in politics with a washington post columnist, henry olson, followed by author and host, bill press. "washington journal" is next. ♪ host: good morning and welcome to "washington journal." president biden plans unforgiving $10,000 of student debt but the next obvious question, is college worth the money americans are paying? in-state college costs more than $10,000 a year and private college can cost almost $40,000 a year for a four year degree. the median salary of a college graduate is only around $60,000 a year.

are americans getting what they are paying for? that is our question this morning. is a college degree worth the cost? we are opening special lines. if you went to college and got a college degree, we want to know your experience at (202)-748-8000. if you went beyond the bachelors degree to get a law degree, medical degree, phd, your number is (202)-748-8001. if you did not go to college, we want your opinion. your number is going to be (202)-748-8002. if you got a vocational degree, we want to know about your experience. your number is (202)-748-8003. you can always text us at (202)-748-8003. and we are always reading on social media on facebook at facebook.com/c-span, on twitter @cspanwj and instagram @cs

panwj. president biden has decided to forgive student loan for $20,000 for some students. this came up earlier at the white house. president biden outlined the plan for his student loan reductions. here is a portion of what he said on wednesday. [video clip] >> we have wound down pandemic relief programs like unemployment insurance. it is time we do the same for student loans. student loan payments pauses are going to end. i am extending it until december 31 and then it will end at that time. it is time for the payments to resume. second, my campaign for president, i made a commitment that we provide student debt

relief. i am honoring that commitment today. using the authority congress granted the department of education, we will forgive $10,000 in outstanding federal student loans. in addition, students who come from low income families, which allowed them to qualify to receive a pell grant, will have their debt reduced $20,000. both of these targeted actions are for families that need it the most, working and middle-class people hit hard during the pandemic, making under $125,000 a year. you make more than that, you don't qualify. no high income individual or household on top of the 5% of income will benefit from this action. host: let's look at the new york times and how they describe

president biden's decision and what exactly he will be doing for college loan recipients. he signed off on a plan that went further than even some of his closest aides expected. canceling $10,000 of debt for those earning less than $125,000 a year and $20,000 with those with pell grant. it also reduces payments for all federal student borrowers for years to come. something is too much, mr. biden said, noting outrage from republicans and some democrats. but i believe my plan is responsible and fair. it focuses on middle class and working families. it will help current and future borrowers and fix a badly broken system. it has drawn criticism from republicans, who describe it as a costly giveaway to many that do not deserve it, including families making as much as

$250,000 a year. some morning it will contribute to inflation, calling it a reckless idea that would add $500,000 to gasoline fires that are already burning. the question is, is college worth the money people are paying? there are a lot of people paying a lot of money right now. we want to know whether it is worth it to you or has it been worth it to you. tim is calling from wisconsin. good morning. caller: good morning. i have a college degree in sociology. turned out, it was not a worthwhile degree. when i graduated degrees in the

social sciences were no good unless you at least got a masters. you had to get a phd to see any decent job. i have to echo what i heard on tv. most of this money is going to graduate students who are from wealthy families or going to be making a lot of money in a few years. i am all for helping the poor. my church, myself, we help feed them and things like that. but this is a failure. host: do you remember how much you paid for your undergraduate degree? do you remember how much you owed when you were finished with college? caller: i think it was about $31,000 if i remember correctly. host: this is for a bachelors degree in what field? caller: sociology. host: do you think that degree,

the money you paid for that degree, was worth it to you now looking back? caller: no, it wasn't. that degree -- i don't know what it brings today -- but that degree was worthless. telling you the truth. i should have gone into something else but i didn't. i wanted to get through college to see if i could get a degree but i should have waited to go to college. but i had to go with my friends. i wish i would've went for some other field. host: how did you choose sociology? what made you decide to get your degree in sociology? caller: criminal justice, that was the field i was going into. you had to go through the sociology department to get that degree. criminal justice/sociology degree is what i should say.

the jobs i would apply for other people could get without a degree. you get the same job as a probation officer, if they took the state test and stuff like that, or they just went and applied. i found it to be -- i wish i would have researched the degree a lot more. that was my fault, but boy, when i found out all of that, it was disheartening. my advice to everybody going to college, make sure you are going into a field you get paid something. i was not making more than some guys coming out of high school and working the factories. host: speaking of how much college costs, u.s. news & world reports has a graphic that shows what students are paying today. in the last school year, if you went to a private school, you were paying about 38,180

dollars. if you are going to the public schools, you are paying about $22,698. if you are going to in-state school, you are paying about $10,338. is that money worth it? steve calling from schenectady, new york. good morning. caller: good morning. i personally do not think it is worth the money at this stage. frankly, there has been a drastic increase in the amount of the cost of tuition in a relatively short period of time. i do not know exact numbers, but within like, 20 years it has been drastic. there was a gradual increase lining up with inflation, but

relatively within the last 20 years there has been a drastic increase in tuition costs. i don't know exactly the reason for that, but i do not think it is worth it for that reason. host: did you go to college? if you didn't, why did you make the decision not to go? caller: i did not because it cost too much for too little. to put myself in lifelong debt first would require getting into a job where i could make that money over time. the numbers do not work out. as much as we want them to, obviously, you want to become more educated and you can become educated without a degree. i think a large number are just to get you to memorize pieces of information and then move on.

it would be getting into the efficacy of actual college. host: if you do not mind me asking, what do you do for a living and what did you do when you are around 21, 22, 23? caller: it is kind of complex. at this stage, it is a creative pursuit at this stage. originally, it has always been more problem-solving. in many different areas. i am kind of a consultant, i guess you could say, but i have been called many places to solve problems. host: if you could do it over again, would you go to college?

caller: it changes depending on the company. host: if you could do it over again, would you go to college? caller: i really would not because it would not benefit my current work or help me at all. host: harold calling from topeka, kansas. good morning. caller: good morning, c-span. good morning, jesse. host: go ahead. caller: no, i do not think college is worth what it costs nowadays. i did not attend. i went to the workforce immediately after i got out of high school. i did not accumulate a lot of student debt. i did not accumulate children that are a drag on the rest of society. i am not getting credit for an

electric car. i have been responsible my whole life. i want to know when the government is going to give me something. it does not seem like a single man or woman who worked diligently and done the right thing their whole life and be a drain to society's money, but we never get anything as single people. when are we going to get something? host: let's go to terry calling from kansas city, missouri. good morning. caller: hi. i went to college for six years and i was in medical school to get an md, but i did not finish and ended up with a chemistry degree. but in the years since i did not make a go of it financially. i depended on my husband, so we have never had much money, but i

am so happy to have the information and education that i got at the university of missouri. it helped me when, years later -- we are in a terrible school district. there is violence and shootings and everything. i ended up homeschooling my children and they came out so great because of the education that i received. had i not had those courses i could not have taught them calculus or the other things they learned by the time they were 14 years old. then they went to college at 14 years old. that was neat. and i feel so bad that my parents spent $50,000 on my medical education and, god rest their souls, they were so generous. most of that came out of their own pocket. i had just a small amount of student loan debt. host: if you have the option,

would you do the same thing? would you still go and start medical school? especially considering what it costs today? caller: i really appreciate college. i so much appreciate what i gained. and i did work as a chemist briefly. that is where i met my husband. we have been married 43 years and have three grown kids. the youngest is 34. i was really pleased. just the knowledge, and of course, i have forgotten 90% of what i learned in medical school, but it has been wonderful to have the education through the years. host: i heard you say your parents helped pay for your college. did you do the same for your children? caller: well, yeah, but they did not go much. they went out to the community

college. not a whole lot. they just went out there for math classes and chemistry. they did not finish degrees or anything. but my middle son went and wrote videogames in seattle. he has credits on harry potter, the lion, the witch & the wardrobe. when he was 20 he had learned online how to do this game boy developing. they quizzed him and then they hired him to a real good job in seattle. he did that for a long time and came back and paid the loans we had taken out to have them have a really rich childhood with

karate and swim team. he paid $64,000 worth of credit card debt of ours. bless his heart, and still have money left over that he does investing now. host: let's go to charles calling from covington, georgia. good morning. caller: good morning, c-span. host: go ahead. caller: how you doing? i graduated in 1983. my father, he was going to send me to college, but it was hard back then. i did not grow up in a rich family. [indiscernible] i went to work and help him out

and stuff. a lot of young people do not do nothing with their life and i feel good about what joe biden is doing. i am all for joe biden doing this. that is all i got to say. host: what type of money do you make in salary in the united states with or without a college degree? forbes.com has the average, the median yearly earnings, of 25-year-olds to 35-year-olds depending on the type of degree. according to forbes, if you have less than a high school degree, you make a median salary of somewhere around $29,800.

if you have a high school degree, it jumps up to $36,600. if you start college but do not finish, you can make up to $39 ,000. with an associates degree, it is 44,000. with a bachelors degree it jumps to $59,600. with a masters degree, you can make $79,000. that is how the salaries vary for those between high school degrees and masters degrees. is college worth it to you? according to the statistics, you can make more money. but college is getting more expensive. david is calling from atlanta,

georgia. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. caller: yeah, when i came through school it was totally different. i came through in the 1980's and when i came through, i came through by way of the pell grant and work-study through the college i attended, the university of d.c. the biggest blessing i had coming through college was i attended a land grant college which, at the time, meant that i did not have -- all i had to take was the college entrance exam. i learned a lot in college. it did help me in my career. i think speaking on what you are

going to make, when i went to school, it was never my thought when i started school. my parents taught me about education, it was about education. that is what i went for. i think that is what makes it important for younger americans that do go to college. it shows the employer when you are coming out you have the ability to learn, the ability to listen to instruction. i feel that is what they help you understand coming into the work room. host: let's go to linda calling from greenville, south carolina. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you today? host: i am doing great. go ahead. caller: college has been extremely beneficial to me. my mother put me through school. she said, if you do not get married and we know you are not

getting pregnant, i will send you as far as you want to go and you will not owe a penny. my father, due to layoffs, had a far lesser job than he had in my mother put me through college as a beautician. i have a masters plus 30. i went to school for elementary education and i have a masters and here beyond in speech therapy. i have used my education to raise my children. i have been a widow since my oldest was five and my twins were three. i have put all of my boys through college. they have not owed money coming out. had i not had the education i could not have had the job and have carried that out for them. i do not agree with this payout we are talking about. i don't know. i think there is difference in the structuring that it will go

to some and not others. i think the money could be spent in other areas of education and not pay off student loans. my mother was responsible, i have been responsible, and all three of my sons have been responsible and have their own houses. host: student debt in the united states is enormous. forbes has statistics about the average student loan debt that i want to bring to you. right now in the u.s., we have $1.75 trillion in total student loan debt. the average barware owes somewhere around $29,000. 92% of all student debt are federal student loans. 55% of students from public four year schools did not get through school without taking out a

loan. more than half of ulster didn't took out -- more than half of all students took out loans. more than half of the students in public and private school did not get through school without taking out student loans. our question to you, is college worth this cost? cliff is calling from texas. caller: good morning, jesse. how are you doing? host: i am doing great. go ahead. caller: i think there is three or four different parts to all of this. a lot of it to me is common sense. i have 10.5 grades behind me, i quit and went into the family business. and now with all of the higher interest rates i am opposite of most people.

i did so well i am now able to loan the money out and get a higher return. not having to go to college and when i dropped out of high school the criticism, publicly, around us with different people was incredible. but we have this thing in america that you have got to go to college to be successful. what i believe is i have a grandson that loves mechanical stuff. well, maybe he will become a great mechanic. oh, but it is not acceptable to come home with greece on your fingers -- grease on your fingers. if the trade schools were to come back into the high schools more -- here's a good example. do we respect an electrician or plumber? not really. until you need one. and when you have lights back on you think the guys the greatest

guy in the world, but he is highly skilled. that should be respected. one of the things i think we can add to those in the skills trade, if that is what they want to do -- besides have society not judge them -- one of the other things we can do is offer classes at community college on how to manage money. some of these guys making $50 an hour as an electrician may not know how to manage money. but the end of their work life they could be millionaires. i think we could do this thing and a lot of it is social. what is accepted? what is socially accepted? but i think we are getting more away from that. all of these paybacks, $10,000 paybacks for the ones that had art degrees and social degrees, like that one guy earlier.

those should not be paid back. you know going into those jobs you are not going to get any return on your money. a lot of it is social status. a lot of it is common sense. a lot of it is going with what you are talented at. what is wrong being good at it? if you listen to society and you go against your skill set, you end up being unhappy the rest of your life and you have high debt. why $125,000? i am from texas. that is a lot of money. there are not a lot of people that make that money. they should have cut that off at $50,000 or $60,000. what do you think of my ideas, jesse? host: sharon is calling from oregon. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you today? host: i am doing great. go ahead. caller: first of all, i have a

masters and many hours beyond. if you just talk about numbers, i paid my own way through. but when i paid it, at my local college, it was $1300 a year. i paid my own way and worked. my niece is going to the same college. it is costing her $8,000 a year. as an individual and young person, she cannot come up with that and go to school. that is living at home. both of us lived at home. let's talk about what it did for me. first of all, invaluable in terms of interaction with people, general knowledge, happiness of life. let's talk money, because that is what people talk. when i graduated i had as a job a secretary. i was making $4800 a year.

my first job after graduation was $9,420. over twice as much. in retirement, in 2008, i was making $72,000 a year. without a degree, as a woman, i would not have been making $72,000 a year. my current retirement, i get $73,000 every year. for me, it was well worth it. if i had continued down the path of non-graduation, i do not think, financially, we would be where we are now and it is very comfortable. yes, i do think it is choices. i will agree with many of the people that say, the student gets a degree in something not worthwhile. i was very pointed. i knew i wanted a job at the end

of my degree. but also, all of the invaluable classes i took that had nothing to do with my occupation made me a better person, a happier person, a person able to interact with all kinds of people. in fact, this covid hit and i am devastated. after retirement i wanted to go back and engage in college classes again for the mental interaction. but what bothers me, not so much the payback of the loans, but what bothers me is why has college gone up so much? it used to be the federal government kind of subsidized college a little bit, and in turn, you had to keep tuition down. i think that system seemed to

work better in leveling out the playing field. host: at an event featuring higher education professionals, education secretary miguel cardona called for changes in the college and university systems to ensure all students benefit. here is what he said. [video clip] >> every year millions of students wind up with post secondary purgatory. they earn some credits with no degree. then they have student debt they cannot afford and a limited path to higher paying jobs. it is a generational effect. meanwhile, many institutions spend enormous time and money chasing rankings they think kerry prestige. in truth, they do little. little more than xerox privilege, as one president said. there is science behind climbing the ranking. it goes like this. you compete for the most

students by luring them with generous aid because the most well prepared have the best sat scores and graduate on time. you seek favor from your peers and other schools with expensive events because their opinions carry clout. and you invest in the most amazing campus experiences that money can buy, because the more graduates who become donors, the more points you score. too often our best resource schools are chasing rankings that mean little to what actually counts. college completion, economic mobility, narrowing opportunity for all americans. that system of ranking is a joke. in case i have not been clear yet, allow me to restate. we need a culture change in higher education now. [applause] we must stop conflating selectivity with excellent.

we must stop correlating prestige with privilege. we must embrace a new vision of college excellence. host: let's see what some of our social media followers are saying about the question of, is college worth the cost? here's a tweet that says, without a college degree or license in a trade, one cannot make a decent living in this country. here is a text that says, college is worth the cost if you're degree is in something employers need. degrees with no job-related use should be scrapped and no loan available. a tweet that says, all growing companies have an r&d department. our nation needs to save to remain successful. training beyond high school. free community college is a start. we owe life prep for all. another tweet that says, north carolina community college has

numerous phd's in history. it is interesting and there are a lot of potential for professors. i had a phd in history working as a surveyor. one last week that says, college is worth attending for its own sake. most college costs are out of control. my own was 40% scholarship and i attended and $5,000 a year. it is above 60% now. currently $81,000 a year. a large endowment keeps debt down to less than $20,000. we want to know from you if you think a college degree is worth the cost. if you went to college and got a degree, (202)-748-8000. if you went beyond college to law school, graduate program, medical school, (202)-748-8001. if you did not go to college, (202)-748-8002. and i want to hear from our vocational graduates, plumbing

degrees, electrical degrees. was that worth it? (202)-748-8003. let's go to bob calling from nebraska. good morning. caller: good morning, jesse. how are you? host: i am doing great. go ahead. caller: i graduated in engineering in 1965. i paid my own way and it was well worth it. my brother and i started a company and worked a number of years on our own. i am now retired. but i paid my own way. even though i was in the service , i was a veteran, but there is not much money except a small amount, maybe $1500, that i eventually paid off.

it took me 10 years to get through college but i was not much in debt when i got out. but it was well worth it. i would recommend anybody that had the ambition to get a degree in something that they really can use. i do not agree with this thing that the president came out with. anybody can get through school on their own if they want to. they ought to make high school mandatory like grade school was mandatory for my parents and, aunts and uncles. host: adio calling from orlando, florida. are you there? caller: i am here.

can you hear me? host: yes, we can. caller: i do not think it is cost-effective to go to college now. it is a big business for the colleges. i will give you some examples. my wife, she is around $80,000 in loans. my sons, two of them went to college, and they have to pay back loans as well. what the president has done i think is a step in the right direction. however, i think he could have added money for a lot of people who could have paid their debts off. i do not think it is fair to say you can go to college and get a degree in sociology and end up

as a teacher in school. that is what is unfair to a lot of people out there going to college and not coming out with the right job they want to get. i do not think it is worth it to be entering college right now. it is too expensive. it is a big business for the colleges. host: let's go to mark calling from california. good morning. caller: good morning. good morning. i was a late baby boomer. still in my late career at this point. i was fortunate to get good grades in school and get accepted to some pretty good universities. my family -- my father was a blue-collar career.

my older brother had started at the local state university but had not been able to finish. he was somewhat income held back because of that. my parents said, we want you to get a degree, to me. can you finish? i said yes and i was able to get into a good school. the bill was high for the time. my parents filled out long financial aid applications. we were able to get goodbackagee so it was not so onerous to go to a top-tier school rather than a liberal arts school. got an engineering degree. went on to a masters program at

a different university and those things were really necessary to having a technical career. i ended up in the energy industry. my wife, who had a similar experience, also got an engineering degree. she was working on her bachelors degree when we met. got into an aerospace job and when we got married her company paid for her to go to graduate school and get a masters degree, because they saw the value in having additional education. basically, in the technical sciences -- and i am sure other major professional vocations -- those higher degrees do have value. even though not everything i do is technical, i benefited from the eligibility the college

brought. i like to think that the income i was able to learn because i had the advanced degrees paid itself back to the government in taxes for whatever student aid programs i had during those years, and made it financially worthwhile to the economy. host: scott calling from country club hills, illinois. good morning. caller: good morning. first time caller. i have some college. i think it is worth it. meaning, well, ok, i worked for a bank for 18 years. i worked -- i started in the

mailroom and, you know, a few years later became assistant vice president. i went to roosevelt university off and on. i was using tuition reimbursement, all of that, but i could not pay consistently, so it was on-off, on-off type of thing. one of my jobs at the bank i worked at i worked in wealth management. i was an associate but i preferred to work in the office

and go out with clients with my wealth advisors i supported. i was embarrassed that i did not have a cfp, certified financial planner designation. i did not graduate one of the top four year colleges, universities the people around me graduated from. i was embarrassed, i really was. i made great money. i made $80,000. at the end, i had to stop working, back in 2013, because of my health.

if someone can afford it and use what is around them, yes, i think that they should. use everything around them to get educated. here is what i am afraid of. here is the bigger picture i am afraid of. that china has kids in college all the time. they grow up going to school all day. i am afraid that, one day, we are going to be the underdogs and i do not want my 31-year-old daughter -- i am about to be 55

-- i do not want my 31-year-old daughter to be the underdog. i am glad i live in america but, man, i think that people should try to go to college if they can. host: why is college getting so expensive? u.s. news and world reports has a story talking about the cost of college and why it is getting so expensive. i want to read a couple of paragraphs to you. a policy analyst at the newscenter and author of the report titled "the new american dream," says the ramification of the 2008 recession are hitting the higher education world and students are paying the price. the two main drivers of the rising cost is reduced state funding and the incentive for tuition raises as an

unrestricted revenue to benefit colleges. meaning, colleges can spend tuition money however they wish. state and local communities are spending less for students. someone has to take on the cost and unfortunately, it has been the student. his report outlines other reasons why college is so expensive, including the need for schools to devote more money and staff toward complying with regulations set by the u.s. department of education, high prices at for-profit colleges and a competitive drive among some colleges to raise prices to create a perception of quality. sort of a marketing technique. that is coming from u.s. news and world report. why is college so expensive? we want to know from you, is college -- is a college degree where the cost? frank is calling from florida.

good morning. caller: good morning, jesse. i want to say college is an incredibly wonderful experience. i hope everyone who wants to go, can go. i went under military scholarship. i was pretty fortunate not to have debt, but when i graduated and done my service i got in with one of the top companies. i had a 28 year career there and they would only higher college degrees. yeah, it is definitely worth it. host: let's go to marshall calling from nashville, tennessee. good morning. caller: how are you doing? host: go ahead. caller: i want to bring a little perspective from the working class. you have middle-class and low income people who are going to be paying these debts off. i could not afford to go to college. i would like to have been able

to afford to go to college, but when i was young, generally speaking, you either went to college for you went to work. i was one of the ones that had to go to work. i do not believe that it is morally fair to the general population or this country who, right now, are going through inflationary times to shadow them with a larger burden when you have american families who are having a hard time feeding their own children, clothing their children, being demanded to feed, house, give medical care and education to people who are not even citizens of the country. for me, it is hard to say that it is morally right to saddle the american citizens with even more debt. we are a wealthy nation and that

is no lie. but our wealth depends on the ability of people who are just the normal individual. to be able to go to work, make ends meet, and have a roof over their head. this does not make it any easier. it makes it more difficult at a time where it is already difficult for american families to make it. host: let's go to chris calling from indio, california. caller: good morning. i started college in 1963 and from 1960 to 1980, california had no in-state tuition. i did not finish college until 2016 here in california. my son graduated from the

university -- cal state university, san bernardino years ahead of me. he was paying $700 per quarter. i was paying $11 per quarter when i met because i was over 60 years old. my peers were paying $2400 per quarter. i think the reason that happened was because they took the college tuition out of the general fund and turned it over to the students in order to pay for the 22 state prisons they built between 1965 when they opened the university of california irvine and santa cruz. 40 years later they opened it up to the next one, merced. they built 22 state prisons and zero uc's.

it is not really student debt, it is drug war debt and prison debt. host: lydia calling from new orleans, louisiana. good morning. caller: good morning. i was calling in to say i believe a college degree is necessary. it is not necessarily worth the cost to these days because colleges have become a big business like everything else. the children are being couched for education -- gouged for education, to better themselves. i think anybody should be able to pursue whatever they are interested in and sometimes college is the only way to get there. i graduated in 1989 but i had a job. i got a job right out of high school. i worked that job, i went to college, i graduated.

it took me eight years to get my undergraduate degree and i had to take out debt, which i paid off. i also have two kids, one is a veterinarian. i paid -- my husband and i struggled to pay for her college degree. we did not want her to have any debt on her back for her college degree, so we pay that often it was hard. but we were blessed and were able to do it. families today are really having a hard time because college, like i said, is a big business. it seems so unfair the children go to college, you take a class, you still have to buy books. how can a teacher teach a class without books? that should be part of the curriculum and part of the pay you pay for the course. but you have to come out with another $2000, $3000 for the books to take the class. now teachers are doing things virtual. i understand about the pandemic,

but they were virtual before then. a lot of teachers do not go into the classroom. the child has to go online to get their work. do have to submit work online. it is not what you are paying the teachers to be in the room. you are paying administrators and all of the top level people in colleges getting the money and all of the debt is passed on to the children. host: let's get some quick statistics about who goes to college in the united states before we end the hour. this is coming from pew research center. nearly four in 10 americans age 25 and older have a bachelors degree. as of 2021, 37.9% of adults in this age group had a bachelors degree, including 14.3% who also obtained a graduate or professional degree, according to data from the bureau population study. that is up 7.5 percentage

points from 2011. in a reversal, women are now more likely than men to graduate from college. in 2021, 39% of women aged 25 and older had a bachelors degree or more education compared with 37% of men in the same age range. the gap in college completion is even wider among adult aged 25 to 34. 26% of women in this age group have a bachelors degree compared with 36% of men. this is coming from p research - - pew research. let's get a few more calls before the end of the hour and we start with joy calling from chicago, illinois. caller: good morning, jesse. the american education system is kind of a diverse experience.

i am an african-american woman and we are one of the highest demographics for educated people in this country. i am an occupational therapist. many of my colleagues are from the philippines and other countries where they were recruited by other companies. in their country, they were not paying the high amount of tuition i had to pay. i am straddled with student debt when many of my colleagues, you know, they are able to buy mortgages and things because they are free of debt. that is unfortunate. another thing is the pay rate. when i speak to my colleagues i notice they get paid more than i do because i am african-american female. it is all of these discrepancies

and it is a different experience for everyone. i welcome what president biden is doing relieving student debt. the highest paid demographic in this country is asian and many of them are educated in their country, where it is cheaper. when they come here and are recruited by companies it is much easier for them to live with this cost-of-living we currently have. i welcome what is going on, but at the same time, we need to look at that. the fact that companies actually recruit and encourage -- and it is ok to have a diverse population, we want that -- but it is the way they do things in the way that they pay the people that are here as opposed to the way they pay other populations. host: let's go to mark calling from texas. good morning. caller: good morning.

i have a graduate degree in engineering and i am retired now but it has been good for me. i am sure it more than doubled my input. my experience is so different than today's. when i started, tuition was only $120 a semester. it is hard to relate. my children, two graduated, but all three, the most successful in college was the least successful in terms of earning money outside of college. the one that did not graduate makes every bit as much money or more than the others. i think it just varies from person to person whether it is

financially good. of course, since i sacrificed to make sure none of them had debt, i am not excited about paying more taxes to pay other debts for college. host: james calling from fort lauderdale, florida. good morning. caller: good morning. i have a vocational degree. i was in a five-year program down here for air conditioning. most of my family have vocational degrees and we are all very successful. i believe if you need college, yes, you can go to college, but pay your way. so, this whole thing about not being able to pay, i think you take on what you need to take on or go to a vocation and try

something different. we are having a problem now getting people in vocational or electrical programs, air conditioning programs, etc. we actually need more of that. thank you for listening. have a good day. host: we would like to thank all of our callers and social media followers who contributed to that segment. coming up, we will hear from columnist and commentators from both sides of the aisle on the weekend of politics and looking ahead to the fall midterm elections. up first, we are joined by ethics and public policy center senior fellow and washington post columnist henry olsen. later, bill press, host of "the bill press pod" and author of "from the left: a life in the crossfire" will be here with us. we will be right back. ♪ ♪

>> hello everyone. welcome to the national book festival. >> over the past 21 years in partnership with the library of congress, book tv provided in-depth coverage of the national book festival, featuring hundreds of nonfiction authors and guest. saturday, book tv returns live and in person to the library of congress national book festival. all day long, you will hear from guests and authors such as librarian of congress carla hayden, writer clint smith and more. the national book festival, live saturday beginning at 9:30 a.m. eastern on c-span2.

are u.s. intelligence agencies prepared for threats facing the united states including from russia, china, iran and north korea? tonight on q&a, the hoover institution -- author of spies, lies and algorithms. >> i think we are living in a moment of reckoning a kin to 9/11 when the intelligence community has to undergo a radical transformation and reimagining, to deal with these threats that are driven by new technology. i think about these threats in terms of five wars that they create for the intelligence unity. more threats that can work across distances in cyberspace, more speed, moving it much faster paces. more data that intelligence analyst have to confront in the

world. more customers that don't have security clearances, that need intelligence. people like voters who need to understand foreign election interference, and more competitors. that is probably the most challenging. u.s. intelligence agencies don't dominate the collection and analysis of information like they did in the cold war. >> tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q&a. you can listen to q&a on our free c-span now app. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we are back and we are joined by ethics and public policy center senior fellow, and washington post columnist, henry olson who is here to discuss with us campaign 2022 and the political news of the day. thank you for being with us. guest: thank you for having me. host: let's jump straight into

it. described the landscape for republicans heading into the midterms. guest: i would say it is decent but not as good as it was a couple months ago. the overruling of roe v. wade has energized some democrats. some wins for president biden are improving his job approval but the fact is that president biden is still the most unpopular president in polling history, since world war ii. a lot of people who say they are undecided about the genetic -- general ballot disapprove of president biden. host: normally in a political year, the president's party faces heavy losses in the midterm election. is this a normal political year? guest: at least a normal political year. the republicans went into this

year down five seats in the house from the majority, they gained one in a special election. the odds are pretty heavy that they will gain at least that and win the house. the question is whether they get the -- the senate has always been a little different. i think the republicans are the odds on favorite to gain narrow control. they have nominated a lot of people who have not run for political office before and that is causing problems. host: what do you mean like -- what do you mean by that? guest: vance in ohio and dr. oz in pennsylvania are having trouble raising money because they don't have those networks. they also have very high negative ratings. dr. oz was attacked massively by republicans in the primary and that means he's going into the election weaker. host: under the generic ballot,

they say that right now on generic ballots, -- people choose republicans and 44% of people would choose democrats. that is awfully close for a midterm year isn't it? guest: it is close but i would caution that first of all that is a couple points of improvement for the republicans over 2020. they lost vision -- they lost the generic ballot by a couple points. if you dive into the polls, you find out that most of the people who say they are undecided have a negative opinion of joe biden. the question is where do you think people who don't like joe biden but are undecided about the parties -- historically they go against the party in power but we will see if the democrats can reverse that with their campaigning. host: so normally in a midterm election year, the referendum is on the president.

but we hear a lot of people still talking about the former president, donald trump. how much of an effect will he have either positively or negatively, in the midterms? guest: he is somebody who energizes republicans, positively and he is somebody who energizes democrats, negatively from a republican standpoint. i don't think he is going to be campaigning quite as much as democrats would like him to be. i think he understands he has exerted his influence in the primary process and there are a lot of people he is going to campaign for in the general election but the fact that he is still in the news with the search of mar-a-lago, the case with the trump organization in new york, i think he will be a moderate impact but he is not going to be the dominating issue. host: what issues are number one for voters right now, both republicans and democrats? is it inflation, is it the wars

overseas, is it gas prices? what will the voters be thinking about when they go to the polls? guest: if you are a republican, you are think about the economy and immigration. if you are a democrat, you're thinking about abortion in the economy and also things like climate change. if you are independent, you tend to be thinking about the economy still. independents are thinking about the economy and inflation. host: that is something that we always hear about, independents deciding the election. is the american population still split with that salsa -- that small sliver of independents able to swing it one way or the other? guest: absolutely.

and generally we see the democrats nationally have a narrow advantage. but the independents are the ones who have swung the election back and forth in the last 10 or 15 years. they are about 30% of the american electorate and they will be the ones to decide this election. host: let me remind our viewers that they can take part in this conversation. we will open up our regular lines. republicans, your number is (202)-748-8001. democrats, you can call (202)-748-8000. independents, your line is (202)-748-8002. keep in mind, you can always text us at (202)-748-8003. we are always reading on social media and on twitter.

i want to look at this nbc news poll which talked about the most important issue facing the country. this was conducted between august 12th and the 16th. the number one issue that that poll shows was threats to democracy at 21%. number two was cost-of-living. number three was jobs and the economy and immigration at 13%. all double-digit numbers. what issue can you speak to republicans pushing as we move into the midterm elections and what issue do you think democrats are going to push? guest: of those top four, republicans will push issues 2, 3 and four and democrats will push 1, 1, 1. nbc polls don't release crosstabs which is the

formulations and responses by demographic, so we don't know which groups are driving each of those concerns, based on what i have seen from other polls. democrats are probably heavy and threats to report -- threats to democracy and publicans are heavy on immigration and independents are heavy on cost-of-living and the economy. host: let's go to eric, calling from california on the democrats line. good morning. caller: good morning america. i want to get on the democrats for allowing these republicans in one breath to brag about all the money they have made while donald trump was in office, bragging about all the money they made when donald trump was in office while we were in a pandemic and then they complained about food and gas prices.

in the same context, how can you say glut -- god less america and then make america great? it doesn't work this way. you can't say god bless america and then choose a man like donald trump to make america great. you are so messed up. host: would you like to respond? guest: that is a democratic point of view. i'm sure many people believe that. i think the gas prices and food prices are rising and we have record inflation. is something that is eating away at the average person's savings and their ability to keep up and it is on the mind of many people. you have republicans harping about it and it is something people are figuring out naturally when they go to buy rotaries and castling. host: many people say they expect the republicans to take the house in the midterm election.

if republicans take the house, who is going to become speaker? guest: kevin mccarthy. host: you said that quick. you are very confident. guest: mccarthy is a cash cow for the republicans. he is a prodigious fundraiser and that means he can bring in the armaments, so to speak that fuels the political warfare. that is incredible value. there is also no particular reason why they should get rid of him. there is also no particular person who was an obvious successor to him. you can't beat somebody with nobody. right now there is nobody. -- and the leader is always the first to get blamed that it is a normal election and they pick up 10 to 15 seats and have an ok majority, kevin mccarthy easily. host: does mitch mcconnell

become senate majority leader again? guest: that is the coin flip question. if republicans win control, he will become majority leader. the coin flip question because it is not clear if they will win control because the senate races are in closer states, and also there are more weaker candidates. you see a lot of cast -- questions about whether or not republicans can win states that they should win in an environment like this. i still think it is little more than 50% that publicans have at least a 51-49 control of the senate but i have to say that it is more of a coin flip over there. host: despite the war of words between mitch mcconnell and donald trump, if republicans take the senate you say mitch mcconnell is the majority leader. guest: a majority in the senate will vote mitch mcconnell in. host: let's go back to the phone lines and talk to ron, from

pennsylvania on the republican line. good morning. i've never heard of your town before. caller: my thing is as we talk about issues continuously, we don't talk about the tone of the politicians in washington. sometimes i am a c-span guy. it seems there is a deep-seated animosity politically regardless of the issue. it does not bode well when you see them or you hear of them. as a republican, this is another thing that is ailing us. when is the publican party going to stand up and refuse his endorsements across the board? he's not representing what the party is and that is going to hurt republicans if they don't

ratchet him down. my thing is the tone of politicians and their lack of wanting to interact with each other and get things done. if it is not hope -- high-profile on a network you don't hear much about it. there is so much before us and it makes me wonder. that is my comment. guest: i think americans would love to have somebody who can present an optimistic tone. they've been hearing doom and gloom attacks for so long. the candidate for a presidential leader who strikes that tone is somebody who will find resonance with the american people. i think president biden was helped in 2020 by trying to strike a more positive tone in limited campaign appearances. he is somebody who by engaging in attacks like he did on

republicans over the weekend weakens his own brand. it remains to be seen if republicans can take vintage of that. donald trump is not somebody who can address a positive tone. he's had a consistently negative tone in his seven years in politics. host: one of our social media followers wants you to get deeper into something you talked about earlier. this person writes "i think henry olson is wrong on upcoming elections being decided by independents. it might be true in normal political cycles but this is anything but normal. this election will be decided by women on equal rights issues starting with overturning roe v. wade. you did mention roe v. wade earlier, but they think it is roe v. wade -- they think it is women that will determine the selection. guest: most women motivated by abortion are already democrats. we are talking about an

increased democratic turnout which will help democrats. usually in a midterm, the out party has a better turnout because they are angry but i think democrats will have an equal turnout with republicans because of roe v. wade. the fact is that most independents are not motivated by abortion. most independents are motivated by the same issues they've been voting on and those are not the issues that animate democrats. it is the same thing with republicans. independents are not animated by what is happening on the border the way republicans are. there is a reason they are independents. they will be the ones who end up deciding the general election. host: let's talk to trent from louisiana on the independent line. good morning. caller: hi mr. olson.

on c-span i talked to a guy from ethics and public policy. i was wondering if you guys -- here in the south, i sometimes think cs lewis is the 13th apostle to a lot of us down here and he is having tremendous influence around the world. i'm beginning to think that one of his lesser known works, his novel, that hideous string which was an application of his more straight work he called the abolition of man is going to be seen in the next few years as more important than brave new world or 1984. in terms of the big picture, could you tell me what you think the endgame is going to be because i'm beginning to look and think this novel is very prophetic about what is happening in our time, especially as i believe the

endgame is going to be kind of a democratic liberal trans human movement versus a christian total theocratic polarization. guest: i have not read mr. lewis's novel so i cannot comment on it per se. i think what we are seeing is increasing polarization in the country between signs that feel the other side has no good interest towards the loser in this debate. both sides feel pushed into a corner and are going to fight viciously. what you are seeing in america is a growing number of people who want a positive approach. what we are seeing in voter registration this time is that massive numbers of new registrants are registering as independent. they would prefer neither of these two options. the party that figures out first

how to soften their tone and make common cause with these people is the way we will get out of this. we've had 50-50 politics in this country for essentially 30 years. that is not normal in america. other countries usually have one party that has a consistent majority and the other that is trying to clawed back. you have a dominant party and weaker party. 50-50 politics is just breeding this intense partisanship. somebody has to break the trench warfare sometime in the first part of that does that is the one that will become the dominant party for the rest of my life. host: earlier you mentioned that democrats and president biden have had some victories lately. do you think the student loan forgiveness that we talked about in our first hour will have an effect on the midterms one way or the other? guest: it is something that talks to their base and excites the base. that is something we need to do.

they need young democrats that tend to be more progressive to turnout and not to say it doesn't matter. to that extent it is a good thing for them. republicans will try and make way with this and went out to many of their constituents who don't have student debt, who are older, who are not people who necessarily went to college, they will try and make this into a fairness issue, which is that they are benefiting them and not benefiting you. we don't know if that republican attack will help offset the small gain that the democratic move will have on energizing their base but it is possible. host: what some of us would say was an unusual move, the white house itself seems to attack republicans earlier this week, talking about the ppp loans and members of congress who had gotten -- republican members of congress who had gotten ppp loans forgiven. do you think that will have any

effect on either party in either way? guest: no, this is a political talking point that is pretty bogus. the whole ppp program was set up as a loan that is expected to be forgiven. that is not what student loans were. there was not an expectation that student loans would be something that you would be forgiven if you fulfilled your obligations of your debt. it is just a stupid talking point that they are bringing out. a lot of these things usually don't sink down to the voter level. it is the sort of thing we talk about here but voters don't move their opinions on. i think some people who have their student loans forgiven will see that biden is doing something for them and they will be likelier to vote. that is a good thing for them but it will not be a big issue either way unless the republican counterattacks are able to gain sway with independents who are also people who did not go to college. host: one thing that i have

always personally wondered is about this mythical undecided voter, especially in a country that is so split partisan one way or the other. is there even such a thing as an undecided voter left? guest: very many of them. most people in washington are people who are passionate about politics. they are not undecided, they are hyper decided. that is not the way -- there are plenty of people who feel cross pressure. people who are independents. not a large number of people here but a lot of people who don't see good or bad in both parties. do i care more about this or that? and they will decide late in a particular lien this election when you have people who voted for biden last time but don't like the way he has run the country so far. that is the swing constituency.

will they give democrats another chance or are they going to register their disapproval? that is the swing constituency and they are genuinely undecided. host: that was going to be my next question. went to those voters make up their minds? as they are going into the polls? do they make it up a month before voting starts in september or october? when do they decide? guest: they tend to decide in october. you'll start to see a movement one way or the other in september as the campaign ads heat up and you will see things in the first three weeks of october. there will be people who literally make up their minds going into the polls but they will be leaning one direction or another pretty early before that and you will be able to see movement in the polls, wanting to see where things stand by october 25. host: let's go back to our phone lines and talk to crystal from

pennsylvania. good morning. caller: good morning. if you give me a chance to touch on some things that your guest had mentioned. i am a pennsylvania voter and i will never vote for dr. oz. i don't know where he came from. i don't connect with him at all. that is number one. i don't even know why they nominated this man. another thing is the student loans. my student loans were paid off. however, helping other people does not bother me. what bothers me is places like -- things like trump university that ripped people off. that bothers me. another thing that bothers me is republicans -- could you imagine being in a room with people who all they do is complain? that is all they do and that is all republicans do is complain. they've done nothing for the american people.

joe biden has done a wonderful job, every day for the average american people. trump and the republican party is full of criminals as far as i'm concerned, with that january 6 thing, with him stealing the documents. enough of these republicans, all they do is go against democracy and i cannot vote for them ever. that is just the way i feel. thank you so much. host: go ahead and respond. guest: that is a common viewpoint on the democratic side. joe biden has 42% job approval and 50% disapproval. a lot of people disagree and a lot of people agree with the caller. host: president biden spoke at a democratic national committee meeting on thursday and outlined his accomplishments. let's hear a little but of what president biden says he has done. [video clip] >> even our critics have been forced to acknowledge real progress. record accomplishments.

matched by few and ministrations in history. 10 million new jobs, more than ever before. 3.5% unemployment rate, near record lows. 15% drop in child poverty compared to two years ago. more than 102 america -- 102 million americans vaccinated. record small business creation. a big reason for all of this is the american rescue plan that i signed into law shortly after taking office. with the help of your members of congress, that plan took america in crisis to economic recovery and not a single republican voted for it. not one. not a single republican. we also passed a once in a generation investment in roads,

highways, bridges, railroads, airports, clean water systems. high-speed rail, internet. the biggest investment in america since president eisenhower's interstate highway act. we got a little help from some republicans passing that bill and i am thankful for that. the truth is there are a lot more republicans taking credit for a bill they voted against. you see it all over america. right here in maryland, you have a republican congressman named andy harris. and he is out there touting funding for a key dredging project in his district that he voted against. this is happening all over. maybe that boy will get some religion. we passed the chips and science act, a groundbreaking law. we will once again manufacture semiconductors we invented that

power everything in our lives right here in america. this law will create tens of thousands of construction jobs, bring billions of dollars of investment to america and revitalize american manufacturing. host: even president biden said his critics have to acknowledge the work he has done. guest: he has passed a lot of things, no doubt about that. the question is for many voters, whether they see those as positively as he sees them. all presidents try and put up a positive spin on their account with schmitz and i give credit to president biden doing an effective job of putting a spin on his accomplishments. we will see whether or not independent voters in november agree. host: we talked earlier about the nbc news poll that had threats to democracy as the number one issue for voters

right now. do you think that issues like january 6 will even play at all for the midterm election? guest: so far but the bulk of the polls show is that it is a highly motivating issue for democrats and not a big issue for independents. another one of those things that will help generate democratic enthusiasm and high democratic turnout, absolutely. is it something that is going to make the person -- the independent voter decide to stick with biden? so far the polls are suggesting not. that is i think where it is going to end up being. we've had two years of this and there has never been a strong concern by people outside the democrat party base over what they are characterizing as threats to democracy. host: does it help or hurt the republican party if homer president trump announces a

president shall run before the midterm? guest: it will hurt on the margin. the more that trump is the issue, the more you unite the coalition that defeated him. president trump lost by about 4.5 points in all of the swing states that are up for the senatorial elections. there was a plurality or majority against him and river the swing voter in this election is a person who voted for biden two years ago but does not like the way biden is running the country. you put trump first and foremost and your mind that person why they voted for biden and one of the reason why -- one of the reasons why democrats are doing what they are doing and talking about president trump is to keep trump in front of that voter's mind. if he announces before hand, then it definitely becomes the forefront. host: back to the phone lines and we will talk to richard calling from tennessee on the independent line.

caller: good morning. there is so much to go over but i will stick to one thing. i'm 67 years old and i work in a grocery store and i've worked there for a number of years. if i could do my own polling, i work in an area where people who make anywhere from trillion dollars to a year -- trillion dollars a year all the way down to welfare. i talk to all walks of life. church members i go to church with. school people that my children go to school with. all walks of life. and i got to tell you, when you look at the prices on the shelves in the grocery stores and i'm the one that does all the pricing in my grocery store, we do almost $2 million a week in sales and i work for one of the largest chains in the world and i'm telling you people are upset over gas prices at the pump, they are upset with the food prices in the store and

even my good friends calling themselves democrats and my good friends who call themselves republicans are voting trump. they are trump all the way. only a few are voting for biden and most of those voting for biden are not working or on welfare waiting for that next check from the government. that is just nashville. we elected jim cooper's brother who was a democrat. he raised our property taxes 34% two years ago. we have trash that is still waiting to be picked up and we have a city dump that is waiting -- that is overfilled. the average price of a medium-sized home here is $1500 a month. the average price of a one bedroom apartment is about $1000 a month. people are priced out of the market and the just passed a law in tennessee under our conservative governor that any person that is homeless living

on public property will be charged with a felony and arrested. if it is not public property, then it's private property. either way, what you are doing is forcing them onto private property and if you have them arrested, there is no good answer to this whether it is domestic or whatever. what it boils down to and i'm trying to say is we've got to get back to you work, you eat. my bible says that a work -- a man that doesn't work as a man that doesn't eat. i've made less than $30,000 90% of my life. i've got close to $1 million in the bank and my children's college education is paid for. i paid for my baby girl three years ago, i wanted her debt free so she could a fresh start in this world. these people that cry about this or cry about that, they're the

same ones i'm seeing it in their hair done every week, getting their nails done every week, driving expensive cars. host: we will have you respond because he was going on for a bit. guest: people are concerned about inflation and rising prices. it has been booming and they have even stronger prices for housing and a lot of areas. what the caller is talking about is what a lot of people are seeing and they will have to decide whether or not they blame the current administration for that or they see it as the result of forces that the current administration neither influenced nor controls. that will have a large part in determining how the elections go. host: let's go to frank from west virginia on the independent line. caller: good morning. how are you this morning? host: just fine. caller: there is no republican party. it has been split.

i am a registered independent. in the primary, i get a choice of ballots and i voted for the republicans but it is split, there is no republican party. you have maga, the threat on democracy, attack on the capital. it was all done with the influence and the whole thing of one person. what happened in kansas causes me to stand on my head. the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. think about that for a little bit. i don't know what i'm going to do, but i have to think before i vote for a split party. there are no republicans anymore. it has been split. host: do you agree with him?

guest: every party has factions and divisions. certainly we've been seeing a lot of divisions within the republican primaries between people who support donald trump 100% and people who maybe want to take the party in a slightly different direction. when push comes to shove, most people vote in the republican primary will vote for the nominee and that is what the polls show and the same thing is true of democrats. there are splits among democrats between progressives and moderates but they come together at election time to defeat the common enemy and that is what is going to happen on both sides and that is why independents are so important because they don't have a party to come back to. they go back and forth. host: one of our social media followers texted in this question. would he agree with the idea that we no longer vote for someone, we vote against the other guy? is that how we vote these days? guest: it increasingly seems to be the way we vote these days.

republicans vote against democrats and democrats vote against republicans and independents vote against whichever party they are unhappy with in a particular time. i think americans would like to vote for someone. i think we would like to be able to, of course partisans on both sides vote for their candidates but i think there was a large degree of the lesser of two evils and going against rather than for. 60% of biden's voters in 20 were voting against trump rather than for biden and that is one of the reasons why he is in trouble and the democrats are in trouble is they had a negative coalition rather than a positive coalition and there are a lot of people who would like to say yeah i would vote for rather than against. host: let's talk to tyrone calling in on the republican line. caller: mr. olsen, the biggest thing i see here is politics

from the top up has been broken for years. we need to not cost $2 billion to become a president. we need to put a price tag on how much it should cost to run to be president. we need to start looking at term limits. we don't really do much about it. i think term limits, i look at our president right now. i've always respected whoever the president is. we don't respect our presidents anymore. i think as a nation it is time we make some changes and really respect that position. i think that amount of money to become a president is stupid. the other thing is, i don't think politicians -- we are seeing a lot where they are being able to get insider trading on the stock market.

i don't think they should be making laws for how much they should make. i think they should be voting for the american people, to get back to what is most important. host: go ahead and respond. guest: there is a lot of concern about money in politics both at the individual level and people making money on inside information or the amount of money spent for the presidency. i guess what i would say is what is the alternative? on the money for the presidency question, if you limit the men of money spent by the candidates, the supreme court has said that you can spend money independently because money is a form of local speech and that puts the money somewhere else. it costs a lot of money to get around a huge country like this. i think it is a necessary evil but i do think that we can do things to reduce the amount of potential self-dealing that members of congress can have

with respect to making money on information. host: let's talk to rhonda calling from north carolina on the democrats line. caller: can you hear me? host: we can, go ahead. caller: i just want to say first of all, all these people complaining about gas prices, but then again you go to starbucks and dunkin' donuts and you have 15 cars in line and they will pay five dollars for a cup of coffee and on friday night all the restaurants have nowhere to park. it is like that every night. those of the people complaining about the economy. second of all, donald trump is a criminal and his little fox news channel, they lie and cover him up, the republicans cover him up. he is the worst criminal president we've ever had. he caused the january 6 insurrection and i agree with the lady in pennsylvania but joe

biden has done nothing but try to help the american people. he has morals and character and he cares about people, all people. the biggest job growth in american history, he passed the inflation reduction act, he passed infrastructure, he improved health care for veterans, he got covid under control and past the chips act and he is making sure we have semiconductors manufactured in the american -- in the united states. i could go on and on. guest: a lot of people who agree with that caller. i keep coming back to the polls. 90% of democrats approve of the president and would cite many of those compliments. but biden and the democrats need to do is make more people agree with the caller like that and less people who care about the other issues and so far the polls are showing that that caller is in the minority. host: since i have you here, i

have to ask about 2024. let's look at the gop presidential field. is it a matter of waiting for trump to make an announcement on whether he is going to run? guest: yes, i think it is. i think everyone else is going to wait for trump. i would advise some buddy who wanted to run against trump to preempt him if he doesn't get in right after the midterms because trump can freeze the field otherwise and you will need time to organize against him. trump is the big dog, he leads and all the polls. he has the fan base. anybody who wants to run against him has to see where he is going. host: if president trump decides not to run, is for the governor ron desantis the defective second choice? guest: he is right now. republic opinion wants a fighter, summit he talking about the issues, talking about making america great but they are willing to look at somebody

other than donald trump. desantis because of what he has been doing as governor has a shot to the top among those voters. if he is the only person in the race who represents that, and so far the other people like haley or pence don't have a lot of support among that group of people, he will lead the polls and the question is whether or not he can hold that lead under attack from his opposition. host: where does former vice president mike pence stand? guest: i do not believe pence can beat trump because people who are generally leaning towards trump do not view him favorably. you see polls that say that desantis might start out with a 20 point deficit against trump whereas pence is at a 50 point deficit because that center of opinion, the maga-light crowd sees desantis as acceptable but not pence. host: does desantis need trump

out of the race? guest: desantis is the only candidate we see on the field right now who could beat trump if he ran against him. not wood, but could. host: is there anybody we are not talking about in the gop field that we should be talking about? guest: there is always a dark hair -- a dark horse that jumps out and gets attention but they rarely win the nomination. mike huckabee and rick santorum win second because they don't have this strong base of support across wide sections of the party. i'm sure somebody will surprise us but i doubt they will be the nominee. host: let's talk to steve calling from maryland on the independent line. caller: good morning. host: could you speak up a little bit? caller: let me get my bluetooth off. can you hear me now? host: we've got you, go ahead. caller: i'm an independent

christian voter. i've been lucky enough to travel around the world to many different countries and have friends and relatives and colleagues at work in different countries. one of the things i've noticed is countries that have more political parties don't seem to have the kind of polarization we are having here in the west. i've been to countries where they have different party rule. all we do here is focus on this party doing this and that party doing that. [indiscernible] host: unfortunately i think we are breaking up. guest: multiparty systems tend to be less polarized because when you have multiple parties, if you attack a, it doesn't mean the voters will go to be. they could go to c or d.

you tend to find less negativity in those primaries. the person making the negative attack is not sure that they will be the benefit. the only way to have a multiparty system is to have proportional representation. as long as we have the system that we have here, we are very unlikely to have multiple parties. but we end up having as multiple parties within the party. we have factions that are kind of like what they would be, parties and other countries but they have to grouped together under the label of one party to have a shot. host: we would like to thank henry olsen, senior fellow at the ethics and public policy center and washington post columnist. thank you for walking us through campaign 2022 and 2024. guest: thank you for having me.

host: coming up next, we will get another perspective on the path forward for democrats heading to the midterms with bill press, host of the -- host of "the bill press pod" an author of "from the left: a life in the crossfire." we will be right back. ♪ >> middle and high school students, it is your time to shine. participate in this year's c-span studentcam documentary competition. picture yourself as a newly elected member of congress. we ask this year's competitors, what is your top are your tea and why? make a five to six minute video that shows the importance of your issue from opposing and

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>> "washington journal" continues. host: we are back, hope -- joined by bill press, host of "the bill press pod." he is also here to discuss campaign 2022 and the political news of the day. it seems like it is 24/7 here in washington. i'll ask you the same question i asked henry earlier. describe the political landscape for democrats going into the 2022 midterm elections. guest: i was driving here and did not hear mr. olsen's answers but i imagine my will be different. i always caution my friends in the media to hold their horses and stop making these bold predictions so early. for the last six months we've heard from most people in the media that this is going to be a wipeout, that joe biden's poll

numbers were so low and everything was going bad for the democrats. donald trump was riding high. that this was going to be a republican tidal wave. suddenly people are pulling back and saying maybe we better rethink that and i think they should. the way i see it now, let's look at the primaries this past week. we saw some very interesting signs, a particularly new york 19, democrat pat ryan up until the day before everybody was saying he was going to lose because this was a swing district. it went for obama and then for trump and then for biden but barely. upper new york state. republicans were going to pick this up and prove they were going to march right into control of the house and control of the senate. it didn't happen that way. pat ryan had a big upset. nobody can downplay it.

the big issue for him that he ran on was the supreme court decision on dobbs and abortion, saying everything -- saying i will do everything i can to negate the impact of that. we saw from that one congressional district, the way i read the primaries today is anything could happen. it's about two months to go, anything could happen. i believe democrats will not only maintain control of the senate but pick up two or three seats in the senate. we can talk about some of those senate seats. the big flood bubble five they are calling it -- flippable five they are calling it. if they lose the house, it will not be as big as some are saying. anything could happen. is not going to be the republican tidal wave that people are predicting.

the economy is strong. joe biden is getting things done and his popularity is going up and i think it is going to be a good year for democrats. host: historically, when we look at midterm elections, the president's party normally suffers heavy losses. when we look at the generic ballot test, they have republicans at 44.2% and democrats at 44%, basically in -- basically neck and neck. guest: i think there were a couple things going on and it is a significant finding. it is meaningless in a sense because elections are about people and districts and candidates. the generic does tell you the mood of the people. another thing we saw this week

that you mentioned earlier i thought was interesting. the nbc news poll. they asked this question and i talked about what this meant. they asked an open question. what do you think the most important problem it facing this country is? open ended, they did not give them a list of things to talk about. the number one issue was threats to do our -- threats to our democracy. that was up over cost of jobs and economy, immigration, crime, abortion, climate change. where did that come from? it came from two places according to the research poll. the january 6 committee hearings have been punching through. people see what happened across the street on january 6 was for real. it was a coup.

a lot more people could have been killed. six police officers were killed. that was all the hands of donald trump. number two a come back to that supreme court decision on dobbs which people see as the supreme court rolling back our rights and threatening our rights as americans. the other thing i thought was democrats may have some good candidates but the energy and the power is on the republican side. the energy gap right now is basically tied. democrats are as outraged or enthusiastic, whichever word you want to use as republicans are. a lot of it is back to that supreme court decision. plus clarence thomas says we got you one abortion and now we will come after you on gay rights and contraception and god knows what else. i think the american people are seeing there was a lot at stake,

and it could be our democracy itself. i think it is, by the way. host: let's look at that nbc news poll because i want to go through some of those topics and see where you think democrats are weak and where they are strong. we just finished talking about threats to democracy. that was the number one issue at 21%. guest: the heart research people pointed out they've never seen anything like this before. this has never happened before in all of their years of polling, decades, when the american people identified threats to democracy is the number one issue facing the country. host: the next three, cost-of-living, jobs and the economy and immigration. do those trend toward republican voters more than democrats, and can democrats turn it around on those categories? guest: it depends on how they

play them. just to hit on number one again for a second. threats to democracy very much plays in the democrats favor because they threats to democracy are coming from donald trump and the maga. -- and the maga party. cost-of-living, i think that helps the democrats. joe biden can say look, we lower the cost of your prescription drugs, we just give you $10,000 in student loan debt relief and if you are low income family, $20,000. look at these new jobs that the infrastructure bill has created. i think that plays in the democrats favor. immigration is always a mix. i don't think anybody wins on immigration. no matter democrat or republican, there are always people coming across the border

and everybody says it is too many. the abortion thing definitely plays -- this was a republican supreme court put in by republicans who took the basic fundamental right of women away to control their own bodies and said in this country for the first time since slavery, we are going to force you. to have a baby. -- force you to have a baby. we are back to forced pregnancies in this country thanks to the republican party. host: let me take a second to remind our viewers they can take part in this conversation. we will open up regular lines. republicans can call (202)-748-8001. democrats, your line is (202)-748-8000. independents, you can call (202)-748-8002. keep in mind you can always text us at (202)-748-8003. we are always reading on social media, on twitter and facebook.

guest: you've got it covered. host: i want to go back to something you said earlier, specifically talking about campaign 2022. you mentioned the flippable five in the senate. what senate seats guest: i am not predicting 100%. but looking at where things are right now, let's start in pennsylvania. john is an incredible candidate. donald trump -- he was on television, he will be a great candidate, i'm going to make him my candidate. the general did a study that showed that over half the stuff that dr. oz talked about on his tv show was fake.

phony cures and medicinal aids. he is greatly new jersey and he should have stuck to new jersey. john fetterman was up 13 points last night. we will get to that in a second. i think wisconsin is flipping. lieutenant governor is a great candidate and ron johnson is a clown. he started out -- democrats in wisconsin, they have some respect for ron johnson. then he became a major trumper and has made a fool of himself since january 6.

i think johnson is behind and will go down. you have north carolina, ted budd. it looks good day. the polls are tied. help me out here. ohio. a very strong candidate. a blue-collar --he is the sherrod brown democrat, a blue-collar democrat. the working-class people of ohio like him. i think he has a good shot against his opponent. which, he is famous, he's going to be a good candidate. no, he is not. you know, i might -- florida is the other one. what a rock star.

i think --i would challenge anybody in florida to tell me anything that little marco has accomplished in 12 years in the u.s. senate. i think it is a tough race there. i think immigrants could win that one as well. i would say three out of the five democrats will win. we started with georgia. playing football, has to be a great candidate. no. it is an embarrassment. but he said about evolution, what he said about the climate change bill or the inflation reduction bill, i am

paraphrasing a little bit, but they think they are helping us, but they are really not because a lot of that money goes to trees. don't we already have enough trees? i can tell you come first of all, he has no --no idea how important those trees are to the health of the planet. we would not even be here if it were not for the trees that we have, that are keeping our oxygen levels up, and he is wanting to cut more down. that is an embarrassment. maggie hassan a new hampshire, this was considered the most vulnerable democratic city and maggie hassan is doing very well. republicans have not decided who they will pick yet, but it looks like they will go for this retired general.

he has so far out there and extreme. it looks like republicans will put up the worst possible candidate. mike kelly -- there was a backpedaling. 100% pro-choice. he took that off his website. he started to backpedal because he knows he is in trouble. nevada, looking very strong. john in colorado, people were saying, this could be a very tight race, the put but the posters are saying, we do not

see any sign of that yet. i do not know that the democrats lose their seats. they could get plus two or three . i will tell you why that is particularly important because among the ones that they have, joe manchin --they cannot always count on. host: we will start with heath calling on the republican line. good morning. caller: hello. thank you for having my call. i would like to talk to mr. bill. he says republicans at -- are against democracy. democrats attacked the police and court houses all of 2020. i would like to mention that he is a racist, a misogynist and a

wife beater, but you do not talk about that and how he supported blm. what about fetterman? that guy does not have a brain cell working, much like you, bill christ. -- bill. guest: i hope you will forgive me for not resorting to personal attacks the way our caller did. i do not think that should be part of politics. i think you give yourself away as a total brain-dead airhead when you talk like that. i will similarly ignore the unfunded attacks on a great man and a great american. i think that you should take a lesson from john mccain. when someone stood up in the 2000 election --the 2008

election and said something negative about barack obama, who was his opponent, john mccain stood up and said no, he is a good man and a good american. we disagree on a few issues, but do not attack him. with that, i will rest my case. host: a call from columbus, ohio on the democrat line. darrell, are you there? i think we lost darrell, so let's go to john, calling from new york on the independent line. caller: good morning and thank you for the call. i appreciate it. they do not i would say it woman is someone who starts a menstrual cycle, which i would call for a child 10, 11, 12

years old. does he think it is ok for a woman, 11, 12, 13-year-old, to make the decision to go into planned parenthood, without a parental guidance and have an abortion without the parent knowing that the child is having an abortion, yet that same child , for them to go to a museum, i would have to get an authorization for them to do so. i'm wondering why, if he can explain what he would identify as being a woman, and able to make the decision for a portion. guest: i am one hundred percent pro-choice. my suggestion is mind your own business. do not try to force your opinion on everyone else in america.

and i do not think a 10-year-old girl is capable of making a choice and to make that twice affecting the rest of her life, not to mention the life of that baby. we saw that in indiana and it was outrageous. just to hear the people defend that decision. i think the basic issues on abortion, most of the american people support roe v. wade. most of the american people oppose the dobbs decision. i would say, live with that. you can, but do not try to force it on everyone else. this is a usually significant and important decision that impacts not just the life of american women but the rights of

all americans. for over 50 years, most women alive today have lived with the knowledge that they, not some gang of white men wearing black robes or whatever color can decide what happens to their body. they have the right to control their body. 50 years, they have lived with that. if you take that right away and you declare to all american women that you are now second-class citizens and we, not you will decide what happens to your body, you can do that if you have enough votes in the supreme court. but i would argue that you cannot do that without having to pay a political price. if the political price is to lose the senate and to lose the house and the white house, you asked for it. host: who were the swing voters

in the election this year? we talked about how the country is basically split and independent learner --voters make the decision for midterms. who are the swing voters? guest: first of all, they are young voters. people who do not normally vote in midterm elections, they are the swing voters. they include swing voters. they are in college, having a good time, whatever. what is going to motivate them? choices. the student loan issue will sway them big time. another group are suburban women. we keep coming back to soccer moms or whatever you call them. these are within -- most women who have abortions are mothers. these women care about their families and they see their

rights taken away. these are women who do not want to stay home again because they have a lot going on. but making a direct attack on my freedom, i'm going to go out to vote. those are really big categories. there are some things that we mentioned, talking about the different poles that we saw. we did talk about the enthusiasm. but that speaks to what will get people enthusiastic enough or mad enough. but those two groups especially. host: do you expect to see a record turnout for election? guest: first of all, i am old-fashioned, meaning that i think turnout is good for

america. i know that does not sound -- i think the more people, the better. that is why i feel so strongly that all of these attempts to tamp down the vote, to make it harder to move --to shorten the early voting period --all of these attempts to suppress the vote are fundamentally anti-american. i believe that our attitude apartment -- across party lines should make it easier for everybody to the. everybody. republican and democrat. so, the more people that vote, they should accept the outcome. host: let's talk to roger. guest: really quickly come on the suburban women, the other

thing, we saw this as an established fact. i keep coming back to the dobbs decision. voter registration went up dramatically among women, not just in blue states, but in red states and independent states. in kansas, voter registration was up 40% among women. in pennsylvania, voter registration was up 12% among women. four out of five women registered as democrats. host: let's go to rogers calling on the republican line. morning. guest: good morning. i agree with you that the threat to democracy is an issue, but i think it is really on the others have defense. it is the democrats that have the more authoritative --let me

finish. the justice department conspired with the biden administration to go out --there have been whistleblowers who have gone and said that they decided to tamp down the hunter biden story and label it russian misinformation. one guy got off, but only because they are 90 8% democrat. then there was this ridiculous raid with an open ended thing about books being late at the archives at the library. going after a former president to continue to paint trump as the worst president. open borders, they do not

enforce laws. they let everybody cross the border. crime is tearing our country apart. we have the worst economy in history and that is on joe biden. we are going to see about joe biden taking kickbacks. i say joe biden is a criminal. not only does he have dementia, but he is a criminal, and that is the way this election is going to stack up. guest: i suggest you do not vote for joe biden next time around. host: let's go to cj calling from falls church, virginia on the democrat line. caller: good morning. do you find it ironic that donald trump pretty much spiked the football every time he can take credit for anything? he is the first guy out there to say i did this, i have done

better for blacks than president lincoln. now, this guy, i do not -- he has been on the stump taking credit for the dobbs decision. it is kind of like, we would rather have this go away. i think that is the whole point of the pro-choice versus the forced birth way of thinking. most people who have had an abortion view it as a moral decision that they had to make. for whatever reason, whether it was rape, incensed, they were 16 years old, whatever. and to have a country standing with a stone in their hand about

to literally stone 14-year-olds going into an abortion clinic in whatever freestate they can get you, it is a pretty sick concept. i would like to have you flesh that out. guest: cj, i do think it is worth pointing out. thank you for doing so, but donald trump does tend to take credit for everything, including the sun coming up. it is remarkably --he has been remarkably silent on the dobbs decision. i want to be careful here, but i do not remember him making any statement at all about the dobbs decision. i certainly do not remember him taking credit for it. i think that is significant. donald trump is not stupid. this is, in a sense for the

republican party, like the case of the car finally catching the dog and not knowing what to do with it. republicans have made a lot and have raised a lot of money. they have rallied the evangelical base behind them, but almost purposely antiabortion. now they have it and they rule and i think a lot of them recognize that this may not be such a great thing. i think they will through the day that samuel bounded up five more votes in the supreme court, again to reinstate in this country the principal of forced pregnancy. we have not done that since african-american women were

slaves in this country. we are right back to that in this country today. host: we talked about the senate and former president trump. do the democrats hold a house or do republicans take it in the midterm? guest: it will be tough because first of all, historically, the incumbent party president -- the president'is party generally gets wiped out in the house. basically, with rare exceptions, that happens. and then, there is the reapportionment that has made it a case where very few seats are --they can go either way. most of them are locked in republican or democrat. there are probably 30 seats at play.

and right now, democrats have the majority of five, i believe. they do not have to lose that many. i would say democrats are probably not going to hold the house. as a democrat, i hope that they do and i think that they can. nancy pelosi, do not count her out. as i said earlier, there is still time for them to turn around. host: if democrats hold the house, should nancy pelosi be speaker again? guest: absolutely. she is the best speaker in the history of this country. flat out. nobody else comes close. i think democrats would rejoice at having her serve another term

as speaker. host: it is up to her. if democrats do not hold, should nancy pelosi be the speaker again or should we move on to somebody else? guest: she has brought them back again, so i would stick with a winner. that is her decision, but i would stick with nancy pelosi. host: there was a house debate on the current house minority leader. kevin mccarthy attacked democrats and president biden's record. here is what he said. >> answer me this question. is america better off today than they were two years ago? is the price of gasoline lower? it is? the price of gasoline is lower today than it was two years ago.

i guess you believe in inflation zero as well. i'm not so sure about your math. are the car prices lower than it was two years ago? are your food prices? i would love an actual debate, right here. why don't we have that? because the american people are having a challenge. one of the most successful businesses in america is walmart. when walmart wants to look at where the economy is in america, they do not go higher. you know what they do? check the data and what they buy. for those who answered yes, you should study it as well. you look at hamburger buns, hot buns, holy and white bread. you know what?

if they hamburger sales go down and the whole-wheat sales go down, but the white bread style sales go up, you are an economic crisis because people no longer can make the decision to make hamburgers with hamburger buns. they have to to put the white bread there. for all of you who said yes, why don't you get out of washington from moment and ask your constituents if they are better off today than they were two years ago because now gas is not lower. it is higher. food prices are high and they are going up each and every day. host: if voters ask themselves that they are better off, where did they go for the midterm election? guest: first of all, we have a country that is back on track. we have a president who has restored order to this country.

we have a president who has brought some home to the country. not crazy tweets night and day from the white house. we have restored dignity to the white house. seriously, fact, democrat or republican, what did donald trump accomplish? a tax cut for the rich and the worst attack on this country since the british burned the capital in 1812. donald trump knew that his supporters were armed. he knew that they had guns. he said either take them down because there --they are not aiming their guns at me, or leave them out there and direct them, and armed raw --bob, directed them to the capital to

undermine our very democracy. the essence of our democracy is we the people. we are in power. we decide who our elected officials are. once that happens, we respect the will of the people and we had a peaceful transition of power. that is what donald trump was against. he is still against it today and he is still going out there today and inciting that mob at every one of his rallies. joe biden has gotten things done. one of the callers down the list with the covid stimulus bill, the infrastructure bill, the chips bill, the prescription drug program, and now the student loan forgiveness. first of all i would point out to kevin mccarthy that what i said about nancy pelosi --i

think kevin mccarthy is the dumbest leader that republicans or democrats have ever had in the house. i say that knowing him pretty well, but i would ask him. let's take a look at the last 80 days straight. gas prices have gone down. what do you say about that? corporate profits today for the second quarter are the highest in this country since they have been since 1950. the economy has just gone along. people are feeling good. i think that they will ignore --you know what kevin mccarthy is trying to do? change the subject. he does not want to talk about january 6. now he says everything donald trump did was fine. they do not talk about january

6. they do not want to talk about the dobbs decision. no, they do not want to say that we have the party who has made women second class citizens. they do not want to talk about student loans except to say, we are running out of time, so the republican response to the student loan forgiveness program is unbelievable. they are saying it is better for the elites. they like tax cuts for the rich. they never saw a tax cut for the bridge that they did not embrace. but boy, you give a little bit of money to people making less than one hundred $25,000 a year, you give money to poor kids and black kids and they are up in arms about it. they supported it when donald trump proposed it, but he never gave one cent in loan forgiveness to students.

not one penny. and now republicans do not like it. host: calling from havana, illinois on the independent line. the morning. caller: good morning. i have to talk about a car that you chastised earlier in the program. he said he was putting much brain-dead, but i want you to go back because prior to him calling, he said, dr. oz is a joke. you called --he said walker is an embarrassment and then a few minutes ago he said kevin mccarthy is dumb. before you recommend somebody else -- go back and listen to

your own words because you are just as guilty. i think the whole nation is tired of the nastiness and name-calling. so go back and listen to your own words. guest: thank you for your call. i think what i said does not compare to what that caller said. personal, substantiated attacks is what i was responding to. host: unfortunately, we are out of time. thank you for being here to talk about campaign 2022 and the political news of the day. bill, thank you for being here today. coming up next, we will move to our open forum, where viewers can call into talk about your most important political topic of the day. you can see the numbers on the screen. we will get straight to your call right after this break. stick with us and we will be back right after the break.

♪ >> c-span has unfiltered coverage of the house january 6 committee hearings, investigating the attack on the capital. go to c-span.org/january 6, our web resource page to watch the latest videos of the hearings, briefings and all of our coverage on the attack and subsequent investigation. we will also have a reaction from members of congress and the white house, as well as journalists and authors talking about the investigation. a fast and easy way to watch when you cannot see a live. >> there are a lot of places to get political information, but only at c-span do you get it straight from the source. no matter where you are from or where you stand on the issues,

c-span is america's network. unfiltered, word for word. if it happens here, here, or anywhere that matters, america is watching on c-span. powered by cable. >> c-span's unfiltered coverage of the u.s. response to russia's invasion of ukraine, bringing the latest from the president and other white house officials, the pentagon as well as congress. we also have international perspectives from the u.n. and statements from foreign leaders all on the c-span network. our web resource page, where you can watch the latest videos on demand and follow tweets from journalists on the ground. >> c-span brings you an unfiltered view of government.

our newsletter, word for word recaps the day for you. scan the qr code to sign up for this email and stay up-to-date on everything happening each day. >> washington journal continues. host: we are back and in our open forum section where you can call in and talk about your most important political topic of the day. we will open up our regular lines. democrats, your lined is (202) 748-8000. you can always text us at (202) 748-8003.

we are also on facebook.com/c-span. let's go straight to our calls. good morning. caller: good morning. i understand what is going on about this, but last week, they had a congressman. i do not know is first name, but she asked him, what are your plans? what are republican plans to get moving? he could not come up with anything. he just came up with talking points, so it is just about moving the country forward and giving people chances. they do not come up with anything. thank you for your time. host: let's go to georgia on the republican line.

good morning. caller: yes. can you hear me? host: we can hear you. caller: i want to talk about georgia and the race. i am a black republican, but i am appalled about herschel walker. he is not the candidate to be in the u.s. senate. i do not know why this race is even close. that is my political statement for the day. host: let's go to kathleen. caller: good morning. i wanted to get bill press. ever since the supreme court hearing for judge --johnson. there has been this question about what is a woman? the definition. this man called in and i have

heard people talk about it, but i would run by him, there are 15% of men in the u.s. that are infertile. so, if you cannot create another life -- what category is that? there was this horrible story. i think it was in one of the states in idaho, where this young girl was competing in middle school or eighth grade. the parents said --maybe she was not a girl, but i would love to find out because there was this big controversy. this young girl was there since the garden, so they had to go

all the way back, to make sure she was really a female. this whole discrimination against kids and trying to size them up, i would love to have asked bill price that in email. thank you. host: i want to remind you of something that is coming up tomorrow. you can see live coverage throughout the day as nasa launches the rocket. the launch is scheduled for 8:33 eastern, depending on weather conditions. later in the afternoon, we should see the first images of the earth planned for about 5:30 p.m., and all of this will be live on c-span.

you can also watch it on our free c-span video app and on c-span.org. yesterday, at a news conference, a reporter asked an administrator, why are we going to mars? why are we going to the moon? here is what illness in --bill nelson had to say. >> we are explorers and adventurers as a species. that is basically the fulfillment of our destiny. but, in that exploration, we are going to learn new things and develop new things that is going to improve, just as it has been under our space program, our lives on earth. last week i was in kansas and i was with a corn farmer, where we are giving him real-time information on the moisture content of the soil in this crop

, and to it, that crop. so that he knows what to plant. those instruments can pick up disease and it can pick up disease in forests, which become susceptible to fire. that certainly is going to help our life on earth. those are things that have come out of the space program, things that we cannot even inc. of, but there is more. when we go to mars in the late 30's, just think how much more we are going to understand about our solar system and about the universe as a result of things like many of our instruments out

there, not the least of which is the james webb space telescope. we may have by that time found in astroid that we do not have to protect earth on, as we are going to try with dart in another month, but we may have found in astroid that has valuable material on it, metals that we can harvest. by 2040, we may have detected life elsewhere, in the universe. and think what that is going to do in our yearning for exploitation. so, i cannot answer specifically the question what happened after mars. i just know that we are going to know a lot more between now and then. host: let's get back to our

phone lines and start with tommy from arkansas on the republican line. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i would like to comment on bill. i cannot believe that you allowed him to bash republicans in the way that he did. there is no way that you would allow a republican to do that to a democrat. so much for your unfiltered bias. host: let's go to colorado on the independent line. brenda, good morning. caller: good morning. i'm calling on the independent line from denver. and i do not hear very much about the ukraine anymore. i see it on c-span and others, but i do not see it on the news. i think it is very important

that we do not let ukraine lose. we have to make sure that they win, so that they have the gas and do not leave that control to russia. thank you. have a good day, and youtube, america. host: let's go to florida on the democrat line. caller: good morning. i am calling to get back to the lady who called at the end of the last segment and some of the republican callers who were addressing mr. press and how he spoke to people. i listened to this program all morning and the first guest was making republican points, and nobody on the democratic line attacked him or called him names, but as soon as he got on your show, the first republican calls were all name-calling, and

that is the problem that we have in this country. some people can see --if people would just pause and listen to what they are saying, they would be able to realize that other people are making sense as well. i appreciate mr. press, the very few that can defend the position as well as he does. host: let's go to ryan on the republican line. caller: good morning, c-span. host: james, good morning. caller: i have a comment, a question for you as a journalist as well. one of my big concerns is the

loss of the integrity of journalism in america. the fact that no matter what side we are on, we do not believe what we are hearing because we feel like there is something bad about one side. if you grumble sam donaldson, he made a statement that no journalist can be a true journalist, if he or she votes in elections because they are actually implicitly saying in the voting booth, i support this candidate, but when they go out in the real world come as a journalist, they are pretending that they do not have a bias comes that he believed that journalists should renounce the right to vote in any and all election, if they want to be part of it? have you done that yourself? do you think that a journalist should announce that, i voted republican in the last four elections and here are my comments about donald trump or joe biden, or i have voted

democrat in the last few elections? i would appreciate, what you yourself make that decision of not voting in elections come as a journalist, as a matter of integrity? host: i will answer that question because it is a question i get every year. i, personally will never give up my rights as an american citizen and one of my rights is to vote as an american citizen. as a journalist, i will never give up my right to vote and i will never give up my right to keep it to myself who i vote for. there are some journalists who tell you that they do not vote but i am not one of them because my ancestors fought and suffered for the right to vote, so i will though in every election that i am allowed. let's go to don on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning.

jesse, are you an adjunct professor in your journalism? are you on a tenure-track? host: not only a tenure-track, but i am a full professor. caller: my concern is that part-time teachers, professors and adjunct, teachers for --teachers assistance to qualify for public assistance. the issue of loan forgiveness and the outcry behind that minuscule amount -- when we look at endowment, we know that harvard, william and mary and john hopkins and georgetown, they are initial endowment for the ownership of the african people. that is how they built their endowment. the white southern planter sent their children north.

they were educated at harvard, yale and dz delete universities. when we talk about harvard today , we talk about loan forgiveness and these loans cannot be discharged through bankruptcy. even though people use bankruptcy, you cannot discharge federal student loans through bankruptcy. when we talk about the initial offering from the administration, the current administration for loan forgiveness, i would like to see these large endowments and billion-dollar endowments match that also in loan forgiveness. use those for scholarship and fellowships. help college students and utilize those large endowments for the enhancement of diversity at these universities.

their end have --there endowments are on the back of slavery. host: a call from toledo. good morning. caller: i would like to remind these republicans that -- made national news for being murdered, looking for -- [indiscernible] the president of the u.s. at the time was donald trump, so the republicans and democrats --thank you very much. host: let's go to james calling from texas on the republican line. morning. james, are you there? caller: i am here.

i question is directed towards c-span and the neutral quality issue. my question is this. not you personally, but c-span always gives a percentage, but you never tell us how many people were polled. you never tell us where they were polled at. i understand you are quoting from a certain company that does polling, but they never say where they get it from. did you get it from chicago, florida, texas or wyoming? we never understand how many people were polled, and from what areas, not democratic, not republican, not neutral or independent, but we never

understand what the pool actually says. if i walked down my street and i pulled 10 people and they were all democrats, and only two republicans --she would say 80% was democrat or this was the position of that pole. if 20% were republicans, you would not even mention that. not you, c-span. and not c-span, the polling companies. that is the important issue that needs to be addressed, because when you use polls community to tell us where they are from, how many people were polled and what the discrimination was of those groups. thank you for your time. host: as james was talking about that, normally when we use polls, if you were listening earlier, you might have heard henry olson talking about this. there is actually the information that james was talking about, the number of

people that were polled. usually they are done from random national areas. normally, we use polls for major polling organizations. if you are interested in those crosstabs, they are usually available on the internet. let's go to pamela calling from new york on the democrat line. good morning. caller: good morning. i was next in line for mr. price, but you guys land --ran out of time. but i wanted to share was a comment about c-span. i just observed that the phoneline numbers seem to be switched around often. i learned that zero comes before one, two and three. what i wanted to call mr. press and you about is like and learn

about what the major concern i have right now about the next election. that is that it would be interfered with by russia, as the one was that we know, with hillary and donald trump. i know in my heart that the current will prevail. i think that the republicans shot themselves in the foot with the abortion issue and also gun control. not removing the ar-15, so i really have confidence that democrats will win, but i am concerned about the possibility of there being interference. thank you for your time. host: if you watch long enough, you will notice that we switch the numbers every month, and sometimes the democrats line is first and sometimes the

republican line is first. if you wait until september, you will see that we will switch it again. that is just something that we do at washington journal every month. we switch the numbers so that people do not claim that we are being unfair by having one side first and the other second. let's go to richard on the independent line. caller: good morning. i was wondering, did trump ever come out and say why he wanted all those records, and what he was going to do with them? shouldn't he start being nicer to joe, so he can at least his sentence commuted? host: all right. let's go to the democrat line. good morning. caller: good morning. bill press said america is

concerned about democracy. a big number. when you think that there are 300 million of us, and i think but a lot of it is, donald trump is destroying our country and our world. i do not know why people listen to him. he seems to be somewhat of a charlatan. the new internet age that we are in, there is so much false news out there. we are really in a gray area now. what is true and what is not true, and how do you control it? can you control it? it is a scary time. i think some time out in the future, it will settle it self down, but right now, it is scary. ted, 20 years ago was in a log cabin. he wrote his manifesto, and he

did his thing. he blew up some dumpsters and killed a few people, but now, they can get together on the internet and be better against our country. now you have millions, not only an individual, but millions who believe these conspiracy theories. i think america -- americans in general just cannot cipher who --what is true and not true. i am worried, just like that when percent in the polls. i think that we need to be careful of the next few years because what trump trying to do a few years ago, they will do it again, and they will lose. then it will be fake news, and it will be, we won, they lost. what happens is that people will start taking out their guns. it will not be over.

host: let's go to ed, calling from troy, new york. morning. caller: this is troy, north carolina. host: i'm so used to upstate new york, my mind went right there. i'm sorry. go ahead. caller: i'm calling about the comment on the topic this morning. i tried calling this morning but i could not get through. but i was one of those hello? ok. i was one of those with vocational training and high school, back in the 1970's. i came out to a trade school,

but i got a job. i made a good living, all my life. that is what i wish education would go back to. having bricklaying, motor mechanics, stuff like that in high school, before these kids cannot go to college. it worked out because i could have gone to north carolina state on a football scholarship, but that is where i think that we are failing our kids in school. we are not giving them the opportunity to come out when they graduate from high school and have a chance to make a living at a job. but -- host: let's go to morgan.

caller: thank you. you look rather dapper this morning, sir. there is hypocrisy in the republican party. we see this whole list of republicans that had hundreds of thousands of dollars forgiven. unbelievable. it is supposed to be the party of law and order, but they show more concern about january 6 than they do about the police officers that were beaten and sprayed with pepper spray. it is just mind blowing. how low can they go? host: we would like to thank all of our guests and social media followers and all of our callers for a another --for another great washington journal. it has been a pleasure talking with you today. please continue to be safe and wash your hands. we will have a new washington

journal tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. have a great sunday, everyone. ♪ >> our u.s. intelligence agencies prepare for threats against china -- threats against us from russia, china, iran? we will look at that tonight on q and a. >> i think we are living in a moment of reckoning akin to 9/11, with the intelligence community has to undergo a radical transformation and reimagining to deal with the threats driven by new technology. so i think about these threats driven by technologies in terms of five wars they