reporter joey garrison discuss the week ahead in washington. later, the american action foreign president, douglas holtz-eakin talks about president biden's economic policies. be sure to join in with your calls, text and tweets. ♪ host: this is the washington journal for june 21. a new poll shows that when asked, most americans would not want joe biden or donald trump to run for office in 2024. in our next hour, want to hear from you one if either president biden or president trump should run for reelection. tell us why or why not. here is how you can tell us on the phone. (202)-748-8001 for republicans. (202)-748-8000 for democrats.

(202)-748-8002 for independents. if you want to text us your thoughts, you can do so at (202)-748-8003. you can post on facebook and on twitter as well. you can also follow the show on instagram. here is the polling was highlighted by newsweek in recent days, conducted by yahoo! it was taken between june 10 and june 13. regarding, should former president donald trump run for president in 2024, 50 5% of those responding said no. when broken down into political affiliation, 80% of democrats voted no and 14% of democrats voted yes. republicans, 25 percent voted no and 58% voted yes. the story adding that according to that polling, president biden received a more negative verdict. when asked whether he should run

again for president in 2024, 64% of the people said no. only 21% said yes. -- the majority favored trump, 42% of people said they would vote for donald trump, only 39% said they would vote for joe biden. 20% said they were not sure. maybe you fall into those camps of questions of whether either man should run for office in 2024. in our first hour, without a mind, tell us what you think. again, republicans,

(202)-748-8001. democrats, (202)-748-8000. and independents, (202)-748-8003 . -- and independents, (202)-748-8002. if you want to text us, you can do so at (202)-748-8003. you can also send us something on twitter or facebook. when it comes to plans that either man are making as far as that, the story from the washington post highlights the fact that resident biden's advisers have been setting up a spring 2023 reelection announcement that would echo the timetable of president barack obama, and adding they have flooded 2024 battleground states with millions of dollars leading up to the next president of campaign. this story says -- president biden, 79 is ready, able and

determined to carry the party banner to another election, especially if the opponent is donald trump. when it comes to former president trump himself, not specifically saying if you would run for office or not but this story from the associated press eyelid the fact that it was during an event in nashville that he alluded to it. you can still see that story on our website if you are interested. making his first public appearance since the committee investigating january 6 began its hearings, president donald trump lashed out of the committee and teased plans for a third president to run. that full event on c-span but here is that moment. [video clip] >> even while january 6 defendants are having their lives totally destroyed and being treated worse than terrorists and murderers, being charged with parading through the capital, most people should

not be treated the way they are being treated. if i become president, if i decide to do it, i will be looking at them very seriously for pardons, very seriously. they've been treated very unfairly. should i decide to do that. host: that full event on c-span. let us know about what you think as far as either man running for reelection for president. let's start on our line for democrat, robert in arkansas. hello good morning. caller: good morning. i don't think trump should run, for sure because trump wants to be a dictator. that is why he loves all the dictators. all he talks about is power and himself. the people supporting him are either mostly wealthy or real poor people.

the only people going to be hurt are their families, their children and grandchildren. if you want donald trump, be careful who you wish for. host: should joe biden make another run for office? caller: i'm not sure about him. he can only do what the senate allows him to do. congress passes it and the senate blocks it. the things biden tries to do to help ordinary people is being blocked. be careful what you wish for. host: you said you are not sure. why is that? caller: there is so much hate going on for the democratic party. that is all i can tell you. why, i don't know. every time the democrats get in power, they do things to help people. republicans get in and they do things to help the wealthy. host: that is robert in arkansas, giving his thoughts. jim from virginia, republican line. caller: hello.

host: go ahead. [indiscernible] -- president donald trump. host: you are saying he should run for another term? caller: yes, yes. host: why is that? caller:[inaudible] host: if the president decided to hold off from running again, who would you like to see as his alternate? caller: [inaudible] host: jim in virginia, in newport news giving us his thoughts this morning. let's turn to carl in massachusetts on our line for independents. caller: good morning and thank

you for c-span. i don't think either one of them should run. i'm five years younger than joe biden and i know i'm not the same man i was even five years ago, mentally or physically. he is clearly too old. there are exceptional people who can be sharp as a tack into their 90's or whatever, but not in his case. i can tell by myself. trump will turn on his own people. i don't see how anybody can follow him. he is out for himself. that is my opinion. thank you for c-span. host: before you go. let's say president biden decided to run or trump held off. who would you like to see run in either of their places? who is a candidate that appeals to you? caller: i used to support bernie

sanders, but he became kind of a disappointment. he is an older man, but he still has it together. people are different, that's all. maybe they should consider a limit, as far as running for the presidency or something. i'm not sure. but biden definitely should not run, and i definitely don't want to see trump. host: that is carl in massachusetts. the topic of age coming up in the conversation on fox news yesterday. jim clyburn, a large supporter of president biden, leading up to his election. he was at about the age of the current president come -- he was asked about the age of the current president, if that

should be a factor. [video clip] >> 95 years old, and i will say again, age is chronologically a thing to talk about. the individual determines what is to old, not the cat -- what is too old, not the calendar. you talk about joe biden, at his age. he is 15 years younger than a very sharp woman i know at 85. >> talking about how the environment could change. things looked doubtful for bill clinton after the republican wave and he came back a couple years later and got reelected by a comfortable margin. the difference is clinton was flexible, he could read the writing on the wall and in his case, he could get in front of it.

there is skepticism that joe biden can do the same thing. do you think he can? >> he won the nomination when a lot of progressives said he had no chance. i cannot tell you what they said to me. a lot of people called me and said i was crazy for being for joe biden. i look back on it now and say who was the crazy one? you will sell yourself short if you sell joe biden short. host: that is representative cliburn on fox news yesterday. your thoughts on whether president biden or former president trump should run for office in 2024? democrats line in pennsylvania. this is crystal, hello. caller: good morning. i like joe biden, and if he ran

again, especially against trump, of course i would vote for him. i could never vote for any republican, especially trump. trump took over the economy from obama and did absolutely nothing. but if i had a choice, if biden didn't run, katie porter, for some reason, i think she is very sharp. i happen to like her. trump, never again. i think he is a criminal. he swindles money from the american people. he lies every single day. didn't we get enough of him? honestly i hope he goes to prison. host: when it comes to joe biden himself, what do you think about the age factor that some people talk about? >> -- caller: my father was very

old and i thought he was the smartest man in my life. age doesn't mean anything to me, if he is sharp. if you know what you are doing. these are the factors. if you don't lie to the american people, if you show compassion. i happen to like biden. he doesn't do everything that i wish he would do. all of that was very disappointing for me as an african-american. however if he ran against trump, he has my vote 1000%. i will get out there and do everything i can to get him elected. host: that is crystal in pennsylvania. this caller from newcastle in pennsylvania, on our republican line. caller: hi there. good morning. thank you for taking my call. i definitely for president trump.

he did so much for eyes's while he was in office, if you just look around at what is going on and you can see how we have declined since biden has gone in. you better all pray, get out and vote. trump is a smart businessman. he can get us back on track, but we have to get him back in. i want to thank you for taking my call. you better all keep praying. host: do you think the events that are the highlight of the hearing on january 6, the president trump try to make a reelection campaign, do you think it is going to be a factor ? caller: i've been watching that too. i do believe there were some bad actors, and they need to be punished. they have no business going in and doing what they did.

however, i don't believe all those people were there for the wrong reasons, and none of them should've ever went in. they should have stayed outside. host: you don't think that would impact president trump if he decides to make a run for office? caller: not at all. people can see what is going on. our country is in such disarray right now. when did we pay five dollars for a gallon of gas? go to the grocery store and everything has gone up. you see what is going on at the border. they are bringing in all of these people. who is going to feed them and take care of them? this is a disgrace. host: that was shirley in pennsylvania. the washington times highlights the events of today's january 6 committee hearing. brad raffensperger, former

republican secretary of state who went toe to toe with president trump the stolen election, just days before the capitol riot is slated to testify today. the committee will use testify -- testimony by him and other election officials to build the case that president trump continue to pressure campaign to overturn the election despite knowing it would potentially spark violence against state officials. that is the washington times. we've been showing you the hearings uninterrupted on our networks. you'll have a chance to watch it today. the committee hearing. you can see that at 1:00 this afternoon. c-span3 is where you can watch it on television. you can also follow along on our c-span now app and also at c-span.org. the reelection efforts or if you would support a reelection effort by either the current president or former president donald trump. indiana is next, this is jim on

our independent line. caller: hello, how are you? host: i am well how about yourself? caller: my comment about the two would be, next general election, president trump should be in jail by then, but he won't be of course. biden should retire. he shouldn't be running for anything. he is old enough to where he should be retired. too many qualified young people out here that should be running for president. i wouldn't vote for trump for anything and for biden, i guess i'm just going to lose my vote if either one of them run. i wouldn't vote for either one of them. host: you mentioned age. you said there are younger people who should run for office. who would you pay attention to,

if either one of those men aren't of interest to you right now? caller: i think senator cheney from wyoming would be a wonderful candidate. i'm an independent, but i tell you right now, i don't think there is any reason why i would not vote for her. host: what is the main reason why you would? caller: i just think she has character, and she's shows it in her actions. she is not doing something partial, and of that is what all the trump supporters want to say. i don't know what is wrong with those people. host: let's hear from carol in new jersey, democrats line. caller: good morning. i think neither one should be in. there should be term limits and the president only serves eight

years, and i think congress should have term limits. mitch mcconnell should be gone. i think we should have younger people in. but if it came to voting in 2024, i would vote for biden again. i saw what trump did to new jersey with the casino, so there is no way i could vote for him. host: you started by saying neither man gained your interest but what is it about president biden? would you do that reluctantly or wholeheartedly? how would you describe that? caller: reluctantly because our youth needs to get in. it is their country and they should be in, and not the seniors. we've had our time and we didn't accomplish what we needed to accomplish and we need to turn it over to a younger generation will stop -- generation. host: who would you like to see?

caller: i don't know at this point, but i do think we need some new blood, to be truthful. host: carol in new jersey, sharing her thoughts this morning. let's turn south to florida on the republican line. caller: good morning. i would go trump all the way and if you give me a moment, i will tell you why. this january 6 thing they are doing, if you think back at the time that they were counting the electoral's, there were republicans disputing certain things in their counties. then they had people come into the capital, the capitol police are the ones that unlock the gate, unlock the door and let a group of people into that building, first.

then people in my theory where the people that the democrats deliberately threw in, so they could stop the dispute of the electors, put everyone in lockdown, the people that were disputing it were probably threatened while they were locked down by the democratic party. host: besides that, why would you give president trump another run at office? specifically? caller: since day one, people have been stabbing him in the back because they did not want the truth exposed. trump got elected not to change things. he got elected to expose corruption because he knew that is the only way to get people out of office is for the american people to see the truth that is happening everybody that was against trump are the same people that say he colluded with russia, that is a lie. host: if president trump did not make another run, who would you like on the republican side to do so? caller: if trump doesn't run, i

want ron desantis, and i have a very good idea. 2022, in november, if republicans take over, the house in the senate, then a great idea would be to get rid of nancy pelosi and put trump in as speaker of the house. host: that is howard in florida, the washington examiner takes a look at some republicans and how they are looking at former president trump and an announcement he made or not about running again, saying top republicans keeping a wary eye on the former, worried that he might announce a 2024 bit before election day this year, distracting voters from president joe biden and galvanizing democratic turnout. some republicans are to just's and party insiders are anxious, they said the move would transform a referendum on president biden into a more

evenhanded debate between the president reeling from skyrocketing inflation and his polarizing predecessor. the fear is not so much that president trump takei direct injection into the bedroom campaign turns biden into a popular president, rather republicans are concerned the 45th presidency -- would remove republican messaging focus on biden and boost democratic enthusiasm, shrieking the size of the red wave. again, as far as president biden or former president trump, if either man could be another run at 2024, your thoughts this morning. republicans, (202)-748-8001. democrats, (202)-748-8000. independents, (202)-748-8002. you can also text us at (202)-748-8003. on the independent line in grand

rapids, this is brian. hello. caller: thanks a lot. can you hear me? host: yeah, you are on. caller: thank you for letting me get on. i am an old man, 65 years old. i voted for trump in 2016, i voted for biden in 2020. i think it would be good for america and the world if both of these guys gave it a rest, maybe go golfing, maybe they can travel the world. maybe they could get on a television show. host: is age a specific factor? caller: maybe we can get a governor or the senators or representatives, the washington,

d.c. crew. maybe somebody who is not a professional politician can run for president? host: you said you supported president trump previously and then president biden, why the switch? guest: i think three or four years of donald trump, he began to get adolescent and then biden won the democrat nomination. i voted for biden. host: let's hear from cheryl in daytona beach, republican line. caller: thank you for taking my call. unfortunately, biden is going to go down as the worst president

ever. he is destroying this economy and people's lives, and people think he cares about them, they are so sadly mistaken. trump, it was his policies, it wasn't the man, it was his policies. he worked more for this country than any president i can think of. i've been following politics for 40 some years. if trump and biden were running, i would vote for trump. i would rather see two new people come in, especially some buddy like ron desantis and if you think liz cheney is a great person, she is a war hawk and a better woman and her heart is full of hate against the man and the more they run those hearings, the more trump's poll ratings go up and biden goes down. host: you said it was president trump's policy. what was his policy that you supported? caller: strong defense, closed borders, law and order, more money in your pocket.

i had more money in my pocket, more money every year. i didn't pay five dollars a gallon for gas and six dollars for a carton of eggs when trump was president. we had no new wars started. we had peace in the middle east. he was a strong supporter of israel, which is very important to me. he did what he said he was going to do and he did it on behalf of the american people. host: that is cheryl in florida. she mentioned ron desantis. -- a profile of fortis governor, talking about possible presidential ambitions, to give you a full line -- a few lines if you want to read it for yourself. the more plausible he becomes as nominee, the more people

speculate he may take on former president trump and this story says the former president told him he was quote, very close to making decision about whether to run but also adds in quote, i don't know if ron is running and i don't ask him, going on to say it is prerogative and i think i would win, adding that in nearly every poll of likely contenders, president trump still has a solid advantage. desantis -- the new yorker if you want to see more of that and read it online. let's hear from carolyn in texas, line for democrats. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. i really don't understand why washington journal is posing this question this morning. reason i'm saying that, with all the information that is coming out in the january 6 hearing, to

me, it shouldn't even be a consideration, whether or not donald trump is going to run for president. he shouldn't be allowed to run for president will stop it is so obvious that trump at the very least instigated this insurrection, and combined with the fact that he didn't raise a hand to try and stop anything. not to mention he keeps lying about having won the last presidential election. i'm with the other caller, the previous caller that said by 2024, trump should be in jail. host:host: what about president biden? would you give him another chance in office? caller: i'm not sure about president biden. not because he hasn't done well. i am pleased with his performance so far, president

biden's performance, but my only concern is he is getting older. my preference would be that someone a little bit younger would win that election but yeah. trump should not be allowed to run. if he is allowed to run, there is something seriously wrong with the laws and the constitution. host: dr. president biden, you mentioned age. is it a performance issue, as far as his ability to be resident? is that a concern? caller: maybe. he's a little slow and i am pleased with his performance over all, but we are talking about a couple years from now, maybe a little bit longer and we are all getting older. i think the constitution should

be amended to say past a certain age, people shouldn't be allowed to run for president. but no shame on president biden. i want to keep reiterating, i think he has done well. host: who is a younger democratic candidate that should run? caller: i don't know. host: we will continue on for the next half hour on the line, and you can call in (202)-748-8001 for republicans. democrats, (202)-748-8000. democrat -- independents, (202)-748-8002. the issue of age is the -- when it comes to president biden, the headline, breaking the biden age taboo. the president is down in the polls and his low approval rating may cost democrats control congress in november. the problem can't be the party ideas.

. the problem has to be mr. biden, suddenly not up to the burden of the oval office that has aged even younger men. you must have to feel sorry for him. more of that if you want to read that in the wall street journal. donna is in missouri, republican line. caller: am i on? host: you're on, make sure you are not listening to your television and keep talking into your phone. caller: ok. on the question, i would vote for president trump. i am really tired of hearing about all the bad stuff that president trump has done when he's done so much for this country, and in my town, gas was under two dollars a gallon

before joe biden came in and with the stroke of a pen and got rid of the keystone pipeline and cost thousands of jobs right there alone. he is just ridiculous. he is not competent at all. joe biden has got to go. host: why would you give president trump another chance? what is it about his candidacy or his former performance that you would support? caller: i support president trump in everything he does. he moved to the embassy back to jerusalem. no president has ever been able to do that. none in history. he has done everything that he said he was going to do. he did, and more. people may not like him. that is like the january hearing thing.

they don't even have any republicans on the committee, except two rhinos that are nothing but democrats. they are republicans with democrat values and all they do is sit and lie. host: those january 6 hearings, the next one today, 1:00 is the start time if you want to watch it on c-span3. you can also follow along on the c-span now at and watch it on the c-span website. this is from mao, texas, democrats line -- am a, texas, democrats line -- emma, texas, democrat line. caller: hello. personally i think donald trump should be in prison by then, and

i think joe biden is just a little bit too old. what do host: you mean by that host: -- host: what do you mean by that? caller: we need a younger person in. like people are saying, they should put an age limit on the presidency, around 70. host: as far as age is concerned, do you think that is impacting president biden now? caller: not really, but for another four years, i would like to see somebody younger. as for donald trump, he should not even be on the ballot, nowhere. he should be in prison. donald trump tries to run this

country like he runs his family. he wants it to be like putin. and his family. host: let's go to atlanta, georgia. republican line. caller: hello. my position is if donald trump winds up being the nominee, i will vote for him. i think biden is a clear and present danger to america. he is not up for the job. i hope we don't have any more crises. you asked the question, who should run, somebody younger. i would hope that nikki haley would run because she has both executive experience and international experience. somebody her age and experience would be welcome. if trump happens to be the nominee, i will vote for him again. host: because you brought up

age, is age an automatic factor in your consideration for a president running for office? i know you said you would vote for trump again, but his age something you think of first? caller: i think donald trump has mental acuity and his age does not matter. it is time to hand things off to a younger generation. if it turns out somebody other than trump, i would hope it would be nikki haley but trump is very strong. if he is the nominee, i will vote for him again. he did a great job last time. people are trying to find a legal way to block him which is not going to happen. we will see what happens three or four years from now. i think trump is going to be the nominee and he will wind up winning again, unless they figure out a way -- get a

candidate that can compete with him. host: one of the people on the sunday shows was michigan republican, fred upton. he was asked about the republican party and if he thought that the party itself would back another trump candidacy for office. here are some of his thoughts. [video clip] >> i have said from the beginning, i think donald trump is going to be a candidate in 2024. the voters still like him a lot. we have seen that in michigan. he's had a number of decisive wins, where he has endorsed candidates and they won. he's had a few losses as well, but he certainly entertains a majority of the republican base and he will be hard to stop and as we look at the economy and gas prices and different things, folks are not really happy with

the biden administration, which is why he is mired at a level below even where donald trump was at this point in his tenure. >> what does it say to you, about your party that even after what we have seen over the last week, that you say is pretty damming, that republican voters still might make him the nominee if he does run? >> it was a close election. it was close in 2016, certainly close in 2020. you've got the base voters who are really upset that it didn't go their way, and they are loyal as can be. host: some of you responding by text. richard from florida saying our national debt is the biggest problem facing the country and will result in a change in world order. net of the current president or former president trump the political courage to take it on. dave from annapolis saying i am retired and on a fixed income. things can't be any worse except

for stagflation. can't wait to vote republican. marcy in kansas, saying i am a republican but my family, country and countrymen will always come before republicans. if there was a race between president biden and trump, president biden would most definitely get my vote, adding the words character counts. if you want to text us, you can do so at (202)-748-8003. let's hear from john in milwaukee, independent line. caller: hello. there is no way on this earth that i would ever vote for trump. in the four years he spent in office, it was daily misery. endless whining, lying, corruption, ripping off his donors, january 6.

i don't care what the republican voters think. there is no way this guy deserves to be in office. the people that say he should be in jail are correct. host: and president biden? would you support if he made another run for office? caller: my vote would go against trump. if biden is running, i vote for biden just so my vote didn't go to trump. it is pointless putting that guy back in office. host: let's hear from donald in arizona, line for democrats. caller: good morning. i would never vote for trump again. i voted for him, but i knew shortly after that i made a mistake. i don't think either one of them

should run again. who i would like to see is elizabeth warren. she is smart, she is younger. i think she would be a good president. host: what is it specifically about senator warren or her policies that you would support her presidency? caller: she's got a lot of energy. she doesn't mind saying what she's got on her mind. if you don't like her, then -- but i think she would give these republicans a run for their money. i think joe biden is getting a little slow in his old age and trump is such a crook. i've been watching these hearings and i don't know how any republican could vote for him, that nutcase. host: when you say president biden is getting slow, what do you mean by that? caller: you can tell in his

demeanor, the way he moves, the way he speaks. he used to be a smart guy when he was younger. i think he would have made a good president a long time ago. he is just getting too old. host: that is donald in arizona on the line for democrats. other news when it comes to congress. representative greg pence, brother of former president mike pence is recovering after undergoing a heart procedure over the weekend. his office announced over the weekend that he had a procedure after experiencing minor chest discomfort. he is expected to make a full recovery and is quoted as saying, i want to remind everyone to seek medical attention when you aren't feeling well. cardiac care cannot wait. doing nothing is civilly not an option, adding that he is thankful to the doctors, nurses and staff at the hospital for their proactive attention. brenda from georgia, republican line. caller: yes.

i would vote for trump any day. they talk about putting trump in jail, what about putting biden and his son in jail? they are covering all this up. groceries was down, gas prices were down. i would vote for trump again. host: what other specific reasons would you give trump another term in office? caller: because he is a good president and he is truthful. he's always told the truth. host: independent line, this is bob in petersburg, virginia. you are next. caller: good morning. i agree with a lot of people calling in that mr. biden has gotten too old to run again. i hope he gets through these four years without any more trouble. i think a good conservative would be ripped -- mitt romney.

i hope people realize he is a decent man. i think he may be the top person. donald trump, if they don't put him in jail like they should, and the rest of the ones still hanging on to him, it's going to be a civil war. it's not going to be an election in 2024. host: we saw senator romney make a run for office in years past. why do you think he has the potential to become president? caller: i think then, it was a different thing. trump came up like a fireball and people did not look at him and see what kind of a rotten person he was, all his life before he became president. if they had, he wouldn't have gotten elected. independents like myself voted him in. there was a reason why he got in. a lot of decent republicans out

there know that he committed -- tried to commit treason, and the rest of them are still trying to do it. that is why i think -- i hope this country does not go to war with each other. we are divided and people are always talking down. host: that is petersburg, virginia, bob. the hill highlighting another poll when it comes to people -- 58% of voters said they were open to supporting a moderate president of candidate in a contest between president trump and biden. it also said the survey found a majority of voters said they didn't want either to run in 2024. 63 percent of respondents said they didn't want president biden to run for a second term. only 37% said they did. adding that 55% of respondents said they did not want president

trump to run again. 45% said they thought he should run again. the man who conducted the survey said america wants to move forward and not back and if they are faced with a trump-biden choice, it'll be an unprecedented opportunity for an independent candidate to run and win, adding i've never seen a number this time for an independent run. our next caller in massachusetts, democrats line. caller: yes, i would like to say that i would like to see anthony blinken in office. i think he has made a very excellent secretary of state, and he has a background. i also like elizabeth warren, but people seem to want someone in office who is attractive to them, and just someone they could have a beer with or something, someone who is actually dedicated and looks to

the details is the person i would like to see running this country, not someone i would like to just have as a friend. host: as far as the current president, do you think you should make another run? caller: i would prefer that he doesn't. however, i don't think it is a good idea for him to say right now, that he is not running. i think that makes him a president who doesn't have much influence. host: why do you think it is not a good idea for him to make another run? caller: i think that he is a little older, but i know it is difficult to get someone in office who isn't that well known. i know antony blinken is not that well known even though he is the secretary of state.

most people don't know he is the secretary of state. i know you have to have someone very popular, but the popularity is based on something like a tv show is not the way to select a president. host: ok. going to florida, this is al on our independent line. caller: good morning. thank you for letting me:. -- thank you for letting me call in. i don't think we need trump or biden to go in for reelection and here's why. do we really want to play the record over again if trump gets in? yes he has that a lot of great things, but then you get all the disrespect. it is not presidential. you've got biden, and i'm sorry,

i think something is wrong with him because he constantly messes up on speeches. he does a lot of rhetoric. i don't think the country is going the way that they wanted it to go, so i think new blood, maybe some people who don't have such dark pasts with all of this going on between bidens and trumps and all the crazy business deals that everybody has done. i think we need new blood, that somebody can come in and say, he seems like a decent person. desantis/pence may not be a bad thought. warren/buttigieg may not be a bad idea. host: would you put the current vice president in the mix? caller: yes, absolutely.

why not? i don't think she has been very effective. however i don't think she has done anything horribly bad either. if they could find a decent ticket with decent people, why not? if somebody else a chance. let's let the country try to heal and bring every together. when trump was in, family members wouldn't even eat dinner with each other. this country keeps dividing. host: you made that point, thank you for the call. this is from a viewer on twitter, saying that the u.s. needs somebody who can bring new ideas, and that has not been in d.c. for decades. tony says on twitter, both are 2 -- both are too old and trump has been made radioactive by his

actions and the campaign. brian in massachusetts, tweeting us as well, saying no, they both need to go away. if you want to post things on twitter, @cspanwj is how you do that, also on facebook. janice in san diego, california, republican line. caller: good morning. i am flabbergasted when i heard that caller said she picks joe biden -- thanks joe biden is doing a very good job. unbelievable. everybody is calling in, talking about how trump is such a crook, and one of the other callers said she would never vote for trump because of what he did with the casino. i find it absolutely unbelievable what short memories they have of biden's historic crime bill, and how they are so

forgiving of all of joe biden's crimes, past and present with his son, but all we can talk about his trump. as far as voting for joe biden, never in a million years what i vote for somebody who can't even stand up half the time. host: i'm assuming you would vote for president trump again if he decided to run. why is that? caller: i would vote for trump because trump said what he meant and he meant what he said, he got the job done and with all of that russia faked garbage, he still got more done than any president in my lifetime. like the other caller said, we all had more money. life was grand when trump was in office. he got on my nerves sometimes with his adolescent behavior but the one thing people kept ignoring is that we didn't vote for trump because of his personality. we voted for trump because of his policies and he kept his word. not one other paid for long time

politician has ever done that. [indiscernible] host: let's go to maryland, this is matt on the democrats line. matt, hello? one more time. let's go to rita. rita is in wisconsin, independent line. caller: good morning. i would never vote for trump, and i'm hoping that justice will be served and he will be in jail. i think this is a good chance for us to get an independent. i would vote for bernie sanders. age does not mean anything to me, but my social security and

my medicare and my grandchildren's education and the price of things, i would definitely vote for bernie. host: what do you think he brings as far as those concerns you have? what is it specifically that would make him a good president to you? caller: because he does care about people and he does want to make sure that our social security keeps going on, and medicare for all. so many of these problems, young people can't afford to go to school anymore. i've got four grandchildren in college right now and it is unbelievable. i would definitely vote for bernie, and i hope that donald trump gets put in jail. that is where he belongs. host: rita in wisconsin. for the next few minutes, you can still give your opinion as

far as reelect ability of either current president biden or former president trump if they decided to run in 2024. there is a new poll out saying almost six in 10 americans say they want for president trump commonly charged in connection with the capitol riot on january 6. 58% of americans think president trump should face terminal charges for the role he played in the riot. wendell in virginia, republican line. caller: yes. i think we ought to have some new people in. we should not have all people. trump is got too much publicity around him. [inaudible] i think somebody's got this idea

that is a lot younger, there is a possibility we could do some things. [inaudible] i think that is what we need. [inaudible] it's bad. host: who should that younger person be? caller: i think it should be younger people. host: do you have a specific candidate in mind? caller: is bernie sanders younger? host: i forget the exact age,

but it is up there i think. what do you mean by younger? caller: i want somebody who can do things and understand where we are at. we don't need anybody in their 80's. host: our producer is saying that bernie sanders is hitting that 80 year mark. thank you for the call. let's go to carla in arizona, democrats line. caller: good morning. it is amazing how we don't hear any young people calling in this morning. maybe they are asleep. mostly older people calling in. it's amazing how they are just knocking down our older presidents. i think i want biden to stay in. when you have somebody else,

they can disrupt and we don't even know what they are about. the democratic party has a lot of people coming up in the ranks. let's wait for them to come in. but biden, most presidencies want to do the eight years. i hope he stays. i hope he continues doing what they need to. forget the republicans. i don't know if they will ever be in office again. one more call on a republican line. conrad, go ahead. caller: we should give everyone a chance to run for president. my own party is saying that they

want put donald trump in. he had his chance, and he showed his behind. republicans used to be about family values. he is not a real republican. he is an opportunist. for anybody to say that they want to put donald trump back, if anybody who had done january 6 was not a white person. host: who should be the republican person to run in 2024? caller: anybody other than that idiot. the republican party is men with women's panties on.

host: we will take a look at the federal holiday yesterday. president biden is back. we will talk about what to watch for in washington with two guests joining us we will be joined by jarrell dillard who reports from bloomberg news. we will also hear from joey garrison. we will also hear from american action forum president and former cbo director, douglas holtz-eakin. that is all coming up next on washington journal.

>> the january 6 committee is at 1:00 p.m. eastern. you can watch it online at any time. you can also visit our website c-span.org/january 6 to watch previous hearings and other videos related to that day. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. as these six presidents recorded conversations in office, here many of these conversations on c-span's podcast. season one focuses on lyndon b. johnson. you will hear about the civil rights accident, the march on selma and the war in vietnam.

not everyone knew they were being recorded. certainly johnson secretaries knew because they were tasked with transcribing many of those conversations. they were the ones who made sure that the conversations were taped as johnson would signal to them through the open door. >> i want to report of the number of people assigned to kennedy the day he died in the number of people assigned to me right now. >> presidential recordings, find it on the c-span now mobile app.

use the qr code to receive the schedule on book festivals and more. book tv every sunday on c-span2 or any time at c-span.org. listening to programs on c-span through c-span radio just got easier. tell your smart speaker "lease and c-span radio." catch washington today for a fast-paced report of the stories of the day. listen to c-span anytime, just tell your smart speaker listen to c-span. >> washington journal continues. host: we have a busy week here in washington dc and here to help us break down what might

happen is joey garrison from usa today and jarrell dillard from bloomberg news. host: there is another hearing, the focus on elections. what should they watch for in this hearing rather than other hearings? guest: today they are focusing on election officials. last week they focused on the pressure campaign on the vice president but now they are turning to state officials and one of the main one is brad rafflesburger who was told to find more votes for trump.

as well as the arizona house speaker. host: have they said why a focus on elections is an important aspect to look at? guest: the committee is trying to prove that trump wanted to overturn the election and do was a multifaceted campaign on the state and federal level, that is what they are trying to prove with these hearings. host: let's turn to the white house, joey garrison, when it comes to the economy, can you fill in the blanks there? guest: he told reporters that he would have a decision on the gas tax holiday by this week. i think that surprised many that this was under consideration. the white house said this was on the table.

sit it democrats on february put this proposal out there -- send it democrats put this out there. it would only save drivers $.18. there are questions about whether it would deplete funds that are earmarked for infrastructure road projects. president biden will have a decision this week and if he does take it, it will be his boldest step towards cutting back gas prices. host: the president is also expected to meet with oil executives to talk about various things, what is the nature of those meetings and what is he trying to get out of them? guest: the nature is high gas prices and the use of refinery

supply and gas supply. biden wrote a letter to ceos to scold them for having record profits during the first quarter of 2022 and he told reporters yesterday that he wants to get an explanation to how oil companies have a $30 billion profit during inflation. biden says he is exploiting this. . it will be interesting to see how this plays out. host: our guest will be with us until 8:45, you can call (202) 748-8001 for republicans, (202) 748-8002 for democrats and for

independents (202) 748-8003 you can also texas. text us. guest: the senate has been debating about gun control bills. they have been working out a compromise. they released a framework including funding for red flag laws, trying to close the boyfriend loophole, increased background checks for younger gun buyers. funding for mental health services and safety. sticking points proved to be the red flag laws and the boyfriend

loophole. that refers to a law that prevents domestic abusers from buying guns, and that only applies if they were married to the victim, had children with the victim or some type of long-term relationship. there was also disagreement about red flag laws that john cornyn wanted the funding to be available to states that may not enact red flag laws but could use it for other purposes. host: what is the potential for seeing actual legislation this week, considering that after this week they should be out for two weeks? guest: they might be making some

headway, but like you said, there is a short timeline on this. at the end of this week, congress is going out for a two week break for the fourth of july. and then in august they will go on a reset and then midterm elections will be the focus. host: if it were possible to see a debate, with the house be the same? guest: it depends on how quickly the senate can get this done. host: the numbers will be on the screen if you want to ask our guest questions. back to matters of inflation joey garrison, the president is still dealing with how to combat it. what is the strategy overall with dealing with inflation?

guest: the president is facing a lot of criticism for not articulating what the vision is to combat this. right now, the big question is whether we will move into recession. you hear the big line that it is not inevitable. the treasury secretary, janet yellen, put it out there. two oil prices, they have tapped the strategic reserve and in terms of the strategy to fight inflation, the white house has been proactive to let the federal reserve to exercises independence. interest rates have been raised by the fed, last week another three fourths. we have had

unemployment reached a low that could start to rise as a result of these strategies. the white house is walking this delicate line of telling the american people that the economy is better than when we took office according to job growth, but at the same time, there is a lot of anxiety out there in the public. president biden is also telling the american people that he hears them and understands them. going into november, this is not a good spot. it is just the bad spot right now for the president and in our usa today poll reached a new low in his approval rating of

39% that is a dangerous spot for the president and for democrats. they have resisted this push for the gas tax suspension but the president is so limited and thinks he can do to fight inflation so this could be a step that voters could understand and that is why it is being considered. host: if you are just joining us we have joey garrison from usa today and jarrell dillard from bloomberg news. you are on the line, go ahead. caller: i am 20 eight. i am a young person i am definitely watching.

we should stop -- one thing i wanted to say president biden would be different than trump. president trump never took any blame for doing something wrong. sometimes when you take responsibility people appreciate that. i know it will hurt in the beginning when you take the blame for something, if you let people know that it will get better. host: thank you christopher. democrats in congress, are they

behind this generally? guest: in congress there has been some debate over the gas tax but right now, they are looking at the president to see what he is going to do on gas prices. democrats are working on how to tackle inflation in prices in general. they are working on trying to revise a reconciliation bill to alleviate prices. that is obviously a big problem heading into the midterms. guest: democrats mark kelly and raphael warnock were in tough reelection fight so you can see why they might be interested in it. after president biden's comments

yesterday, this issue was discussed historically and it brought back memories from 2008 when john mccain and hillary clinton pushed the suspension of the gas holiday and barack obama was against it. it would be interesting to revisit some of those comments if biden goes forward with this. host: we have a democrat from missouri, this is troy. caller: it seems to me that the democrats are always wanting to get a committee together when the republicans do something.

if we lose our democracy, there is only one party to blame. the democrats get committees together and they talk about it and the republicans do things. i hate to think if we had world war ii, they would just get a committee together. host: are you saying that the january 6 hearings are necessary ? are they not necessary? caller: it seems that the democrats just want to talk about it whereas the republicans do things about it. host: if the house switches

over to republican party what can we expect as far as investigation of the current administration? guest: the january 6 committee and subpoenaing different people we can probably expect that from house republicans. we might see some of that retaliation from republicans if they gain the house. guest: if the republicans were to get control of the house judiciary committee, you might see hunter biden hearings, or hearings on the withdraw from afghanistan. house republicans in the new majority would want to have

public hearings on. host: what is the mood among democrats in the house about losing power in november? guest: they are remaining optimistic they hope to retain power but they have a lot of things on their plate. they are trying different things to see what they can do in order to gain voters supported the midterms. host: let's go to tom in portland, oregon. on the republican line. caller: the comment was made that on all these tv stations, it is a good thing that they talk about the biden things that

are going on. i was calling to ask either one of your guests, joey garrison and i forgot the other one. host: jarrell dillard of bloomberg news. caller: instead of talking about all of these problems, somebody needs to get in front of joe biden's face and say, we are tired of hearing all of your spin, all of your lies. the united states is not ready for this rotten green deal. host: what would you like our

guest to address then? caller: get in joe biden's face and say we are tired of what you are trying to tell everybody. why don't you just be honest and say -- get off this green deal. host: the messaging when it comes to power. guest: that has not been passed in congress. i am not sure what he is referring to there. climate initiatives stalled a lot of them. he goes to the g7 meeting next week challenging the world of state, in terms of messaging.

we could be at the beginning of a slight shift here. the white house has been guarded in terms of limiting the amount of times he speaks to reporters. last week is the first time he sat down with the press, he talked to reporters multiple times. you have been hearing a lot of allies of biden saying just let president biden be biden. they want him to put his message out more assertively the problem is now, with so many challenges now, find the right message is the real hard part. host: the democrats are also

looking for that message too. guest: they are looking for unified messaging heading into the midterms. host: arnold from virginia on the independent line. caller: this goes towards the media. for the past four years of the previous president, all i heard about was russian collusion. the american people did not forget about these things and that is all we heard about. the first question i have, what happened to the russian collusion? that was on the first page of your newspapers.

the second statement i have is, with the media today, do you guys recognize why people don't trust the media because of the inconsistencies that you guys present when it came to president trump versus president biden and all of the catastrophic things going on today. host: as far as coverage of the administrations and how it might change from one to the other? guest: i'm not sure anything happened to russia. there weren't any charges pressed for it. there started to be an impeachment process on the

ukraine call that president trump had. it was a story and we moved onto other things. as far as the reputation of the press, i try to hold every elected official accountable. i wasn't a reporter during the trump years. we don't try to have any difference in terms of our coverage when it comes to different politicians. guest: i would say the same thing, try to hold everyone accountable. i was not a reporter on the hill at the time. i try to remain unbiased and hold every official accountable. host: from michelle in illinois,

on the democratic line. caller: i'm so tired of hearing of blaming pelosi and the d.c. mayor. has anyone ever read the executive order signed by hoover under the federal law, the president is in charge of the d.c. national guard. the only other person who can authorize it is the secretary of defense. not pelosi, not mcconnell. the republicans have to do your homework it is common sense. host: another hearing today, another later this week. once these series of hearings

are done where does the committee go from here? guest: they will be referred to the department of justice for prosecution and the members of the committee has said that is not their jurisdiction. they are legislators that want to lay out the facts that happen from the election to january 6 and afterwards. they said it will be up to the department of justice to decide whether they want to prosecute anyone as they have been prosecuting people who stormed the capital. guest: they have outlined the blueprint for possible criminal charges if the justice department wanted to go in that direction. above all, they made the point that president trump new these

schemes to overturn the election were illegal. he knew that vice president pence did not have the authority to reject certified electors and appoint new electors. he was knowingly defrauding donors when he asked for campaign funds based on the big lie. i think there is plenty of meat therefore marek garland to use. -- meat therefore merrick garland to use. host: if they have the appetite to do so. guest: the politics of doing that are enormous. merrick garland has not

indicated one way or another. the white house has not said which direction they wanted to go. they have not taken a stance in terms of that. we will just see how it unfolds in the coming months. host: has anyone indicated that they want to see charges against president trump? guest: they have said that they just want to lay out the facts and they are not going to suggest prosecution. guest: on the sunday shows you had jamie raskin tiptoeing saying that these are serious allegations that could rise up to the possibility of criminality but being very careful not to politicize the justice department which after

all, they accused donald trump of steering the direction of the doj. host: this is eric from michigan on the independent line. caller: the last four or five weeks i have been watching your show before i go to work. i am proud to be an independent. the rs and ds call and no one is listening to each other. the election of 2020 was removing the stench of donald trump out of the white house. biden was not a great candidate. he did not even have to campaign. he had two previous attempts at the presidency and there is a

reason he did not fare well. i challenge anyone, if you supported him in 1980 eight 2000 and prove it. anyone could have run that position and one that office because that is how much americans despise trump. these january 6 hearings are galvanizing a trump base. there is no way -- host: i think we have your point. president biden plans to run again. guest: he said he plans to run

again, he has to say that or he makes himself a lame-duck before the midterms. if democrats lose the house, which i think is widely expected. and the senate, there will be a lot of pressure to stay after that from democrats to begin the process to find someone for the 2024 ticket. if there is an open primary for that seed that is a dangerous spot for the democrats to be. there could be intraparty fighting, there is no logical candidate, no front runner. it would be a wide-open race. it would be a weak spot for democrats.

president biden only gave himself a democrat in a position to be donald trump. -- beat donald trump. he needs to put some careful thought when running for reelection. i think he sees himself as the candidate who can bring the coalition together. host: jarrell dillard, do they support another term for president biden? there have not been others saying that they would run. host: even bernie sanders said he would not make another run

for it. guest: to clarify, after those losses in november that is when you will concentrate on that. host: about 10 more minutes with our guests joey garrison from usa today and jarrell dillard from bloomberg news. caller: i want to ask mr. garrison if there is any more information about meeting with the oil execs and what does the biden administration hope to hear from them? how does that match up with the plan of the saudi trip. do you have any information on that? guest: saudi arabia trip is

still ago. president biden will go to the middle east later this month. we haven't gotten a full account from the white house about what rod out that meeting. -- what brought about that meeting. he wants to ask the oil executives about these record profits and it will be interesting to see where this discussion goes and we will learn more about it. host: this week perhaps the supreme court will lay down decisions, one concerning abortion. how is the white house preparing for this? guest: when politico reported the draft opinion the white

house said they were preparing for it. if abortions were to become illegal in many states, they will talk more about -- they have had weeks to prepare for this. there is a limited number of things they could do to help women in the situation who are trying to have an abortion. politically, president biden has tried to say there is a possibility of overturning the ultra-maga agenda. a way to cast republicans as this extreme right wing version

that is out there. that is how they have message this. this could happen any week now and it will be another political firestorm. host: how is the senate preparing for this? guest: they don't have the votes to pass anything on abortion but they will use it to campaign for the midterms. they will talk about what is happening with women's rights and lgbtq rights on the state level. guest: president biden said abortion rights are on the ballot but the big question is

will people be more concerned about that or inflation and evidence has suggested that even with roe v. wade being overturned economic concerns are top issues for voters. host: from jill in ohio. caller: the reason i am calling in, i want to bring inflation down because i don't want to see republicans taking over the house and senate. one thing not being discussed enough as the labor shortage. every sector of the economy is suffering with it. i want people to earn more money but there is just not enough people. oil companies are taking laborers from other companies and they are struggling to find

workers. i would think that would be the number one topic of conversation. the labor participation rate is going down, even pre-pandemic because of retirees. we don't have enough people to bring into the labor market and i think we should be looking at immigration. guest: the refinery issue will be a topic of discussion with oil executives and in terms of the labor shortage, unemployment is very low and there is wide availability. this is an issue that is being discussed, i don't have all of the answers you are asking for there. i know it is something that the

white house is looking at. host: the house is looking to vote on a bill on veterans. can you explain to the viewers what this is about and is expected to pass? guest: i'm not familiar with this piece of legislation. host: what could the house take up this week other than what we have talked about? guest: on the hill this week, the january 6 hearings. it has smaller bills that they are working on. the gun talks will be a major focus this week. host: we have anthony from staten island, new york. caller: when trump left office

inflation was at 2%. that's why nobody cares about this january 6 committee. you guys in the democrats hammered trump from day one. that guy got hammered. president biden has ruined this country and you guys protect him. host: he made the statement that no one cares about these hearings anyway. guest: how interested is the public in these hearings? they hope that americans are able to watch the hearings and

draw their own conclusions from what they saw and they hope that would be enough to help them in the midterms. but also, to the other question to the hearings being one-sided. kevin mccarthy did put people forward to be on the committee and nancy pelosi did remove a few people. only liz cheney and adam kinzinger who have been vocally against trump are on the committee, that is one of the reasons why it seems one-sided. guest: the testimony has been from former allies, former trump officials. these were people working in the white house, working in mike pence's office.

sometimes they were even family members of donald trump. i think that needs to be pointed out here when we talk about it being one-sided. these are not democrats talking into evidence, these are republicans speaking into evidence. host: joey garrison is with usa today and jarrell dillard is with bloomberg news. (202) 748-8001 (202) 748-8002 for republicans (202) 748-8002, for democrats. we will take your calls, coming

up. >> c-span is the weekly podcast brings you over 40 years of audio recordings from our library comparing the past two today. on this episode, watergate in g gordon liddy. we remember g gordon liddy in this episode of c-span's "the weekly." he served five years of a 20 year sentence and reinvented himself as a radio talkshow host. >> it occurred to me that they might have me assassinated and i didn't want some amateur doing it with the shotgun through the kitchen window.

so i said, if they wanted to go that route, i need to go stand on a remote streetcorner without harming any of the taxpayers. >> you can find "the weekly." on c-span now or anywhere you get the c-span app. >> c-span has unfiltered coverage of the u.s. response to the invasion of ukraine. we also have international perspectives from the united nations and foreign leaders all on the free mobile app and c-span.org/ukraine. our resource page where you can watch the latest videos on demand and see journalists on the grain. the ground.

>> washington journal continues. host: you can text us if you wish at (202) 748-8003. you can post at our twitter feed at http://twitter.com/cspanwj, and on facebook facebook.com/cspan. there is a runoff race in georgia, and alabama, president trump had endorsed mo brooks. however, brooks recovered enough to put him in a runoff. one advantage of this runoff is the president's endorsement which is given her a solid lead. an emerson college poll rated

katie britt at 45% which widened to 59%. that is in the state of alabama that are holding primaries to the lead up to the november elections. as our guest reference, the january 6 hearings are starting at 1:00 this afternoon. you can also follow along on c-span.org. this is open forum, the line from democrats this is diane. caller: i wanted to share how nice it is on c-span when you have a topic and independents,

democrats and republicans share thoughtful comments. there are many times when you bring up something when the republicans get on the phone and they are very angry and they get off topic a lot and they repeat how president biden is incompetent, the immigration gates are open and it is just not reality. it is frustrating because you have so much proof and evidence to oppose that. especially, with the january 6 investigations you have on video how that group of people broke into the capital. it was not a peaceful protest. i cannot tell you how frustrating it is. when you have people who

complain about biden and they make false statements, it is not enjoyable and i just appreciate those days when we get republicans, and everyone who can say honest, truthful statements. that was diane from florida, this is john. caller: my major topic was when a caller asked the usa today about the russia investigation and he acted like, i don't know. they found that the democratic campaign committee constructed this phony, fake, false dossier

and got it to the fbi and got it into circulation through the process and eventually hillary clinton's campaign manager said hillary authorized making public that dossier so that every body in washington knew was phony. are we to believe this guy who was asked a question that he has to know what is going on and he plays totally innocent. host: that was john from california. this is elliot from new york city. caller: good morning and thank you for c-span. i want to comment on the

abortion ruling that was leaked from the supreme court that we don't know if it was real or not. a lot of people say in interviews that i hear they like the decision because the returns abortion to the political process, and returns it to something that people can do it about. everything is in the political process. i will give a historical example. in the 19 20's there was prohibition. -- in 1920 there was prohibition. they realize it wasn't working so they amended the constitution so it would no longer be prohibition.

that is the political congress. the state legislatures can call for congress to pass amendments or the voters can vote in congress people who will pass those amendments and send them to the states. host: let's go to robert in florida on the republican line. caller: i've got a comment on the fuel shortage. the military and the u.s. postal service. host: that was robert calling in. this is the headline from the washington post, second american reported killed. he died on may 15 while fighting

in the conflict. that was an obituary published in upstate new york. the state department is in touch with the family. the story adding that the news of his death, after two other americans disappeared in ukraine this month. let's hear from john in lakeland, florida. caller: [inaudible] host: one more time for john. let's go to kim in iowa. caller: people are talking about

gas prices and inflation. if we don't talk into a democracy we turn into and atop receipt. --autocracy. they are trying to use both sides. we have the democratic party fighting for democracy and the republican party for fascism. we are worried about gas prices and inflation but if we don't have a democracy, that's the problem. host: we will do open forum for about the next 20 minutes. (202) 748-8001 for republicans, (202) 748-8000 for democrats, and (202) 748-8002 independence.

international rules would not apply to those captured in ukraine. that is state department calling on the kremlin to live up to their international obligations in their treatment of those captured in ukraine seeking the geneva conventions be applied in those captured its be humanely treated. axios has the story following up on the conflict still going on there. charles, go ahead. caller: my concerns are with

people not getting up to go vote and change what is happening. people like to talk about it but they don't like to go and vote. that is what needs to change of this country. thank you. host: chevy, in california. caller: what makes me frustrating when trump was running, i have dyslexia. sometimes i see words backwards. people say that you can go into a precinct of vote twice. once you sign your name, that is it you are done. when biden was vice president, i don't know if it was on 60

minutes or one of those programs, they were asking him what was the biggest threat to the united states at that time and he talked about russia and china. he said that before russia could get nuclear weapons out of the ground they would bomb us. y'all need to check that stuff out. i'm not worried about china, i'm not worried about russia. america is a strong country. we all need to come together and stop this name blaming. host: the washington post reporting that 8.5 million tons

has become china's largest source of crude. that was released on friday. saudi arabia accounted for 21%. that according to an analysis. another matter of energy when it comes to europe, europe struggles to boost stores of natural gas. some are months are known as filler seasons. it is when they replenish their underground storage systems. it has become a lot harder after russia cut its main supply to europe by half. germany rolled out emergency

measures that they will restart coal plants. this is from diane, in florida on the republican line. caller:this story adding that tb has become a lot harder after russia cut supplies to its main pipeline to europe. germany rolled out a series of emergency measures saying it would restart coal-fired power plants and offer incentives for companies to curb natural gas consumption this is from diane in florida. jacksonville. >> good morning. -- caller: good morning. i would like for congress to change the law where presidents are required to take a mental and physical exam.

i would like for people to start crying about -- stop crying about the prices of gas considering other countries gas are almost twice as much as america. i think we are a little spoiled in america. we need to cut down on unnecessary spending. we are so spoiled about buying everything we want. when there is an economy problem, you are in so much debt you can't afford to get out. we need to take a hold on our spending and we need to just start testing some of these presidents and other politicians. host: independent line from virginia. caller: i personally think they both should run again. it's up to them.

i will be voting for trump whether they put him in jail or not. but if people want to vote for biden which apparently a lot of people do and turn this country into sodom and gomorrah, i think most people know what happens. host: that's a viewer in virginia calling in. npr highlights the fact that a new campaign add from eric greitens now running for u.s. senate prompted accusations of glorifying violence and was removed by facebook for violating rules against glorifying violence. he is shown bursting into a home with guns. he says here in going -- he is going rhino hunting. there is no backing or tagging

limit did that being highlighted by various social media companies and the ad available on the senator's twitter feed. from michael in deerfield beach, florida. democrat line. caller: c-span on saturday was the only one that aired the march for our lives full video and they gave america a choice. a national slowdown of the economy or banned weapons of war. there's been a full blackout. i would even ask c-span management to get on this and make a concerted effort to get the word out. i can't believe i'm saying this. both mainstream media and fox news are part of this blackout. the u.s. senate the very next day, that sunday got together just to fill the sunday news

cycle so that it wouldn't be aired that they and the unions got together and said students stay home if there isn't significant legislation passed. as hard as this is to believe, clearly the corporate interests are not only in full control of both parties and the media and everything we see, the students need to stand their ground they've got this. the other thing i want to mention real quickly because you were talking about the presidential election, history is inevitable. there was a covid-19 genocide. they went on tape, both trump and desantis here as saying that they wanted to keep universities open for the express purpose of increasing the spread of disease. the national science foundation estimates from 250 650 1000 people died to the incompetent response of the government. host: that's michael in florida.

the march for our lives rarely still available on our website. june 11. go to the website if you want to watch that full rally. john in texas. republican line. caller: good morning. first time color. i barely just have a question. was trump not tried on the second impeachment for the uprising at the capital and found not guilty? would that be not double jeopardy? host: i don't know the technicalities of the second impeachment of he was impeached in the house but acquitted in the senate? caller: correct. he was acquitted. so how can they retry him again

in the justice department for the same thing? host: one is a political process. you are talking about a legal process. harry in georgia. independent line. caller: hey c-span. thanks for letting me talk here. you had a woman call up and said these republicans come on and repeat these fox news talking points. the next guy came up and started talking about the mueller report and how hillary clinton spied on trump and concocted all of this. the steele dossier was originally paid for by bernard marcus, paul fisher and sheldon adelson. three huge republican donors who were trying to stop trump. they only sold it to the clinton

campaign after trump got the nomination. the mueller report came up with over 200 contacts between trump campaign workers and russian intelligence agents. so that was found but they said they couldn't get him on conspiracy. too many people refused to testify. host: ok. i will leave it there because there's a lot of tangents. if you are interested in going back in time to revisit those days and the investigations that sprung from that, go to our website at c-span.org. hearings and segments and everything related to that you can find at the website. wto. the local radio station here in washington, d.c. saying the

first woman joined congress more than a century ago but it wasn't until this month that any of the 540 rooms in the u.s. capitol have been officially named for the u.s. senate. margaret chase smith of maine and barbara mikulski of maryland, the longest-serving woman in congress both had their names added above rooms on the first floor of the capitol building. barbara mikulski was on hand last week for the formal dedication of her room. denise from new mexico. democrat line. hi. caller: good morning america. i've always been a democrat. i'm 60 years old. i love the democrat party but i am kind of concerned with the prices of the gas.

i'm very concerned when i go to our neighborhood grocery stores. there is a lack of inventory. the prices of everything has gone through the roof. i have a good retirement and run a very small business. my concern is for my grandchildren and all these young parents trying to raise children in america. there's jobs that people aren't seeming to want to work. we go down the road and there are so many help-wanted jobs. we are not getting -- i'm praying for the country. i hope we can get together and unite as a country. they are the united states of america. we are a strong country. i hope the republicans and the democrats can work together so we can continue across the country.

host: children under five can receive the covid vaccination. we will talk about that later on today. you can see the comments from the various people on that task force. that january 6 two 1:00 this afternoon. charles on the independent line. caller: this is charles in virginia. what concerns me is if the republicans win the senate in the next election, they are talking about a 20% reduction in social security and doing away with medicare. i think that will affect all people and that's going to be bad.

host: ok. jerry in virginia as well. republican line. caller: good morning c-span. the lady earlier thinking about the national guard response on january 6 said it was up to trump. that is not true. they had an actual congressional hearing that covered that subject. you do your viewers a great service if you would go to your archives and pull that up and replay it. host: our viewers do a service if they do that themselves as far as looking back on those various things and they have the ability to do so on a lot of different fronts. go ahead. caller: it was proven that donald trump had authorized the department of defense to make troops available if requested by either the d.c. mir, nancy

pelosi or chuck schumer. one other point i would like to make. earlier they were outright lying when they said they did nothing about russia collusion hoax. if they didn't have their heads in the sand, they had to know. host: ok. robert in north carolina. independent line. caller: we have a problem with the republican party. the republican party has been radicalized by donald trump. there's no getting around it. it's hard to believe i'm watching people -- donald trump is going around getting people to have criminal records like that gentleman from missouri who wants to kill rhinos. why isn't the republican party

speaking out against people like that and saying we don't want people like that in this party because you are a criminal and you have bad intent. it's hard to believe that even at the state level -- these people are radical, dangerous, capable of anything and where is everybody in washington watching this happening going on day after day and we have people calling up just lying. the truth is disappearing. it's a reality show. host: jack from virginia. democrat line. good morning. caller: as a lifelong democrat, the issue i have with the current administration is we just went through a process of looking at we impeached a

president over half $1 billion to go to ukraine and yet now we are giving ukraine $40 billion that came out of nowhere and this is money that now we are talking about inflation, high gas prices and local communities where you have individuals who can't find jobs. what really makes my blood boil is that it's kind of like the democratic party seems to have lost the point of why january 6 even happened. you have black lives matter, you have also people who believe in replacement theory who both have something in common. that is their government is not focused on them. our government seems to have found resources for others but continue to have the problem of finding that resource for americans.

host: ok. one more call. from florida. republican line. your last call. caller: thank you. to the gentleman who asked about impeachment and double jeopardy, impeachment is a political process. what's happening now is a criminal process. when are americans going to wake up and understand that the government has three separate branches that are supposed to govern co-equally to keep checks and balances. this democrat thing republican thing, we are americans. we have to come together to save the country. host: last call for this is that of open phones and to all of you

who participated, thanks for doing so. the event that was supposed to be following this show, the white house covid team's statements on the cdc vaccinations for those 5-year-old has been postponed until thursday. you can go to our website for more information on that. when marcus joining us this morning. american action forum are present and former cbo director douglas holtz-eakin on the state of the economy. that conversation coming up on washington journal. ♪ >> american history tv saturdays on c-span two. exploring the people and events that tell the american story. on lectures in history, university of south carolina president -- professor patricia

sullivan on the civil rights movement and the involvement of martin luther king jr. and robert kennedy. she talks about the racial unrest in urban areas and the creation of the kerner commission. at 2:00 p.m., harry truman signed the presidential succession act of 1947 after franklin roosevelt's death elevated him to the presidency. scholars discuss how the succession act has worked since then. exploring the american story. watch american history tv saturday on c-span2 and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online any time at c-span.org/history. c-span shop.org is c-span's online store. browse through a collection of online products, apparel, books,

home decor and accessories. there is something for every c-span fan. shop now or anytime at c-span shop.org. c-span has unfiltered coverage of the house january 6 committee hearings investigating the attack on the capital. go to c-span.org/january 6 to watch the latest videos of the hearings, briefings and all of our coverage on the attack and subsequent investigation since january 6 2021. go to c-span.org/january 6 for a fast and easy way to watch. washington journal continues. host: joining us is douglas holtz-eakin, former director of

the congressional budget office. thanks for giving us your time. guest: my pleasure. host: remind people about the forum and the positioning it takes when it comes to economic issues. >> it's a center-right think tank and we are interested in market oriented solutions where possible. we do domestic and foreign policy issues. host: when you hear statements about the possibility of a recession later this year, a mild recession as it's described. what goes through your mind when you hear those terms? >> i think recession talk has become a bit overblown. i don't think it's as imminent or threatening as the rhetoric would suggest. the reality is the number one problem is inflation. when inflation has become ingrained you have no real good choices.

the federal reserve will have to let people live with inflation. that's quite unpleasant. or they will take steps to combat it. you don't put refrigerators or furnaces in houses and you slow down large swaths of the economy. every month we are going to hear reports that aren't as good as they used to be. that feels bad but it's the necessary step to slow the inflation. host: jerome powell took a step last week as you referenced. as far as other steps the federal reserve can throw, what can you expect? >> more increases in the so-called federal funds rate. when that interest rate goes up, tenure loans go up.

they are going to push up rates across the board. it's a blunt instrument. that's the game plan. they have signaled they want to move aggressively to what they call neutrals. and take a gauge on whether inflation is slowing. host: as far as the timeline for inflation, what's the best way to think about these things? >> it's a several year thing for sure. when chairman powell rolled out the strategy in its speech, he said they could expect to get to their 2% target in three years. that's a fairly clear commitment by the fed chair. the key to keeping it to three years is that inflation expectation is not getting ingrained.

people expected inflation to be in double digits. people price double digit increases in their products. if people start doing that, it's hard to slow down the inflation. in that era the fed pushed interest rates above 19% to slow the economy. host: you have probably heard if you look at inflation it's only the result of the policies of this president. how accurate is that? >> it's the result of the policies of this president and the federal reserve. if you look back to the on-site of the pandemic. the federal reserve started buying up 120 billion dollars worth of bonds every month. that's pumping $120 billion into financial markets. that was a very effective response and financial markets actually performed pretty well.

we had a big problem. people forget quickly that the economy fell by 10 percentage points in one quarter. it's a terrible time. big response on a bipartisan basis. those were all appropriate responses in 2020. the missteps came in 2021 or the fed kept its foot on the gas all through the year. even though inflation was rising and by late in the year clearly problem. the american rescue plan was just too much too big at the wrong time. host: expand on that. >> we have only had three instances in the u.s. where the consumer price index has jumped. one was in 1951 when the economy was growing at 10.5% and the

federal government expanding right -- expanding by 50 percent to fight the korean war. 1974 we get opec oil embargo. quadruples the price of global oil prices. overnight businesses have to pass on enormous cost increases. we've got a little of both going on in the u.s. economy right now. host: (202) 748-8001 republicans. (202) 748-8000 democrats. independents (202) 748-8002. janet yellen said one strong point of the economy was consumer spending. i want to play you a little bit of what she had to say about that and then get your comments.

>> there is month-to-month volatility put overall spending is strong. patterns are changing and higher food and energy prices are certainly affecting consumers and making them change their patterns of spending. balance -- bank balances are high. lower income households continue to have buffer stocks of savings that will enable them to maintain spending. i don't see a drop off in consumer spending is a likely cause of a recession in the months ahead in the labor market is very strong. >> that's exactly why i think the recession talk is overblown at the moment.

there are lows we have not seen since the 1980's. despite what they are saying, they are spending the money they have in the bank and consumer spending has remained strong. since that's about two thirds of the economy, it's hard to get a recession. host: how much of that money came from pandemic support? >> a lot. suppose people had saved normally during the pandemic. compared to what they actually saved the difference is about two and a half to $3 trillion. host: the biden administration goes forward, one other possible takes can they do to slow down inflation or at least meet its impact? >> there's very little they can do. you don't want to start the inflation because you only have bad choices and administrations

essentially have none. what can the budget people do, they can raise taxes or cut a lot of spending. i don't think you are going to see them do that in an election year. i could get rid of some of the tariffs. i think they would be wise to take a close look at the regulatory burden they are putting on the private sector right now. we keep track of all the regulations issued by the federal government and this administration set the record for the most costly regulation in the first year of an administration. over $200 billion of additional cost. that's a lot. that's part of the supply problem. stop doing that and make things a little easier. host: our first call from florida. joe on the republican line. you are on with our guest this morning. caller: good morning sir. how are you today.

today i'm calling because of what the actual question is. the economic forecast and biden administration policies. they say that if you do not learn from history you are condemned to repeat it. the thing that amazed me more than anything else is that throughout history our country has always had an economic problem. so what i'm saying is that there have been things that have taken place even before i was born. my parents dealt with the depression and world war ii. i was born in 1948 in new york city and there was a lot of economic problems there. the thing about it is i do not know what the economic forecast is going to be. it's kind of like prophetic. you have to wait and see. stir biden's president right now but we don't know how things will be with the next administration matter who it's going to be.

this is when most americans say we are in debt. most americans are living and dead. the governments got to straighten up but i want to live the way i want. >> i think one of the things that i would take away from that question is that it's really important that there be bipartisan legislation. if one party is doing everything over the opposition of the other party, the minute the party changes, you lose everything. if you think about it, we've got a bipartisan infrastructure plan. that's something i think is a model for better ways to go forward. host: president biden still fighting for aspects of his

reconciliation bill. >> are not a big fan of build back better efforts. i have never really added up from a cbo perspective. i'm always looking at what's going on with the deficits and the dead. they have never really made sense. they have simultaneously been too broad so it doesn't do any one thing right. collectively all they have really done is add new social welfare programs to an economy that can't pay for the ones it has. i would rather see them spend their time fixing social security for the long-term and taking care of medicaid and medicare. host: henry is in michigan on the line for democrats. caller: hello. i have two quick comments and that i will ask a question. there's a simple solution to resolving all of the problems that we have about guns, abortion and the economy. and that's for democrats to come

out en masse, overwhelm the polls and vote straight democratic ticket's. get rid of the mansion and cinema president -- presidency and give joe biden the margin he needs. a caller asked if it would be double jeopardy for trump to be tried by the -- host: i'm going to stop you because our guest wasn't here for that. if you have an economic question go ahead. caller: let me ask my question, pd. -- petey. could you please explain to the people that the fed does not raise interest rates in a down or bad economy and that at near zero unemployment, the corporations are profiteering because they want to have layoffs. they want to be able to lay

people off and that way their stock prices can get back up to where they need them to go. host: ok. >> the fed doesn't raise interest rates when the economy is weak and it's raising now because it perceives it to be very strong. the problem is not looking for layoffs. we have about one .7 job openings for everybody looking for work and they are competing like mad to get their hands on those workers. what we have seen in the past few months is smaller businesses have been tremendous difficulty hiring and the growth in the small business employment slowed the most. host: is it because businesses are offering pay and perks or people are looking for better options? >> all of the above. as an economist, you know that a company is going to pull all the strings they need to to get someone on board if they have to hire. as someone who is running a small think tank and has 20 odd

employees, hiring right now is hard. host: james in atlanta georgia. caller: he said the quickest way to fix this is bipartisan support in the caller says vote straight democratic down the ticket. people aren't listening to what experts are saying. my question is, is what we are experiencing the result of its natural cycle or are there specific things that we did as a policy with the biden administration that has caused this to occur. >> that's a really good question. business cycles in the 20th century, people would get laid off and stop spending.

eventually the shelves are bare and you have to start hiring people again and it goes the other way. incomes rose and fell. a lot of our recession fighting tools were replacing income. the business cycle changed in the 21st century and we got the.com bubble. the financial crisis, great recession. this is neither of those. during 20/20 wealth rose. investment took place. the housing market was red-hot. income rose in 2020. money was out there to spend. people couldn't spend it. so this downturn was driven by the virus and the unwillingness of people to go out and actually spend money. i didn't go to concerts. they didn't get on planes and take vacations. when you say this is the natural up and down, this is very unnatural given the historical

record and i think the responses were too much running the old playbook on an old problem. host: the economy picked up. are you seeing another slow down because of inflation and if that's the case, what happens then? >> we are going to see it come down for two reasons. there was no need to be doing more. it was going to slow down as a matter of its natural course. now we've got to flight the end -- fight the inflation. so the economy will grow slower this year and next year is when people can reasonably talk about a heightened risk of recession. host: you brought up regulations. what regulations would you eliminate?

>> it's really not just a matter of eliminating regulations. the obama administration averaged about 100 million dollars a year in regulatory costs. trump administration said to the agencies, here is a budget. we are going to give you a number. how you get there is your business. the reality was you simply readjust the burden to keep it down getting ready things you don't need. and no one is smart enough to know all the regulations. the increase in regulatory costs in the trump administration was essentially 20 billion dollars over four years. its dramatic difference. it can be done. it's not a matter of not regulating. it's doing what you need to and getting rid of things you no longer need. host: let's hear from sarah in ashburn, virginia.

on the line for democrats. caller: i'm wondering if the people who decide to live off of their pensions during the pandemic and they decided to stay home, will we ever see them back in the jobs market being that their investments have gone down? the other question i have is as a senior, of course we have the highest disposable income and we were not spending. now we are spending. i'm spending for home improvements, jobs that need to be done when we couldn't get them done during the pandemic. and the third question is regard to in the carter administration, what was the highest rate of interest on the debt that we had to pay during the carter administration. >> good questions. it's like taking an oral exam. i'm not sure i will get through them all. on the retirees during the

pandemic, one of the really interesting things is it turns out it's very common for people to retire and then we think and say i'm going to go back to work. this is the walmart greeter problem. in the pandemic no one becomes a greeter at walmart. in the pandemic people retired and didn't come back. that has resumed. that phenomenon seems to have corrected itself. there is still a mystery about where some of the workers are. we thought it was too much unemployment insurance but that went away last labor day. we thought it was staying home with kids. we got the schools open again. retirement doesn't seem to be the answer. we are sort of going through the list and we can't figure out what's going on exactly in the u.s. labor markets. it remains somewhat of a puzzle. as far as the retirement

savings, yes. this is exactly the phenomenon we described earlier. you had savings that you are spending, it's supporting the economy. secretary yellen mentioned normalization of the spending patterns. during the pandemic, people didn't spend any money on services. you didn't go to a bar or restaurant. you didn't do lodging services, hotels. we spent a lot of money on goods. and we got a lot of goods priced inflation. if we see anything, probably 2022 will be the year of services inflation and not on the good side. host: of you are asked who paid the feds -- who pays the fed borrowing rate. >> the fed doesn't control interest rates between banks and

those wanting a mortgage or an auto loan or anything like that. the fed controls the interest rate between banks so banks need to have some money on hand both as a matter of regulation and how to satisfy customers. the cost of business gets passed along to customers so you will push up all of the interest rates. they don't all go up by the same amount because some things are riskier than others. some borrowers are riskier. some loans are. all the rates change in response to the fed. host: for douglas holtz-eakin of the american action forum, texas. republican line. caller: good morning c-span. i have a couple of questions to ask the speaker here.

why do we have so many incompetent people in our government in high positions like secretary-treasurer, secretary, doj along with joe biden? why are we having so many incompetent people just running our government? i've been here a long time. i'm older than you are and i am on retired payment and i have just about depleted my savings to keep afloat. answer that question for me please. >> i'm sorry to hear that and i hope you are well. i won't pass judgment on the president. i will say the economic officials, certainly secretary yellen is eminently qualified. she's a former chair of the federal reserve. she is an outstanding economist in her own right and i think she

brings a level of expertise to that job that actually exceeds most of her predecessors. it's been out quite two years and i don't think anyone is particularly happy with the state of the economy right now. i have some complaints. but i wouldn't trace it back to secretary yellen. host: when she was -- admitted she was wrong about how inflation would track? >> i think admitting it so bluntly is a surprise. quite frankly economists are wrong a lot. one of the pitfalls of what i do is you are going to be wrong. i think it's appropriate to say i was wrong. i would feel better if there was a better explanation as to why they were wrong. that's still a bit murky. host: from new york in queens village. democrat line.

caller: good morning. how are tariffs affecting inflation? >> tariffs make the cost of goods higher and that's a one time thing. you put in a $10 tariff, price will go up by 10 bucks. tariffs don't produce inflation, they produce higher prices and then it stops. when prices are going up, taking tariffs off is not a panacea but it would help. host: we are supposed to see the president talk to oil companies. what do you think of those discussions and what is the president trying to get out here?

>> i may not be as old as that color but i'm old and demonizing oil companies when things are bad is not a new strategy and it will yield nothing. this is a global market for oil and refined products. even large american companies by no means dominate it. to characterize them as having lived off this pandemic is completely wrong. they lost money for years until this year and they've been unable to invest as a result. a lot of this is outside their control. as a matter of venting frustration, you call in the oil company execs and give them what for. host: the windfall profit tax. >> bad idea. it's weird to be me in 2022 because these are all the things i grew up with and now they are back.

we are worried about ohio oil prices, inflation at 40 year highs. we've got discontent with now russia then the soviet union. one of the responses in the 80's was we need to put a tax on the windfall profits of these oil companies because we've had a big spike in oil -- spike in oil prices. it didn't lower the price of oil. it didn't raise much money. it was very poorly designed and it really did hurt investment in new production and expansion of supplies. anything that doesn't improve supply is a mistake. host: for our guest in tennessee. caller: i have several comments.

i'm kind of like your previous color. i experience the jimmy carter days. i owned several businesses. i'm retired at the moment. and my real concern is that our administration with its attack on energy efficiency, and they are trying to go with their green energy climate has really disturbed me. there has not been an oil refinery that has been open since 1976 and for them to increase production they would have to spend billions of dollars which has been cut off and demonized by our administration. what i really think is that the administration has caused the problems with supply chain. diesel has not even available as it should be and it's causing

everything to go up. i think our inflation is higher. my question to douglas is do you think that our administration has only shut down, created chaos without any kind of plan in place to see how to accomplish their goals without just shutting things down? host: got the idea. >> the threshold moment is when the president makes the announcement that the top priority of his administration will be climate change. and then adopts a climate strategy which focuses on sectors of the economy. and not using fossil fuels. that puts a heavy reliance on

renewables, wind and solar. solar is largely available from china. now there's a conflict with foreign policy goals and strategic economic policy. in the energy sector, it's unrealistic. we can't get the wind and solar to the capacity needed with the reliability needed on the timescales the administration has laid out. it is at best and extremely risky climate strategy that might not work. it is at worst just distant to fail. -- destined to fail. a better approach would have been to focus on what goes out of the economy, not what comes in. you want to reduce carbon emissions and greenhouse gases in general. there are cap and trade programs. they are stuck with a strategy that for stems -- forces them to shut down things. people be -- pay attention to

those symbols. host: what do you think of lowering gas taxes as a strategy? >> i was the chief policy advisor senator john mccain. he advocated for gas tax holiday. it was a terrible idea then, impossible for me to defend. it's a tiny one time thing temporarily in the face of chronic inflation. host: this is a viewer from twitter saying the problem of inflation -- economic lockdown causes supply disruptions.

>> the supply chain issue is real and it's just the manifestation of the supply chain around the globe. but the u.s. also has the demand problem that i mentioned. if you look at 2021, europe which had all the supply chain problems so it's inflation rise by about one percentage point a quarter. the u.s. got the 1% in the second quarter, we got an extra couple of percentage points. you can't just point to the supply chain and say that's the problem. to do so as to miss the larger policy mistakes. host: brenda is in philadelphia on the democrat line. caller: -- inflation -- i hope

he gets nominated again for the president thing. because under trump administration, this country was going off the edge of the earth. [indiscernible] all the important documents that he took onto mar-a-lago. and i love president biden and tell him i said congratulations. >> the next time i'm with the president i will pass it along. host: george in upper lake, new york. republican line. caller: good morning. my question is does the cost of servicing the debt play a role in the calculus the fed uses for

the rate? >> it's a good question. with higher interest rates will come higher cost of servicing federal debt and higher deficits. the congressional budget office just put out its revised economic projections and interest costs are $1.8 trillion higher in total over the next 10 years than they were before. that's attributed to the higher interest rate environment that we are in. it's bigger than the tax cuts and jobs act was. that's a real budgetary impact. the fed doesn't pay attention to that and should not when setting it is interest rates. it can set rates to control inflation and maximize lung unemployment. that will generate the most revenues for the federal government as a byproduct and the people who have to control the borrowing costs are the

house, the senate and the president. getting the federal budget under control will continue to be a challenge going forward. host: christina in michigan. independent line. caller: good morning c-span and thank you for taking michael. please give me a couple minutes because i'm a little nervous and i'm old so it takes me a while to say things. i have been watching this for years and years. when we had the financial crisis in 2008, that was under a republican administration. i kept hearing republicans saying obama wasn't fixing it fast enough. you're talking about right in doing old stuff, but everything you are suggesting is the old stuff republicans always suggested. since you worked with senator mccain, i remember the woman that ran for vice president with him did a windfall profits tax in alaska on their oil and she

was greeted as a wonderful person. there is just so much i don't understand. i think some of it is the best way to get everybody upset his oil prices because everything we buy it has to be transported. even though president biden isn't in control of this, this is all a result of the pandemic. and we think we can snap their fingers and put everything back to the way it used to be and we can't. therefore a lot of people i know, i talk with them, are not aware of a lot of things. in the pandemic we were told that was a hoax. my brother died because of this hoax. a million people died because of a hoax. some of complications are a lot more than biden doesn't know what he's doing. host: thank you color.

>> i'm sorry for your loss. so many americans have faced. the issue is not putting everything back to what it was prior to the pandemic. i don't think that's the right way to frame it. the issue is at what points can you speed the economy toward lower unemployment, more wages and salaries for people and is there a point where you should just turn that over to the private sector and let it do its job. that was the pivotal mistake the administration made. it's not that they made a mistake every day. they made one policy with the american rescue plan. host: debra in bethesda, maryland. caller: thanks for taking my call and please give me some time here. why you republicans answer to why we have inflation is always the poor have too darn much money.

they shouldn't have gotten the stimulus checks, there were too many of them lifted out of poverty therefore they spent us into this inflationary spiral, their wages are going up therefore we've got to get them back down and the answer is always to raise interest rates which also hurt the poor. it's not the rich who have to borrow for student loans and auto loans and mortgages and other types of credit card debt. they don't have any of that. it's the poor. and they are going to get hit with his interest rate hikes. so you're always trying to balance whatever problem there is on the backs of the poor. i don't see you going after the airlines for example, where they threw billions at these airlines

on the theory they would keep their employees on and then they fired them anyway and now they don't have anybody to run the planes and there are thousands of flight delays. host:.eu, color. -- got you, caller. >> if you look at the data that we had on spending patterns in high income zip codes versus middle and low income zip codes during the pandemic, spending in low income zip codes and middle income zip codes got back to the february pre-pandemic level pretty quickly in part because of the support that came out of the cares act. so that mechanically the piece of the economy that was missing was spending by affluent households because they are the ones that go to vegas to see the shows on an airplane and stay in a hotel and that's a big chunk

of the service demand. there was nothing about the american rescue plan that was targeted on the problem. it was just money going out. we did a calculation. if you had targeted the same amount of money to those people who have been unemployed for 20 weeks or longer in the year before. provide support to people but really targeting those in the worst need, you would have had a bill that was $10 billion, not hundreds of billion dollars. there's a lot of money going out to the nonpoor and that was the problem. host: people working from home and the like, has that changed the economy and what it means for consumers? >> that's a great question that i'm just going to dodge as elegantly as i can. every day you see a column on work has changed forever, people are going to be at home to

people or people, they are going back to their old habits. host: american action forum. org >> georgia's secretary of state and secretary -- and kentucky during the house speaker rusty bowers. live coverage at 1:00 p.m.

eastern and the c-span3. you can also stream the hearing on our c-span app, c-span now or online at c-span.org. >> c-span now is a free mobile app featuring your unfiltered view of what is happening in washington. keep up with today's biggest events would livestream in public hearings. the latest episodes of washington journal and information -- compelling podcast. music now available in the -- c-span now available in the apple store or google play. >>