♪ host: good morning. it's thursday 2000 the house and senate will gavel in at 10 a.m. this morning, meaning we are with you the next three hours and we begin with yesterday's inflation that shows surging prices in june from gasoline to food, furniture, and vehicle sales. the highest numbers seen in decades. we are asking what it means for you. let us now how inflation is impacting your family and how you spend your dollars. phone lines are split regionally

this morning. eastern or central time zones, (202) 748-8000. mountain or pacific, it's (202) 748-8001. you can send us a text at (202) 748-8003. if you do, please include your name and where you are from. otherwise on social media you can trust on twitter, @cspanwj, and facebook is facebook.com/c-span. good thursday morning to you. you can start calling in now. as you calling and we will take you to the front page of the wall street journal. the banner headline, inflation hurtles to the highest since 1981 with consumer price increases have 19 cents over the past year. mitch mcconnell's on the floor yesterday talking about what that number means for the average american. [video clip] >> energy costs are up over 40%. the costs of the fuel that

delivers our goods and drive our economy are all up for seven and they were -- are all up staggeringly and they were fueled directly by the spending spree democrats ran through last year. remember, right before the spending spree president biden said that the biggest risk is not going to big, it's if we go to small. the senate democratic leadership, i do not think the dangers of inflation in the near term are very real. these were gigantic, gigantic unforced errors. one leading economist recently said that the so-called american rescue and was arguably the biggest fiscal policy mistake in several decades.

the core inflation rate here in america is more than percentage points higher than in europe and the inflation is uniquely bad here because are all democratic government has made uniquely bad choices and now american families are dealing with the fallout every single day. it's no secret how much the american people disapprove of the course that washington democrats have put us on. they say so in poll after poll after poll. host: senate minority leader mitch mcconnell after that report from the labor department yesterday. vice president kamala harris addressed the latest inflation numbers from the white house. this is what she had to say. [video clip] >> there is no question that we still have work to do but it is important to note these numbers do not reflect the recent drop in gas prices. average national gas prices have fallen everyday for nearly 30

days. since mid-june prices are down $.40 a gallon and fighting inflation is one of our administration's top economic priorities. which is why we have taken action to lower the cost-of-living for millions of americans. we are releasing one million barrels of oil per day from the strategic petroleum reserve to lower prices at the pump. we have reduced high-speed internet bills for millions of americans and we passed a tax cut to give working families up to $8,000 a year, meaning giving folks more room in their budget to buy food, medication, and school supplies for their children. president joe biden and i are always fighting to make sure that working families get ahead and stay ahead. that is why we continue to call on congress to pass legislation to lower the price of prescription drugs, of health

care, and the other everyday essentials that will meet the needs of american families. host: the vice president, yesterday at the white house. calls from the biden administration for fresh spending hitting fresh resistance from inside of the democratic already yesterday in the form of senate -- the form of senator joe manchin. "just when the president -- the democrats seem close, joe manchin pumped the brakes

host: that from "usa today." in the wake of this report, what and how is inflation impacting you? the lines are split regionally. (202) 748-8000 for eastern and central time zones, (202) 748-8001 for mountain and pacific. we will show you more reaction from the floor of the house and senate in the first hour, but mostly we want to hear from you. we will start to the call for rocking him, nor airliner, good morning. caller: good morning. i'm on social security and people with fixed income like me , it's killing. one question, every time the government gets involved, they always say cut the military pay and cut social security pay. i'm going to tell you, we can't take that cut. if it's terrible now, we have a

hard time making it from paycheck-to-paycheck with social security. host: you talk about military pay. this week one of those efforts on the house floor, a new defense spending bill. the headline from "the washington post, house set to approve a record 800 for $40 billion record defense spending bill with some 1200 amendments awaiting passage, a lot of work to be done on that bill. we will be talking more about the status of that bill in efforts to get it done before congress leaves for the august recess tomorrow on the program. randall, here in washington, d.c., you are up next. how is inflation impacting you? caller: people forget that obama gave trump a perfect economy after the great recession. trump added all of these crazy

policies that began to push us into a potential bad place. then when he ran for reelection he was concerned that the rate hike that the federal reserve was trying to do to get nation together was going to affect his reelection chances. so he put in powell because he didn't want the rate hikes that they were trying to do. you all never talk about that aspect of inflation. that the federal reserve was trying to attack it and because trump wanted to be reelected, he wanted them to keep the rates historically low, which was an aberration. the rates have never been that low and should not have remained

that low and even now they remained low. but because of how the prices skyrocketed because they tried to counter those low interest rates, it made prices extremely high. i wish you would an economist or somebody to talk about that aspect because this is sort of a nerve here, a lot of times, leaving out those central facts. host: we talk about interest rates a lot on this program and there are a lot of russians right now about what this report on inflation is going to mean for a potential rate increase. the fed has signaled they are at three quarter percentage interest rate increases and have been recently, but the question about whether this latest work could spur a full 1% interest rate interest as the fed tries to bring inflation under

control, "the wall street journal" noting that three fed officials who spoke runs they did not say if they were in favor of a 1% in recent they did not rule it out, saying that everything was in place for rafael bostic, according to reports from "the wall street journal." we don't have to make that decision today," set another fed official. mitchell out of new jersey, good morning, you are. caller: from my perspective living in new jersey, i live in a very populated area near manhattan. what i am seeing, my anecdotal experience, the prices are extremely high for basic commodities like gas and. and a lot of other things.

but i am also seeing roadways packed with cars. i mean we just got through the july 4 weekend and there was traffic and congestion all throughout the area. i know, i drove in it. the restaurants are packed. the airports are packed. the stores are crowded. you have this kind of dichotomy of people feeling the pinch but no real letup amongst people's spending. it's definitely different from what i experienced, let's say in 1980 under the reagan administration when the prices were really high. also employment was weak. those were commensurate problems. my feeling is that it is going to take a while to get everything straightened out and

going in the right direction and that we will come out of this probably less scarred than some of the people are suggesting right now. host: talking about alarmists, last friday we were just talking about a much better than expected jobs report and questions about whether the, whether this economy can shrug off a potential recession. the recession talk eating up a lot more after yesterday's report. we seem to be bouncing back and forth between whether this is a good economy, about economy and what the numbers tell us. caller: for me, personally, i have spent more money in some respects but i've been able to work remote, so that cuts down on my expenses. probably a bit of a wash. i think you know, the criticism that the recovery bill probably

inflated prices is probably accurate. by the same token it probably also really created a robust jobs market so it is kind of a wash and if you look at the circumstances, most of this inflationary trend that we are in now, it's international and it really has to do with, you know, just turning all the lights back on again after such a disruptive international economic catastrophe from the pandemic. host: thank you for the call from the garden state. this is earl, washington, west coast. caller: i think what we are looking at here is a fight between the rich and the poor. for years we talked about how we were going to soak the rich,

raise taxes. i think it started with the great shift after the pandemic, stuck out in the middle of the pacific ocean. why in the middle are the greeks having to ship our products. but it it is being characterized in the wrong way. inflation is not some mysterious thing. it's just rich people robbing poor people trying to take back the stimulus money. i think it should be talked about in that way. it's as simple as that. the rich robbing the poor. host: patrick, good morning. caller: it's a stunning reality when you look at the foundation of our economy and the fundamentals of how the american people are being destroyed.

you know, i have been a democrat for 20 plus years. i will be voting as a republican because this obscene assault on the very foundation of our democracy, the economy, it's elitism. democratic elitism versus the reality that doesn't exist and it comes to people surviving and they don't want you to survive. they want you to be sick. they want you to be impoverished. people need to vote like their lives depend on it because the democratic already has declared war on everything in this country. every aspect of it. tack. they are merging social media platforms with the news platforms. they are not even hiding what they are intending, which is some perverse dystopian reality that the american people could

try to out a living or. host: you said you are voting republican this time. you have called into this program before. i don't think that you voted for joe biden in the last conversation we had. this is your first time voting republican, is that true? caller: i was a republican for 20 years, change parties when george bush junior, the sycophant who lied to the american people and engaged us in a nonstop war of lies, deceit and manipulation. now i have changed my political party after another 20 years because as alan dershowitz said, this is a democratic party that is unrecognizable. soviet and its reality, nothing to do with democracy. you have social media platforms being weaponized against people who are conservative and i've got to tell you, you know, the entire community in this country

, whether it is african-american, gay people, they are not buying the lies anymore. you cannot weaponize one party against another in think there will be consequences because guess what, there is going to be. host: patrick, pennsylvania. this is cheryl in provo, utah. good morning. caller: good morning, good morning. i just wanted to tell you. my opinion is that we should be talking about what's going on. telling our neighbors, warning them. i purchased three potatoes and they caused me -- because me -- they costs me three dollars -- they cost me three dollars. we need to start planting food in our gardens and the spaces we have because i don't think it is going to get at her. we need to talk to others and help them know how serious this

is. host: have gas prices gotten any better for you out there in utah? caller: no, no. host: the national average of gas prices has come down. the new york times pointing that out on their front page story, talking about a ray of hope when it comes the latest numbers, calling gas rises tumbling over the past 28 days. energy analysts say american consumers are spending 100 and $48 million less on gasoline each day than they were a month ago if this time for a -- for the more visual learners out there, this is gas buddy.com with their average gas price chart. you can sort it by whatever timeframe you want. this is just the past three months with gas prices eking on the chart around the middle of june and then coming down steadily since the national average in the near $4.60 range.

if you would like a longer view of that, here's a two-month month review of those numbers going back to the fall of 2020, you can see the rise and dip there in the last month at the very end of the chart. rich, greensburg, pennsylvania, good morning, you are. caller: my take on inflation is that we were taught in economics class that sold employment is i don't know, 4%, 5%, 4%, it's a fluid number. there are still millions of jobs that aren't filled and we are at 3% on ointment and the only way they will get filled despite employers putting upward pressure on the price of labor. that is going to dump further fuel on the fire. not to mention the american

rescue man. i live in west moreland county and our county i think has 110 million, 120 million from the american rescue plan and it hasn't even been the way get. i guess it's in the bank account of the county, but right now they are just talking about you know, building a parking garage for the county and doing this and that. if that's the case for all the counties in the united states, that money hasn't even been exchanged for goods yet. this is just the beginning i think in the 17 nobel laureate that the administration likes to quote saying you know, that they didn't think inflation was a problem, i'm not a nobel laureate, i don't know what else to say, man. host: comments from our social media and text messaging service, kathy says barely keeping up, cannot say for a

rainy day. times are tough. we need a proper government intervention. derek saying he would rather be in this situation and sitting at home over a year like i'm in a zombie apocalypse and global inflation isn't worth overturning roe v. wade. jim saying that his freezer is filled with meat and beans in case there's a food shortage. inflation made me real mad at republicans. they created this with massive tax breaks at the top during the massive president -- last presidency and that's just for starters. you can text us as well, (202) 748-8003 is that number. or go ahead and call it like rent did out of mississippi. good morning. caller: good morning, sir.

i wanted to say it actually boils down to the money in the system. 2020, we had $4 trillion in chelation. as of today we have $20 trillion in circulation. there is the nation right there. you can blame it on biden or whoever you want, but it really boils down to the money in circulation if you want to get down to it. so. that's it. that's all i have to say. host: thanks for the call. lou, texas, good morning. caller: good morning morning, everybody. there's a subclass of this tree now not about. they pooled the assets that they have over their lifetime, leave jobs in golden parachutes, they go out and they purchase residential apartment complexes and then they become, this was all foretold by a famous fellow

i used to listen to. where everyone will be renters. it'll be a feudal system and this is the beginning of it. the united states will have this feudal system like the chinese. it's like europe is going back to the feudal system two. they will never have any property rights or gun rights. this is all designed by the, the fellows who are over there in israel at this moment. host: from the front page of "the wall street journal," inflation numbers, groceries are up 12% over the past year, furniture is up. household energy is up 22%. airfare is up early for percent over the past 12 months. there's the top, leading to

spike in inflation numbers. gasoline up 60% in the past 12 month. we noted it come down in the past 28 days or so but still, plenty of discussion already this morning about gas prices. and on capitol hill yesterday. this is the house minority whip, steve scalise from his republican press conference yesterday. [video clip] >> if you try to go to the gas station, gas prices are so high you might not be able to fill out. it's a kick to the got for low income families. these are joe biden policies. everybody knows it. if you don't wonder where the problem really lies, just look at he says. every week he tries to blame somebody different. if it really was vladimir putin's fault has been his fault two months ago in three months ago and one week ago but that is not where joe biden is. he tried blaming tenant, the oil

companies, covid at one point. then the refineries. then local gas stations. the one thing he hasn't done is looked in the mirror and blamed himself. joe biden is on his way to saudi arabia to egg them to oil. he went all the way to france to be told by the french leader that saudi arabia doesn't have enough oil to meet the needs of america and in fact the saudi's are a cartel and a member of opec. he had been begging putin for more oil. he will be begging iran and other to radical dictators for more oil when we have everything we need here. he can just court -- go to port who shone in my district where there are vast reserves that cannot be produced because he won't give permits to exercise leases. people cannot produce the wealth because joe biden said no to american energy. host: steve scalise on capitol

hill, noting president biden continuing his middle east trip from israel to saudi arabia and president biden put out a statement yesterday in the wake of that inflation or to saying that importantly today's were shows what economists call annual cork collation came down for the third month in a row and is at its first month since last year where the annual core inflation rate is below 6%. conflation being the most pressing economic challenge according to the president, hitting every country in the world, low comfort to americans to know it's higher in europe and many countries there than in america but it is a reminder that all major economies are battling this covid related challenge made worse by putin's unconscionable aggression. president biden is a new israel right now and is going to be traveling to saudi arabia. expected to speak this morning

at an event there in israel. there's a live shot from the travel waiting for the president to speak this morning. back to your phone calls, we are asking you how inflation impacted you. if you --(202) 748-8000 if you are in the eastern or central time zones, mountain and pacific is (202) 748-8001. mike, good morning. are you up in the finger lakes? caller: yes, that's correct. inflation is hurting everybody. i don't know how anybody, a husband or wife with two or three kids, i actually heard somebody say the other day that they had to call in and tell their boss they can come to work because they had to make a decision between buying food for the family or gas. it's just getting ridiculous. i just really, really hope that by the time november gets here, all these people in office

begging for your vote, they are the ones that allowed the situation to happen. you know it's ridiculous and you got to sit if the -- you got to think do i feed my family or go to work. thank you. host: brian, grand rapids, good morning. caller: yes, can you hear me? host: yes, sir. caller: the inflation hasn't really impacted me. i'm an old man. i drive around on a bicycle, trying to avoid being killed by a lot of the motorists that are driving around quite rapidly. when i go to the store i look for the cheapest stuff i can find. my girlfriend here, tamera, has a job in town. caller: i look through the prices at walmart and i spent quite a bit of money there. i know how to find a sale.

i shop for bargains. caller: there was tamera. host: i appreciate the double comment, there, from grand rapids. sue, flint michigan, good morning. caller: good morning. caller: my car got totaled in a storm that we had in may and i'm having a hard time finding a vehicle. it's a lack of vehicles. even a used vehicle, the price is ridiculous. host: would you prefer new or used right now? caller: you are at a point right now for you can't find either one of them. i had a 2013 order edge. -- ford edge. i cannot find anything that i can afford at this point right

now. the interest rates are rising right now. you have to pay cash for it or it's ridiculous, you know, what you will pay on interest. host: hooking up the numbers for you, use vehicles are up 7.1% in the past 12 months. new vehicles even more. 11 point or percent. would you consider an electric vehicle? caller: not where i live, it wouldn't be practical, we are in a remote area and there's hardly any charging here. at this point i can't do that. host: so, what is the plan if you can't find something? caller: i have to find something, my husband is bugging me all the time about it. i know, i have to find some. but i'm going to wait until the fall and see if the inflation and everything else gets better. if it gets better, then i will, you know, i have to purchase a vehicle.

i'm borrowing a vehicle right now. i don't have much of a choice. but i have been holding off in looking and i think lack of vehicles is a big problem, too. host: you are optimistic, you think things will get better? caller: it's slow but it's going to come. you know? that's my big problem. gas and groceries are an issue, too, but this is a big ticket item. you know, in order to get a halfway decent?, used one, you know we are looking at 30,000. i always get extended warranty with mine. so we are talking up there. no i'm just going to have to, you know, go ahead and get it but i think in the fall, you know, towards the beginning of winter, i think things will get better. my opinion. we'll see what happens. host: from flint, michigan.

dave, california, good morning. caller: good morning, john. first time caller. i just wanted to comment and talk a little bit about unemployment and how [no audio] host: and how it is what, dave? dave, hate for you to drop your first call. still with us? dave, give us a try again. don't want your first call into and that way. we will get you back on the air, we lost you, there. david, michigan, good morning. caller: good morning, c-span. yeah, the inflation is a little bit high, but it hasn't stopped doing anything i wanted to do. i flew twice. three times already this year. first time i have loaning 25 years. i was kind of nervous but i'm back flying. flying. i saw with that lady was talking about with the car, trying cars

are us or something, that's how i found my, i'm waiting to get my new car. i'm getting a cts 2015. i love it, i can't wait until they get it all finished. inflation is not really hurting me. i think our government, i think biden is doing the best and with this economy from the fall of the disease that the world had that you know, killed so many people. nobody knew what to do. the whole world is going to the same thing we are going through. the republicans are trying to blame it all on biden but biden can't be the whole world and all the developed nations in the world have the same problem we have except worse. i think that if the democrats win in november things will turn around. thanks. host: in a little less than an

hour from now we will be joined by dr. george benjamin of the american public health association. washington journal viewers know him well from his appearances on this program throughout the pandemic and we will be talking about the latest variance -- variants. stick around for that conversation just over 50 minute . susan, good morning. caller: good morning. i don't have a great big problem with inflation. i noticed it going up airing the truck years. and in the grocery stores it kept going up and going up. i'm also old enough that i lived through the gas lines of the early 70's. and the late 70's. the inflation of the 70's and the 80's. in the 80's, when all the rich

people got really rich and somehow i look around me, when i go out, what do i see? everybody driving brand-new cars . where do they get the money for these monster cars? why does everybody have to have a monster truck, a monster car? these gas guzzlers. we learned about this in the 70's. you don't buy a monster vehicle, a gas guzzling car when there is a shortage of gasoline. if you just need the car for short trips? maybe, i noticed everybody has to have this different fat ass car. i don't understand it, it's an unneeded extravagance. some people drive these tiny

cars, seem too small to me, but i drive what used to be called a subcompact. it's rather old but it is still working fine. host: you have been through these before, any other lessons from recessions past to help the u.s. avoid recession in the near future? caller: don't electron. he is the one who took all the money and gave it away to his cronies. that is why he wants to get back in office. they will keep him in power again. the oil companies are still getting subsidies from the u.s. government. why? they don't need us to help them along. they are doing fine. host: victor, birmingham, alabama, good morning. caller: good morning.

how are you doing, john? host: doing well, victor. go ahead. caller: ok. inflation is not messing with me. inflation is a thing of the past. a thing of the past. inflation is what you call, is what you call, is what you call something that has happened each individual. inflation is what you make it. do you understand? vic durr -- host: victor, thanks for the call. earlier we talked about joe manchin and his concern over a new spending package that he hopes to push through before the

fall. more discussion on that yesterday from capitol hill. congressman mikey cheryl, democrat from new jersey, who spoke about a potential reconciliation bill that she said could be formed without burdening americans. here's the comment from yesterday. [video clip] >> we are not interested in new spending, we are interested in making deficit neutral. negotiating drug prices will give us some honey as well as i think looking at fully funding the irs, annette gagne to fully collect those taxes in a fair way for tax cheats but also concerns over those in ration numbers that we don't raise taxes on anyone in my district. as i mentioned i just had an affordability roundtable and we are talking about people looking at that as red meat and beef

because the prices have gone up so much we passed great legislation to increase capitation with me losers to drive those prices down. we have firefighters in my district who are not going to the shore because he rents a house every year and now his overtime that usually goes to pay for that is actually paying for his cost-of-living. these are real impacts on people in my district and we are looking at ways to drive the costs down and like i said, passing really good legislation. the gas prices, start bringing that down by ensuring that week improve agricultural supply chains, get the fertilizer prices down. we are looking to address that but i think that what we are concerned about is making sure that as we passed the new reconciliation bill, to do that again as it originates in the senate for us, looking at that, making sure that it is revenue neutral. host: that was yesterday during

the house democrats weekly press conference. 20 minutes left in this segment and we are asking you, in the wake of yesterday's report from the labor department, the inflation numbers reaching the highest numbers in four decades. how has inflation impacted you, your spending. how does your family make their check -- choices on spending their dollars? (202) 748-8000 for eastern and central time zones, (202) 748-8001 mountain and pacific time zones. georgia, your next. good morning. caller: are you with us question markcaller: yes. -- host: are you with us? caller: yes. host: go ahead. caller: good morning to you guys. i'm calling about the inflation hike that affects me and everyone. even though it has risen to where it is, it upsets me a lot.

if anybody focused on what was going on, the republicans put it on biden. but if you can recall, back when there was a war, anytime there's a war we go into inflation. seems like everybody forgets about that. when i had the thing with this inflation, the people under pressure with this inflation, it's because of the fact like i said, they try to do everything they could to bring biden down. i'm not a democrat or republican. but what i can see is that if you open your eyes and see what the republicans are doing. they are not trying to help. you cannot bring biden down without bringing the people down . they have tried every way they can to bring him down. you can't bring one down without bringing everyone else down.

they use that as a trick to take the office back. it's the trick of 2020 where they do everything in their possibility of doing and what i'm saying is that they are more than complicit with what's going on now. just like when living in canada and they had all those trumps to stop. it wasn't biden. the republicans have done so much behind the scenes to make it look like it's the democrats. host: akron, ohio, good morning. caller: democrats, it's amazing to me how devoted they are to biden. inflation starting the minute -- the minute he gets into office, shutting down the stone pipeline in the united states and then the second that impacted our inflation has been the spending that the democrats have created

with the federal government. i don't understand how people don't see this. our country runs on cheap energy. we don't have cheap energy? rices go up. everything runs on cheap energy. our fertilizers come from cheap energy. our gasoline comes from cheap energy. that's pretty much all i have to say. host: i suspect you would agree with the editorial board of "the wall street journal" this morning. "this should discredit the policies that brought it on, the splurge of spending in 2020 and 2021, keeping the spigot open for too long. whatever short-term fiscal health if provided with trillions of dollars in welfare payments has been more than offset i inflation, the u.s. needs to return to growth

economics rooted in stable money supply-side tax deregulation with fiscal restraint. do you agree with that? caller: yes, i do. i haven't seen that this morning, but i will go back and look at it. yes, i absolutely do. it's policies, the policies that created this problem. it's not going to end until we get a new resident in office. host: this is brenda, mooresville, north carolina, good morning. caller: hello, yes. the high gas prices in the high food prices have definitely affected me and my husband. we are on fixed incomes. we are senior citizens. i'm not sure how some of these people who call in cannot recognize what is happening to our country.

when biden took office in january of 2021, inflation was at 1.1 -- 1.4%. now since he has been in office for over a year, it is at 9.1%. all of this started when biden stopped the drilling. all of our prices on gas went up. i agree with a guy from ohio. this country will not be any better until we get rid of the administration that is in office now. thank you very much. host: hyattsville, maryland, good morning. alice, you with us? then we will go to karen out of clinton township, michigan. good money to you. caller: hello, good morning. i just wanted to say that regarding the nation impact on

myself, i am, can you hear me? host: yes, ma'am. caller: ok, sorry. i live alone and i'm on a fixed income because i'm retired and i do have a little bit of pension money coming in. but it doesn't meet the inflation that has gone on here since biden became an office. it's all due to yell and dragging her feet, saying it is transitory, that the inflation would be transitory and we would be out of it in a matter of a month or two, which never happened. we are still in it. we are possibly going to head towards a recession. my lease is due up in september. i am going to have trouble trying to find a car, number one, never to trying to be able to afford a new vehicle. on top of that. even used vehicles, as you were

saying, have gone sitter late. so i just wanted to say that in the end everybody is blaming trump for all these problems when the minute that biden took office, everything went downhill. because he just put the boss on all of trump's policies. now we are in the predicament that we are in. he is blaming everyone but his administration for what's happening to our country. i just don't understand how everyone can see that with their own eyes. during the trump administration hour economy was humming right along. gas prices were the lowest they had ever been. the stock market was high. our portfolios were doing wonderfully. and now everything has gone down the two. host: have you checked your portfolio lately?

caller: yes, matter of fact i have a meeting with my financial advisor next month about everything. so, it's not doing great. it concerns me a lot. and i, you know, i am trying to sell my home on top of everything else. but i have nowhere to go. that's a problem, too. i can sell my home at a decent price i might, i can't find anything out there that i can afford. if i wanted to rent, the rent prices now are skyhigh. i'm kind of between a rock and a hard place. i'm just kind of laying low until things kind of even out, which i don't know. that will probably happen in 2020 four, hopefully. that's where i met. -- i'm at. host: on the issue of stocks, stock falling yesterday after data showed inflation reached a four decade high.

it's the fourth consecutive daily decline for the 500 the dow jones industrial average declining 4.7%. text heavy nasdaq composite losing another 17 2%. -- 17.2%. gas, antioch, illinois, good morning, you are next. caller: good morning, can you hear me? i don't know what's going on with inflation. to me the way i see it, i'm going to make money no matter what and i don't understand how inflation works. but people seem to be complaining and i noticed that when i walk -- when i go out to the best restaurants and stores, people are shopping and spending money, but no workers. that's what aggravates me the most. i don't know if that has to do with inflation or what, but nobody wants to work. host: what line of work are you

in? caller: construction. i remodel homes. for insurance claims and stuff like that. there is more work than i can handle right now as there's always been more work and i can handle. i end up passing on higher prices so i don't have to take the work and make a mess. i keep getting jobs i don't want and i charge the high prices just so i don't get them in they keep saying yes. i don't care where the people are getting money. nothing for me has changed. i'm 51 and i have been doing it since i was 18. it doesn't seem to matter who's in office, who is not in office. i don't know what causes, but doesn't cause it, but my lifestyle is never changed. host: is there any material pricing have seen --

caller: shortages? yes. that's the only hard part about the situation right now, people asked me to what them a price i tell them that i can't quote you a price that will last very long because i don't know what will happen with materials but i can you this i can give you a price on labor and if you want to buy your own materials and people say yes, i will buy the materials, give me the price on labor and it works out great for me. and that i tell them off the bat, i can't get this stuff, switch to a different material and i give them options. everybody, i don't know where the money is coming from, but everybody has a lot of money where i live. i live on the water with a nice boat. people are complaining, the boat, everybody's out on boats. the gas prices are pretty high. but everybody's out out there on boats. host: just under 10 minutes left

in this segment of the washington journal. over on c-span2 if you would like to watch the president biden press conference as he travels abroad, he's in israel right now, that's getting underway, taking russians from reporters there. so if you are interested in that, in his closely watched trip in the middle east, over on c-span2 we will still be here on this network if you come back if you want to watch that a little bit or stay with us and continue the conversation about an asian. we are hearing from folks around the country about how patient has impacted you. fran, jacksonville, florida, good morning. caller: as far as inflation is concerned, i have noticed it most in my insurance payments. my car insurance, by homeowners insurance have gone up can relate -- my car insurance, my homeowners insurance have gone up considerably and i don't know

what to attribute it to. i'm 71 years old and a senior. i'm single, i live alone. so i don't care for any extra income. but that's an issue for me. one more thing, the gas bill? i really, really believe that the oil companies are taking advantage of the pandemic and everything that is happening. and it's not because they haven't been able to drill. i hear people calling up and talking about drilling. they've got you know, hundreds or thousands of leases. that means they have got drilling land tied up so that small companies and nobody else can use them. they still want to drill in alaska off of my coast in florida. because of california. they are just greedy and this is so unnecessary because the profits of all of these needs

they are talking about are skyrocketing and our money goes to those corporations and they are pocketing it. host: this is tracy in indiana, noblesville. good morning. caller: good morning. i wanted to say something about inflation as well. i live alone on an adjusted income. the costs of gas, the costs of, we are also forgetting the costs of electricity, insurance, medication. everything, it's not just the gas. every single thing has gone up. i have a fixed income and i don't have a source of income to go ahead and make it through each month. i'm running behind about $450 per month and each month gets worse. i'm wondering where the government thinks we will come to get these things. no programs will be be eligible for. we -- they aren't out there anymore.

as far as biden, i think he can change it. i think he needs to stop worrying about the far left and get them off of him and he needs to go ahead and be the person he said he was going to be when he ran for office and we could turn this around in a heartbeat. we have to drill our own land, take care of our country, not all these other countries. i guess that's what i wanted to share. this is causing too many people working and costly for those at home trying to make ends meet with their fixed incomes. host: a few more comments from social media as we wrap up the last five minutes in this segment. a professor on twitter saying that it's simple economics, the government needs to spend far less. that's all it takes and then it asian will go away. janet saying jfk asked not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. what is required of the american people to overcome inflation? spend less?

drive last? what? maybe we can put that question to some of our members of congress who will be joining us this morning. deborah ross will be with us in about five minutes here, the democrat from north carolina. until then, this is raymond in texas, good morning. caller: yeah, i feel like biden has done the best that he possibly can with what he has been dealt. i feel like the last administration wipes there but with america and left biden what was left. host: all right, michael, pensacola, florida. good morning. caller: inflation is worldwide. check your gas prices in canada and mexico. germany. it's worldwide. it's not just the united states. president biden doesn't have anything to do with what goes on in france.

we need to adjust our living based on this economy. i have strategically driven. i go to the grocery store one time a week. i go to church one time a week. i don't do a lot of driving. i lived through the 80's. i have been through this before. i live through the 70's, where we could gas. on sundays we can get gas. this type of thing will go and pass. it doesn't have anything to do with the thinnest ration. thank you. host: shirley, new york city, good morning, you are next. [indiscernible] caller: i just want to say to so many people that are republicans , i haven't seen republicans try to help biden in anything.

everything biden do, it's like no one realizes inflation is global. that we are not the only ones. i go to the supermarket and oh my gosh, i passed chopped meat, $19, $20. $31 for rib steak. posted on the media. it's price gouging, you know? biden can't be blamed for all of this. at the republicans come through on all this stuff that trump has done? is the republicans coming through, speaking on what biden, what trump has done. host: that was our last -- onto our last call is this segment. the mountaineer state, good morning. caller: how are you?

host: what's going on there when it comes to inflation? how has it impacted you? caller: i think for me, it doesn't seem to, people are learning from past lessons. i mean if you grew up in the era of reagan and all of that you saw all the changes that took lace when we went with the flow that used to be the gas lines. this shouldn't be about democrats and republicans. it should be about showing us what we can do. in the same sense, the government can help us in the way they do that is by using all of the resources that we have in this caller: they can do it, they just need to do it. host: thank you for the call. that will do it for this first segment of the washington journal.

up next, we will be joined by north carolina democrat deborah ross to talk about abortion-related legislation. and later, american public health association, georges benjamin dr. georges benjamin will talk to us about the covid variance. -- variants. stick around. >> but tv every sunday on c-span two features leading authors discussing their latest, nonfiction books. at 8:00 p.m. eastern ucla law professor talks about the fourth amendment and the power of the police with his book "unreasonable." south dakota governor kristi noem shares her book about her

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anywhere that matters, america is watching on c-span. powered by cable. washington journal continues. host: deborah ross a member of the judiciary committee. they are holding about a post roe world. what do you think is next? guest: the question is whether justice thomas's opinion foreshadows the other rights that are about to fall. i don't know if your listeners have heard, there has been a lot of talk about having the supreme court say there is no constitutional right to birth control, to contraception, which

is something that more than 90% of the american public believe in, take for granted, see as their personal decision. he also talked about doing away with the right to have same-sex marriage. what we are going to do is unpack the constitution, the court's precedents and see what we can do to protect people's right to privacy. host: the hearing of the judiciary committee, you will walk over after this appearance. it will be on c-span3 at 9:00 p.m. eastern. that hearing is coming in a week which we are expecting a vote on the house floor on the issue of abortion access. what with the insuring abortion access of 2022 do? guest: the house is already past the women's health protection act which is a bill that would

make roe v. wade the law of the land and every single state. the senate tried to take action on it and did not have enough votes. what we have seen since the court's decision is even more restrictions on women's reproductive freedom. including, attempts to restrict the right to trial. we are doing a refresh of women's rights and securing their ability to go to other states to get abortions. to be able to get prescriptions that cross over state lines. to make sure that we do not shut the door on reproductive freedom. host: when will that folk be? guest: friday, we will be voting on the floor. host: in the wake of the dobbs decision, abortion law a

patchwork in the states. what is the status of abortion laws in north carolina? guest: north carolina is one of the only states in the south where abortion is still legal. that is because we have a pro-choice governor who has vetoed every attempt to restrict women's reproductive freedom in north carolina. what we are seeing, and i am hearing this from clinics, i am hearing this from health care professionals, women are desperate in other states and they are coming to north carolina for care. our governor signed an executive order making sure that i care can be made available. our legislature, if they could ever sustain a veto and we are only a few votes away from that, would take away women's reproductive freedom in north carolina. for now, abortion is safe and legal in north carolina and we

are a refuge for women around the south. host: your governor is term limited in 2024. guest: we will have to have a new governor. we have interesting characters on the republican side. our attorney general who is pro-choice is running. host: we went to get your thoughts with congresswoman deborah ross. those numbers are (202) 748-8000 for democrats, (202) 748-8001 four republicans and (202) 748-8002 independents. if you go to the abortion law maps, some of the restrictions when it comes to abortions, parental consent is required. as 78 hour waiting. is required.

are you ok with those restrictions when it comes to access to abortion? guest: before i was a state lawmaker, i was a lawyer who worked on many reproductive freedom issues and no, i am not good with the parental consent law in north carolina. i represented young women who have come up against the obstacles. judges who did not follow the law and simply said no, we will not follow the law and allow you to even use a bypass. i have had to represent people in that situation. 72 hours for a woman traveling from out of state is simply unacceptable and particularly for women and rural areas who do not have providers near them. they have to travel, they have to take a week off in order to get basic health care. host: congresswoman deborah ross

to answer your questions. as folks are calling in about the abortion issue. we also talked about inflation. a couple of callers saying what can we do as americans about inflation? one quoting jfk with asked not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country. what should we do for americans asking that? guest: i think it is wonderful that callers want to take personal responsibility for helping to solve a problem in our country. we know inflation is a result of supply chain issues, pandemic issues and then, corporations that are responding to a different environment. what they can do is make sure they do all their errands on the same trip. i try to pack all of my errands

in rather than taking different trips. that is also helpful for the environment. they can experiment with different recipes. they can get outside and take a height instead of going on a shopping spree. there are lots of different things people can do. i understand the difficulty for inflation for people on fixed incomes i don't have the ability to just change things in their lives. we have to tackle this issue and use all the tools in our toolbox. some of them are out of our control and i understand the pain people are going through. host: what is congress doing right now? guest: congress has done some things already to work on this issue. we have shipping backlogs which means that one of the reasons

things are on the shelves is because there are ships that have been out at sea. the president has signed a law that reduces those shipping backlogs. we can pass the competes act which gives us a better supply chain for semiconductors. we have been relying on other countries and that is the reason we don't have enough cars because you need semiconductors to build cars. there are things that congress has done and there are things that congress will do this summer to help move goods and services more quickly into the marketplace. it is the law of supply and demand, if we have more supply the prices will come down. host: this is roy out of austin, texas on the lines for republicans. caller: good morning every body. i heard the woman say that we are trying to get rid of women's

reproductive rights and that is not exactly true. men and women will always have the right to reproduce. what is going on here is that we are trying to get people to do things responsibly. in the 60's, men and women procreated safely. they had children and went on with their lives. we have slowly, over the years, our morals got to the point that if you hook up with somebody you get pregnant you have an abortion. that is not responsible sex. what we are trying to do as a nation is get people back to the point of getting responsible with their actions. guest: thank you very much. i of course believe that people should have safe and responsible sex and take responsibility for their actions. back in the 60's, that did not happen either.

the people who suffered the most are women. there were women who were forced to carry babies to term that they could not support. there were women who had to cut their educations short. the other thing people need to understand is that not all sex is consensual. a large percentage of young women, their first sexual experience is coerced, forced and sometimes even write. to expect that women are the people who have to bear the sole responsibility for other people's irresponsibility is simply wrong. women need to have bodily atomic, control over their futures. if they choose to have a child, i am the first person to support them. if they are not ready to have a

child or they are a victim of rape or incessant, they absolutely have to have the choice to be able to go on and live their lives and not be encumbered by someone else's crime. host: this story in the pages of major newspapers. a man is charged with an pregnant -- impregnating a 10-year-old. it became a flashpoint in the fuhrer over the decision of the supreme court. it became a talking point with the president and some outlets said the story was unproven. the testament heard confirm the story. guest: i think people think that situation is rare, but it happens in our country.

there are so many children who are victims of sexual abuse and it could be a stranger, it could be a family member. we push those stories under the rug, but they happen. there are young people who find themselves pregnant, desperate and they need our help. they need our support. rather than being criminalized for taking care of themselves and their future. host: sebring, florida this is james, a democrat. caller: good morning everyone. i was disappointed with the supreme court decision. as a strong believer of women's choice, i totally agree with what you are saying. unfortunately, there are unwanted babies in this country now.

it is so extremely difficult to adopt a child. my wife and i adopted our first child in the second time, it was difficult. because the laws to change over the years and all that. there will be a lot of unwanted babies because of the decision of the supreme court. the other thing i wanted to talk about is our gasoline prices. i suggest president biden lowers the speed limit, that will save anywhere from two to three miles per gallon. even more depending on the vehicle. this way we will have the control of the fuel coats -- costs. host: james, thanks for the

call. guest: thank you for pointing out both of those things. one, how many children we have that have not been adopted into been in foster care. i have worked on foster care issues before. it is so sad when children grow up without having trusting adults, without that support system and then have to launch themselves into the world. there are many children in that circumstance right now and we surely will have more because of the dobbs decision. thank you for pointing that out and showing compassion to those children because they came into this world through no fault of their own and they deserve our support. the second suggestion goes to one of the first things we talked about. what can we do? we can drive the speed limit. we can make sure we take a slower route.

i think it is interesting what you said about lowering the speed limit. but thank you for sharing your ideas. host: byron in columbus, ohio, and independent. caller: first of all, i suffered a stroke so therefore ice dam or at times. if i do that you will know why. as a moderate centrist, this is the most passionate issue that i vote on. some of the men on this issue, we are very involved because those pregnancies are have oil friends, fiances and husbands.

i think there are messaging challenges, messaging difficulties from some democrats. i applaud what representative ross is doing on this issue but quite frankly, representative ross should not be alone. dick durbin, chuck schumer and all the way to the top president biden speaking on this with the utmost passion. there was a confrontation the other day where joe biden responded to the media and said, i think women should continue the protests. women should protest as well as being backed up by biden and

other democrats at the top of the leadership. a minor comment on representative ross, some of your comments in terms of media relations, you should put certain things at your forefront of your messaging. the concept of a newspaper, below and above the full. the headline of the paper should be the supreme court has taken away a woman's right to choice even in incest and protecting the life of the mother. guest: thank you for your support and for your passion and thank you for your suggestion. i think you make to really great points.

number one, this is not just a women's issue. it affects women much more than it affects men. i represent a suburban and urban area. republican man came up to me and said, do everything that you can to protect reproductive freedoms. this is not as partisan as i think everything is per in washington. if you ask the average person, they believe in reproductive freedom and that includes men. the second thing i would say, you are right that we have stopped emphasizing horrible effects and horrible things that are done to women. we have not needed to do that as

much in the past 50 years because we have had this fundamental right guaranteed by the supreme court. now, we will have to be honest and lots of time women feel shame for the horrible things that are done to them. right now, it is time to call those things out because we cannot be the only ones who bring consequences. you have given us really good suggestions and i appreciate your call. host: the caller talked about the senate, i wonder about the state of ensuring access to abortion act. this bill prohibiting any state from restricting travel to obtain an abortion. clarifying interstate commerce laws when it comes to fda approved abortion pills. what happens to this in the senate? guest: we all know it needs 10

republican votes to move. i am heartened about the reports about senator collins and senator kunz trying to work together on this issue. i am hopeful we will see something that comes out of the senate but the house cannot wait. the people of this country need to know that we are fighting for their reproductive freedom, their autonomy, their fundamental right to travel which the supreme court has recognized and that we are not stopping. if the senate needs more time, they can take the time that they need. i don't think they need more time, but they don't necessarily have the votes. the house has got to show the american people that we are acting. we hear what they are saying, we understand their plight and we are moving forward in the senate can act whenever it gets ready. in north carolina, we may get

ourselves a new democratic, pro-choice senator and that will go along way to breaking the logjam in the senate. host: anita is in chapel hill, north carolina. caller: good morning, good morning to you miss ross. i am concerned because i grew up in illinois, the chicago area. there are a lot of people there, i saw the girls pregnant in high school. you could see where it affected them. i would take an approach along with proper health care, is that girls and boys are encouraged to go to school and have things to do. when parents work, sometimes the

children are at a lost of things they need to do after school. the trouble endangers that come from drinking and sex, that can lead you into a bad situation. host: are you a republican that supports abortion access? caller: i am a republican but i vote for what i think is best for the country. i think family counseling is better in children learning about sexual reproduction is better than having abortion as best as it is. i know they have things for single moms.

they have things for same sex but they are not talking about heterosexuals. i became a muslim after watching women get pregnant and i feel that islam says that the woman is supposed to breast-feed or two years which would require to parents because it is really hard for a woman to work full-time, breast-feed and take care of children. abstinence would be better and learning in schools would be better. host: let me let the congresswoman jump in. guest: it is always good to have a north carolina collar. i will tell you something about the schools i have advocated for. we need to have comprehensive sex education including the consequences of getting pregnant. how to avoid getting pregnant.

how you do get pregnant. it is amazing how little young people know about how it really works. if we give consequential sex education including the consequences of pregnancy, that will go a long way and i believe that people should learn in the home about this but so many parents are not equipped themselves. they don't know how early young people are exposed to these issues so we need comprehensive sex education. we talked about the education of pregnant students to what they should do. i have worked for decades to make sure that pregnant and parenting students whether they are in high school or whether

they are in college get the resources they need to complete their education. that is good for them, that is good for their children and that is good for their future. so frequently they are pushed out of school, told they can't pursue their dreams and there are so many wonderful stories about women who had children early in their lives but because people believed in their education they went on to do extraordinary things. host: i want to ask you about the american children's act, what is that? guest: that such an important piece of legislation. we have an amendment that will be on the floor today that will hopefully move it a little bit further. i am sure that your viewers have heard about dreamers. young people without documentations who want to stay here and want to stay in this

country. there are more than 200,000 documented dreamers. these are kids that came here legally with their parents. their parents came here for tech jobs, medical jobs. they brought their kids here illegally on a visa because of our broken immigration system and backlogs, they cannot get their visas renewed and they have to self-support. these are some of the brightest, innovative, committed kids who want to stay in this country and want to contribute to this country. and so, our bill will let them stay in this country. the mms on the floor will have visa extensions for them so they continue their education if they want to apply for citizenship later, they can do that. but why would we educate these amazing young people and then

send them to a country that they don't know, where they do not want to go and a country that may be competing with the united states. we need to keep that talent. we have plenty of jobs for them. i am so honored to be their champion. host: north carolina collar waiting. louis from saulsberry, north carolina. where is saulsberry? caller: it is in between charlotte and saulsberry. host: what is your question for the congresswoman? caller: there are a lot of men calling and talking about the women's body. a lot of women are forgetting it is not just about abortion. everybody should have the right to do anything they want to do anything they wanted due to their body.

people have to understand that we got here through donald chupp and his three justices. i don't know why people are shocked about it but they voted for this man. what we can do, we can do this. women it is not about gas, it is about your rights. by then taking your rights that means you are not a citizen of the united states. you are like a horse or a cow or piece of property. i think it is so wrong that a woman can't make her own choice in what they wanted to just like myself. host: congresswoman i will give you the last minute. guest: i have been to saulsberry several times.

i could not agree with you more and i think we just need more people speaking up about this particularly and saulsberry and other small towns and i thank you for your views and just keep on keeping on. host: in about half an hour, the house judiciary committee will be holding a hearing on rights post jobs. and congresswoman deborah ross is a member of that committee. we appreciate your time, come back again. guest: it was a pleasure. host: we will be joined by american public health association deborah ross --georges benjamin. and later on the day we will talk to dan mueser about biden's

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shop c-span's christmas in july sale now through july 19 only on c-spanshop.org or scan the qr code on your phone to start shopping now. washington journal continues. host: for conversation on the latest covid variants we are joined by dr. georges benjamin. i want to start with ba.5, the dominant covid variant. 65% of infections as of last weekend. what do we know about ba.5, what don't we know and how concerned should we be about this one? guest: this virus continues to evolve. the bad news is that this is one of the most infection variant s. we are not seeing a marked

uptick in hospitalizations or debt. the uptake of infection means we need to double down on other things that were. host: most infectious among vaccinated people, what about people who have had covid before? guest: people who are unvaccinated are most at risk. this current strain of ba.5, and ba.4 by the way, can also infect and re-infect people who are vaccinated. the vaccine is very protective, but we are seeing people get reinfected. host: when it comes to doubling down on protection, what are we talking about here? are we talking about going back to masking in public. are we talking about another pound of boosters and when is

that going to be available for those who it is not been made a priority yet? guest: first of all, everyone who has not been vaccinated needs to get vaccinated. i encourage people to get fully vaccinated with the primary series and that includes the first booster. for those people, age 50 above, you should get a second booster. get your full vaccine series. that is the first thing everyone should do. the second thing is, continue washing your hands and wear the mask when appropriate. when i go through airports, i have my mask around my neck. i put it on when i think it is appropriate to put it on. when i am around people who i don't know their vaccination

status. and using those self tests when appropriate. if i get sniffles, i self tests. if i am going to go around anybody that i am concerned about with underlying medical conditions i get checked. encouraging testing, vaccination and mask wearing, which is the staple of our response to covid. host: there was a comment in washington post, rising cases should not prompt calls for most americans to hunker down or re- impose restrictions. it is reasonable for people traveling, but for most people it will be a mild illness.

government imposed restrictions should be reserved for dire emergencies which we are not an right now. officials should scale up prevention methods and ventilation. guest: this disease is becoming endemic in our society and we will have to live with it. it means get vaccinated, wearing a mask and testing liberally. host: here are the numbers for viewers to join. (202) 748-8000 if you are in the eastern or central time zones, (202) 748-8001 if you are and the mountain or pacific time zones. what are we learning about the future path of covid when

looking at these variants that have developed. guest: one of the most likely futures is that we will get vaccinated on an annual basis for multi-variant strains. they will updated every year so we will look at the strains that are circulating around the world and the united states. we will put our best judgment into how to create that vaccine composition. we will do that every year just like we do with the flu shot. host: the trajectory, the virus itself. you talk about this being one of the most infectious variants.

are they becoming more infectious but less deadly? can we even predict what a ba six, what that is going to do? guest: the more people that get infected, the more likely you are to have people get really sick. the number of people who get infected does ultimately determine whether people get sick and die. the virus doesn't seem more lethal. having said that, we don't know for sure. this virus will continue to evolve and it very well could become not only more infectious but more lethal. we have to be on guard for that and that is why the vaccinations and the updated next-generation vaccines are so important because they stop the transmission.

they reduce the prevalence of this disease from infecting other people so we see the risk of having new variance and keeping up on these variants in case we do see something more serious. host: american public health association, what do you do? guest: we have been around since 1872 and this is our 150th year. host: james in texas is first the segment. caller: good morning. the last rollout, six months ago. we need the funding to transfer vaccines for the new variant. fighting disinformation and all

forms, and get the vaccine to places worldwide and other people. guest: there is a request in front of congress right now for $22.5 million of funds for research and more medications, more antiviral agents for the next generation of vaccines and send this vaccination program to the rest of the world and continue our important investment in the globalization of this disease. i absolutely agree with you. host: in terms of investments, we have a report that novavax, why do we need a fourth vaccine? guest: it is a different kind of vaccine. the mrna vaccines, it gets her

body to create a spike protein and then your body reacts to that and recognizes any types of virus with a spiked protein on it. novavax is novel, they create the spike protein and then inject you with the spike protein directly. you don't have to spend the time for your body to make the spiked protein to protect yourself. it is a novel approach. it is consistent with previous vaccine science and it seems to work reasonably well. having another vaccine will definitely? -are people that have an allergy or wanted something less novel. this is a more traditional way of making vaccines.

host: novavax is one of those programs that was funded by operation warp speed. taylor next out of texas. caller: good morning georges benjamin. i have not brushed my teeth and almost three years to build a tolerance to microbes. when i got covid, i got covid pretty bad but i recovered in two to three weeks. but i felt that i had some immunity from not brushing my teeth. guest: i don't think those are related. i am glad you recovered but there are a lot of people who don't. people who get a bad case of covid go on to die. i still encourage people to get

vaccinated. even though you have had covid, our recommendation is that you should still get the full vaccination. host: about fighting misinformation, what is your opinion on that front? guest: people continue to get that information about how the vaccine is made. what is in it, what is not in it. what it does in terms of complications. i encourage people to go to reputable sources. the cdc, the world health organization. talk to your health care provider or go to a website like mine. go to places that are reputable. that does not mean you should not talk to your friends and colleagues, but most likely, they don't have the most up-to-date information. host: in terms of up-to-date information, how accurate are

the federal reports about case numbers and infections and hospitalizations? everyone knows someone who tested it home and don't necessarily report to the federal government when you take a home test. guest: the official number is 89 million cases. we are grossly underestimating the number of cases that are out there. people die, we can capture that. you don't have to capture every case. we need to know whether the diseases going up or down. those cases that we do track, we look at the variant so we can track how the disease changes over time. while we don't have 100% capture of these cases. we don't have a hundred percent capture for any disease. we do have a good surveillance

system which gives us from a public health perspective an awareness of where the disease is going. i have colleagues that would like much better detail. if i could capture every case that would be neat, but that won't happen. the trade-off is knowing that someone could self test at home. if they are positive, i encourage them to report it to their doctor or health department. if they reported, it is good information for them. host: from new hampshire, this is priscilla. caller: i was calling because i have had my shots and booster shots so i was all caught up. i am just getting over my second bout of covid in three months. this time, it was really bad.

i was really sick for a week. not sick enough to be in the hospital thank god. this last variant, you are not seeing the hospitalizations on the rise that surprises me because i feel like this one is really bad. host: do you know what variant you had? caller: no i don't know what variant i had. three months ago, i was only six for a couple of day with 102 fever, just for a couple of days. this time, my temperature went to 103 and i had a sinus infection that went down into my chest. it was rough. host: thank you for the call, dr. benjamin? guest: this is exactly why we are telling people that they need to get vaccinated.

you are the case example of why congress needs to find as an earlier caller pointed out, they need to fund the next generation vaccine. if we can continue to boost you, we will reduce your risk of getting that degree of an illness. the people who are getting sick, based on when they got their initial vaccinations, what level their vaccine has diminished. whether they have any underlying chronic diseases. there are a host of factors. the strain of the variant you are getting plays a role in that. host: we know congress is trying to finish up their work before the fall campaign season. how likely is it that we will see a 22 billion dollar proposal move through congress before

they head home? guest: i hate to be a naysayer, i am skeptical but i advocate that they do it. we have an opportunity to do that right now. we are talking about a reconciliation act as well, i hope they do that. the good thing that happened on operation warp speed is that they threw money at this early so we would have a vaccine. even though the administration has scraped together several billion dollars to begin the process of purchasing enough vaccine, we don't want to be the nation at the back of the line because we have not bought enough vaccine. we have already seen what happens in other nations when they don't have enough vaccine so we want to make sure that we have enough of this next generation vaccine. that will require someone to write a check and right now, that is the united states government. host: it will take 22 billion to

finish the job and then another 22 billion down the line? guest: it allows us to begin the process of transitioning this from the government to the private sector. at some point, this will be paid for out of pocket or from your insurance plan and in other ways. we don't want to have to force that to happen overnight because if we try to force it overnight, people with lower incomes. people who do not have health insurance will not be able to get the vaccine. the federal government will have to be in the vaccine business for a while, that makes -- that means more money. caller: i am a covid survivor, two months in the hospital, unvaccinated. lungs damaged for life.

i was vaccinated prior to leaving the hospital. could you please address in this conversation the side effects of this vaccine. this vaccine is not the same efficacy as the polio vaccine. this is more of a treatment. case in point, a marine corps fighter pilot received the vaccine through the military as mandated, had undergone myocarditis. the marine corps physicians cannot find the cause of it and are attributing it to the vaccine he took that he did not

experience before the vaccine. could you address that? your comments on people wearing masks, washing hands and what have you. this involves the immigration problem that we have, over 700,000 immigrants that are being led into the country. people working the border are being exposed. our officers are being exposed to these diseases and they are being processed within a week and let go and they are not being tested and they are being let go. could you please address that to the public during this broadcast ? guest: first of all, about side effects of vaccinations. no medication a side effect free. the most common side effect is a

sore arm, a fever, not feeling well for a couple of days. i have had that with three of my vaccinations and having my second booster. , nothing at all. there is a small incident of people getting myocarditis, inflammation of the lining around the heart. it is self-limiting and it seems to show up in men more than women. it doesn't seem at this point in time with the studies we have which only go a couple of years, any long-term impairment based on that and it is self-limiting. the studies that have shown that myocarditis is much more likely to happen if you are not vaccinated then from the vaccination. the second issue on immigrants. immigrants are no more of a

threat then anyone else. many of us travel on vacation, we go on the bus to work. we want to make sure that everyone on the planet is vaccinated for this particular disease. immigrants are no more at risk for infection than anyone else. host: to jupiter, florida, this is constance. caller: a week ago, i was listening to bloomberg financial , there was a spokesperson from johns hopkins talking about ba.5. since march 2020, i am 87.

i was interested in the new vaccine that might come out and act over covering ba.5 so that i could get vaccinated. he mentioned another word that i had only heard once before in the beginning of the covid problems with supermarkets made i'll. he mentioned atomic ties, is that a real word? where covid can become atomic ties and drift over aisles? guest: i hope that you will be able to get the new and improved vaccine this fall. i encourage you to talk to your

health care provider to make sure you can get that. there are three ways you get infected by the virus, one of them is droplet spread. wearing a mask tends to massively reduce your exposure to those droplets. the second one is when i touch a surface, you touch the surface behind me, the virus is still active and goes on to contaminate your eyes, nose or mouth. that is less likely to happen with this particular disease. the third way, is realization, the small particles that come out of your mouth. they can come out of your mask if it is not tight.

it does linger in the air. it can settle on objects and it can be re-aerolized. yes, it can happen. that is why you see the administration focusing on ventilation systems, making sure air circulation is better. the most predominant way is a droplet spread disease. host: tracy out of independence, missouri. caller: i want to correct something you said. you said the vaccine stops transmission. countries that did not vaccinated at all, like africa. they have a fraction of the

cases and they didn't vaccinated all. you are poaching the original vaccine that covered the original variant. it has not been updated at all. it seems like or of the same of the nonworking vaccine. it is a failure. you are taking four shots of the polio vaccine, and you are dismissing the injuries on bears. there are more injuries from this vaccine then all vaccines combined it in history for 15 years. that is a safety signal. and what is more frightening is that more -- no one is following up. if you are injured, you are on your own >> let's let him respond. >> the caller is right. if i said that, it is not correct. it reduces the risk of

transmission and it reduces the risk of severely ill or dying. it is very effective at severe illness and death. it does reduce transmission. it is not completely reduced transmission. the caller's right about that. where she is incorrect is that the vaccine has been highly effective. we haven't database where if anyone has any concerns about the vaccine, validate or not, goes into that area you can take a look at that and try to validate what is there. i encourage people to look at it. it is a repository of potential challenges that we might have with medications. that is important to know. yes. we will update the vaccine. when it was created, it was created the -- actually was created for the original strain of this virus.

it is held up remarkably well. every time it mutates, it escapes. they can escape testing to some degree, it can escape protections to some discrete. -- degree. that's why you have to pay the vaccine. the scientific and medical communities have been very clear that we have to update it, and that is why we are asking for additional dollars to be able to update the vaccine. host: we will ended there. but we will have you back. thank you. we always appreciate your time. guest: i appreciate. host: coming up next, another member of congress is joining us. we will talk about the latest inflation numbers, president biden's overseas trips, and stick around. we will be right back.

>> sunday on q&a, data journalist shares his book strength in numbers which examines the history of public opinion polling going back to the 19th entry, and accuracy polls, today. >> the times is predicting that donald trump is a 30% chance of victory in the 2016 election. not because polls will be wrong, but because the race is close. i do wonder, if every person in the media has understood that 30% of -- as meaning, if you have three elections, three, they will be wrong, one time. if you have 18 elections, you have a pretty good chance that the polls will miss enough that the losing presidential candidate could end up winning. i wonder how the tone of the campaign would be different, and

what people thought would happen. >> elliott morris with the book, strength in numbers, on c-span q&a. you can listen to q&a and all of our podcast on our free c-span now app. >> c-span has unfiltered coverage of the u.s. response to the russian invasion of ukraine. we bring you the latest president and other white house officials, the pentagon, and state department. we also have international perspectives from the united nations, and statements from foreign leaders. all from the c-span now global. our web resource pays -- pages where you can watch on demand and follow tweets from journalist on the ground. go to c-span.org/rain.

>> c-spanshop.org is the online store. browse through our collection of c-span products, books, home decor, and accessories. there is something for every c-span fanned -- fan to support our nonprofit operation. shop now or anytime at c-span shop.org. >> washington journal continues. host: a pennsylvania republican joins us. he is a member of the small business in foreign affairs committees. let's start with small business. what does it mean to run a small business in this country right now at a time of 9.1% inflation as we found out yesterday russian mark --? guest: as a real challenge. i am on the small business committee and a small business person. helps us grow into a larger business, but i travel.

my district, as do most members. they would tell you the same thing. inflation is rattling them, and they are working more than ever. their sales might be off, but they are lucky. but always, the profit margins are down. workforce availability is a real problem, and it will drive people completely crazy. there is a randomness of product coming in. of supply chain on next and shortages. what we have to do is have a plan. from the vine administration, and since the democrats are currently in charge of the house and set it, it would be nice to have a plan for small business on how we could curb inflation. how we will work towards workforce shortages, and what is actually being done for the supply chain. no plan comes out, and that is just adding to the frustration. instead, on the energy issue, on

gasoline, just a few days ago, the president claimed small business for gouging. i have a lot of small business people in my district to our new very well, and they were highly insulted by the president saying that they were part of the problem and price gouging. outrageous. the biden administration ought to hire a few people from the private sector because basically, they have none. if they knew any better, they would know that a gasoline station basically makes, how they buy the fuel from the rack, they make seven cents, eight cents, at best, and that is gross. then put in operational costs and pay taxes on it it at four dollars and $.70, that is not even 1%. what does the president expect? to drop four cents and lose money? we have an upside down understanding of things. the sad part is that it doesn't look like it's getting better. they are doubling down on a

failed strategy. >> on that point, you talk about a plan. the fed has a plan. the plan seems to be interest rate increases. they are up to .75%. now there is talk about a full percentage point increase. we have seen that several times out it is that plan working? >> the fed did not take into consideration the huge shocks to the ministration -- system that the biden administration brought on. that is understating incredible levels of spending trillions of dollars. as well as the assault on our domestic energy industry. that was done in a very covert way. additionally, anyway, the assault on energy. the fed did not understand or know or predict that inflation was going to escalate at that level it did. it continued the stimulus, and

it continued bond buying. they didn't raise interest rates moderately along the way. now, we hope they don't overreact. i don't think they should raise 1%. i think they should be far more transparent on where things are going. they should handle things from a fiscal or monetary standpoint in a more moderate way. >> admitted inflation, the report yesterday, fears of a potential recession. it was just last friday that we were talking about the better-than-expected jobs report. three to 72,000 jobs added in the month of june. unemployment at a low 3.6%. explain why those numbers, and then the inflation number, what is going on? guest: unemployment is a bit of a misnomer for a headache if you will.

people are a million less than they were prior to covid in 2019. we still a lot of people who are not working. therefore, our workforce is low. therefore, our productivity is lower. our demand is high. that is because of all of the spending that took place. we have a supply and demand problem. our demand is very high. our supplies live. the answer to that from biden is to eliminate the trump tax cuts. to me, businesses and families. that is basically the worst thing that could be done because we should try to meet demand by the supply-side economics to grow, to increase production to meet that demand. that is naturally diminishing. of course, prices are going so far up. interest rates are going up.

what the fed is trying to do, and invited ms. trajan has no about any of this at the fed is trying to reach that happy medium. that goldilocks plot without overshooting it. hopefully, jay powell and the fed folks are paying attention to make that happen to the best of their ability. host: we invite our viewers to join the conversation. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8002 for republicans. (202) 748-8002 for independence. let's get your thoughts on the biden trip to the middle east. i don't if you caught the press conference, but he is headed soon to saudi arabia next. >> president's travel. that's what they do. but not while we have international and primarily domestic crises at hand.

if the president says were at war. presidents don't necessarily travel then, unless they are going to solve -- resolve the war conflict. we have many issues here. we have -- he is going to saudi arabia. what do we know them for? oil. is largely going to saudi arabia for two reasons. one, to pass up all of the rhetoric that was stated. related to the saudi leadership not taking into consideration all of the other factors in matters that are important to our country and its relationship. its relationship with israel, with the accords. that is one reason he is going. the others to try and patch things up with them to increase production. what we find outrageous about that is in my district, we are the ninth congressional pennsylvania. we have a tremendous amount of

natural gas, and of course, we have huge reserves of oil in the united states, as well. why is the president choosing saudi arabia over pennsylvania. why is he choosing to ron. iran comes into this quite a bit over texas. it is again, it doesn't make any sense. we should be talking about an energy plan here. not trying to get the saudi's to have their own energy plan. what makes matters worse is he stops over and israel. the first thing he does, he talks about this new deal. the israelis are opposed to us getting back into the new deal. what it means is, iran will receive billions of sanctioned dollars if they promise to slow the uranium enrichment leading to weaponizing the uranium.

to make matters worse than that, everything that has been done, recently, and i was at the atomic energy agency on a congressional trip. there were significant violations made by the iranians during the course of the treaty, and after. the iranians are a pariah on her world. they are the center of terrorism. they are proxying out all kinds of terrorism. we give them money, billions, and that money will be used for that. it's not just the u.s.. is not just israel. saudi arabia is against it. dua is against it. basically, every country is trying to be pro-and peaceful and move forward. they are against it because they know what iran is. in the abraham accords, think of that for moment, this president

won't even talk about it. it was a significant improvement for relations and peace in the middle east. done by the trump administration. why would this administration feel the need to reverse everything. that is before, and working off of an ideology that has failed. it is not based on reality, it is not based on the facts of the moment. it is it is proving to be a losing initiative. in all respects. on the international front, the domestic front, at least one from the keystone state. the starting keyport, new jersey. edward, independent, go ahead. caller: two things i noticed. one, at the height of the pandemic, the oil is worth zero

what chicken cost a dollar 29. i do understand that. there are a bunch of markets making profits. we are sorted by five or six people, but we don't want to give anyone any money. those are basically my two observations on this whole inflation worker shortage this experience. guest: i hear you. there are disruptions taking place out there, but it is supply and demand. if you own a ship, and someone says, can you ship my cargo for me, and you said ok, that would be $8,000, per container, then, there are 20 other people on the phone saying hey, i need my container ship. i will pay 20. eventually, you will start to take the 20. and that is what is happening it because of the supply shortage, because of the desperate need for product, because of the high level of spending that continues to take ways, and very

unfortunately, far too much relies on china. that is part of this. biden is not at fault or inflation, but i think he is 80% at fault for the energy cost increases. he is a good 60% at fault. some americans rely on chinese goods. when china closes down because it is such a dictatorship of tierney, when it closes down, cities stop covid spread. all of that product that was ordered just stopped coming. that is what is -- that is a piece of this. these things get -- the only way to get resolved is not by government coming in and having a heavy hand you do this. it gets resolved through competition. that takes a little while, but we also have to encourage that competition. we need to minimize regulations. minimize taxes.

it definitely helps to bring in competition. let businesses flourish, and within a reasonable amount of time. sometimes faster than you can think. things may start to stabilize. host: allen, republican, good morning. turn your television down. talk to your phone. caller: just a second. host: go ahead. caller: i have a problem with the unemployment rate. there only counting the people that are collecting unemployment. what about the ones who don't collect anymore and are just sitting at home #they don't count in the unemployment rate because they are not registered anywhere that they are on weight. they can't get jobs because they

don't qualify for the jobs that are available you could have people who are minimum-wage workers, or he could have people that are hundred thousand dollars a year. they've lost their jobs, so now, those jobs are out there, and they are not included in the unemployment rate. guest: that's the way it has always been. there is no math on those looking for work. versus those who are employed. what you have to do is look at it as you are stating, the number of people who are falling out of the workforce. that is well over one million, and why they are not coming back, that is a good question. some of it was covid related. some are looking for a better job. there are a lot of young people that are demanding having a high -- hybrid position. or maybe even remote. they can go in a couple of days

a week, and work at home, or wherever. that is very hurtful for small businesses. most small businesses have to be there. you have to show up it that is another drag on small businesses, and some work of corporations. but it all began with excessive levels of spending for rewarding people -- giving people to afford not to work area many got used to it. what we need to do is as wages go up, productivity goes up. more opportunities that themselves, and we start moving and appropriate direction. host: barbara in baltimore, democrat. good morning. go ahead. we'll go to richard out of montreal, canada. up north. line for republicans. caller: good morning.

the fda went to court to block the release of the results of pfizer's clinical trial for 75 years on their vaccine, and think we a judge refused. now that the documents are out, it shows appalling information in those documents it lots of injuries and deaths, especially. pregnant women lost their babies. so my question is, does the republican -- we're the democrats don't want people to know what's in those documents, but are the republicans going to subpoena fda officials and people at pfizer when they take over congress to get to the bottom of this? i think the american people have a right to know what is in those stock ends, when politicians are pushing people to take these obviously unsafe vaccines. doctors have examined. guest: full transparency is certainly what the american people deserve on -- relate to

our agencies, particularly places like the fda, and relationships with drug companies or any medical device. medical companies. that is very important. really the same thing with food. supreme court ruling just came about, related to reining in the epa. reining in agencies. not permitting agencies to make regulations that become law. that is the job of congress. that should be a step in the right direction. but i understand what you are saying. yes. it is our job to do the job, and the american people are demanding information, transparency. we need to be responsive to that. it is the right thing to do, and also because our consist rings are asking for. i'll look into it further to see if there's anything on the

docket, when we get majority. we can't take anything for granted. we have to vote republican. i'll look into it, and i will have my staff find out. >> to find a vaccine safe? >> yes. listen. not for everybody. far too many people got the vaccine, and they are our real negative results. i've vaccinated, i love the booster shot read my whole family has been. i think there is some real positive. but go to your doctor and have that discussion with them. it is frustrating to the american people. if you had covid, you are good. good meeting you don't necessarily need to have a vaccine.

therapeutics were discarded along the way. that was frustrating to many people. why would those there today be something that should be considered? with poor leadership along the way, it was not a new vaccine. you can date back to the polio shot and chickenpox and everything else. they went through the same thing then. i am -- operation warp speed was fantastic, and i think for those the doctor, the vaccine is in the best interest. we have a problem. we jump in the military. those asking for exemptions. military demand, national guard. some people are going to have to leave the military because of that. meanwhile, young men and women are very often 21 or 22, maybe

30. they have had it. have had the immunities. have what they feel is a religious exemption. i think we can be more understanding in this regard. sometimes we are not. host: nate, tallahassee, independent. caller: i have two points to make. hopefully don't cut me off. first of all, the inflation rate is wrong, the way you did on the air. you calculate it as year-over-year as post a month or month over order to corporate if you look at those were warts, from quarter to quarter it was only 5.9%. that came out last week. what we do, is you do it year-over-year, and you are overstating the rate of nation. i just expect real rate of inflation to go off of the g dp or cpi, much lower than you are stating.

1.3 percent increase from may to june. nine point 1% over the last 12 months. if you're looking for a visual audit, this is the front page of the wall street journal showing the rate increases over the past three years. you can see the direction of that. you're talking about the core cpi, which is food and energy costs. that is the dotted line here it by .9%. >> is my fear that the federal reserve will use that year-over-year, overstating inflation, and overreact with monetary policy by raising interest rates. one other thing. the gentleman you have on there now is a republican. i understand that. but what is happening is, remember, everything is about biden and the dems tracks -- democrats. this is about politics. take what he says with a grain of salt.

>> it is about policy, and it's not because it is biden. i believe in national security. i believe our borders should be far more secure than they are. the vine administration does not. disaster they've done nothing to act that are making it worse. i think we should be charging domestic energy. i think we should be energy independent. clearly, the biden administration is on the opposite side of that. they are on the assault. they want to issue permits. barack obama was far smarter and engaged in our domestic energy industry than the biden administration's. they are following an ideology. it is like go green or else, fast. let's go green, but we need to transition. i believe in progrowth economic strategies. i believe we can keep inflation low with less, and more enterprise, more fiscal attacks,

reductions, so people can keep more money, buy more, have more incentive to work, and have more incentive to produce, to fulfill those jobs. i believe in america. i don't believe we should consider lowering tariffs on china right now, like the biden administration is considering. that is just a few examples. i think the biden administration , what they did in afghanistan, was on gay disaster. i'm going to tell you this. if the trump administration or bush or whoever have been in there, you call it like you see it. i am a republican because most republicans believe what i laid out, and frankly, at this point time, most democrats don't. it really comes down to policy. it is not whether or not i favor one side or the over. i favor policy in the interest of the most number of americans

possible. frankly, the world at large. they need american leadership from a military standpoint and an economic standpoint. we don't do it. someone else will fill that void. i don't think any country wants to see that. >> to the sub scanner waiver near scranton. pennsylvania, steve, republican. good morning. >> thank you for taking my call. i am a republican, and i am a concerned republican because i believe the party is taking for granted the ability to sweep the house, and possibly the senate. i don't see that happening. i'm worried about that. i think too much time is being spent on what is going to be donald trump. i think donald trump has to be put in the rearview mirror. he did what he did. it's over with. we have a future. the republicans really have to get together, all of them, and work for that future.

if you're going to let this substance of trump people dictate what might happen, were going to lose in november. were going to lose in november and never went after that. >> who do you think is the future of the republican already in 2024? >> i would like to think we don't know yet. i'd like to think that the future of the republican party is somebody who is unknown to us now but because any person out there right now is going to bring baggage with them that is going to separate them from the party. we have to work together as a party to find that person. not just throughout names that have been thrown out for years and years. but to actually find a new person who can lead us and who can make us a party that will lead the country and the world for the next two decades. >> the final minute. >> that's needed. i look forward to that as well. unfortunately, i will go back to

biden. he failed terribly from a policy standpoint. from a blaming standpoint. that is just not flying, all of this blaming that takes place, and exceeds making, and -- harry truman said the buck stops here. joe biden says, pass the buck. that happens almost every day. by the way, that is my adopted hometown. i spent a lot of time there. i live outside of it. but look. we need to deliver -- read plan for the american people. we need to deliver. we need to execute. we all need to be rowing in the same direction. we need all republicans and let's face it, we are winning a lot of state races in pennsylvania, a lot of democrats are voting with republicans, and the traditional democrats, they are not a neo-democrat party. it is completely illogical and far left. they care about people, they

care about the trade in many cases, as do we. they care about working families. they care about advancing. think about the quality of life and lower crimes. they care about supporting our police. we have to do that. that is the group that is coming together, and we have to deliver. we can't just be all work. i was in business for 25 years. we saw that results are the only thing. we are -- i will at this. kevin mccarthy and steve scalise will be the leadership, and mccarthy will be our speaker. steve scalise's or majority leader. they will have a plan, commitment for america, and we are going to execute on that plan, and it is going to be in the interest of all the provisions of this, and it will be very serious about national security, about smart military strength, and great

formulations, working with our allies, also, having the most competitive economy in the world and the best place to own and be part of a business. we can do it. i think it has been done before, we have had jimmy carter, and we've had ronald reagan now, we have joe biden. i think compared to jimmy carter, we're going to have some sort of superman if the rebound is going to be dramatic. were going to have abraham lincoln, ronald reagan, theodore roosevelt combination. to make up for this. >> any interest in saying who you would like that person to be? >> i want the person to be someone who can articulate a plan, who has experience and a record that shows they've done it before, and love america, and have a way of making sure it matters. america loves them. so whoever that might be, listen. there is no question, president

trump, he did a lot of tremendous things. between a strong military he may be, he may come out in the the candidate, but there are others out there as well. people like ron desantis come to mind. but there others. the first thing we are going to do is when the majority in the house because this is very crucial. there indebted to the wrong direction. we have articulated some of those policies. it is the wrong direction. we could secure the border. we can lower the price of gasoline and be more energy independent, which is not just an economic and -- issue, it is a security issue. we can help small businesses. that is as we've discussed earlier. predictability and growth. and, we could bring a feeling of american patriotism back,

because that matters to us. the constitutional belief in what we've established 246 years ago, what is going to -- what will be the future for children. but for our age, that is what we think about. today matters, but tomorrow's matters more. that is why i am here, and hopefully i can play a part. >> republican from pennsylvania. a member of the foreign affairs committee, the small business committee. we always appreciate your time. >> thinks laprade >> 25 minutes before the house comes in, and in that time, we will let you lead the discussion, and it is our open forum. that is how we will end the form. phone numbers for democrats and independents. we will put them on the screen. go ahead and call in with any public all see, any poetical issue you want to talk about, and we will get to those calls, right after the break and >>

c-span ranger altered view of government. word for word, we recast the day from the halls of congress to daily press briefings to remarks from the president. scan the qr code to sign up, and stay up-to-date from everything happening each day. visit c-span.org/connect to subscribe anytime. >> there a lot of places to get political information. only at c-span do you get it straight from the source. no matter where you are from, or where you stand on the issue, c-span is america's network. unfiltered, unbiased, word for word. if it happened here, or here, or here, or anywhere that matters, america is watching on c-span. powered by cable.

>> washington journal continues. >>'s our open forum here on the washington journal, any political issue you want to talk about, this is where we let you lead the discussion. democrats can call in on (202) 748-8000. republicans on (202) 748-8001. independence on (202) 748-8002. the president is traveling overseas, and earlier this morning, a press conference in israel, one of the issues that came up is an issue we talked about in her last segment. the iran nuclear deal. they expect around to return a nuclear deal. this was part of the press conference with the israeli prime minister and israel's primus are. >> with regards to a ran and convincing saudis and others that we mean what we say, we

mean what we say. an agreement has been laid down. we will make absolutely clear. we will not allow iran to acquire nuclear weapons. >> president biden, if you want a press conference in its entirety, we can go to our website at c-span.org. time for your phone calls. california, democrat, good morning. >> i turned to c-span, and this guy's an idiot. host: without insulting. what do you disagree with? caller: i'm tired of this. you never want to blame anybody. trump didn't do anything. he was not a patriot.

he kissed the asset putin. he can't be doing that. you have to be truthful. that guy is a liar. host: this is dominic out of clarksville georgia. good morning. caller: thank c-span. a quick note. i wish c-span would do the same thing. if you could do that, but anyway, i want to call about this. the next two years, the next two years are going to be very dangerous, and i just got some advice for democrats, it is true that pamela harris resigns, and second, i appoint somebody with a little strength that can take over if something happens to him.

it could just help because she can't handle our, -- country. it needs to be strong for the next two years. a lot of things are going to happen, and is going to be consequential for us. host: what does it mean to be strong? caller: to stand up to what -- we've let putin run all over us. these taken the initiative, and we are responding. we are losing a war in ukraine. the truth is they're not going to stop, and why should they? it will open up a blockade, and will have a fleet of international troops going in there to get food, it is that kind of thing. we need to be more vocal at the u.n., and just a whole stronger at home. stop scratching each other's eyes out. republicans and democrats.

there is a lot more important things going on in the world, and they are going to affect us in the long term. i'm worried about the next two years. i don't see biden and harris being able to handle it. god for bid something happens to biden we are in big trouble. host: this is canon oklahoma. independent. good morning. caller: i heard yesterday, dr. carlsen, shifty shiv was going to be putting forth a bill to seal the january 6 meetings.

the vaccines. one other thing. i can't remember what it was. he was going to put that up for a vote today. host: that is not something i've heard about. it be my producer will look up a story and that. this is dead in huntsville, alabama. democrat. good morning. caller: i wanted to take issue with the gentleman from pennsylvania. he pulled a part truth. it is not the whole truth. he said iran is enriching uranium. that is true. but only after we reneged on the nuclear deal. second, the nuclear deal has been approved and worked on by

several countries. the -- what you call the security council? that was germany. then it was improved -- approved by the security council. the whole world approved it, except israel. israel wanted to be the henchmen in the area. we destroyed around the purpose of that, for helping israel. now, we are after iran. saudi arabia, the crown prince, he's against it, because of a personal thing. it is not really a strategic issue. it looks like israel is is driving our foreign policy.

we pulled out, but the other countries did not. england, i mean. u.k., france, germany. russia. china. they never pulled out of the deal. the louvre when the pulled out was trump the reason he did it was because of israel. israel and jared kushner and the colleagues and influencers to pull out. host: back to adam schiff. maybe this is what he was talking about. this is the washington times from earlier this week it adam schiff says that defense policy bill willing include blocking congress from oversight on some cases of domestic deployment, it amendment will be added to the authorization act which the houseplants to take out this week. it drew criticism from republicans that they are trying to primitively block them from oversight, if the house wins that geordie in the november election. when it comes to national

defense authorization, we will talk more about that on tomorrow's program. a record 840 billion dollar defense bill. there's always plenty of amendments proposed when it comes to that past bill, as it is called coming each year. on capitol hill. dear washington, d.c., independent, good morning. caller: hello. i understand how people feel about the current administration. however, anybody who supports donald trump at this point, after what he did on january 6, to our great city, they are disqualified from returning to power, and that is the republican party. they still refuse to condemn trump after everything he did on january 6. >> are you watching the hearings?

>> very closely. it happened in my city. everything they had that happened that day was based on a lie. ally about elections. there is no evidence of any major election fraud. there is always a little bit of things that happen, but no major fraud, a big lie to trump, and to this day, including the gentleman from pennsylvania, his governor is running in pennsylvania and he is on the lie. i wish you would have asked him, do you think he believes the election was fair and 2020? he cannot answer the question because his party as a party does not believe the election was fair. they believe a big lie because the insurrection was on january 6. all of these people who came armed and came for violent overturning of a fair election.

host: the hearings. this from last night. from cnn. on what to expect from the next hearing. i congresswoman, democrat to said that she and adam kinzinger both military veterans, they will be the ones to lead the next january 6 hearing. that one will focus on the 180 seven minutes of the capitol siege, and what members have called a dereliction of duty. that is before the next hearing. madison tennessee, next. caller: with the previous guest that was on, there is no way that you can say donald trump was not in this overthrow the government. on january 6, donald trump

instigated that, and he also i believe is going to wind up in jail. how can you support a person that has proven -- there is nothing wrong with the committee. the committee -- republicans don't want to join in on that, for there is nothing wrong with that committee. that committee is bringing out the truth of what happened on january 6, and the support before and after donald trump. as far as the gas, i want you to put someone on about ghastly the pipeline -- there will not be an advantage either way. i want someone to tell me why gas prices, and i think i know why the gas prices are so high. it is biden's fault. it is something that has to do with the gas companies raking all of these profits. raking in all of these profits.

they do not want to go to the gas stations. not with the amount they are using. when i hear people like this last gentleman say there are reasons that they are not open, there are reasons that the gas companies are not using it i am so disgusted by both parties, to tell you the truth, but i'm hoping for the best. i love this country. i love what it stands for. we've got a long way to go. we've got big problems. we can't agree on anything. that is the republicans. host: on gas prices, i would point you to monday's washington journal. we talked quite a bit about gas prices with neil irwin. axios. their chief economic correspondent. we took calls for half an hour, and a good part of that discussion was on gas prices. maybe that will help, but we

will talk about gas prices again down the road as well. david in missouri. independent. good morning to the show me state. caller: thank you for taking my call. i am emboldened by a lot of the people who were talking and watching the committee hearings going on. it's amazing to me that republicans came on tv, and all of them are saying how they love this country, and they love all these other things, but that was an attempt to overthrow our democracy, to install a king. one person, and they still supported, and they come on tv, saying they are for democracy and a love america. i served 22 years in this country in the military. in several wars. we fought for this democracy, and they did not. i would like to say, we are children dying every single day in this country from gun violence.

they always talk about how they like police or american people. they will do nothing to stop it. they are in the pockets of the nra. we need to understand that in america, this country, it is in trouble because they will not do anything to stop what is happening in this country. they come on tv, talking about their plan. they have had trump for four years, what to think give up and for years? i am an independent. i voted democrat and republican in my life. but this is her in this. we are in trouble. right now, you have all these people running for office, and they are still spotting a lie about the election being stolen. what they know has not in. host: to the volunteer state, michael, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. the previous caller summed it up pretty much when he talked about

patriotism. loving america. standing up for democracy. we are the republicans. there unified behind a lie. they don't give a dam about america or patriotism. just listen to the silence. that says it all. host: you republican? caller: i voted republican all of my life, but the thing is, the party has left me. it is really sad. host: who is your favorite republican president? caller: i would say i am pretty much a fan of ronald reagan. host: michael and tennessee. allen in florida. good morning. caller: good morning. i agree with the past few callers.

i think there's too much partisanship. i think republicans who stand by the big lie needs to be out of office. i also think that there is an issue going on with the abortion problem because when you ban abortion, what you have is 925,000 unwanted children everywhere. there are people who want that to happen because in 12 or 14 or 16 years, there was a cheap labor source. that is why they want abortion to be banned and want a desperate cheap labor source, and the purpose -- the cheap labor will have people that they pray on. >> as a republican, what aspect of the republican party that formed you agree with? >> i like fiscal conservative aspects of the party, but i don't like this following a

person instead of a principal. there are so many people that follow particular republican people, they put them on a pedestal. i won't say his name. you know it. it is all about people who follow the big lie. that is not patriotic. that is not what these values are about. >> who would you like to see nominated by republicans in 2024? >> i think the senator from nebraska has some good ideas. i think there are people who physically respond, emotionally are stable, and have sound principles behind them. >> that was allen in florida. five minutes before the house comes in for the day. when they do, we will go there for gavel-to-gavel coverage. until then it is open or imprint any political issue want to talk about, yes, arizona, independence. good morning.

caller: not douglas, but arizona. first of all. host: whereabouts? caller: santa cruz county. right on the border. obviously, i have some border issues. first, of shout out to the fellow from washington dc for paying attention. and i'm going to quit in the nest because i also want to mention the gun violence in washington dc, and gabby giffords who voted against washington dc gun bans, when she was in congress. i've admired her and i've known her a long time, and i ran for state politics in arizona. but, i really want to enforce the notion that gun violence in this country has come a long way.

she is a democrat. they were responsible for that. the investment in oil and gas, particular, republican congressman from pennsylvania, they mentioned it. host: what do you media has come a long way? caller: it simple. the people that were previously supporting the right to arm bears are now saying that we've gone too far. i appreciate that. but i also people to understand, in light of this documentary that was produced by gabby. she is a blue dog democrat. she was responsible for part of this gun violence and what the. you can search on the congressional record, and may be c-span, i don't know, for the votes. for many democrats in the past. overturning specific stands on gun laws, in an attempt to preserve civil society. it is very strange.

>> 20 thing we should do? >> well, erstwhile, we should ban assault weapons. i have friends who love to come down to this part of arizona and shoot guns. i don't mind that. but it is one thing to explode ordinance and another thing to exclude humans. there is no way that should be doing this. capacity magazines, i pointed out many times, the united states privilege of guns overland. i've worked for the catholic community services on immigrant helping immigrants is coming to this country. now, with the change in the supreme court, i will no longer work for those services in southern arizona, because they are creating immigrants in our country.

they have to travel across state borders to get an abortion. we have immigrants coming over the international line, and we have immigrants in our country which you support. how do you believe in a secure border. what is your definition of a secure border? those are questions for friends on the abortion. the restricting access to abortion. thank you for lay so long. >> before you go, you said you ran for state office in arizona. what did you run for? asked >> the most recent one was state senate. i received 40% of the port bow. i love going door-to-door. it gives me a chance to do what i call justify my existence. i believe c-span, when you bring these types on, that should be the question you asked. justify your existence. allow the callers or time to

have less of a cage deathmatch. allow us more time to force these politicians, especially the legislature, to justify their existence we have elected office, and many branches in arizona. judicial, legislative. it is effective to run for legislative office. but to justify your existence, i think, finally, if i may, instead of military resurfacing, we should have elected service. all citizens. all citizens. they should be required to serve in some sort of elected office. judicial or legislative. i think they would have a much different view of what it means to talk to one another. i really appreciate you letting me go on like this. host: we appreciate the time for that will do it for our program because the house is getting ready to gaveling for the morning print we take our viewers to the floor of the house for gavel-to-gavel coverage.

own? how much more valuable, even than