeply uncomfortable, first with the war in ukraine and second with a nuclear alert. on sunday, when he made the announcement, he had the defense minister with him and his chief soldier, and they were clearly uncomfortable as putin was speaking along these lines. host: our first call is from texas, the democrats line. go ahead. caller: good morning. this war that russia put on ukraine is something that has been in the works since president obama, and we before than. -- then.

he should been sending that nation weapons way before russia invaded. and i'm -- my personal opinion, because i am a stupid person, i think that biden had this plan. they get money from over there and they open up the russia pipeline -- yeah, they had this plan. and they are right along with him. he's for it, he is not against it. the democratic government, that is what they are for. you want to protect the borders, which i am glad they are giving them weapons, but they are not doing anything to help them because they are part of the situation, not part of the solution. host: tiny in texas. go. guest: and that was from a democratic line. i agree that obama should have sent weapons, and i made that case in 2015.

i agree with you that we should be sending weapons sooner. and i also agree that i think that our energy policies, in shutting down our oil and gas gives russia greater strength to use energy as a weapon in europe. having said that, you have to credit in the biden administration with an energetic approach to this crisis. i have to give them credit, because this is the best we have seen from any american president dealing with moscow's aggression towards ukraine. there's flaws, but you have to credit them over all for something that is not bad at all. host: how do you view what made them come together on this, other countries as well? guest: i would give the biden team credit for that because they worked very hard at strengthening the nato bonds, strengthening our partnership with the eu, and it has paid off big time.

more important than the administration's efforts, even though they are very good, is europe awakening to the reality of what putin is. everybody has been glued to the television watching ukraine, the horrors putin has unleashed. putin is five days succeeded in what six or seven american presidents could not succeed, persuading germany to spend enough money on its own defense. that -- that's remarkable achievement. host: a caller on the independent line. caller: good morning. it's very interesting listening to the dialogue, but everything really began in 2010, when ukraine's parliament voted to never become part of nato. and that is the central point of the conflict. in 2014, america did to ukraine

what it did to iran in 1953. you assisted in a coup, and installed anti-russian leadership. and that is problematic. they began -- citizens, even to the point of threatening to ban the language. it's very divisive in the media. america does not have the right to choose a nation's government. this began a long time ago. max blumenthal, an independent investigative journalist, documents the u.s. supporting neo-nazi elements in ukraine. also harassing the africans who are trying to evacuate ukraine. this is a farce. i do not believe that this will end like it did with gaddafi

being drug through the streets. host: that is ezekiel. guest: almost everything you say is factually wrong. the united states did not conduct a coup in ukraine. what happened is essentially this. the ukrainian government, under previous president yana covid, the leader who won the 2010 election, was working on a trade agreement with the european union and they were just about to conclude that when russia said no. yana covid -- yanakovtich did not obey the order and many started protesting. then, the ukrainian president unleashed his police on them, it was a nasty crackdown, as a result of which it did not succeed. a day or so later there were hundreds of thousands of people

in the streets of kyiv protesting not just the trade agreement, but on the authoritarian regime in power. and those demonstrations lasted for several months, until a very ugly week in late february of 2014, when snipers either permitted by the ukrainian president or ordered by him, murdered people protesting. then the people of ukraine said this president must go, and he fled. as a result of that, the kremlin seized crimea and then began the war in donbass. you need a wider source of information there max blumenthal, who is very one-sided. as do tune into the atlantic council, we have a blog, we have a ukraine alert, you will get real information. host: the economic sanctions

being placed on russia, could that stop efforts by vladimir putin? guest: uh, i do not think that the sanctions by themselves will stop putin's war on ukraine. with they will do is it they will severely weaken the russian economy, which overtime will weaken russia's military establishments. it will cause a sharp drop in russians' standard of living. the russian people do not want to this war in ukraine, polls have shown that. the impact of all this will be to weaken putin, as will the casualties of russian soldiers coming home dead from ukraine. for that matter, ukrainian civilian casualties. but putin has just delivered a major blow to his own economy which will weaken his leadership and automatically could lead to

his departure sooner than we expect. host: mike and long beach on the democrats -- in long beach on the democrats line. caller: i have a simple question. did biden ahead of time send in weapons, say last year, could he not be accused by putin and the media here for actually instigating the war? guest: well, you are absolutely right that the russians would've accused him of instigating the war, but they are accusing him now of instigating the war. we need to understand putin's objectives. they are to make sure he has control of ukraine, but beyond that have control of all of the countries that emerged from the dissolution of the soviet union and influence in the countries at that used to be part of the warsaw pact, countries like

poland, romania, hungary and the czech republic. that is -- the defeat boudin is to defeat him in ukraine. -- putin is to defeat him in ukraine. we have greatly weakened to position and will probably, over the course of time, persuade russia to pursue a nonaggressive foreign policy. host: alexander vindman, the director of the european affairs for the national security council, has an op-ed, "how to up our game in ukraine." he says the partnership could be grounded into the existing nato commission, the decision-making body responsible for the relationship and other existing institutions. a cornerstone of the approach would be a new version of the marshall plan to rebuild

ukraine's economy and a 21st century of the lend lease act. it goes on, but what do you think about it? guest: he's a creative guy. and i think that i'm glad to see this in the public arena. i do not know if lend lease makes sense right now. steve wiseman advocating -- has been advocating for that for several years now. it's not a bad way to strengthen ukraine's morale and to tell putin it will only get worse, so he better back away. when i look at it that way i think it is a sensible approach. as for the marshall plan, i would be surprised if there is not kind of marshall plan once russian troops leave ukraine because the sympathy for ukraine and recognition of the importance of ukraine is at an all-time high. but that does not belong in

nato, that is something we would do with the eu. host: our guest was a foreign service officer for over 30 years. john herbst is joining us for this conversation. dave in florida on the independent line. caller: good morning. i sent emails to senator scott and senator rubio and i never got an answer. before this conflict started, i asked why did we not invite russia to join nato? and the second thing is that, because we are in this situation now, why don't we ask ukraine and russia to do a conditional surrender before they destroy kyiv? because if they have not really

destroyed the city yet, and if they do a conditional surrender whereby the ukrainian government stays in place and keeps as much as they can possible, then maybe things that go to the outside conditions, conditions and they do on the outside, is something they can run from russia before they approved things outside the country. those are my two things. because if we throw more ammunitions into that conflict, we are just throwing gas on a fire and it will get really bad over there. i am retired military. i understand about throwing gas on the firing. and i am sure that i do not want any of my brothers hurt. and i think that is the quickest way to solve the poem. guest: thank you for your -- of the problem. guest: thank you for your service. back in the 1990's, there was

some talk about russia joining nato. and, i mean, talk with the russians. it could not go anywhere because essentially moscow would have wanted a veto over nato policies, which we and other nato members were not willing to give. so those talks, those talks were very short. but we did establish a counsel to enhance cooperation. so there were efforts taken. but as to your other idea about ending the current conflict, what you have essentially outlined is what putin wants. he wants to be able to determine ukraine's national security policy. and the ukrainians want to be a fully sovereign country which develops close relations with the eu and with nato, and they should have that right.

and when you say that we should send no weapons, you are saying we should allow russia to conquer ukraine and i do not think that is either morally right or in our interest. putin's objectives go well beyond ukraine. in a speech he gave last week, when he basically said he was going to war, he said he should have a controlling interest in all the countries at that emerged from the soviet union and substantial influence in the ex-warsaw pact states. why in the world should he have that? that directly challenges vital american interests. we need to stop putin in ukraine and i think we are doing that right now pretty well. host: margaret in north dakota, hi. caller: hi. i'm calling about -- i'm kind of nervous, i have never been on

the air before. guest: relax, i am nervous too. caller: why can't they arrest putin and this would all be over, for war crimes? they do not talk about that. what are we doing about de-escalating the nuclear threat? i'm so frightened right now. guest: look, they will not arrest putin because he happens to be the president of russia. as far as we know there is nobody in russia with sufficient authority or force to arrest him. but your point has merit because, one, this is putin's war. even his national security team is uncomfortable with this. and you are right, too, that this decision is not popular among the elites or the people of russia. and eventually those facts will

influence defense in russia. two, russia has apparently committed war crimes now. the rocket fire, which it destroyed a bunch of apartment buildings in kharkiv, a russian-speaking city in ukraine, is a war crime. the ukrainian ambassador said yesterday the russians used a thermo barrack bomb, which sucks the oxygen out of an area. if that is confirmed by our forces, i would suspect they will be because she is a meticulous lady, the ambassador, that is also a war crime. so there is a request by the ukrainian authorities now to the international court of justice to begin an investigation of russian war crimes, and i would hope that the biden administration would support that. host: politico is reporting that belarus has joined the russian invasion, the country's troops

entering the region of northern ukraine. how does that change what goes on? guest: obviously it adds to the threat to ukraine that additional forces from another country are entering. it also demonstrates how the president of belarus is completely under the thumb of putin, because he never contemplated something like this before. i'm not certain that belarus's forces are all that competent. nonetheless, it adds to ukraine's problems. host: can you expand on his competency? guest: they are not first-rate troops. host: bob in wisconsin on the democrats line. caller: listen, i cannot pronounce your last name. the host keeps saying ambassador.

guest: calmly john, -- call me john. caller: i want to know your opinion. i will give you my opinion first, then you can give me your opinion. then you could cut me off the air. they say that biden is weak. that man is over 70 years old. he gave us health care. he gave us rusty pipes being fixed. he got nato together. and he helped those with the pandemic. i would like your opinion. to me, whose ex-wife and son died, that is a strong man to me. and i would like to know your opinion and it c-span could cut

me off the air right now. host: ok, we will leave it there. thank you for calling. guest: luke, biden has had a very distinguished career in in the upper reaches of the american government, now including the presidency, and that merits a great deal of respect. i have a soft spot for him because in 2015, i was eight among a group of people in the think tank world who were arguing strongly to arm ukraine with defensive lethal weapons. and obama made the wrong decision not to provide that, but our group spent about two and a half hours with the vice president at's residence -- at is residence at that time. besides being charming and smart, he made it clear he agreed with us, but unfortunately obama had a different view. again, i think that your tribute to president biden is a worthy

one, even if i disagree with some elements of his policy on ukraine and russia. host: as far as some people have called on this in the last few weeks, why now, why launch of these attacks now, is it because of who is in the white house? guest: i think that partisan politics will always be part of a foreign policy process, so i can understand why for partisan reasons the republicans want to make that charge. and i agree with some of them criticisms -- their criticisms, including his decisions around nord stream 2 last year and the cyber attacks. having said that, biden has always demonstrated an understanding of of nasty things that putin is up to. and i think that the russians

recognize that. so i suspect they chose to strike now because, one, they thought that the west was divided and not unified. we saw that in the very -- i criticized biden for nord stream 2, but i also criticized the germans -- they saw weakness in the west and they got they could get away with more aggression, the way that they got away with it in georgia in 2008 and in ukraine in 2014. they underestimated biden, i think. host: we will go to michigan, the republican line. chuck, good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to go back into history a while, when the john kennedy administration dealt with putting missiles in cuba.

i think that america better wake up.a n a gentleman -- and a gentleman here who has spent 30 years in it again, we do not need people who will give all these concessions to these people. we need new blood. stop our pipelines and to pay the russians to commit these atrocities against these other countries. it is an absolute total --. thank you. guest: ok. um, i think the point you are making is we should stop buying oil from russia. i think that russia is our fourth largest supplier of oil. and you are also making the point we should be developing our own hydrocarbons. frankly, i agree with you on both points. i think that there was a very clumsy handling of the transition to green energy by this administration. we should never have stopped the

keystone pipeline and we should not have put restrictions on our oil and gas production. if we had kept the energy policy from the trump administration, we would be an oil and gas exporter and would be maker harder for russia to use energy as a black male weapon. i agree with you. it would be nice to see a reversal of that now. my political sense says about will not happen because the positions the administration has taken on these issues is popular among its progressive base. having said that, again, you can criticize the administration on that, but the overall response to this crisis has been sound and has set the basis for our eventual victory over putin's policies. host: there is reporting that

the u.s. has expelled russian diplomat's for espionage activities. how strong as this? -- is this? guest: this is a normal course of events, has ended by the fact that moscow has aggressively gone into ukraine. this is one of those areas where it is hard for moscow to reciprocate because we are removing our people from the u.n. i welcome this. host: clark, go ahead. caller: ambassador, thank you for your time. my question is basically about food sovereignty. ukraine used to be called the breadbasket of europe and i am curious about the relevance of their food production, and i am assuming they export to the rest of europe, and so that is the

essence of my question. guest: you are right, ukraine has the famous black soil which is extremely for tile. and -- fertile. and they have been a major producer of wheat and other products at that they export all over the world. after moscow began the war in 2014, russia became a smaller market for ukrainian products in part because of the russian involvement in ukrainian products. again, up until the latest invasion, ukraine continue to be a major exporter of grain. and other agricultural products. obviously, it is harder during the current circumstances. host: elizabeth in delaware. caller: good morning. i want to start out by saying i despise putin, i think he is a pig and a thug.

here is my question. when ronald reagan and gorbachev did a deal, the deal was there would be no nuclear weapons placed on former countries bordering russia. in 2014, george bush and dick cheney ripped up those agreements and and they -- and they put 48 missiles aimed at russia and her the russia put 48 aimed at ukraine. since then, there was 100,000 soldiers killed -- was 100,000 soldiers on russia's border because they believe nato would invade. and now i hear nothing on the tv about these treaties. there's been many of them, all of them broken. all of them broken. and here we are today ready for nuclear war because they want to continue with nato.

by the way, i think that nato should be ended. nato is a militarized group now for the oligarchs. that is what they are. and you want to put them in charge of ukraine. you want to give them the right to put missiles there and antagonize the bully even more. host: that is elizabeth. go ahead. guest: many of the things you believe are facts are missed. before i get to my suggestion, no guarantees were given when we reached an agreement with gorbachev that we would not accept countries from the former warsaw pact into nato. we gave an agreement when we made the deal on the unification

of germany that no nato forces would go into east germany and we kept that commitment. as for, my suggestion is read mark kramer, who is a scholar on this. gorbachev admits he received no such promise. there's a lot of misinformation out there on this. now regarding nato, the important thing to understand is that it is a defensive alliance and it did not seek to expand to the east. nato accepted poland and the czech republic, hungrier than the baltic states because they wanted to become part of nato. and the reason they wanted to become part of nato is because they were afraid of kremlin aggression. if moscow had behaved in a peaceful and cooperative way with its neighbors after the soviet union fell apart, none of

these countries would've sought nato membership. and just so you see this clearly, we all know that finland has been a famously neutral state and sweden has been a famously neutral state since the end of world war ii. yet as a result of moscow's policies, in finland and sweden there are many voices that want to join nato now. a poll came out this week that said 62% of the people of finland want to join nato because they are afraid of putin 's aggressive foreign policies. if you want peace, prepare for war. nato helps ensure a strong piece -- peace. host: china's role, how much strength do they have as far as being an allied to russia? guest: the china-russia relationship bears close watching. they are not allies, but they

are partners. and they have grown closer over the past decade because they both want to see a reduced american role in the world and they want to change the rules of the international game. american foreign-policy makes lots of mistakes, but one of the great things we did after world war ii was establish a variety of institutions creating rules for the way that states behave. the u.n., nato, and on the economic side the imf, the world bank, the wto, and amazingly these institutions have hoped prevent a war -- helped prevent a war between major powers. wars are the great destroyers of people and wealth.

this is an extraordinary achievement and it was really enforced when the cold war ended. both china and russia want to change that. the international order says countries should be sovereign, safe within their borders and cannot be subject to military intimidation or aggression. if there are disputes between countries, they should be resolved by international law or negotiations. china wants to tear that up and sees taiwan. -- seize taiwan. russia wants to tear that up and seize control of ukraine. so, we have to support this order and we have to push back against russia and china. i believe that this relationship, this partnership, is a short-term one because

historically russia and china have been large powers. and historically they have been rivals. so, they are now driven by this verlander anti-americanism. i suspect that as a result of this crisis in ukraine where putin is obviously losing, their will end up being a change in russian foreign policy. once that foreign-policy changes so they are no longer seeking to conquer their neighbors, we will become natural partners and russia will seek our help against the danger that china represents to russia. even now when they are pals, chinese scholars and journalists are all writing about russia as if it belonged to china, specifically the major russian city in the far east, vladivostok. host: brian on the republican

line. caller: i wanted to comment on the west being kind of naive to how many losses putin is willing to take of his people in his own russian army. he is relentless to achieve the goal of taking over ukraine, all and any losses are acceptable to them. we do not understand that. putin is not accountable to his own people. all losses to them are part of the strategy to take ukraine, they do not care about losses. losses do not matter. the russians are definitely willing to lose troops and to lose people in order to take ukraine. host: thank you. guest: i agree with you that putin is a dictator. as a dictator, he does not

consult his people before he makes decisions. but he also understands that popular support is something that works for him and popular opposition works against him. he also knows the russian people are not interested in this war, that is why since 2014 he has refused or forbidden his media to report on russian losses. the russian dead coming back have been hidden. families of the dead have been threatened that if they complain about things publicly, they will be punished. and so this is a fact of his war. more importantly, again i said it earlier, his elite, even his closest advisers are uncertain or concerned about the impact of his current defensive in ukraine. that, i think, will lead to a

change in russian policy. it may take years, but it may be sooner than that. time will tell. let me mention one thing, we put out a major strategy paper on russia. you can google it at the atlantic council blog, and you will see a full description and analysis of these issues. host: john herbst, the former u.s. ambassador to ukraine, and senior director of the atlantic council. you can check out the website to see more of their work. thank you for your time. guest: my pleasure. host: we will continue on with the question from this morning, taking a look at your responses. you can respond to the state of the union speech tonight. you can see that on c-span, c-span.org and our c-span now at. pp. you can comment on russia and ukraine. 202-748-8000 for democrats.

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c-spanshop.org. announcer: " washington journal" continues. host: you can make comments about the state of the union or russia's invasion of ukraine on our phone lines. 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans. 202-748-8002 for independents. you can post on facebook. twitter is available as well. or text 202-748-8003. we will talk to reporters about the state of the union. we have with us the white house correspondent on the phone. ms. cook, thank you for joining us. your story today is looking at tonight's speech, saying the president built's career around his foreign policy experience, he will need to rediscover those traits on tuesday in his first state of the union speech. let's start there, what does he

have to do tonight? guest: i think that what he has to do is really trying to connect with the american people. we have seen in the polls that his approval rating has really fallen in the last half of the year or so, so i think that the goal of the white house is to showcase his leadership, to portray him as a leader and a leader and to show he is on top of this war in ukraine, and that he is on top of rising prices, and those are really the challenges he will face tonight. host: i suppose the speech tonight started off one way in its preparation and has changed now because of the events in russia, how much of that change will we see tonight? guest: i think it has been a big change. originally, it was supposed to hinge on the economy and covid-19, so the president was going to talk about what he was doing to bring down the crisis

-- the prices and covid-19. now obviously he has to talk about ukraine, but i still think the economy will be in major thrust of the speech, but ukraine will come up too. i've been told he will talk about ukraine and russia as a fight for democracy and something that america needs to really be mindful, given the fact that russia invaded ukraine unprovoked. host: one of the themes he is expected to hammer home is american leadership in what is going on. guest: absolutely. foreign policy is a good area for president biden.he served on the foreign policy committee in the senate, this is an area where he feels comfortable. and the white house has done a good job of pulling together european allies against russia, so i think we will see him talk about that. i do not think it will be a long foreign policy speech, i think

it will focus on connecting it back to how you preserve democracy in the u.s. and abroad, and talk about it in that way. something that hopefully the white house hopes the voters will connect with. host: anything new about the united states efforts on this front, will be here anything new, do you know? -- hear anything new, do you know? guest: not that i know of. i spoke with several white house people yesterday and i think that the speech was in flux yesterday given how quickly things are changing in the world, but i think what he will be doing is trying to frame it. the american people, then asking congress for aid and mining. host: to the economy, as far as the president is concerned, how will he address the current economy and in the administration's role in improving the situation? guest: one, he will try to talk

about the bright spots in the economy like the labor market and how much of the unemployment rate has fallen. the white house has been frustrated because they feel like they have not gotten enough credit for the good things in the economy. two, he will address that overarching economic issue bothering americans, which is inflation and the rise of prices over the last year. we have not seen prices at this height in several decades, so he will try to express empathy and show that he is president -- and show that as president he understands the price increases and how they affect people, and so that -- he will use this opportunity to also tout his build back better agenda, hoping that congress can pass it at some point. host: let's start with inflation, do you think you will use the word directly or talk around it? guest: i think that president

biden does not like to use super technical terms, so i imagine he will use the word inflation once or twice. i think much more he will try to talk about it in terms of rising prices. he will talk about it whether he uses the word. i think that he will try to talk about how he understands that this is a problem for people and he understands that it has eaten into raises people may have gotten or wage gains, and that he sees that. host: will we see a specific plan on inflation or broad points on how the administration will deal with it? guest: the white house will talk about two things they are starting to do and they will cast of them as things they are doing to combat inflation. one is to try to bring down the cost of ocean shipping. they are saying it will help bring down the cost of goods. and the second thing is moreover, -- is more overt.

more on nursing homes. i think it is an open question whether or not having the department of health changed the rules around nursing homes is actually an inflationary measure or more and the health policy market. host: you talked about build back better as an overall plan, we understand it has not gone anywhere in congress, but what about the plans that he wants to revise? guest: the white house has decided, really decided over christmas, to rebrand it. it was not working the way that they wanted, the styling telling of it, so they are trying to talk about it differently. he will stall talk about elements of the plan, like lowering the cost of health care, lowering the price of prescription drugs, bringing down the price of childcare.

those are things that white house officials said yesterday will still come up. he will talk about elements of the plan even if the framing is different. host: we saw the administration and congress passed the infrastructure plan or in the infra structure a bill into law, will we hear more about its implementation tonight? guest: we will hear more about that and more about the american rescue plan, the $1.9 trillion plan that congress passed in marched to deal with covid. the president will also go to wisconsin tomorrow, the day after the state of the union, to tout the infrastructure plan. so we will probably hear about his success in passing those bills, and also how it will help the country as the money flows into communities. host: he mentioned his a supreme court nominee last week, so i suspect we will hear more about that tonight? guest: i think that that will come up as a data point and a

highlight that the white house wants to show that they have nominated the first black woman to the u.s. supreme court. that's a way that they have tried to distinguish themselves, get kudos with black voters and progressive groups, so i am sure it will come up. host: there's usually announcements ortiz is about the gets, anything from the white house as -- guests, anything from the white house as far as who they have invited? guest: they have been mum on the and they wanted to talk more about the ideas of president will talk about, so we are not sure who will be in the audience as a guest. host: nancy cook who reports for bloomberg news, here to preview the state of the union tonight. thanks for your time. guest: thank you for having me. host: we will use this time until 9:30 a.m. to talk about

the events of the state of the union tonight. the speech will start at 9:00 p.m., our coverage will begin at 8:00 p.m. on c-span, on c-span.org or follow along on our c-span now at. or you can talk about events in russia with the invasion of ukraine. 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans. 202-748-8002 for independents. text us at 202-748-8003. the pentagon yesterday asked of john kirby about the u.s. actions in ukraine, concerns it could lead to escalation with russia. here is part of that exchange. [video clip] >> mercer said it would hold accountable any nation that provides weapons to ukraine that leads to the death of its own forces, is there a risk here? >> there has been a risk of escalation since before putin

decided to move in with tens of thousands of troops, and tanks and aircraft and ballistic missiles. you want to talk about escalation? let's talk about escalation. putin continues to escalate this. we will stand by the ukrainian armed forces as we have, as other allies have, and we will continue to find ways to help them defend themselves. host: more about russia and ukraine on our website at c-span.org, c-span now also. bobby in richmond, virginia, you are up first. caller: good morning. first, ambassador herbst, when he said ukraine can hold out forever, big props to him on that, i love that answer. that leads to the bigger question, when negotiations finally occur are there any

legitimate concerns two separatist movements in ukraine. when we saw the collapse of the soviet union, i grew up with czechoslovakia, now the czech republic and slovakia. and this ties into another thing with the address tonight. is biden going to address the fact he is sending a delegation to taiwan? for everyone calling him weak, that is a major flex. i do not think people understand the significance. trump taking a from the 20's president sent off shockwaves. he did that accidentally, as far as we can tell. host: this is from john, texas,

independent line. caller: so proud of the brave people in ukraine standing up against a bully. so proud of liz cheney standing up against a bully. climate change is real. it will not go away, it will not stop for putin's war. it will take true international cooperation to solve. host: is that something you are looking for the president to address tonight and -- tonight? caller: i hope he mentions it. host: you will also see the republican response, even by kim reynolds. that response after the speech.

the des moines register saying it was mitch mcconnell and kevin mccarthy announcing the governor as the one to deliver. she is not the first iowan to deliver the republican response. she was mentioned for her bravery and it winning for families. ray, florida, republican line. caller: i have a question. what happens if putin's crews bomb an existing embassy of a nato country ukraine? why activate nato? host: what about that is concerning to you? caller: that putin may bomb an embassy of a nato country within ukraine and that old -- will

trigger world war iii. host: that is right in florida talking about events in ukraine. it is one thing you can address or the state of the union. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 four republicans. (202) 748-8002 four independents. one of the other responses you will see will come from representative rashida to leave she will deliver the working families response. she is a progressive lawmaker expected to criticize republicans and some democrats for holding up the social spending and climate package and argues that liberals have pushed toward the president's agenda. she says, it is an honor to deliver the working parties response.

i am excited to elevate voices of working-class residents. it should not be as hard to deliver on health care, climate, housing, clean water, and so more. watch for her tonight. also, as far as a pregame show from republican leadership, they are expected to gather it on this morning to give their take on what they are expecting to hear. you can watch that all play out on our website, c-span.org. for everything leading up to it, an hour before the speech, we will take your calls, show you the speech uninterrupted starting at 9:00. you can call and get your response to the speech after you hear it. all that available on our website and c-span now. robert, mississippi, republican

line. caller: i would like to talk about -- biden has everything against the country instead of being a president, he should be impeached. he opened up the border, let everyone in that once to come in. he has posted on pipelines and raised the price of everything. he wants to turn us into a country that -- host: economics are part of the state of the union tonight. do you plan to watch? caller: yes. he needs to talk about the pipelines and how that has affected the price of everything, how key shut down the high and has opened up the borders.

also, he calls afghanistan a debacle. he needs to talk about all his mistakes. he is against the country, needs to be impeached. host: robert giving his thoughts on what might be addressed during the state of the union. you heard the reporter on the phone talking about the supreme court nominee as she now makes her way on the senate side, it meeting with senators. mitch mcconnell will meet on wednesday with judge jackson, according to the hilt. mcconnell and jackson will meet with dick durbin and chuck grassley. chuck schumer's office

previously announced he will also meet with jackson today. last week, the president announced an extraordinarily qualified nominee in the mold of justice prior with a demonstrated commitment to the constitution and the rule of. according to a statement, judge jackson went to work immediately and is looking forward to her first meetings with senators of both parties. you can follow along as judge jackson makes her way around capitol hill to talk about issues before her nomination hearing. part of the warehouse section -- press secretaries briefing, -- sanction energy sources in russia. >> you look at the significance

of the steps we have taken, including an announcement about cutting off a major -- major banks in russia from the swift system. we have continued to escalate and build in alignment with the europeans. unity is a top principal for president biden as we take steps forward. that does not happen by accident. it happens as a result of diplomacy and hours by the president and his team behind the scenes, to get to the core of your question, the other piece is at maximizing the impact on putin, russian elites while minimizing it on the american people. as we look at steps to take, even if you look at the impact on energy, we have taken -- we

have not taken some steps on energy sanctions in part because we way that. that does not mean they are off the table, but europeans are very concerned about further price spikes on gas in particular. their prices have gone up 335% over the last year. sanctioning energy would affect russia's income, but it would also have extreme consequences on world energy markets. we have to weigh all of the factors as we wait whether to take additional steps. we consider all those factors. host: when it comes to the state of the union, the hill reporting that marco rubio will skip the speech because of covid testing requirements for attendees.

i do not have time to take a covid test today, he said. rubio's office confirmed the plans. he has complained about the requirement during his speech at cpac. you can see that if you want to go back to our website, where we aired the cpac event. the mask policy also changed on capitol hill just before tonight's state of the union. debbie, missouri, republican line. caller: on the ukraine and russia deal, i realize russia has they have demonstrated fights first and talks last. this has always been their motto, but the russian economy, they get like $.29 as to where ukraine gets $3.49.

to push the oil that goes to europe through, they need the shortest route, which is through ukraine. i do not think russians can afford to paving -- to pay ukraine to get it through. with the u.s. dollar, it is $ 0.0095 that russia gets. with the euro, it is $0.0082. host: that is debbie in his array. rana, michigan, independent line. caller: i had a few things. i probably will not be watching

the state of the union. the only thing democrats and republicans can agree on is to give themselves a raise. the president was -- when he pulled out a afghanistan, the same way they pulled out of vietnam. there was the same there, the same there. it is going to get so bad for russia that someone in russia will probably take him out. host: linda, new york, democrats line. caller: i have a few questions that have to be resented. i do believe we have to get on the books that these people

stepping up to run our country must first have a complete doctor's examination to determine if they are mentally competent. all of these rulers making these decisions out of whack, including putin, including biden, including trump. flyaway brain people. they must have a doctors examination and a complete evaluation of mental competence. president biden, for keep speaks to another country, he has got to look at our voting rights. this is part of his brain dead operation. host: are you a democrat? caller: yes.

host: you voted for biden? caller: i am a democrat. joe biden is acting like a republican. host: just wanted to clarify. people call in on the line that best represents you. (202) 748-8000, democrats. (202) 748-8001, republicans. (202) 748-8002, independents. we have been giving various perspectives on tonight's state of the union speech. you heard the white house's take. we focus on congress now. joining us for that is bob to sack of the hill. can we talk about security and what has been done at the capitol to make sure everybody inside is safe? guest: the fences are back.

these offenses were undersized, because they were up for a long time after january 6. but they have been put up for cautionary reasons. part of the reason is the threat of convoys and trucker protests. security officials want to play it safe. that is on the perimeter. there could be traffic snarls in the seat as it they come from california and elsewhere. the one on the beltway fizzled out, did not have the effect some had feared. inside, security is different than last year. initially, members were going to have to wear hefty masks, n95's, that was going to be mandated.

however, consistent with cdc guidance, that is now optional however, if you want to get in the chamber tonight, you would have to submit a pcr negative test a day before, so yesterday. the bottom line is that when you look at the visuals of this year, we are going to see a welcoming type of normalcy that we have not seen in summertime time. last year, it was 20% capacity tonight, you are looking at a packed house. all members have been invited. that is different than last year. as ron klain said, this is going to be something you look at and think we are getting back to normal. host: as far as seating arrangements are concerned, we have seen members of their

caucus side-by-side. will we see that? the separated between the floor and up a chamber? guest: usually, uc press releases of bipartisanship where certain members would sit, basically a bipartisan gate. i did not see a lot of those situations. there are ongoing relationships like joe manchin and susan collins. it makes sense for some to sit with one another. however, it is less formal this year. most people will sit with their friends. progressives usually sit with abbasids, conservatives with conservatives. the one thing to look for tonight is even though it is an election year, there has been an unusual amount of unity host

russia's investigation of ukraine. that is what led rob portman, retiring republican from ohio, saying he has not seen this amount of unity since 9/11. he does have a point. we have not seen unity around capitol hill in a long time. even though there are different approaches, there has been a more bipartisanship in the lead up to this. if this is the world against russia, that means republicans and democrats. host: you have watched this a long time. usually when applause lines,, have to buddy sits, half stands. it comes to russia, we may see something different. guest: i would think so, hope so. if you months ago, it you were

talking about this earlier, this is going to be a domestic speech. build back better and trying to revive pieces of that bill, that is owing to the on the table. but ukraine is front and center. congress has already started working on some type of ukraine aid. just like as news cycles change, but when new's changes, the legislative agenda changes. joe biden is going to be doing a lot of things, in an election year, to help ukraine and to resurrect some aspects of his agenda his supreme court nomination likely to get through, but legislatively, it has been a long winter for the president. he wants to rack up a couple more victories, but front and

center is dealing with ukraine and putin. host: i mentioned as far as responses are concerned, you will hear one from kim reynolds -- any insight on why she was chosen? guest: mccarthy, the house minority leader, who wants to be speaker, he has praised kim reynolds for approaching covid much differently than the white house, not doing it with a lot of mandates and lockdowns. this has been a key difference. it is not like all republicans are anti-vaccination. some are. but reynolds is regarded as a rising star. mccarthy stipulated this is why we picked her. another thing to look at tonight is the speaker is behind the

president and side-by-side with the vice president. nancy pelosi, to get the job of the speaker said this would be her last go around in leadership is this the last time we are going to see nancy pelosi behind the president? republicans think definitely, but independent handicappers are predicting already that the house is going to flip based upon the president's weak approval numbers, as well as redistricting reasons. and not of history in that. could be seeing nancy pelosi at the podium for the last time. host: rashida tlaib giving her own response for the working families party. what is behind that? guest: progressives have had a tough run.

in the beginning of 2021, chuck schumer was saying we are going to go big and bold, but their majorities hampered them. tlaib and progressives want to get a handle back on the agenda. in the beginning of build back better, there was talk of a trillion dollar bill. they central -- centered on a $3.5 trillion bill. that got whittled down in half and now it is regarded as dead. the progressive agenda has taken a hit. we have seen in paul's that certain aspects of the left have become less popular -- black lives matter, defund the police -- have taken hits and popularity.

bernie sanders approval ratings, he is now underwater, according to a poll called harrah's harvard pole. bernie is hurting, the left is hurting. this is a way to say we need to get bill back better? the agenda, we need to address climate change. that is why we are having these different speeches. over the last decade, it used to be just the president and the republican spots. host: aside from ukraine and things you have mentioned, what are you looking for personally from the resident -- president? guest: the biggest thing -- and it is somewhat obvious, but the president and the state of the unions.

last year was not technically a state of the union basically the same thing, but the president characterized how strong the state of the union is. what is he going to say tonight? is he going to say it is strong? david axelrod wrote an op-ed advising president biden, there are some good economic indicators, but it is an even. you cannot hypnotize the american people into thinking the state of the nation is strong when polls show people are frustrated. joe biden was having a great summer, strong honeymoon, at honeymoon is over. a lot of people thought covid would done by last fall. we are still in a and i make. there is a lot of frustration. what biden has two do is a

delicate dance of saying, i know you may be frustrated, but things are going to get better. he has been preaching patients on issues including fresh sanctions. it is hard to tell voters to be patient, but maybe that will pan out. right now, republicans would love to have elections tomorrow, but they are not tomorrow. maybe the pandemic ends and things get back to normal. i do think that will help the president, but when you are dealing with most people thinking the economy is in trouble and inflation, that is a problem. host: bob q sack, editor in chief for the hill, joining us. thanks for your time. we will take your calls for a few more minutes. either on the state of the union

or russia. (202) 748-8000, democrats. (202) 748-8001, republicans. (202) 748-8002, independents. one of the people commenting on ukraine is utah senator mike lead who posted this. >> we have all looked in horror at the violence being exacted on the brave people of ukraine. we have seen the hard won peace in europe chattered at the hands of people ambition. we have wept as we have seen images of pain and parting, as brave fathers and mothers do their sacred duty. we have also felt the pain of friends far away. i wish i could be there tonight at the utah state capitol, but duty calls in washington. i am honored to stand, if only

in spirit, with the governor, lieutenant governor, and all of utah in praying for and supporting our brothers and sisters in ukraine. tonight, we pray for peace, we pray for a free, independent ukraine. we pray for the ability to bring an end to this awful conflict. may god bless the united states and glory to ukraine. host: one of the story lines coming out of ukraine is speaker pelosi voting -- bowing yesterday that congress will approve as much funding for ukraine as necessary. the biden administration requesting $6.4 billion to tackle the crisis. the speaker stopped short of endorsing that specific request,

but says we will have to see what the need is. whatever it is, we will it. if you are interested as far as the financial peace -- louisiana, republican line, tammy. caller: i would like to make a comment. the gentleman said that biden wants to get more accomplishments under his belt. in the same breath, he talks about low poll ratings. how can you have it both ways? accomplishments but his ratings are low. the only way that i will watch the state of the union is if every republican gets a copy of his speech, stands up, and rips

it apart in front of the nation. because nancy pelosi ripped it up. isn't that if i do offense? let us see what happens to republicans when they rip theirs out. host: what is the value of republicans doing the same thing? caller: it is amazing to me that democrats, every time something goes bad, -- how is it possible that republicans are always wrong? host: florida, democrats line, jimmy. caller: thank you, pedro. i want to call about trust's -- trump's connection to putin.

when they called a trumpet going after ukraine, that bs about hillary's computer and ukraine. host: we are talking about the state of the union or russia. do you have comments on one of those? caller: joe is doing a great job , putting all those pieces together to slam putin and wake up, republicans. host: that is a jimmy in florida. in a story outside either of those things, the new york times and others reporting that cbs's chris lick will be the new head of cnn. he hopes to steer the network

back to its hard news roots and away from the opinionated tone that flourished during the trump era. at a time when the nation's chief executive declared media the enemy of the state, many cnn reporters felt empowered to speak their mind. but there is a difference between standing up for yourself and becoming a part of the resistance. one of the stories coming out aside from state of the union and ukraine. independent line, jonathan, arkansas. caller: open up the drilling. every barrel of oil that we buy from russia is paying for this war. we can all agree that climate

change may have some factor. we may need to transition, but that cannot happen overnight. we need to be able to fund our factories, our energy without lining the pockets of these people that want to do these horrible crimes. in order to help ukraine, we must rob the bank of russia and these oligarchs. host: you think the sanctions, aside from energy sanctions, or not effective? caller: i think they are effective. but that would help us have a leg up in the negotiations as other countries would not be so reliant on that energy. we have enough natural gas, 500 trillion tons, under the united

states that we could power the world. in 100 years, we could transition out of some of these fossil feels, but in the meantime, we could be a leader. host: jonathan, arkansas finishing off this round of calls about state of the union and events in russia. we will talk about another topic -- it is primary day in texas. we will talk about not only the candidates, but how the result might play out as far as midterm elections later on this year. andrew schneider with houston public media joining us next on washington journal. ♪ president biden: the russian military has begun a brutal

assault on ukraine -- without provocation, without justification, without necessity. this is >> a premeditated attack. > c-span has unfiltered coverage of russia's response to the dutch of the response to russia's invasion of ukraine. we also have international perspective from the u.n. and foreign leaders, all on the c-span network, online, or on the mobile video at. -- video app. >> at least six presidents recorded conversations while in office. here many of them on c-span's new podcast -- presidential recordings. >> you will hear about the civil rights act, the gulf of tonkin,

the march of selma. the war on vietnam. not everyone knew they were being recorded. >> johnson's secretaries, because they were tasked with transcribing those conversations. they were the ones who made sure the conversations were taped. >> you will also hear some blunt talk. >> [indiscernible] -- i promise you i will not go anywhere. i will stay behind these black gate. >> presidential recordings on the c-span now mobile app or wherever you get your podcasts. ♪

>> a look at the texas primaries today. joining us is andrew schneider with houston public media. guest: good morning. host: it being a primary day, what could it offer as far as clues to the midterms? guest: there is something like

37 endorsements that the former president has made. he is trying to take a major role in shaping the outcome of the midterms of the second largest congressional delegation in the nation. the party is hoping that they will be able to increase their lead here. host: how many candidates are up in this session? guest: terms of the texas primary? a 38 seat delegation. the estate picked up two extra seats as a result of the senses. -- cennsus not all are competitive. there are some races where no

people are challenging the incumbents, but all 38 seats are up for primaries. host: you talked about those that will participate. as far as issues that they are most concerned about, how would you characterize that? guest: probably the biggest issue of concern is voting itself. that is as a result of the strict new election bill that the texas legislature passed. the republicans characterize it as necessary for the integrity of elections. that is an outgrowth of the 2020 elections. democrats have been responding that it is voter suppression. in both cases, it is motivating people to go to the polls and

something candidates have listed among the top concerns. host: can you give us an overview on will face texas voters today? guest: a lot of the changes that were put in place as a result of the law were in strictly harris county, where houston sets. these were changes that harris county tried to put in place during the 2020 election to make it easier, safer, both to vote during the pandemic. the changes that were blocked as a result of the election law -- no 24 hour voting, no drive-thru voting, a ban on local election officials being able to solicit people -- that is a big part of their job, but one of the issues

that fell under the radar until right before early voting started was changes to the application process for mail and outlets. under the new rules, voters have to fill in either their social security number or driver's license number on both their application for the ballot and for the carrier envelope. and a lot of people are not likely to do that. as a result, thousands have been marked for rejection. host: a story in the wall street journal says texas sees fewer mailing votes. is that something you are experiencing? guest: yes. but in addition to that, it is

something that would have been expected as a result of this being an off year election. we are seeing low turnout. that would filter over to mallon ballots as well. host: andrew schneider, if you want to ask him questions, you're welcome to call (202) 748-8000, democrats. (202) 748-8001, republicans. (202) 748-8002, independents. if you are a texas resident, (202) 748-8003. this is anna. caller: i have already voted and am in the 30th congressional district, bernice johnson, but i am not voting for her candidate.

i want to make sure that ms. jane hope hamilton for governor, beto o'rourke and attorney general joe -- if his grandfather was good enough to prosecute the people at watergate, then he is good enough to prosecute ken paxton. you do not have to mail in a ballot. just get out, get out and vote. host: mr. snyder, you can talk about that or about paxton's efforts to remain attorney general. guest: the attorney general's race is one of the most important and interesting this year. ken paxton has been under indictment for felony security

fraud since 2015. he is also currently under an fbi investigation for accusations of bribery and abuse of office. that has encouraged a lot of people to challenge him, including three publicans. those include land commissioner george p. bush, congressman louie gohmert, and eva guzman. most of the polling currently shows paxton as leading, but not by enough to avoid a runoff. we could wind up seeing him having to face another challenge or -- challenger. another challenger is henry cuellar. he recently had his home inspected by the fbi.

guest: henry is head of the house --. congressman cuellar says there is no wrongdoing, but that has raised extra concerns among voters. he is already under challenge by two progressive candidates. he is one of the most conservative democrats in the house. he is main challenger, justice cisneros, previously narrowly lost a primary challenge to him in 2020. she has got the endorsements of a number of high-profile democrats, including bernie sanders, elizabeth warren, alexandria ocasio-cortez. host: glenn, corpus christi, republican line.

caller: it was going to ask andrew schneider, i voted early. our county is 85% hispanic. bento said he was going to turn texas blue, but republicans have outvoted the democrats. that tells me we are on the right track to regain our delegation. i am glad i voted early. [indiscernible] mr. snyder --host: mr. snyder? guest: it has been one of the pledges of democrats for many years saying they are wearing to turn texas blue. it has not happened. it is largely the result of getting out and expressing preferences.

host: this is from john in houston, line for democrats. caller: hello. i was wondering as the cycle started what republicans were going to run on. everything is on the board. that is all they talk about. it is like we do not have sufficient order protection already. it is a trumped up thing. i wanted to see what you thought about the extensive border politicking and making that their number one issue? guest: this is certainly an issue that has popped up in a lot of races, including races one would not expect it to be an issue in it has come up in the

attorney general's race, the land commissioner's race, which is the oldest office in the state. it is responsible for land use, making sure the state gets proper funding for its oil and gas revenues. one of the responsibilities the office has taken on under george p. bush has been assisting with ordered security. a lot of the people who are looking to succeed him have and playing about. it has been an issue for republican congressional candidates and is an issue that plays well with the base. regardless of whether or not it has to do with the office, they feel as though they need to take a stand. host: as far as the governor is

concerned, who do you think is challenger it might be? guest: most certain that it will be and work -- beto o'rourke. in both gubernatorial primaries, we are looking at lead candidates, none of whom seemed to be in a position to bring their votes down to less than the 50% plus one needed to avoid a runoff. we will see governor abbott prevailing over his challenges and o'rourke over his. host: as far as the challenger, if it is going to be beto, how is he positioned as of today? guest: most polling shows him

8%-10% behind the governor. he is perhaps not as far back as some previous challengers, but it is going to be an uphill fight. host: as far as governor abbott is concerned, what is he promoting? guest: he has been running essentially on the record of his administration in the last several legislative sessions. last year, there was a regular session and three special sessions. the governor pushed a hard line conservative agenda. he is trying to make his point that he is the best conservative

in this state in order to push this agenda forward. it has not been an entirely successful message. he has had some challengers from the right, most notably former state senator don hofheinz -- huffines, but he has been pulling somewhere in the neighborhood of 60%. he seems to be making his case effectively. host: how much of a factor does trump play into today? guest: not an insignificant factor. as i mentioned, he has made 37 endorsements in various texas races, more than any other state. as far as the congressional

races, he has endorsed all but five of the candidates -- candidates in all but five of the races. four of them that he has decided to deny his endorsement to, these were candidates that ratified joe biden's win in 2020. he is trying to make a wink. one of the things that i noticed was most of the people he did make endorsements for were people either not facing primary opponents or were so far ahead it made no difference. it is questionable as to whether he is trying to shape the delegation or trying to position himself on the site of the winners. caller: on the previous

selection, there was democrats against republicans. it wound up being republicans against the socialist party. there is no democratic party anymore, because they had to use the socialist party to get biden in office. we have a girt fight ahead. we are having to fight two parties. host: terry, democrats, michigan. caller: i just got a few opinions. that last caller, yes, we have a democratic party and it is working. joe biden getting nato together that trump card down. god bless joe biden. when he first became resident, i was picking maybe trump was

right. host: do you have questions as far as the texas primary is concerned? caller: we had the most participation from the last election. there was no problems. the publicans, the only way they can in is to cheat. they have a lot of low iq, evangelist voters, they mix politics and religion. host: mr. schneider, when it comes to issues within the state, weeks out texas pass that abortion law. how is it impacting the race? guest: beyond issues of the border and the election itself, abortion is a motivating factor

for democratic voters. there are a lot who are concerned as a result of this law, which i believe just past six months in effect, that being one of the toughest abortion laws in the nation, it technically outlaws abortion at a very early stage of pregnancy. there are a lot of people making the arguments that it effectively discriminates against the poor, who are not in a position to travel to get abortions. host: larry, south dakota. caller: i take a look at all this stuff and am going, they are complaining about people coming over the border. host: you have to watch your language. mr. schneider, with all these

factors in play, shakeout what you see as a result of today and the impacts of the primaries? check out things to watch out for as we forward. guest: one of the things i am expecting is a lot of undecided contest. most contest that i am looking at closely have something in the neighborhood of 6, 7, 11 different contenders for a single office. we have a runoff system. unless the leading candidate manages to score 50% plus one, it goes to a second round at the end of may. with the exception of the top two offices, for which there is not in light of serious

competition, the attorney general's race, the land commissioners race, some of the newer congressional races -- here in houston, we have a new district as a result of redistricting. the 8th congressional district, which is where kevin brady is retiring from, a lot of these races are so packed. a lot of the voters are not particularly familiar with the people running. it is something i am expecting again in another two by five months looking at the results -- 2.5 months looking at the results of second rounds. caller: i wanted to ask about

straight ticket voting. they took it away on the general election last election. are we going to have straight ticket voting again? guest: i do not expect so. that was a decision that the legislature made in the previous session. for those listeners outside of texas, texas previously had an option of voting either all democratic or all republican. the legislature made a decision that they were going to do away with that. it would take another act to reverse that. under the current makeup, that's not appear likely. host: when you take a look at the results, when do they have to be tabulated by? can people make changes after

the fact you -- fact? guest: it would be difficult. i would expect the results to come in fairly late in the evening. host: when you say it is fairly difficult to make changes, can you explain? guest: under current legislation, you have two take all sorts of different steps in order to verify the accuracy of your vote. if you are voting by mail and there is some sort of mistake in the ballot, you have to go to local election officials. and that of people are not necessarily aware they have made a mistake. it would be difficult to do so in the timeframe allowed. host: time for one more call.

virginia, independent line. caller: i would like to ask andrew since he is in the media, where are we on the debt scale now? why isn't media alerting the people? guest: this is with respect to the situation in ukraine, i am not aware that we have -- also of death con five. i am not aware of any significant announcements. host: this is andrew schneider, who reports on politics. mr. schneider, thanks for your insight. the house of representatives just about to come in. our state of the union coverage starts at 8:00 tonight.

the speech starting at 9:00. you can see that on c-span, c-span.org, and she's been out. we now take you to the house of representatives. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2021] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] rder. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's room, washington, d.c., march 1, 2022. i hereby appoint the honorable melanie a.stansbury to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, nancy pelosi, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the order of the house of january 10, 2022, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour debate. the chair will alternate re