role in getting our information. this is the reason -- action must be taken. >> to watch this and all winning entries, visit our website at studentcam.org. c-span is your unfiltered view of government. >> coming up "washington journal," we will discuss the u.s. and nato response to russia's invasion of ukraine and the future of the republican party, with former florida republican congressman francis rooney. and former new york democratic congressman steve israel talks about the challenges facing the

democratic party heading into the upcoming midterm elections. join the discussion with your phone calls, facebook comments, text messages, and tweets. "washington journal" is. -- "washington journal" is next. ♪ host: and good morning. this is the "washington journal" on c-span, three hours of news and, as always, your views. indoor mask mandates nationwide have been mostly lifted, including in the capital them about their some signs that the latest variant could be spreading. here is what dr. fauci said yesterday on abc's "this week." [video clip] >> obviously, there is a concern as we are seeing an uptick in the cases. as i have mentioned, this is not

unexpected, that you are going to see an uptick when you pull back on the mitigation methods. if you look at the cdc calculation with their new metrics, it is clear that most of the country, even though it is in an uptick, it is still in the that green zone, which means masking is not recommended, in the sense as not required in indoor settings. but as people pull back when you have a highly transmissible virus, like the ba.2, and you're pulling back on medication and at the same time there is waning immunity, you will see an uptick. the numbers are gaining. what i am hoping happens, and i believe it will, is you will not see a comparable increase in severity, in the sense of people requiring hospitalizations and deaths. the idea we are going to see an uptick, i think people need to appreciate that that is the case and follow the cdc guidelines. remember, when the new metrics were put forward running at the

guidance of masking, it was said that if we do start seeing an uptick, particularly of hospitalizations in the we may need to revert back to being more careful and having more masks indoors. right now we're watching it very carefully, and there is concern it is going up, but hopefully we will not see increased severity. host: that said, are you willing to wear a mask again know that most indoor mask mandates have been lifted? you can see the numbers are and no, -- you can see the numbers on the screen, yes and no. (202) 748-8000 if you're wary -- willing to wear a mask again. if not, (202) 748-8001. you can also text (202) 748-8003 , please include your first name and city. and you can make a competent social media. there are the social media sites, just remember cspan wj.

it was two years ago, april 3, 2020, that the mask recommendation came out from the cdc. here is an npr article from april 3, 2020, cdc now recommends americans consider wearing cloth face coverings in the public. president trump said friday that the centers for disease control and prevention now recommends that people were cloth or fabric face coverings, which can be made it home, when entering public spaces such as grocery stores and public transit stations. it is mainly to prevent those people who have the virus and might not know it from spreading the infection to others. the guidelines do not give them -- give many details about cloth coverings, besides saying it they can be made it home from common materials at low costs and used as an additional voluntary public health

protection. that was 2020. this is from april 10 this year, covid cases hits dcs nationwide rise looms. speaker nancy pelosi and cabinet members, including merrick garland, and a string of lawmakers have tested positive in recent days. the cases are reminders that the virus is still circulating, even as much of america moves forward from the pandemic. experts are bracing for cases to increase in the coming weeks given an even more highly transmissible subvariant of omicron known as ba.2 that is circulating widely. that is from the hill. the question is if you are willing to return to wearing a mask. you will see the numbers on the bottom of your screen. we will get your calls in just a second. this is from the daily mail out of london, that the english

national health service chiefs called for a return of masks and limits on indoor mixing as they accuse government of abandoning interest in covid and warned of brutal easter as infections hit record levels in the u.k. lisa in coral springs, florida, are you willing to put a mask back on or have you not taken one off at all? caller: i have not taken it off. i do believe the masks really help. so i continue wearing it. i will continue wearing one. host: and what do you think it does? caller: i think it is reducing the uptick of the virus spreading, and along with the vaccine. that really helps or we would have been in a worse situation in the u.s.

so with masks, i just agree with it, like it has really helped. host: have you had all the vaccines? caller: yes, i have two and a booster. host: are you in the minority at this point when it comes to wearing a mask in florida? caller: i believe so, based on the number of people i see without masks. host: thank you for calling in this morning. emma right here in d.c., are you willing to put a mask back on? caller: i am not. i think this needs to end. we have been through a horrible ordeal for two years. we need to grieve everything we have been through and just have a clear demarcation and say this is over or at least it is manageable. we need to get back to life, to living, and these masks cannot be going. ridiculous. host: what was your experience over the past two years when it

came to masks. were you willing to wear one? caller: yes, i wore one in the store, the grocery store, and all that, but i think we need to get back to living. i spent a year and a half sitting in an apartment alone. this has to end at some point. life needs to go on. host: thank you, ma'am. we are going to continue to take calls. this is the washington times this morning, cases offer template for living with virus. america is getting a sneak peek of what living with covid means, live and direct from the white house. infections within president biden's circle are becoming a daily occurrence, but the white house is forging ahead with business as usual. we lean heavily on cdc guidance that eased mask wearing except for the limited definition of who might be a close contact of mr. biden or vice president kamala harris at official events. it goes on to say that there is

infections in washington and it has been over a year since a similar event in the trump administration, is super-spreader, and it is a real-time gamble on mr. biden who tapped his presidency on the idea he could tackle the pandemic. next call is from debbie in flint, michigan. with you be willing to put a mask back on? caller: good morning to you. i really have not taken it off full-time, but i am one of those people that has comorbidities. it has really helped with me. i have copd, and for five years before the last two years, i got emphysema and was on prednisone a couple times every winter, because up here in michigan, we have brutal winters and i was working, because i had to go out when it was 10 degrees, 20 degrees, and it just kills your lungs. and it helped.

but more than that, peter, i look at this as a patriotic issue. i have been pretty shocked as how many americans just are selfish and say, you know, i do not care about my fellow american. all i care about is me. they did not care about the teachers and the schools. everybody is still like, oh, we don't want these kids to wear masks. this could get a whole lot worse. this is a pandemic. i just don't get what people are thinking, peter. host: thank you for calling in, debbie. this is the wall street journal, their lead editorial this morning. states of covid performance. more than two years into the covid-19 pandemic, and is time to draw some conclusions about government policy and results. the most conference of comparative study we have seen to date was published last week as a working paper by the national bureau of economic research, and it deserves wide attention. the authors at the university of

shockoe -- chicago and a member of the committee to at least prosperity, they compared covid outcomes in the 50 states and district of columbia based on three variables, the economy, education, and mortality. it is a revealing study that belies much of the conventional medical and media wisdom during the pandemic, especially in its first year when severe lockdowns were described as the best and the only moral policy. and of course, this is a conservative group that has put this out, but the article goes on to say the top 10 states in the rankings are smaller states with a notable exception, florida, which ranked sixth. it recalls how the sunshine state's decision to open itself relatively soon after the first lockdown was derided as cruel and destructive. governor desantis was called governor death sentence. the study ranks florida 20th in

mortality, in the middle of the packet, and about the same as california, which ranks 27, despite far more stringent lockdowns and school closures. but florida ranks third for leased education loss and 13 and the economic performance. california ranks 37th overall because it crush the economy and in-person schooling. so florida did about average on motility as other states, but it did far better in protecting its citizens from severe economic harm and its children from lost schooling. that is the wall street journal this morning. ernestine in oak hill, west virginia. are you willing to put a mask back on? caller: i have never stopped. host: ok, why? caller: i am over 50 -- in fact, i am 89. i have comorbidities. in fact, i have always worn an

n95. i will not stop when i go out into public. host: would you say you will not stop if there is -- is there anything that would make you stop? it will be here with us for a while. caller: yes, if it is -- if our area shows reduced contact and death send what have you, i probably would. but i am concerned about my health because of the age. i would like to live to be 91, or older, like my family has. host: thank you for calling in. catherine in san diego, are you willing to put a mask back on? caller: hello? host: are you willing to put a mask back on? caller: oh, hi.

my name is kathy, my nickname, and i do not believe the mask helps with viruses at all. i remember basic science when i was in high school, and i went to college also, and the molecule for a virus is so tiny, so small, that it is going to go where it wants to go, go through 10 masks, go through 50 masks. with bacteria, sometimes we need to wear masks because of bacteria, like they do when they operate so they do not cough or breathe on someone because of the bacteria. that is a different story. the molecules are so small. when you're talking about a virus, that is so small, it is going to go anywhere it wants to go. masks are not going to help, never have. i hate to say people have been

brainwashed because it sounds like i am some kind of a not, but i am not. i care for people and and trying to tell people, and since will tell you that it will not help you, but if you want to wear a mask, it is a free choice. host: so what is the situation in california when it comes to mask-wearing? are most people still wearing them? caller: i would say no. some people do, some people don't. and i would say that it is a liberal state, but people are waking up and realizing that the masks are not working and also the vaccinations are not working. first they wear masks about what the heck, but it is now two years, three years, and there waking up here this is not working out. host: april 18, the faa is reviewing whether or not to continue the mask mandate on

airplanes. what do you think? caller: i think that they help with maybe bacteria, but they are not going to help with viruses. host: thank you. david is in monticello, georgia, on the no line, too. you are not willing to put a mask back on, huh? caller: no, i am not. i am an electrician, and we have an medication team that did at one time recommend masks. however, i am in an industry where i have been exposed to a lot of toxic chemical. we had to try everything through the years to keep ourselves safe and not have long-term effects from what we are exposed to. i have been a safety manager,

social director, and our primary focus for safety in our industry is protection. so i had to dive into it from safety protocols. but one class that i took really opened my eyes several years ago. what we were dealing with becomes atomized and the masks we are using, we tried n95 and all of them, and very expensive sometimes, nothing helped. nothing was safe. and we went to a lot of respirators with charcoal

filters. well, they did not help either in some situations. in studying it, one thing we recognized is every one of these packs or boxes of masks says not to be considered protection, as it just claimed. there is a reason for that. host: so for the last two years when there were indoor mask mandates, where you willing to wear one? caller: i had to. and i looked at it like, well, if someone feels better that i wear a mask, i do that. like most christians, i am trying to be helpful. but i'm 64 years old and have copd, and my comorbidity, if you want to call it that, but to

dive further, i have not taken any of the vaccines or boosters, but i have never gotten a blue -- flu vaccine and have never gotten the flu. host: you mentioned you were an elected official. can you identify what position? caller: in our city council. and i followed all the rules when the medication team decided. -- when the mitigation team decided. i did that. but i have a little more knowledge than most folks. it is curious to me, because these masks do not work. host: thank you. janice, mckeesport, pennsylvania. are you willing to put a mask back on, if mandated? caller: yes, sir, i am. it has been about six months, seven months since i have had a heart attack, and i was late in

getting the covid -- well, i had the first shot. and my children are against the masks. and i have mixed feelings about that. and i'm willing to put it back on again to protect myself. but i think it is more of a deeper problem across the united states and it would go to the risk factor that the person has, as well as the community, and the professions that the people have, like our nurses, our ems, you know. i would be more than welcome to tell them to protect themselves

and to put that mask back on. although if you are a daughter of the american revolution or a son of liberty, a trucker, it is going to be a different story. host: have you been avoiding crowds replaces where people are maskless? host: yes, i have. my sister and i, we do our shopping, and we usually wear a mask. but then i suddenly got away from that because there was so much hoopla on both sides that i finally faced my sister and my brother and said, well, we have got to protect ourselves. and that is where the bottom line is. and we are retired, and we are

along fine. there it is, you know. host: thank you for watching and calling in this morning. howard in fort lauderdale, what do you think, would you be willing to put a mask back on? caller: good morning, and no. ever since this started, there have been inconsistencies with everything about it. the same people that told us that we had it are the same people that told us trump colluded with russia and that hunter biden talk was disinformation. host: so i political issue for you? caller: hold on, no, no, there's health issues, too, and that is way more important. you see, we have to understand that when god created us, we are no different than the plants and the trees in the ground, the grass, the animals. we all breathe the same air. when we breathe, the purpose of our breathing is to breathe in

fresh air so that the toxic air in our body escapes and keeps us healthy. if you take and cover a tree with plastic and it can't get nowhere, it is going to die. if you don't give it water, it is going to die. if it doesn't get sunlight, it is going to die. so by wearing the mask, you are actually giving yourself a lung infection because you are not able to get fresh air in. and most people wearing the masks are scared to death, and i don't blame them. i don't blame them. that is their belief. host: what is the situation in fort lauderdale? are you seeing a lot of maxed -- masked people? caller: no, but i see stupid stuff. if you are by yourself in a car, you do not wear a mask. the irresponsibility of wearing it to begin with is what is going to make people sick, by wearing it. prolonged wearing it will give you a lung infection, that has the same symptoms of covid. host: that is howard in fort

lauderdale. and this is jerry in martin, indiana. if it gets mandated again, will you put a mask back on? caller: i guess, i never took it off. host: ok, why not? caller: because i just feel better. i am 85 years old, and i think every little bit i could help myself, i did. i wear them in the stores all the time. other than that, i mean, it cut down on the flu season, as well as the covid. we have to take care of ourselves, and it is a very simple thing to do. i think we should take precautions. my sister also, she is 91, and in the stores will always wear them, and most of the time we are the only ones wearing them. nothing else, i just know i am helping myself as much as i can.

host: does it worry you or frighten you in any way when you see unmasked people in the store? caller: well, not as much as it used to, but that is their thing, if they want to wear one or not. i think they should wear one in a crowd, when there's more people in there. it is just the simplest precaution you can take. host: thank you for calling in. text message from philip in chase, kansas. my family proudly wears masks to respect others in case we should become infected and not know it. we hope those around us show us the same respect and courtesy to limit transmission. there is a reason masks are worn in hospitals. we ultimately limited our communications with a friend to funky medications due to her alignment with fox news.

misinformation spread so quickly in february, it was shocking and saddening. this is dan in spokane, washington. are you willing to put a mask back on? caller: no, i stopped wearing a mask a long time ago. i want to make a statement, really, this pandemic has really revealed, as far as i am concerned, people's unbelievable lack of understanding as far as the length of days we have on this earth. and that is determined by called almighty -- god almighty and no one else. and i put my faith in god. and i have not had this virus. i haven't had a vaccine. i am 74 years old.

i have underlying conditions. and everybody in my family got vaccinated and they got the covid, and i have not had it and i will not have it unless god determines it, then that would be his decision. i do not think all of this stuff did anything to hamper the spread of covid. places like sweden, who did not have any kind of mandates and remained open, there is no difference in the mortality rate in a country like that than any other place on earth. the virus is going to go where it is going to go. i think people should stop and assess their relationship with god and seek his faith. host: all right, dan and spokane, washington.

larry in milford, michigan, text message, no more virtue signaling. common masks have been proven to do little to impede the virus. we have our phone lines open or you can send a text message or make a comment on social media. we will put up those sites so you can see how to get a hold of us. if you send a text message, please include your first name and city. the reason we are asking this question this morning is because it was two years ago that the cdc recommends americans consider wearing cloth face coverings in public. this is an article from npr, april 3, 2020. and this is yesterday's newspaper, string of covid cases hits d.c. as nationwide rice looms. that is in the hill newspaper. and this is from the daily mail in lender this morning, the national health service chiefs

call for a return of masks and limits on indoor mixing, as they accuse the british government of abandoning on covid and one of a brutal easter as infections hit record levels. aaron, alexandria, virginia. would you be willing to put a mask back on if mandates come back? caller: thank you so much for taking my call. i have not necessarily taken my mask off, the reason being is that because the mask is not necessarily keeping me from catching covid. and the vaccines are not preventing me from catching covid but helping so that i do not die from covid. it is only the living calling in , but remember, people have died from this. that is important, whether you are religious or not and people

equating this to trees and plants, that gives me insight on what the real problem is, the initial miscommunication of this virus and how deadly it can be. you can get covid, whether you have the vaccine or not or you wear a mask or not, but it does slow down transmission. i do not know why some of the callers have not gotten that get, but it seems as though their civil liberties are being hampered on by not putting a face covering on. you have to be willing to live next-door next to people who do not agree with you, but i will do my part in trying to slow the transmission and help this virus wanes a little bit so we can have more people enjoying the quality of life. we're talking about the people that are alive right now who are saying they are going to live their life. they are lucky to be alive and enjoy life, taking religion out of it. host: so what was your reaction

a little over a month ago when nancy pelosi and did the mask mandate for congress and mask mandates came down in sports stadiums, etc., what was your reaction, if you're still wearing it? caller: i do not believe in mandates. again, you would think that mandates would not be necessary if people were mindful enough to think about the society and their neighbors, care enough about their neighbors. i watch "the walking dead," thank god this is not a zombie virus. so saying there's no mask mandates, that is because the numbers are going down and they are hopeful that this trend continues. but then again, the variants are created by those who catch the virus. those who catch the virus come in some cases, are those people who refuse to wear the mask. there is a correlation. when you are looking at the data, looking at the numbers, and what people are making us

personal decisions, even though their civil liberties are trampled on, whether it is their political leave -- beliefs are their religious beliefs, you have to remember in society, i wear my mask as a courtesy because i care about the people and do not want to get them infected if i happen to be infected and not know it. host: thank you for calling in. joining us on "washington journal" is a white house reporter with the washington post, tyler pager. what is the situation when it comes to mask mandates at the white house, especially after what happened last week with the speaker and president? guest: great to be with you. the mask mandate remains at the white house, and they are diligent to follow cdc guidelines. the updated guidance a a few weeks ago and put out new standards for determining when to wear a mask, so as we have

seen, the president and his aides, top spat -- staff, are largely unmasked at the white house. and there was the confirmation i'm now just as ketanji brown jackson last friday, and no one was wearing a mask. so that is the status quo. but i would say that we are, after a spate of cases throughout the administration and through washington, some people are putting masks back on in certain scenarios. for example, over the weekend, as president biden traveled to wilmington, delaware, we saw him in a mask there. i think it is a case by case scenario, but in terms of blanket guidance, there is no mask mandate required. host: do you have to have a test to enter the white house grounds at this point or proof of vaccination? caller: you do not have to have a test to get into the white house. if i were to go to the press briefing, i would not need to be

tested. but if i was a journalist in the pool following the president or traveling on air force one or just being in close quarters with him, you still need to test and be negative to do so. host: the president came back from delaware this morning. what is on his white house agenda this week? guest: quite a big week for the president given the travel he is doing the past few weeks. we have seen him intently focused on the war in ukraine. obviously, he went overseas, to europe, and went to gorsuch, related to engagements on diplomacy with the war. this week is a lot of domestic travel. it is something we have not seen the president do quite so much. he is traveling to iowa tomorrow and then north carolina on thursday. this is something he signaled he will be doing more of it obviously, as cases of covid rose over the holidays and then

they were in ukraine broke out, that has distracted him from being able to focus on the domestic agenda and getting out of washington. but that is a big focus this week with these two trips. both areas democrats see is incredibly important in midterms. in iowa, he is going to representative's district that is up for a tough reelection. and in north carolina, democrats hoped to pick up a seat there. host: will he be doing political events along with his build back better speeches and his economic speeches? caller: so these are more policy focused addresses, not political. but i think the location of where he is going and the tender of his message will be very much political. but we have not seen him wrap up the political schedule that he said he would. i expect in the coming months, we will see more of that politically focused travel. host: there is a headline this morning in the hill newspaper,

bad economic news haunts democrats ahead of midterms, says that an nbc news survey found a huge 63% of the population disapproved of president biden's handling of the economy. are you hearing reactions to that in the press briefing room and by the events that mr. biden is scheduling? caller: yeah, i think the economy is the major concern for democrats. speaking to my sources inside the administration, they recognize that inflation continues to increase. it is a problem for a party ahead of midterms, which will already be difficult because of historical trends. for a lot of people, the economy is the number one issue. so that becomes difficult for many american families. at the same time, the administration has touted other indicators of a strong economy,

particularly around employment and job growth. but i think they are struggling at times to find the right message to speak to the american people about the difficult economic situation. i think we will hear the president as he travels around the country speak directly to this issue. we have seen differing messaging strategies come out of this white house, from blaming the rising gas prices, calling it pugin's price hike. we will see how much salience that has with the american people. but i think this is something the white house knows is a liability, and they are trying to get in front of it as much as they can. that at the same time, there is limited progress in terms of economics to deal with it they have always said inflation is a problem that the federal reserve has to deal with. it does not look like there is a short-term fix for the issues,

but they want to rectify the situation that many americans say is hurting their bottom line and their pocketbook. host: white house reporter for the washington post, as always, we appreciate you being with us. now back to your calls on whether or not you would be willing to put a mask back on if mandates come back. walt in pittsburgh, what do you think? caller: for a year and a half i wore a half i wear a mask and sprayed everything with disinfectant, got my shots, got my booster, and isn't it a coincidence that everybody in biden's circle here already have covid? i don't believe it. then found she comes on -- then fauci comes on about the vaccines. this guy is useless. then you have the mayor of new york talking about sports figures playing without masks. now he got covid.

this whole thing is political. it has been like that since the beginning. i trusted it. i did everything i am supposed to. all of a sudden, you're supposed to do it again. and this fauci is a weasel. telling me thing everything is great and awesome. then ukraine happens, and biden goes to try his favorite ice cream or something. host: all right, thank you for calling in. barry from delaware texted, celebrities did not wear masks at the super bowl, vaccinated people were masks and still got infected. i wonder what is really going on. newman is on the line from san antonio. would you put a mask on? caller: yes, i never took it off. i ain't going to keep you long with this nonsense, all these other people calling. the dude from virginia that you

let speak for a while, he hit it on the head. i could sit here and listen to him all day long trying to explain to me. people calling with this nonsense. but if they want to wear a mask, you go for it. if you don't, still, it is your business and your life. but stop bringing religion in. i have people saying if i get it, god wanted me to have it. i said, what you telling me, god is a loving god and a murderer? and they cannot answer that question. so dude from virginia, man, i woke up this money angry at first listening to your show, and i know you're doing a job was so many people calling in with this nonsense, and i admire you for that. but i get angry listening. but then when other people call in with rational sense and thinking, like he said, the mask

really ain't to protect me, it is to protect you. and people look like they don't understand that, and they always putting god in it. i tell my people, you always telling me -- and i believe in god, now, god gave you the virus, that is why you got it, so you are telling me he is a loving god and a murderer? how can he be two people? host: jay in the, florida. what do you think? would you put the mask back on? caller: no, i won't participate in that. it is kind of interesting that the most highly vaccinated people in the country, the ones that were the masks, are the ones that keep getting sick. i am not saying it is in the vaccine or anything like that. masks were meant for surgical use, under a controlled situation. that is how they were designed.

they were not designed to be worn over a period of six to eight hours in a school, and they were not designed to be made of cloth that you decide, oh, i want this or that design, just make it up and throw it on. if you watch the general population, they touch their mask about every 15 seconds to readjust. that makes that mask useless. so as soon as somebody's fingers touch a mask, the mask is no longer acceptable. again, people want to wear them. like your last caller -- i never took it off. i tell you, the only time i wore it was in a grocery store where someone mandated it, and that is fine. but outside, no, makes no sense at all to wear one or continuing. i find it on the ground everywhere, and that is disgusting. it is becoming an issue. it is political. there is no anything that says the mask will slow down or stop any of the virus from spreading.

host: what is the situation in florida? anybody wearing masks in florida today? a lot of elderly. caller: i live in edgewater, florida, in central florida, on the ocean. i would say maybe less than 1% of the people are wearing masks. i never worn one other than that and have not been vaccinated. i am 64 and have copd. i have always avoided large crowds. but if you watch americans, we are the most disgusting animals on this planet. i am not even going to get into it because i do not want to gross the audience out, but if you pay attention to what goes on -- the first time it came out, my wife and i were in a grocery store, and there was a mother that was masked and the kid was not, she had a sneeze that i imagine probably went 100 guards. it was amazing. i got a little upset with her.

it did not matter if it was covert or not, just that in itself is incorrect. people, do what you need to do to take care of yourself and your mind and your soul, but masks, they are not helping. host: thank you. rudy in sun city, california. what do you think about a return to the mask mandate? caller: good morning, peter. good to see you back once in that chair there, always enjoyable. i am the one that, like the other guy, i have not taken my mask off. i wear it in the stores, into medical facilities. hello? host: we are listening. caller: ok, i am sorry, peter. so i have not taken my mask off. i have a lot of family members that don't believe in the shots, don't believe in the masks, and

that is their prerogative. but i do not have to be associated with them, you know, so i just do what is good for me . because like a lot of the other callers that call in, i am not a scientist. it is amazing how many new scientists they have gotten in the last couple of years, you know. so like i said, it is just a personal choice. i'm not mad at anybody, but don't be mad at me because i want to keep --to take care of my family. host: sun city is a retirement area, correct? caller: that is correct. i am 66. it is in the riverside county area. there's still a lot of people here that wear masks, quite a few. and i say, you know -- host: go ahead and finish.

caller: still quite a few people that were the masks. like i said, i'm not mad at anybody about it. if you do, you do. if you don't, you don't. but i do not have to be associated. host: thank you, rudy. paul in chapin, south carolina. what if the mask mandate comes back? caller: no, i am not going to wear a mask, and i'm not going to spray my shoes are grocery bags when i come into my house. the only time i wear a mask is when i mow my lawn because the pollen is so bad here. host: next call is from new fairfield, connecticut. if a mask mandate comes back, would you be willing to put it back on? caller: i certainly would be willing to put a mask on when i am in public spaces.

i do not think that mandates work. i agree with an earlier caller who said one of the things the pandemic revealed is how selfish americans are, and too many americans will not follow a mandate. peter, i have a question, if i might. i have always wondered, when the hosts for "washington journal" are not on, like pedro or greta this morning, what are they doing? is this a part-time job? host: [laughs] hosting this program or any other program at c-span is a part-time job. pedro works on the "washington journal." greta works in our programming department covering events. i work with book tv and american history tv. so this hosting thing is 10% to 15% of what we do. caller: right, everyone is

working for c-span full-time come adjust in other capacities when they are not hosting. host: yes. caller: ok, i always wondered that. thank you for answering my question. host: ok. nancy is in cedar falls, iowa. mask mandates returned, would you wear one? caller: absolutely, yes. coming from the background of being in rian, living with a husband that was a respiratory therapist and wrote textbooks about it and a son who was a respiratory therapist, i would, because a mask of any time limits droplet transmission. particles come off of droplets, so no masks itself are improperly fitted n95 stops those particles such as covid and tuberculosis. so yes, i will, since droplets are stopped by a good mask, surgical mask or multilayered

mask, they slow the transmission. i do so to protect myself and the other people with equally important work. host: we had a caller that said people are constantly touching their masks, and when fingers touch the masks, they are useless at that point. caller: that is absolutely true. you are not to touch the front of a mask when wearing it. when you take it off, you're supposed to take it off with the ear loops and fold it towards the middle so that the front of it is not contaminated. the inside is already contaminated. host: so let's talk reality, which is every one of us who have worn a mask are doing this constantly. they do not know how to wear them or they are not fitted well, so we are all doing this constantly. are we wasting our time? caller: no, we're not wasting

our time. because still, the droplets are stopped from going through anyway. host: thank you for your call. are you still working as a nurse? caller: no, i am retired. host: thank you, ma'am. a tweet, when it comes to willing to wear a absolutely not. if god forbid i become immunocompromised, then yes. but otherwise, forget about it. i am one of those weirdos who insists on being able to breathe freely. another tweet is from -- we will tell you in just a minute after this call from massachusetts. rick, what do you think? caller: i am not willing to go back to wearing a mask again. spent the last year doing it. at a lot of vaccination clinics,

you had many people who were not vaccinated who would come up without wearing a mask, and you would say, please, put it on, but no, we need to see the people get vaccinated is what we need to do. host: thank you. peter in charleston, south carolina. hi, peter. caller: hi, i think that the masks are really not that useful. i wear it out of respect for people who really don't know better, and it is not their fault. they are told one thing, so i do it just not to insult people. and in places where it is required, not where it is optional, unless there are people who are nervous around me. i keep one handy. but my real comment is the mandates and state of emergency and judges overwriting states,

election laws worked so well in 2020, we're definitely going to have it again, so the government will be ramping up for an emergency. count on it. host: explain your situation. have you gotten the vaccine? do you think they should be worn on airplanes? caller: i did it to keep my job. i kind of regret it now because of the permanent side effects i think i have. i got vaccinated to keep my job. host: what are the permanent side effects? caller: a neurological thing, a kind of dizziness. like hypertension but slower, longer-lasting, and it happened after the first dose, about four days. after the second dose right away. it is slowly fading, but i am sure the damages there.

i kind of regret doing it. my wife is very upset i did it, but she is forgiving. host: did you have any friends or family that caught covid at all? caller: no, i don't -- i know people that had it and got over it. my mom's undertaker had it and got over it, believe it or not, but that was well before she passed. host: james in johnstown, new york. what do you think? if it comes back, are you willing to put a mask back on? caller: i have been continuing wearing my mask in public would i have not stopped wearing them. host: why? caller: i have -- i'm a special-needs person. i have cerebral palsy and other health concerns and issues. i actually did catch the covid, and i do not want it again. i am triple vaccinated, and i am just not playing any games with

my own health and the health of the people i love. i am just going to protect myself and the people i love. it is no big deal for me. i see no loss to my civil liberties. i just do it, no different than wearing a seatbelt. i consider it like a safety belt for my immune system. host: when you caught covid, what were your symptoms? caller: it was horrible. i taste had gotten so destroyed, i was actually starving to death because my saliva had dried up. i cannot even digest food. it was a horror movie, symptoms that were otherworldly, just undescribable. i had pneumonias and flus that were cake walks compared to the covid. i do not want anybody i'd love to get it, so that is why i continue to mask up. host: did you end up in the hospital? caller: no, but i did go to the

er twice he would like, why can't i.e. food? i was losing weight. it was a horror show. host: so when you see unmasked people if you are out and about, what is your comfort level? caller: well, i am on a shopper scooter and try to move pretty quickly. i just try to move quickly away. if i have my mask on, i feel like i am at least faced -- safe from any potential danger that they may have. but i just don't get it. people think that they are superman or that they cannot get it. and they think putting a piece of cloth over your face is some kind of surrender of your civil rights. i don't get that. host: thank you for calling in. kimberly in belleville,

illinois. what is your answer to the question, are you willing to put a mask back on? caller: i have not really taken it off, not in public. i see no sense until the virus is really gone from our area, at least, that i should endanger anyone i know or myself. so they mandate a mask, i would certainly wear it, even inside, i have to. host: so if you are inside and you see people are unmasked, does your discomfort level rise? caller: especially when you see people coughing or talking loud, people just burst into song and you are a couple feet away from them, it is just like, ew, cringe. i mean, i haven't known anybody who has been really sick or died, but that doesn't matter. people are dying.

to me, it is nothing -- like the previous caller, why should my personal rights supersede the human rights? it just does not make any sense. host: robert in kentucky, what do you think about mask mandates? would you put one back on? caller: no, sir, i won't. i wear mine everywhere ago, doctors office and everything, but i won't put one back on. everybody sitting around in this world know this is political. host: why do you say it is political? caller: because i said political because ain't nobody got it but pull oc -- pelosi. they set it up were they get them mail-in ballots where they beat everybody out for votes, just like they done last time. [indiscernible] host: robert in kentucky, thank

you for calling in with your viewpoint. jim is next in pittsburgh. what do you think about a mask mandate? jim, what do you think about a mask mandate? caller: --a mask mandate. host: we could not hear you. go ahead. caller: ok, i am totally opposed to mandated masks. i think it should be voluntary. people are allowed to kill their baby if they want. if they have two wear a mask, i think you should have your choice. i think that is the word they use, a choice if they were a mask or not. host: last call on this topic is lupe from california. good morning. caller: good morning. this is the first time i have ever called on your time on the air, peter, and you have such a

pleasant voice that it is very soothing. and it is like every caller that calls in seems to be very calm.i appreciate that. and yes, i would wear a mask for me, to protect me. i am 75, will be 76 this may. thank you for letting me call in. you have a beautiful smile, too. host: have you taken your mask off recently since some of the mandates have gone away? caller: no, i wear it when i have to go out into public for my appointments to the doctor or to the store or even in my cab, and the cabdriver wears his. and if i am with family or whatever, i still wear it. and they say, mom, it is going to be ok, and i say that is good for you but i want to protect myself. it is so beautiful, and god's word for it in the prophets says only the foolish are follish for

not taking directions. simple as that. host: what is the situation in canoga park when you are in store, 50% wearing or not? caller: i would say between me and whoever is there, maybe 40 people, i am the only one wearing a mask. it just doesn't make sense. host: does that make you uncomfortable? caller: it does but i go in, know what i am getting. actually, i called the store ahead of time and say a cab is witting for me and the meter is running, so they take compassion on that, so i do it in a smart -- not a sarcastic approach, but what i am saying is take care of yourself. if you know right from wrong, do what is right for you and let the people believe what they want to believe. just guard yourself. thank you for having me on. host: thank you for calling in.

about 8:00 a.m. in the east, and we have two more hours of the "washington journal." two former members of congress are coming up, and we will talk about the russian-ukrainian conflict. former florida congressman, republican francis rooney, also former u.s. ambassador to the vaticanafter that, steve israel. he represented long island for years and when the democrats has campaign on it in two election cycles. we will get their views on the seven of the issues. -- on some of the issues.

>> washington journal continues. host: joining us from naples, florida is former congressman francis rooney. he served in the house from 2017 to 2021. prior to that, that if a mask mandate comes back to the states, would you agree to where one? guest: light would. i think there is some legitimate question about the light blue

ones, but i wear and n95 when i wear one. i might as well get the benefit. do you think masks should still be mandated? guest: the statistics seem to be complex. it would be an individual decision, but i like to see people masked and be masks during that omicron revival. if we have 8:30, i think there -- if we have a third one, i think there is justification for wearing a mask. host: how do you think governor desantis did? guest: i do not know if they kept cases as low as they might have been, but the statistics seem to be confusing -- whether

washington, d.c. and virginia have less cases end here, because cultures are radically different as far as masks go. host: you served as u.s. ambassador, also on the foreign affairs committee. i want to talk about the op-ed you recently wrote. if putin wants a cold war, the world should give him one. what did you mean by that? guest: wheat went for a long time before the fall of the ussr with no questions. -- no russians. they were constrained in their own bubble which could not provide economic stability and standard of living. they were destroyed. putin even speaks of catherine the great.

if he wants to go back to the cold war and earlier era, we should cut him off. europe should join us. host: that containment policy is? guest: we do not trade with them, they do not trade with us. host: we go back to an iron curtain? guest: it worked fine for us and for europe. it was the basis of stronger u.s.-europe ties. host: can we have the right approach when it comes to ukraine? guest: i think so. i wish the president would beat faster at getting them more javelins and things like that. i would like to get the polls to send ukraine some of those makes -- the poles to send ukraine

some of those migs. i would tell them, you send some of those over there, things will happen good for you in a few months. you do not want to give putin an excuse to accelerate. host: should the u.s. have accelerated? should the u.s. commit to defending ukraine? guest: i do not think we should give him any excuse to go after a nato country or use nukes or biological weapons. the first thing he will do is have some russians shut down to make a revocation link now in eastern ukraine. we should support them every way we can. other european countries need to join. some are, some are not.

host: francis rooney served in congress and as the u.s. ambassador to the vatican. (202) 748-8001 four republicans. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8002 four independents. if you want to send a text message, send it to (202) 748-8003. include your first name and your city. mr. ambassador, mr. congressman, what were some of the issues that you faced at the time you were ambassador and in congress that perhaps are still important today. guest: one of the big things in 2005 and 2006 was iraq.

mr. ema john was outspoken in his hatred of the west. we had the pope speak up forcefully against what was going on over there. that started the anti-iranian dialogue that led to his bush -- president bush calling them part of the axis of evil, and sanctions that were taken off under obama. host: and in congress? guest: we had many issues. i was on the foreign affairs committee and the latin american subcommittee. we had all kinds of problems in latin america it, in columbia, the post-park deal.

the land distribution campaign has not worked. now you have got virtual, populist autocrats. in addition to bolivia, you have got one in peru after 30 years of government -- capitalist government. venezuela has never been as bad as it is. i am shocked that the biden administration would consider talking to venezuela about oil. nicaragua, we got rid of dutere. he came back and is worse than ever. host: you mentioned autocratic governments. we have seen what putin is doing in russia. is there a return to the totalitarianism, to autocrat -run empires? guest: it is.

when you look at the three failed states in central america -- guatemala, honduras, el salvador --, they have corrupt autocratic leaders. when you look at nicaragua, it is just as repressive as venezuela or russia. now we have this new guy in peru. latin america has had a shift away from democracy. then you look at hungary. for -- orban said yesterday he is not going to support restricting russia's oil. poland, slovenia, slovakia said they will. orban is an autocrat in a democrats coat. he is not playing team ball with europe. not the -- they need to not

necessarily contain him like russia, but let him know there is a price to pay. host: what do you think about some of the signs that china and russia are aligning? guest: they are aligned. you cannot trust either one of them. there is an article in the urinal today that the chinese are using their facebook footprint to broadcast russian propaganda. no surprise there. to date share a common heritage of autocracy -- they share a common heritage of autocracy and oppression. they have that non-western belief that ends justify the means. some domestic issues -- this is a tweet from mark, how do you think the president has handled

inflation, gas prices, the border, the supply chain? guest: the supply chain issues, of all those points, that is the one where the president has done the least damage and the most good. they are creating multiple vendors to the u.s. and the west. latin america has a great opportunity to play a strong role in that. globalization was great for cutting prices, it turned out to be not so great for stability. you've got to have multiple vendors and vendors in places you can trust to ensure you can make your products. as far as some of those other points, i am not convinced. the federal reserve pumped in tons of money in 2008 to stay off the recession.

they should have stopped after the recession went away. instead, for 12 years, and they have an eating rates too low, pumping about much money in the supply. they own a third of all that now. we are stacked. they need to unravel that. but this could drive rates up. host: matt calling in from virginia, democrats line. caller: quick comment. it is always funny to me that republicans yell about being free-market capitalists until gas prices go high and suddenly it is, government, do something. my question is, you talked about authoritarian regimes in europe, which i do these are a problem and will be something we have to

face, especially looking at france and the closeness that le pen could possibly get to power. look at your own power and talk about a fact that a third of your party in congress voted against resolutions supporting nato as an organization and they are voting against nato because the leave in a more white nationalist, anti-progress, anti-gay, more fascist organizations like russia. you have people in congress against russia supporting ukraine in your party. where is your party going here? guest: good question. i agree about gas prices. no politician likes to say that there is no pain, no gain, but that is the case. supply chain's, if we want to

straighten things out, we have got to take pain. on where our party is, that is a good question. i am a traditional pro-business republican, limited government, going back to ronald reagan and the bushes. what has happened to our party is it has turned into a populist, isolationist, somewhat negative group. i do not think that is constructive for the country or the party. some of these congress people criticize us for taking a hard line on russia. that is incomprehensible, just like it is incomprehensible that they would oppose nato or not defend the election when no fraud was proved. we have seen strange behavior from republicans that i do not

think is constructive or will be successful for them long-term. host: do you think you are the majority of the party for do you think the populace are? guest: hard to say. trump had pulling in the 50's for a long time. assess something recently, it was down to 42. it seems like overtime people would move on and things may sort out, but i know from speaking to a lot of trump base they have a strong populist streak. as george bush used to say, they are the -isms -- protectionism, nativism, etc. host: do you think the gop has

room for a populist wing or bent? guest: i suppose it has room for it, but it cannot be dominating the dialogue. we have to be engaged in the world that has provided stability since world war ii. we are seeing that breakdown. i think having costs go up a bit is fine, but we have that to be able to treat with other countries, not just put walls up. we should be able to walk and chew gum. host: you were not present trump's favorite congressman? guest: no. i was the first to speak up against him, against his ridiculous effort to end the two state resolution for israel.

i spoke about the need to go after the huthis in saudi arabia. we are still operating on the same war powers resolution that president bush used in 2002. host: do you think the january 6 investigation committee in congress is legitimate? guest: i do. i think kevin mccarthy made a tactical mistake. he should have picked a few more moderates and let them indicate there position -- their position. host: let us hear from the meridian. this is larry, independent line. caller: one question -- when the

russians started to surround the country, do you think biden should have started sending weapons then instead of reading for the -- of waiting for the russians to attack? guest: in hindsight, it always works that you should have moved quicker, whether it is trump on vaccines or biden on ukraine, but we knew it was coming. george bush ended up moving it to georgia under president bush, ended up moving it to crimea under president obama, who joked about it. president trump at least sold the most javelins that they have been using for the first line of defense, but we should be getting more armaments, and

getting poland to send airplanes and should be together with the parts of the you that are with us to ban russian oil. host: joseph tweets, why are we taking sides in this work? how do we know that ukraine did not do something? is that fair? guest: i think this gentleman is a distant formed. it shows the dangerous nature of this information through the internet. what that ukraine has become a democracy. they are plenty corrupt. they have embraced freedom and are willing to fight for it. the invasion is an outrage in this time of our world that they would even consider destroying a democracy like that. host: markets, republican,

florida. go ahead with your question or comment. caller: first of all, the generous six committee -- janua ry 6th committee is a joke. you are supposed to have a drinking number from the party in the majority. they do not have a ranking member. it is not liz cheney. i could go on. ukraine, everything biden has done is a disaster. i have watched zelenskyy multiple times being interviewed. this man is infuriating with biden and all of nato. nato was created to prevent this exact thing from happening.

nato failed to stop the invasion of ukraine by russia. biden as the president of the u.s. is the biggest failure of all. if donald trump were still president, putin would not have invaded ukraine. he wanted to during tom's presidency, but he did not do it because he looked at trump as a strong leader. host: do you agree that give president trump still in office that this invasion would not have happened? guest: possibly. i do not think putin wanted to embarrass a person who thinks like him. host: tyrone, new york city, democrats line. caller: i hear that the

republican representative also believes trump was a disaster for the country, but back to the origins of the republican party and why it came to be. i wish i was a republican listening to the beginning of the republican party, the grassroots efforts to stop the spread of slavery. i do not know how the republican party strayed so far away from this beginning and why when it was standing up for people that needed help and now is going to big money interests that decide to go into the big money spending that made this party completely opposite from what it started out. host: what do you think the

democrats stand for? caller: i think the democrats also stand for big money interests, but i think that the democrats recognize that it is not good to stop people and going out of your way to try to destroy individuals. they realize that instead of being -- as opposed to a blunt instrument to stop people from living out their life. that is that hammer that everything is a male. we want to destroy it and make it become what we want or are we wearing to get rid of it? the democratic party, they have

got stuff, too, but they also do not try to destroy everything in their path. host: any response? guest: there are some areas where we would probably disagree in terms of the teaching of kids, social science related issues. there are two sides of opinion on when kids should be exposed to certain things. i am stronger perhaps on parents involvement then liberal democrats. i think kicking parents of their children's lives is a movement towards socialism and alienation of people from families. as an aside, though, you make some good points. the republican party started as the party of lincoln and it is not now, not even the party of

ragan. richard nixon got one third of the black vote, started the epa, was environmentally sensitive, expanding the clean air act. george bush said, if you pass an extension of the assault weapon ban, i will sign it, but they could not get it to him because of democrat and republican votes. i offered to be the only republican to support the ban if democrats could get it over the fence and they could not. host: do you think you could be elected today? guest: no. i decided early on that it was better to speak what i believe and that meant opposing president trump then to stay in office. host: kenneth, missouri.

caller: good morning. you are an old country club republican, you and this cheney. -- liz cheney. i am a vietnam veteran. i am a republican, but you are a go along, get along and have been through most of my life. you give into the democrats. you are past history. you could not win your district now because people in red states do not like country club republicans such as yourself. we think that this country has gone too far to the left.

almost every word we have had recently, a democrat has been the president. -- almost every war that tells you something. you get along with these people -- host: are you a supporter of trump? caller: i m because he would take care of the border problem and would stand up for america and not being one of these new world order individuals. host: let us look at those two issues, the border and standing up for america. was president trump successful? guest: he did a lot of good things on the border.

there are a lot of liberals that do not think we should have a border. that is wrong. bush tried to propose, hence of immigration reform that would have stopped illegal immigration but provided a pathway for workers. we need the workers. what have been the best of both worlds. it was scuttled by an insidious combination of liberal democrats and the freedom caucus. i worked on immigration for five straight years. the freedom caucus does not want immigration reform. they want to be on tv criticizing it. we got close. you might have seen kevin mccarthy with president trump agreeing on a package only to have it scuttled.

i have worked on straw -- for five years there and the freedom conference doesn't want immigration either. they want to be on tv to be criticizing it. you might see kevin mccarthy there with president trump agreeing on, -- immigration reform package only to have it be scuttled either republican house in 2017. the other issue of where the party is or where i am, you are right. this is a different party than i have been a member of and supported for many years. our unique free enterprise and individual rights and liberties are paramount and that is what the republican party has supported. it is not populist, it is minimalist -- it is socialist.

more influence and -- to anyone around the world, including the united states. some people say you have empowered billions of people out of poverty all over the world but what has it done for us. how many people working in the united states have jobs and good jobs to support services around the world? host: let's hear from brad in kentucky on the independent line. go ahead. caller: you said there are a lot of political actors in the fbi and those agencies could use purging. now we are post the whitmore

case. in that case -- in what ways do you think you could tell us from your experience have you seen this move? what should the american people know about this deep state you speak of? guest: like most americans, i was horrified to see the level of politics that invaded and infiltrated the fbi. the thing that struck, the vast relations of comey, going this way and that way. i could talk about that

separately if you want. it undermines confidence in some of our major institutions like the fbi. i knew they were not our kind of people because washington dc votes 96% democrat but they always had a tradition of the bureaucracy and what was discovered, especially with the -- that should never have been granted. it shapes our confidence on the impartiality of these constitutions. host: when you say you ran for office, did you experience that? guest: you cannot deal with foreigners and take for money if you're running the u.s. bank. it is a serious problem.

having associates all over the world, i didn't talk to any of them and engage in financial -- i was running them when they were doing these sorts of things. i do not think they knew. i do not know why they didn't get better campaign advice at the time but you cannot get foreigners in federal campaign. they should have said we cannot talk to you. host: the first impeachment trial over russian collusion, do you think that was legitimate? guest: the probe proved nothing. they didn't prove any collusion or practical output. russia was bombarding us with

disinformation information they are now. i think they were doing it longer than we know. john durham, his inflict -- his investigation is continuing. have you been keeping up with that? guest: there have been a few things i have come out of that to confirm these comments. we will see where they go. host: sean is in indianapolis on the democratic line. caller: good morning. i am a lifelong democrat. if mr. trump is back on the ticket with democrats for 2024, i am going to vote for him because he displayed more of a commanding presence. host: what do you mean when you say a commanding presence? caller: he displayed more of a presidential attitude. president biden, he doesn't

display the attitude and remorse one is that mr. trump does. host: thank you, sir. any comment to that representative roni? guest: president biden is not as charismatic or forceful as president clinton or even president connor, but he has his own base of how he wants to do things. i do not think trumps bombastic and hostile approach towards people was constructive. 20 plus percent of the state department elected early retirement because of all of the abuse they were getting. that is not right. host: if ron desantis, your home state governor, ran for president, would you vote for him? guest: he is a very strong environmentalist.

banding offshore drilling in the eastern gulf, getting a couple billion dollars to finish out projects for the restoration to do the water and minimize pollution that the sugar industry perpetrates honest. i like a lot of things he has done. he has done a lot of good things for education in florida. to the gentleman that mentioned republicans and blacks before, it was a lot of black mothers that all got together and voted for ron and campaign for ron because he was going to reserve a choice in education, charter schools. host: sylvia, washington, dc, republicans line. please go ahead. caller: we need more republicans that are going to be strong enough to push -- educational

approach and we need to have more of a drive towards negating and combating some of this infiltration we have in our agency. it is a concern for myself, being in washington dc. i have called our current representative and i have spoken with her, talking about some of the main issues there in washington. let alone what is happening over the news. when you are a stronger republican party, i am begging, the democrat party missed a step back and allow on -- government spending. going every way without being policy driven and an appropriate choice selected. host: response?

the congressman seems a little frozen there. in the meantime, if he is having trouble with his connection, we will hear from clearance in triangle, virginia and we will continue to take your calls. caller: yes? host: go ahead, clearance and make your point. caller: we are helping the ukrainians, what about americans? that need help? we stand on one thing, we always helping other countries. they always say they booked one it comes to helping americans. i just want to know why they tore up a 5.9%.

that is not nothing. i was getting $800 a month, i am still getting 800 was 5.9 percent. inflation is going up. at least trump did help americans on the stimulus. they are not giving us nothing. they drop billions in ukraine. this -- until this war out. they always say they broke when it comes to america. host: clarence, thank you very much. let's hear from john in patterson, new jersey. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. the representatives said he wouldn't take foreign contributions, but how to use where -- drawers different on

picklist said on tv he will --. host: where are you coming from misses wilhelm in warrenton, missouri? i cannot see what line you are calling from. wilhelm, go ahead. caller: people need to stop listening to donald john trump. all he does is lies. how would you like it if i put all the people behind that border wall and see what it is like? people are discriminating against mexican people and that is not right. people should not discriminate

against people. it is wishy-washy. people are listening to president trump he lies. host: caller, where are you calling from. ? caller: i am calling from sherman, texas. i have to different subject. structural intelligence to help stabilize our democracy. that is some type -- the recent translation revealed that is because of a manipulation of facts.

if you want to talk about something, everybody have to pull from same facts. if we devise some type of system where we pull from a common set of facts that is government stamped, we would eliminate all of these opinions of somebody else facts or alternative facts. and be able to move forward. the average joe who does not watch tv and politics knows that one plus one equals two. right now, one plus one equals four or five because the facts

are manipulated. host: caller, where are you calling from? caller: south carolina. host: where in south carolina? caller: donald trump was a jim jones. what he did there was an insurrection. if anybody doesn't tell you right then and there -- how come

everybody else will go to jail when the commander that sent them there, responsible for everything that happened there, and he still sit out there. everybody else is knowing he predicted it and he come there and he caused it. if he gets away with this, you might as well pull the plug into every prison. because people died, it is under his belt. host: the next call is from mike in houston. what is on your mind this morning? caller: the border is one thing. i don't know if there's anyone who can come in and effectively explained to the american people how a country survives with open borders. in u.s. history, in world history, there was no civilization that has ever survived with open borders.

it is so frustrating to think of any and people, we don't know who they have jobs we don't know anything about them. if they are bringing in drugs or what have you. this is not the way to govern. i want president biden to do well. i want him to lift up people. with bad ideas, there is no way you are going to lift up people. i wonder who really is running the country. one thing about january 6, compared to the 570 riots of 2020 was getting in gas. the people on january 6, they

are completely ignoring what happened in 2020. we are supposed to forget. it is so horrible in the media. the media are so complicit in all of this. it reflects poorly on lack of objectivity. host: mike, do you see the effects of illegal immigration in houston? caller: i have no doubt that we do. i know that i can point to anything relative to crime rate and so forth, but those kind of effects are things that are felt in grinding, slow way. you pay for by the wave of medicare, the school system's overburden, you don't have the asl teachers. where does the money come from to pay for all of these housing,

food, shelter and education, medical care? i am concerned about that. we need leaders who care about americans because that is who they represent. host: thank you. john is in columbus, ohio on the democrats line. what is on your mind this morning? caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i want to say, i hope americans are thinking more than having a feeling. let us pray so that god can save this country because there is no other person -- no other country that his field on this earth other than this country.

if we can resolve our differences and continue to make this country better, that is what i want to see. host: nancy, new york on the republics line. what is caller: caller: on your mind? caller: i believe in close border and people should come to our country the right way, like everybody else. maybe they should talk to people who have come in this country the right way who cherish the country they live in. everybody says open borders, but do it the right way like you would have to do in any other country. we need some protection here. it is very sad for our country right now.

as far as january 6, i don't believe president trump inside anything. if you look at all the videos that are out there, it is pretty blatant that there were a lot of them host: speaking of new york, our next guest is from new york. steve israel, democrat that represented a portion of long island for a long time. unfortunately we were unable to get francis rooney back on the line. we thank him for being on and we will be right back with steve israel.

>> washington journal continues.

host: joining us from long island is former congressman steve israel, democrat from new york. israel ran the democrats fundraising and house fundraising for a couple of election cycles. congressman israel, are the democrats going to hold onto the house? in 2022? guest: you can see both sides of this. history is against democrats holding the house. history also provides some exceptions. right now the congress is pretty sorted out as a result of gerrymandering where districts are either private blue or ruby or read. the consolidation of both party bases are hard right heart left districts. we are choosing to move with and

live with people with home we agree. there may be about 40 to districts that are competitive going into this election. 25 are true tossup. the balance 21, leaning in one direction or the other. when you break it down, it looks like the republicans are in pretty good shape in terms of history. i never said i was distraught -- the smartest member of congress, but i know my history. there are three historic conceptions to the president's starting losing c. 1998 and in 2002. what was unique to those midterm elections? in 1994, the american people thought fdr was bringing a good job of bringing back the economy and they awarded him with a pickup of seats. in 1988, american people believed the united states had

bathed -- had to farm. they awarded him by picking up seats. the climate in october, november, a few months away from now resemble those americans in crisis, the democrats can hold a majority. if the climate is as it is now, that will be tough democrats though the majority. host: when you look at the president's approval rating according to the real clear politics average, it is 54% disapproved, 42% approved. and when it comes to campaigns 2022 with the real clear politics average, it is 43 for the democrats. how would you try to combat those numbers? guest: i gave you historic exceptions. let's talk about those numbers.

they align with historic pattern. the democratic chair campaign committee, support campaigns and making sure the messaging was right and the motivation was right. there are three influences in -- approval. this second is between vote propensity and the third is base intensity. for most internal actions that were change elections where the majority flip significantly, presidents were in their low to mid 40's. and the majority change the lock. that is her president biden is right now, in the low to mid 40's. change propensity in those change majority elections.

a swing voting approval for the president was in the mid-30's. much where president biden is now. and those changed elections, base intensity wasn't there. it was lukewarm. we do not know the base pay for joe biden in november, but if swing voter propensity is in the 30's and the president's favorability remains in the 40's, it makes it that much tougher for democrats to win. if joe's numbers go up, if they could go up to the mid-to high 40's, that saves the senate and it could be taking the majority from democrats. host: who represents your district now? guest: they depleted the ink in the sharpie when they drew and redrew my district. it is now represented by tom

suozzi, leading congress to run for governor. he is running a primary against governor hochul. his numbers are not getting much traction according to the polls that i have seen. it is an open seat. the thing about my district, which if those of your viewers are familiar with new york, queen stretching against long island. it was never a democratic district. it was always competitive. donald trump did really well in 2020. he didn't win but he did ok. it is an open c. i believe democrats will move along. people are concerned about various areas. i believe democrats will win that open c. host: is there a split between

so-called moderate democrats and progressive dominant -- numeral cuts. that wing of the party did not want to represent everything he did. the republicans have that split. the democrats have those divides right now. i believe elections are about winning. it is winning on your priorities and what you have to offer your voters. there are 25 districts that are a tossup. democrats have to win a majority of those top up. the majority of those districts are moderate. we have all the great districts to win. the key to winning a majority is

winning the purple districts. winning those swing voters i refer to. districts in maine, iowa. districts in those -- voters in those districts are --. if you want to win the midterm and stay in the majority, you have to reflect more modern values align with moderate voters. host: we talk a lot about the swing districts, the purple districts, shouldn't all 435 be a sewing district? guest: in theory. our founders, the house will be

-- in brooklyn new york, the consensus of opinion is pretty far to the left. it is a progressive district. we also have iowa which is not particularly -- you're not going to be able to create a swing district in every district. in those swing districts that are left, there are so few of them now because of those three elements i mentor. gerrymandering, base consolidation and residential sorting. we are now down to about 40 of those purple districts and that is where the majority rests. the next speaker of the house will be elected, whether it is kevin mccarthy or the successor,

will be elected by what happens in those 40 purple districts. host: do you think nancy pelosi should have run for office again? should she be the democratic leader? guest: i have known her so well. i sat with her for extended periods of time when she was the minority leader and i was the chairman of the committee. the only people who influence nancy pelosi about decisions like that is nancy pelosi. host: joining us now is steve israel, would you like to participate in our conversation about politics? you can see the area code, 202 748-1000, one for republicans

8002 for independence. we will put up the text, and the social media sites. if you send a text, please include your first name and your city. congressman, what are you doing these days? guest: i am enjoying life. people say, do you miss congress? and i say i miss my friends in the congress but i don't miss congress. this hyper polarized environment. i pursuing my curiosities in the institution of global affairs which is a lifetime -- really find consensus on critical challenges. i opened up my own independent bookstore. oyster bay was where theodore roosevelt lived and worked and

died. some of his executive offices are across the street from my bookshop. we opened in november, theaters books. we specialize in history and current affairs. we also have bestsellers in children's books. everything you expect to see in a bookstore. it is one of the most enjoyable things i have ever done question -- one of the most enjoyable things i have ever done. host: are you still writing books? guest: i am in my third novel. i plan to reserve this entire day to finalizing my third novel. when c-span asked me, of course i said yes. host: we appreciate that. charlotte is in delaware. what is on your mind this morning. you would like to talk to former rep. francis rooney? caller: i

hear a lot of democrats and other pendants come on and say things like that. while that may be true, it is the midterm elections and all that, if you are a democrat and you care, put more positives swing on that. not staying so negative. biden has a poor rating. negativity is not nice if you care about doing kratz. guest: charlotte, i appreciate that view. i am site if not communicate clearly enough.

i was trying to make data based on -- in order to cure a problem, you have to have a diagnosis. i also noted there are exceptions. when you have moments of national crisis and economic decline, and the fall of a midterm, voters begin to sense that the economy is doing better than it was or the crisis is being dealt with, then they tend to reward the president in power, just as they did with george w. bush in 2002 and bill killington in 1990 eight and fdr in 1994. if the climate aligned with that kind of history, we will retain the senate majority and have ace

fighting chance of attaining the house majority. one of the things i mentioned was the trump effect. president drumm -- if president trump brings in the midterm elections, this becomes a referendum on trump and not biting. i talked to my former republican colleagues and they tell me they think they are in good shape now but they themselves did not feel that he was again. it is 2000 maintaining midterms. host: what about the 2021 races in new jersey?

governor -- is now guest: sitting in the office. guest: it is a lesson for democrats. with what the, christ did in new jersey and virginia and the suburbs of long island is they got to have their cake and eat it too. they disassociated with trump publicly. governor youngkin did not have photo ops with president trump. he tried to strategically disassociate. while prior -- that happened in new york, that happened in virginia. if they can manage that again in 2022 in the midterms in just a few months, it plays to their advantage. host: this tweet to you from

somebody who uses the name aztec as their twitter handle, "what are some of the budget items that should be remote -- removed to rebuild and restructure? how can congress address this deceptive way of budgeting? " guest: nobody likes spending unless it is spent on them. i can tell you right off the bat, i don't think we should be subsidizing mash-up of oil and gas and grilling and mining companies around the world. i don't think they need the cities. $10 million a year of drilling and oiling. why are we spending taxpayer money on that? they are doing fine. they don't need a handout from

the taxpayer. let's eliminate that. there are plenty of other things we can eliminate with areas of spending that are aligned with corporate subsidies and corporate entries to make sure we don't have situations where ceos are paying less in taxes than most of their workers. those are the kinds of reforms i thought, in congress, were desperately necessary and i continue to believe are necessary. investments in education, investments of making sure we have a adoration that can compete with china, i am all for that. host: lara is calling in from winston, salem on the republican line. good morning, lara. caller: thank you for your service to this country. i just have a couple of things. number one, i don't understand

why gerrymandering and -- are so blatantly you -- blatantly use. can you explain that a little further to those of us. i have friends that work against gerrymandering and also i think it is that so many people who are republican who are against masks are against wearing masks and they think they do no good. yet they think a border, a wall along our southern border is going to keep people out. compare the mask to the wall. host: when it comes to

redistricting, congressman? guest: we now have two tribes in congress with some exceptions. all the rest of congress spans all of its time in red district or a butte blast -- a red district or a blue district. they come back to washington and look at one another and say, where do you get this information? they don't understand one another. they are representing what they are hearing in their districts. how do we get distressed? every 10 years, we have a senses. it was imperative that every member of the house represent roughly the same number of people.

but the decision on how to draw the districts so that you have that distribution of population was made by the state and the states realized, and this goes back to 18th century, states realized, if we are going to dry district, we can dry district that is going to protect a democratic or a republican in congress. it got out of hand. one of my favorite examples of a ridiculous gerrymandering redistricting is in the suburbs of pennsylvania. it was pennsylvania's seventh congressional district. it was drawn to protect republicans. when we looked at the lines, we used to call it goofy kicking donald duck. the way it was drawn, it resembled the disney caricature of those two characters. why is that? when they drew it, they said

this is a democratic area so we have to circle around it to push those democrats out and then we come up and this is a great conservative republican area so we do a squiggle here and ace school there. by the time they finish it was goofy versus donald duck. when i was elected to congress in 2000, there were about 100 50 competitive districts. when i shared the democratic campaign in 2011, mostly because of gerrymandering but also because of residential sorting patterns and consolidation of bases, it was down to 75. by the numbers i gave you at the beginning of this program, we were down to 40. when you really dig into that 40, it is probably more like 25. 435 congressional districts, 25

required income is on both sides of the aisle to be bipartisan to get reelected. all of the others require their incumbents to move further to the left than the right in order to survive the primary. i used to talk to my republican friends about gun safety. saying if you are on the no-fly list because you are believed to be a series, you should not be able to easily require -- acquire a military assault weapon. those republicans would say, i wish i could vote for that, but if i vote against that bill, i want to get primary from the right. that is what is fundamentally warping our political systems. host: what about a situation like in new york where a citizen came up with their own democratic plan party should mark -- democratic party?

guest: both parties are equal opportunity offenders. i was rooting for maps that protected more democrats and made republican districts more competitive. i wanted that because i wanted to remain the majority. both parties practice this. the good news is that people are waking up and saying this is what is wrong with this is a. states on their own are -- in some states it is illegal. you cannot draw a district for partisan purposes. in some states, independent commissioner. some of those states have independent commission with loopholes, as would happen in new york. the one thing we can do to clean our system, reform our system, get democrats and republicans talking to one another again.

finding consensus. eliminate parties with gerrymandering. if you can give me one a, take the influence of money out of politics. host: christina is in east hanover, the -- hanover, new jersey. caller: i wanted to talk to you about the national defense authorization act of 2020. we know historically that the government has used any crisis to drive try -- change. fdr was very much aware of the atrocities going on. we know the vatican was aware of what was going on but countries didn't act quickly enough to help. right now we know the country is in a state of turmoil and we know it is money that drives terrorism. i want to talk to all of this

bitcoin that has become popular. at this point, it is untraceable currency. host: christine, you have brought in some very important issues but very quickly, tie them together. caller: is the oc going to do some kind of investigation on bitcoin, the currency? host: ok, we are going to stick with bitcoin. this morning there was an article in the paper about the potential regulation of some of these cyber terms -- cyber currency. guest: i will put aside christina's theories about the holocaust and fdr for a moment and focus on cyber currency and bitcoin. there is a real debate going on in congress and the industry about who should regulate cyber currency.

is it security or a commodity. should the department of agriculture be considered a of polity? smart people on both sides of the aisle, members of congress are looking into this. prices sometimes drive a reaction. crisis is new and unanticipated, unexpected. i wouldn't say this is a crisis with the use of bitcoin and the use of cyber currency is a fairly new revolution in american finance and consumer spending. congress, and the biden administration is taking a look at it and determining what is the most effective fair and oversight regulation that would protect american consumers and business.

we will develop on that in the next several months. host: valerie is calling from new york. go ahead. caller: good morning gentlemen. i am from patch new york. my concern these days is how toxic politics have become. i haven't watched washington journal in months. i have watched very little news lately just to know what is happening. it seems like the fringes of both parties have become more mainstream. i see that more on the right than the left. i think the internet contributes to it. i think gerrymandering does. you have any ideas? guest: saints. it is good to hear from her friend from patch town.

in my view, democracy has become corrosive. our discourse has become poisonous. it is a function of the things i'm engine. the red districts, blue districts, more of them. gerrymandering residential sorting. the impact of social media, we are getting our information, not because it is news but because it is an algorithm designed to validate our own opinions. i am an observer of washington journal and i hear people from both sides come on this show with the absolute truth, or at least they believe they have the truth. why do they believe they have the absolute truth? because they are only exposed to their side of the argument. there is no room or space for a dissenting side. we used to have in our broadcasting in america a

requirement. we now have information derived from facebook, from twitter, from social media, which has become a platform of biased information. i do not blame people thinking they have the absolute truth. it takes a lot of work to find the dissenting view. it was harder and harder in congress because of the political structures around me. those constituents will take that time and know they will not be completely correct in their assessments. they are the future of democracy and its resilience. host: congressman, valerie also

brought of how the extremes are really crushing. guest: when you take a look of national polls, the majority of americans defined themselves as moderate. they self identify as moderate. i have plenty of very conservative friends who tell me they are fair balance and write in the middle, but they are not. that is just how they like to define themselves. separate from that, it is the majority of americans -- or somewhere in between. because of gerrymandering. you may be a moderate, but you are living in a bright blue district or a ruby red district. so your member of congress goes to washington and votes with the

flex, not with with the center. host: sheer are some recent tall results about the economy. 31% say they are staying even. who is to blame for inflation? 38% say president biden, 28% say covid, 23 percent say corporate america, 6% say russia's invasion of ukraine. guest: i love that pole. it authenticates the political climate in america right now. we are a 40, 40, 20 country. we are so polarized that 40% of the elector it loves donald trump, loves joe biden.

no matter how well they may be doing in their pocketbooks, they will tell you it is horrible. 40% on the others loves donald trump loves joe biden. they will tell you the economy is booming. these polls on the economy reveal how people feel, not necessarily the reality. politics is infecting everything, including our view of the economy. consistent with what i said before, 40% will tell you economy is awful and inflation is bidens well. the midterm election can be one with 20% in between. they make those decisions based

on pocketbook issues. if they are sitting at their kitchen tables in september, october saying economy would do an ok, they vote for a dinner -- they vote for a democrat to continue those policies. those 20% are dour about inflation and cost of living and economic prospects. they will vote for a republican in oc. those pocketbook issues are where this election is going to end. i had lunch with the chairman of the democratic convention, my successor sean patrick maloney, i asked him a very serious question. where do you think these issues are going to determine whether you lose or maintain the jamaat -- the majority.

she said gas and groceries. the price of gas is under control. if it is down get in congress you can suspend the gas tax. price of groceries are -- what if those two things slip away from -- the narrative, it is going to be tough to maintain the majority. host: was it potentially possible to raise a lot of money from supreme court hearings and nominations? the last couple have been very contentious. guest: money is raised by the political committee of republicans and democrats in three ways. it is raised by individual contributions at a very high level. it is raised by members. but the biggest source of

revenue when i was there, online contributions. at three dollars here, three dollars there. those contributions were most often motivated by grassroots issues. like supreme court nominations are trying to repeal obama care. parties raised significant amount of money with appeals to the base. the supreme court nomination does animate the base in terms of nominations -- donations. caller: good morning. i think i called on the independent line. two questions mr. israel, should jake jacobs be forced to resign because of what he did in new york?

using covid as an excuse, we cannot go to the polls. or saying, people are requesting a mail-in ballot in advance to vote. host: barber in new york city. and who is jay jacobs? guest: jay jacobs is the chairman of the new york state democratic committee. no, he shouldn't resign. will democrats cancel the election because of covid? no. host: jeff, i was not ready for that short answer from you. [laughter] jeff, republican in tennessee,

go ahead. caller: the southern border down there, i think we should be protecting our southern border. guest: there is broad bipartisan support for a system that offers stronger, high-tech protections and our border. john mccain proposed it in 2004 but it was quickly disbanded and he was disabused of them notion because of concerns that comprehensive immigration that includes a path to citizenship would have hurt the republicans. there are those who believe that when you talk about some of the stronger order controls that it makes it harder for people to

enter legally. we need to have a reasonable conversation about that and pass comprehensive reform. when people say we have open borders and anybody can come into this country and we know nothing about them. that's just not true. we have controls. we open the border, we have agents at the border, we allow people in certain circumstances. they are required to prove they belong here and are required to report back. are there mistakes? yes, there always have been but there is no such thing as open borders in the united states of america. host: the bookstore is called theodore and its owner is former congressman steve israel. if you are in oyster day, stop in at the doors.

guest: also you can go to books.com. host: half an hour left of the washington journal and whatever is on your mind public policy wise is open. we will be right back to take your calls. >> this week on c-span, congress is in recess for the next two weeks. tonight at 9 p.m. eastern, officials from the department of interior and the forest service testified on federal wildfire management before the house natural resource committee.

on tuesday at 9 p.m. eastern, testimony about evolving trends regarding overdraft programs and fees and their impact on consumers and how to avoid overdraft fees before the house financial services committee. on wednesday at 9 p.m. eastern, look at substance abuse, suicide risk in the american health system by the house ways and means committee and on thursday at 9 p.m. eastern, and interview with supreme court justice amy kony barrett at the reagan presidential library. at 10 p.m. eastern, conversation with sonia sutter mayor at washington university in st. louis. watch this week on c-span or on c-span now, our free mobile app and head over to www.c-span.org for scheduling information or to stream video live or on-demand any time. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. >> now available for preorder in

the c-span shop emma c-span's 2022 congressional directory. go there to order a copy of the congressional directory. it's your guide to the federal government we contact information for every member of congress including bios and committee assignments and contact information for state governors and the biden administration cabinet step preorder your copy today or scan the code with your smart phone. every purchase helps support our nonprofit operations. >> "washington journal" continues. host: half an hour left and we want to hear your views on a public policy issue that is a concern to you and we will put the numbers up on your screen. if you happen to dial 8003, you

can send a text message on that line. include your first name and your city in the area code is 202 for all of our numbers and we have social media sites where you can post as well and we will scroll through those. some of the issues we talked about was bad economic news hunting democrats ahead of midterm. a new survey showed that a huge 63% of the population have disapproved of joe biden's handling of the connie and 33% approved. one in four said the economy was either excellent or good, 27% rated the economy is only fair, 42% said it was poor and the real culprit is inflation. we also talked about this issue, this is out of london, the

national health service chief there called for a return to mask with limits on indoor mixing as they accuse the government of abandoning interests in covid and the hills reporting that a string of covid cases hit d.c. is nationwide rises loom. this is from cnn politics. a judge appears likely to release a constitutional challenge against representative marjorie taylor green she says she can't -- they say she can't run for reelection because she aided the january 6 insurrectionist. the january 6 panel will send

evidence for criminal referral of donald trump and the leaders of the house committee investigating the capital attack were divided over whether to make a criminal referral to the justice department even though they have concluded that they have enough evidence to refer mr. trump for obstructing a congressional proceeding and inspiring to defraud the american people. some of the committee are questioning whether there is any need to make a referral because the justice department appears to be ramping up a wide ranging investigation and making a referral could settle the criminal case with further partisan baggage. that's in the new york times. then we had this article from the sunday talk shows. liz cheney rejects report of a dispute among january 6 committee on criminal referral.

they said there is not a dispute whether the criminal referral is valid. that's a little bit more news so let's hear from gwen in birmingham, al,, deming democrats line. caller: good morning. i don't understand how the republicans can have such a large leave -- lead going into the midterms over the democrats. i am also concerned about immigration but i am more concerned about my rights. my rights about police reform, my rights about a lot of things. antiabortion, what they have

against women, i'm against all of that. i'm against the wife of clarence thomas. i've noticed that a lot of white people, i'm sorry but that was an insurrection. the governor -- the government was trying to be overthrown. we thought to be in this country. we fought for our rights in america. we wanted america to be free and you want to make it statement that it doesn't matter? i'm from alabama, where dr. king said we can capture alabama, we can capture silhouette -- civil rights. these blatant races adds saying

alabama is a disgrace and even our governor has an edge over these two men about weapon's and the second amendment. we have six and seven murders per day in firming ham. what is wrong with people? this is mind-boggling to me. host: tell us about yourself. i'm retired, i've been retired since 2005 step caller: host: from what? caller: i try to keep up with politics. what goes on controls my life most some of these people that are calling in and acting like we are not in america, i talked to a young lady who was being

interviewed. i think it was at a president trump rally and they asked her would you rather vote for vladimir putin to be the president or joe biden to be the president? she said latimer putin. he's the butcher getting these and it just killing his innocent women and children. he's killing people in ukraine. america, wake up, this is our land and you need to look in the mirror if you want vladimir putin to be the president of america over joe biden. host: we will have to leave it there. it's nice to hear your voice. thank you for calling in step eight-week from representative frank malone from a couple of days ago.

he tested positive for covid on april 6. he said his symptoms are mild and please get vaccinated and posted. next call during this open forum comes from mike and new york city on our independent line. caller: good morning at thank you for having me. in regards to china, the u.s. is competing with china. i'm an immigrant and for the last 20 plus years, i am still in illegal immigrant but i am a successful immigrant. to compete with china, america needs to harness the

americanization of our intellectual property. that means every immigrant currently in the united states. as far as the general immigration reform policy or what they are trying to do, that is not the solution. the southern border, from my understanding, only 50% -- 15% of the u.s. border. in my opinion, immigration must be state issued. certain states will never agree to some things worked immigration reform is concerned. host: you live in fear being an illegal immigrant? caller: very much so.

immigrants who are honest and unique and pretty much americanized have learned that survival is necessary and it doesn't mean getting in the way of things that are not correct or that are not legal. host: that's my could new york city. this is russell in kissimmee, florida, independent line. caller: good morning. my concern is ukraine and what's going on there. i am one is percent -- i am a 100% disabled vietnam vet.

i feel the world right now is being run and controlled by putin. he needs to be crushed. like the roach that he is. this is absolutely and totally ridiculous. life does not go on forever step what right does he have two take the life of a human being? putin is not going to stop when he conquers ukraine. he will feel that the world has given him permission to go further because the world has given him permission to even exist. he needs to be stopped. everyone is continuing to buy oil from this man. this is insane. host: all that said, should the united states be more of a part

of ukraine's defense? caller: yes and the world and all of nato, all of them should stop this man. this man is not going to stop with ukraine. host: that's russell and florida, this is dennis in pennsylvania, republican line. caller: i thank you. a little bit of sunshine here in pennsylvania. it's been a cloudy season. i just had a comment on something i have been hearing for about eight years on how social security by the year 2035 is going to be reduced as those who receive social security checks. this has been alerted to our

congressman for a long time. just using memories of my mom and dad on their retirement and my dad having security until he passed on to his ssi pension. i've been retired for nine years and i enjoy my benefits on social security. host: what you think should be done if it's going to be read deuced? caller: i don't have all the facts but the minimal facts i have is that congress has allocated all kinds of money sent covid for different reasons. they are ignoring social security. in 2007 i believe, i might have

the wrong date but when obamacare was created, they took $700 billion out of social security and never, for my education, they never put it back. host: that's dennis in pennsylvania. this is anthony in washington, d.c., democrat. caller: how are you? i'm sitting here listening to trump supporters saying we need to close the border. if you look at back in the 20's and 30's and 40's when folks were coming in from germany and places like that, most of them did not have phd's or a masters. they couldn't even spell their

names. 2 million terrorists are coming through the border. i can assure you the united states must be burning right now. the republicans don't do anything to anybody. social security was discovered by democrats. the five day work week was greeted by democrats and the unions. mcconnell is from kentucky. one of the poorest states in the country and he likes to vote for billionaires. they don't live in kentucky, they live in new york. host: we will leave your points right there and hear from edward in new jersey. another republican, go ahead. caller: i had really wanted this

directed to mr. israel who was on before. he spoke about the border being closed. that is contrary to what i am seeing on tv. he says they are required to show for a hearing, as i understand it, it should still be on so what's percentage of people show up when they were scheduled for their hearing? host: thank you. caller: we haven't had any real immigration reform for 40 or 50 years. that is certainly a problem we need to get something that works. host: this is an op-ed this morning in the wall street journal. it's written by david arnstein who is founder of a group called

jewish institute for liberal values. the title of it is 1775 and 1776 u.s. history stop american public schools are suffering from no instruction.

that is in the wall street journal this morning. ron, you are on "washington journal." caller: i'm calling about the issue you had in the opening segment. i have been trying to get c-span to get some experts on your show . you had some caller saying all kinds of wild things about masks

and people are uninformed about the differences between the type of masks. you need to get somebody on your show. you had scores of people on your show talking about the vaccine but you haven't had a single person or expert on n-95 masks. host: are you knowledgeable about this? caller: absolutely. more than anyone else you had on the show. i've been studying it for two years now. host: in two sentences, what is the effectiveness of the n-95 mask. caller: you can't explain it in two sentences. you need to have someone on your show. the cloth mask is maybe 30% of

active and efficient at filtering out particles. the n-95 means it's at least 95% effective at filtering out particles. the government a few months ago released a bunch of the masks from the stock pile. for those of you out there wearing cloth mask, get rid of them and go into your pharmacy and get your free n-95. you can go to almost any pharmacy to get them. host: thank you for that. don is in new orleans, independent line stuff caller: good morning. thank god for c-span step look at the prefixes of the political ideologies.

we would like to have the federal government, the 12 departments of the federal government to do business with black media and black print on audible scale. in order for the government to function properly, we need those outlets to facilitate the issues pro and con to our communities, to make a better country and to deny access to the budgets, the billions of dollars that's been spent by the federal government on advertisement. the laws must be spread to the point where the average people understand their rights individually in their rights as a community.

this should be all included. host: you said we in the black press. are you a media person? caller: i'm a media person, social media and the fact that we are disconnected from the u.s. government for the purpose of ascertaining resources, funding, it is preposterous to say we are the united states where we are being left out of the funding that comes just from the u.s. government, not to mention the public where we spent a lot of consumers and the public. host: that's don in new orleans. this is john in michigan -- in michigan. caller: how are you?

i'm a retired fellow agent in police officer. i've seen a lot of these problems since the 70's. we have people that support the problem but back then, you had republicans and democrats that worked to gather. now we have guys like ted cruz and those guys. you can see reality. you don't worry about nothing and take care of your country and believe in each other. is very sad to see was going on. there's no reason we can't back joe biden. he gets the job done. i will say one thing against donald trump, if he was in there now, he would be vladimir

putin's friend. that's reality. host: time for one last call from harrisburg. caller: thank you for taking my call. i am 73 years old and i've worked over 50 years of my lifetime. i am really concerned about these people coming in from the border. just the things they are getting, phones, medical, we are taking care of them. i am having problems paying for my medical bills. i'm having problems paying for my medication. let's help the older people who have done a lot to this country already, thank you for your time. host: thank you to all the callers in our guests today on the "washington journal."we will be back tomorrow at seven lakh a.m. -- 7:00 a.m.

caller: [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> this afternoon, israel's ambassador to the u.s. will discuss his country's national security in the wake of recent unrest in the region. it's hosted by washington post live and you can see it starting at 1 p.m. eastern stuff at 2 p.m. eastern, the supreme court justice stephen breyer will receive an award that's given each year to a jewish-american life and work best exemplifies social justice imperatives of judaism and an adherence to the u.s. bill of rights. you can watch these events live on c-span and on our website www.c-span.org or watch full

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c-span is available at the apple store and google play. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more including comcast. >> you think this is just a committee center? it's way more than that. >> comcast is partnering with 1000 minute he centers to create wi-fi enabled hotspots for low income families. comcast support c-span as a public service along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. . >> coming up next, remarks by representative medicine call thorn --