later, avik roy, president for the foundation for research on equal opportunity, talks about how a recently passed bill could potentially impact prescription drug prices. as always, we look forward to hearing from you with your calls, texts, and tweets. ♪ host: it is the "washington journal" for august 30, that time of year when many kids are back in school, and some schools are facing teacher shortages while others are dealing with how the pandemic impacted educational quality. a recent poll looked at the overall quality of schools. we will show you that. also, we will ask what grade you would give your public schools. you can use the abcdf method or another great if you want. (202) 748-8000 for eastern and

central time zones. (202) 748-8001 for mountain and pacific time zones. for educators and parents, (202) 748-8002. if you want to text your thoughts on the grade you would give your public school, you can do so at (202) 748-8003. you can post on facebook and on twitter. you can also follow the show on instagram. a professional organization, five delta kappa, took a poll and just over 1000 responded to talk about the quality of schools and the grade they would give. you can find the pull at their website, pdkpoll.org. when it comes to views of overall schools, overall ratings, 54% would give their schools an "a" or a b, compared to 45%, which would rate them a c, d, or a fail.

then the aston overall trust in community school teachers, 56 percent saying they have a great deal or good amount of confidence in those teachers, with 37% saying just some or a little bit of confidence. the final question they asked, would you like a child of yours to become a public school teacher in your community, and only 37 percent saying yes and 62% saying no, they would not. that is just one view of public schools. that is from pdk. gallup took recent polling of confidence in public schools. they did it by a lot of metrics but broken down by political party. when they did this poll, only 43% of democrats saying, when asked about confidence in public schools, 43% saying they had a great deal or quite a lot of

confidence in public schools. 29% of independents responding to that, and only 14% of republicans responding as far as overall confidence in the public school system. overall, they asked adults about the confidence in public schools, great deal, quite a lot, or some, very little. only 28% of the respondents saying they had a great deal of confidence in public schools. you can give your public school system where you live a grade. you can use letters or other metrics. eastern and central time zones, call (202) 748-8000. if you live in the mountain and pacific time zones, (202) 748-8001. perhaps you are an educator or parent and you want to give your perspective on your public school system and the confidence and quality you see in it, (202) 748-8002. and you can text us at (202) 748-8003.

recently on this program, the national educators association president, just last week on the show, talking about one of the concerns many school systems are experiencing as school starts up again, the topic of teacher shortages and how those schools are dealing with it. this is from last week. [video clip] guest: this is accomplished problem, and we know there is not just one answer to it. but we do know that when educators talk to me about respect, they mean a couple of things. respecting them as professionals, so giving them professional pay. all over the country, teachers know if they are going to be able to do the jobs they love, they have to be able to take care of their own families without taking two or three or four jobs so we have to address that systemically and long-term. we also have to address the reality that so many of our

students are coming to school with mental health issues. that got worse during the pandemic. we do not have the counselors or mental health professionals to address the issues. and we know our parents need help, too, so they can give the support to students. so we are working with parents and communities to make sure we have those things for our students. those are the kinds of things we're focused on, and we know that when we advocate forever for those supports for our schools, educators, and our families, then we do not see those shortages grow to the dangerous levels we are seeing in some communities. [and of video clip] host: that full interview happened last week, and you can see her thoughts on teacher shortages and other issues involving public schools. you can maybe factor that in as

a give your public school a grade. carmel, new york, talking about the grading of public schools. go ahead. caller: good morning. i would give my school an f. that sounds really harsh. my teachers make over $100,000 a year. we have high property taxes. [inaudible] in the high school to students, and recently i filled a day form that showed boy, girl, or non-binary. i understand during covid lots of kids were depressed. teachers have also lost jobs. a lot were afraid of covid and there were a lot of restrictions on teachers.

so many teachers wanted to go to school and teach but were not able to. a lot of my friends are now homeschooled because of these crazy situations. i feel that instead of giving in to the mental health and making it seem like it is normal, kids do need a lot more counseling in schools. there is counseling at schools. but some students fill other students will look at them as they are abnormal. maybe they need to be more discreet about these students. one of my own sons was a really depressed student that always got 95 and above during covid and totally said i give up, 20, 30% grades. i struggled with that. one teacher in his elementary

school actually knew he was struggling and stepped in and decided to talk my son into being more confident and getting out of depression. but i think right now, it is a lot of things teachers do not want to do in school also, like teach kids there is more than one gender. there is a lot of problems. host: you made your point there. carmella in new york. greg in maryland is up next. caller: good morning. this is a lovely question. it is terribly open-ended. specifically, my school district, i would give it, like you, a b. i would not give it an excellent. the reason why -- this is what i wanted to talk about -- school means a lot of different things to a lot of different working parents' lifestyles.

an school is tossed around, like it is always educational, but in my experience, more often than not in lower income classes, and i went to mixed schools with low income and high income, but in the low income, there would be a lot more of a tendency towards the school being a daycare and a holding area, as opposed to what was going on next-door in my classroom, which was french immersion and everybody was on a totally different wavelength. like, you go to school and you get grades. the fact is that schools in america are doing like what the police do, they end up doing a whole bunch of different things. host: ok. caller: they end up doing a whole bunch of different things. the reality in america, they are more or less daycare systems for the working corps, which does

not help the problem and general as far as breaking the cycle. black-and-white, what needs to happen, america needs to find out about how great other schools are in other countries. and then instead of spending all this money on foreign wars that do absolutely nothing, let's spend trillions and trillions -- i mean let's spend several trillion dollars reimagining public schools. in my opinion, the schools should be accounting for two thirds of the budget in poor urban areas. so schools should be more than just education, they should be like kitchens teaching children how to make simple things like bread from around the world, like that could be taught in every school and then children would know how to make bread, would be able to order school and make bread for their family. host: got you. this is derek off of twitter saying when it comes to a grade,

he puts an a= in there, left out that she puts an a+ in there, love how they handled the pandemic and parents. this one says it is the hardest job for educators the way public funding is being diverted and challenges grow daily. another fear just adding the letter f when it comes to how they would rate their school as far as quality. you use a lot of different metrics when you rate your school. some of you heard from the previous two callers looking at various aspects. henry in california, you are next. caller: yes, i am very concerned about public schools. first off is that public schools is where the public pays for the school.

now, we're siphoning money off to charter schools, with the supreme court ruling or you can go to a private school, that money is gived to public education. my money should not be going to a charter school or private school. basically, that is what i wanted to say. host: as far as -- how would you seek schools specifically where you are in california? caller: i think the school system in california is good. host: so you are only concerned about the money that goes to school choice programs and the like? caller: well, the money -- my money that i save for the school

system should go to public school, not charter schools, not private school. it is public money, not those money. host: we had a school choice advocate on the program last week, as well, and he talked about schools from that's perspective, the debate over schools, particularly how they were impacted by covid in the united states. here is more from last week. [video clip] guest: for the first time ever in history, every parent in this country was intently focused on their kids' education all at the same time. and they had to make decisions all at the same time about their kids' education, whether or not they were going to participate in emergency remote learning, whether or not they could participate in emergency remote learning if they had several kids in the household but only one computer or maybe did not have internet access. they also got to see exactly what their kids were learning in the classrooms. so we had this incredibly heightened level of awareness about what was going on in schools and about education that

every family has thought about at the same time. so education now is one of the most discussed topics in our popular culture, and the culture right now. number two, we saw parents who were forced to make decisions, real-life decisions, during covid, saying that they want more options. they want to never be in a position where they felt stuck again. i mean stuck, based on getting their child to a school but having polluted -- having covid policies. some parents were upset about having to put masks on their kids. other parents were upset that they do not think schools were doing enough to mitigate covid. parents were all intently focused on education during the pandemic. also, there has been a ton of learning loss as a result of the pandemic that needs to be addressed. this learning loss has really hit black and hispanic students

the worse. five months of missed and lost learning in reading and math, that is in the can. [end of video clip] host: more of that on c-span.org . looking at school choice. we are asking you how you would grade your public schools where you live. eastern and central time zones, (202) 748-8000. mountain and pacific time zones, (202) 748-8001. a couple of stories in the papers this morning on how school districts are dealing with teacher shortages. "washington times" reporting that the american association of colleges for teacher education says the number of young people finishing teacher training programs fell like 20% between 2007 and 2011. 55% said new undergraduate enrollment dropped even further with covid restrictions.

according to the bureau of labor statistics, 300,000 teachers and staff quit their jobs between february 2020 and may of 2022, many setting covid-19 burnout for leaving. a follow-up story on specific districts and what they're doing to compensate for that, "new york times," adding that over the last two years, several states, including new mexico, florida, alabama, and mississippi have tried to address or preempt shortages by raising teacher salaries. others have new certification requirements. in arizona, a new law makes it easier for aspiring teachers without bachelors degrees to make -- gain work experience in the classroom. in florida last year, there were more than 400,000 teacher vacancies here and some veterans can get temporary teacher certificates. in some districts, school officials are putting in entire school days on the chopping block. more to that story in the "new york times" this morning.

from indiana, this is david. caller: i just want to say down here in louisiana, the schools are pretty good. the critical race theory -- [inaudible] not satisfied with the teacher school board -- satisfied with the teacher school board. i would like to commend them. i am republican. host: when you say you are satisfied, what do you base that on? caller: just on the performance of the teachers. host: ok. david there in louisiana. another call from louisiana, this is brenda. caller: hi, i am unsatisfied with the teacher shortage, real bad in louisiana. also, they are just taking people off of the streets to put them in the class to try to educate our children. i do not feel it is fair to the parents and the children.

the teachers' pay sucks. the whole system, not just the teachers, also the maintenance, cafeteria workers, the pay sucks. they make sure, the democratics and republicans, that they are paid good, but it is hard to try to maintain a family of four on $1000 a month. in the way it is paid monthly, that does not make any sense. you are getting all types of children -- all kinds of mental problems. the children, they are coming in outraged. they are taking it out on the teachers. they are lacking to learn. there is not enough electives. i can understand reading, english, and math is sufficient,

but then you should have more electives in the middle of all of that to kind of give the brain time to breathe. so i think that the democratics and republicans really need to sit down at the table and reevaluate all of that. they are taking people off the street that is not even educated to teach, to teach anybody. host: ok, you made that point there in louisiana. this is a viewer from twitter saying my sister is a lawyer, brother is a cpa, i am a retired college administrator, all public school educated. reagan defended mental health care facilities, which was the start of the decline. larry in chicago saying i lived in chicago for 32 years, 55% of my property taxes go to public schools. i never had a child go to those schools are tell me how that is right or fair. robert from twitter saying the best thing that happened to

public schools is the parents getting involved in correcting the teacher behavior. this one says we are participating in a poll with the grade system we talked about, and we are asking you to gauge that. if you go to twitter, you can participate in the poll. abcde, those kind of things. "a" taking the lead as far as those who have participated so far this morning. you can do that as well if you go to @cspanwj. ray in st. petersburg, florida. caller: hello. how are you doing? host: well, thanks. yourself? caller: not bad. to be honest, all you have to do is look at the statistics. overall, education in the united states's 20th overall in prosperity. i am not even going to break down english and math and how we are failing in all those things. the question itself to me is

ridiculous. but i do have a kind of quick fix, and everyone will probably say, oh, my god, quick fix -- no, what you need is better early childhood development. we have all the fun elective things to do in school. let's get back to the math, back to the english, the science. what we really need to do is we need to get kids out of school in their sophomore year. that is the graduation point. your junior, senior year, you are doing nothing, basically hanging around playing football, doing the extra activities. at that point, all you really have to do is give people the two-your extra education, either a trade school, associates. if you do associates, we will give you the full year. we just need to base martyr. host: a call from california next, good morning. caller: i am a social studies teacher. the reason the democrats are

against school choice is because the biggest contributor to them, along with trial attorneys, is the teachers unions. so they will defend the public school system no matter what. far too pc in terms of the curriculum. so republicans vote for school choice, and it is just a political reality that i am glad to see come to the forefront. host: what grade would you give public schools? caller: d. d. far too much political correctness. down there in florida, teaching homosexuality to kindergartners through the fourth grade. host: but what about there in california? why a d there? caller: far too much political correctness src curriculum. --

as far as curriculum. for the most part, you have to watch everything you say and everything you do. if you just put your hand on a student, it could be misinterpreted. it is far too much -- the demands are just extreme. host: ok. eric there in las vegas up next, we are asking you to greater public school. it is back-to-school time of year. go ahead. caller: good morning. absolutely an a+. i sent my children to a private school because of the neighborhoods i lived in, but now i am in an upper-class neighborhood. my grandchildren stay with me. the public school is as good as the private school. the curriculum, afterschool programs, music, dance. i am personally against school choice, simply because it is not

like they are going to give special ed students $60,000 a year to go to school. so ultimately, there will be a flight of -- what is left over our the students that they will not fund to go to a private school or to a different school. host: virtual public schooling, a commonplace event when it came to those extreme covid years. "wall street journal" looks at some districts across the u.s. still choosing to have virtual classes. this is saying that school districts in texas, new york, and california are creating permanent full-time virtual schools for the first time ever this year. a nationwide movement that has gained steam since the coronavirus print emmett -- ken dimmick, seesawing between in-person and remote learning.

superintendent says virtual schools meant to enroll a minority of students with him remote passes made more sense than going to school. students that had them in 2021, according to a rand survey. in mobile, alabama, this is sandra. caller: hello. how are you today? host: fine, thank you. caller: what i would like to say is that the kids that don't mind in school for the teachers because they are like daycare workers, that is all they are, they need to go to the reform school, and the ones that want to learn, let them stay in school. that would keep the teachers in the classrooms and everything like that. because some of them, they need to teach them for today's world.

they are into technology and everything that we were not in two years ago, and that is what they need to teach the kids today. they do not educate us poor people because they need us to work at mcdonald's, change tires, and do tuneups and everything, because they are not going to do that, that own the businesses. host: that was a call from alabama. the pdk poll also asked respondents about overall confidence in community public school teachers. when asked among all adults, 63% showing an overall confidence in those teachers. among public school parents, 72% showing that kind of confidence. they broke it down by subject matter. when it came to history, 56% of all adults saying they can appropriately handle the subject, compared to 67% of public school parents.

social and emotional growth, 48 percent of adults saying that public school teachers have the competence to take that on, 59% of public school parents saying that. history of racism and how it affects america today, 44% of adults saying public school teachers can take that on, 55% of public school parents saying teachers are capable of doing that. more of that pdk poll at pdkpoll.org. viewers of public schools overall, remember, they asked people to give a grade, 54% of respondents when it came to grading public schools gave them an "a" or b, 45% a c, d, or fail. (202) 748-8000 for eastern and central time zones. (202) 748-8001 for mountain and pacific time zones. parents and educators, (202)

748-8002. text us at (202) 748-8003. from west virginia, edward in clarksburg. hello. caller: hello. how are you? first thing i would like to say is i think they ought to go back to reading, writing, and arithmetic. although when i went to school, it was reading, writing, and redacting. every time they change it, it just gets worse. they zero additional $100 bills on it to take care of it. but to really get it down, you go to the basics and get them taught, and then all this other stuff, like i got grandchildren in school -- i cannot believe the stuff they are having to

learn. it will be totally useless by the time they get to high school. you just got to teach the three r's. as far as teachers' wages, everybody says a year how much money they make. they work 200 days a year, not 365 days a year like you, like -- not me anymore. but other people work 300 625 days, they work 200 days. so that is my opinion. thank you. host: let's get an educator perspective, randy in virginia. caller: oh, good morning, america, and thank you for c-span. i am a little bit unique. i own my own education business that has been published by the cdc, and i'm a presidential fitness partner. after a personal injury, i realized in 1998 how unprepared

the workforce was to return to work after injury or illness. and that is the premise. i built a mobile fitness center to focus on children's health, k-12. inside this 50 foot trailer, i have 30 stationary bikes. they fit children pre-k through high school. i pull that rig around and connect dots. i go to schools, neighborhoods, and i work with other host organizations to promote health and wellness and make physical fitness joyful instead of punishment. host: as far as overall grades in public schools, what would you give? caller: i am going to give the schools that i participate with an "a," and the ones that do not participate with outside vendors that can bring unique earning

experiences and change the morale of students a d or f. if we do not start taking this education to the street and start providing resources that are not game playing - -because in football, the doctor does not say go home, eat right, and tackle somebody. host: one of the things that covid had students dealing with was the -- dealing with was with the wearing of masks. cnn reporting that there may be fewer discussions and fretting about masks and other medication measures. but most of the largest public school districts in the united states are not requiring masks for the school year, making them optional. the highly transmissible ba.5 variant is spreading across the country, but schools are more

lax and domestic policies. a member of the school association in new york, although there is a possibility that such policies could change if covid-19 case rates rise or fall, everyone in the district might not be receptive to that change. more from the cnn website if you want to read about those masks and the perspective on masks. from south carolina, this is william. caller: hello. this is william. can you hear me? host: go ahead. caller: the school districts -- i took a look at pay schedules. it depends on the county in south carolina what the teachers may it paid. i am in a poor county, so a few years ago i looked at the pay scale and teachers start off around $30,000 after four years of college.

it is to the point now where that person could go get a job at a fast food restaurant and make $30,000 a year. but overall, the competency and the great i would give the schools, probably a b. the teachers are educated and have to be recertified every few years. they do the best they can with what they have got. with the vouchers and things like that, that tends to take money away from public education because there is only still so much the state will take in for money. there's only so much of the county will take in for money. and people forget that. i do not mind vouchers. but if they do that, they need to put taxes on people so they can afford those not jeopardize the public schools. host: in the union, south carolina, a call. bloomberg reports on the money that school teachers -- school

systems received from the biden administration for covid-related issues, the largest school district's are spending more. on average, school district expenses rose 5.4% in fiscal 2023 from a year earlier. that is according to analysis from a new york-based company that tracks school data. 10.8% increase between 2022 and 2021, and districts plan is been $134 billion in the upcoming school year, up from $126 billion the previous year. there is a push to put money or work head of a september 2024 deadline that requires use of the allotted federal stimulus aid. it is suggested districts are not using the money fast enough to exhaust their funds.

bloomberg has that story. rob in new york, hi. caller: good morning, pedro. you know what, the fbi just went to facebook and stop to hunter biden investigation, and you guys talk about schools? can't you talk about a serious subject? host: you called in on this topic. what is your grade? caller: i think you need to find another subject. host: we will go to kelly then. kelly in coppell, texas. caller: hey, how are you doing? host: fine, thank you. caller: i love this program, "washington journal" on c-span, one of my favorite shows. host: what grade would you give schools? caller: well, the thing is, is that being an industrialized country in the west, out of the

-- i can't quantify, cannot say -- but i have seen in, like bloomberg weekly, i get that, we are -- of the top countries, we are down near the low, like low 40 to 50 in our -- host: how would you rate your school system? what kind of grade? caller: i would give it a d, our education level. i mean, there are third world countries in africa that educate their people, their students, much better than we do.

when i am worried about is that we don't teach anything about slavery or about the holocaust. i mean, our largest school district in texas is houston isd, and i recently saw this on the news, they don't teach anything about the holocaust on there. and i am in coppell, a top-five school district, very expensive place to live. top five school district in texas, and they barely teach anything about slavery. i mean, these kids don't know anything. and i am afraid of -- they don't know anything about slavery and what it was really like and about the holocaust and what that was really like. as someone said, we don't teach

this, we're are doomed to repeat it. host: let's hear from heather, a parent in bel air, maryland. caller: good morning. definitely, our county that we live in -- [inaudible] there is a teacher shortage across the nation. i believe i heard we are at a very, very -- i think all-time low for teachers. but here, we are really not affected by that. we're almost fully staffed. but a lot of other states around the country are being affected by this. to go back to what one of the callers said earlier, you know,

everybody is being forced to conform to standards. and everybody is so pc. i know many teachers that just do not want to deal with it anymore and are finding other carriers, and that is a shame. the result is, and this is all part of the plan, to me, the result is you look for another job. and they will push you out and bring the new teachers in that will teach what they are pushing. ok? so i think that is what we are seeing happening across-the-board. host: ok. that is heather in maryland with her perspective on schools, at least what grade she would give her school there, some of you, as well. we will continue for the next 20 minutes on this to participate, (202) 748-8000 for the eastern and central time zones, (202) 748-8001 for the mountain and pacific time zones.

recently, randy weingart, president of the american federation of teachers, talked about school closures during covid times, something that the union talked about and advocated for. also asked if there were any regrets on how the teacher unions handled school closures at the time during covid. here is some of her perspective for my recent interview. [video clip] guest: what i regret is covid. but i regret is the fear. what i regret is the misinformation. would i have liked us to have a crystal ball and know then what we know now so we could have been more firm about saying if you do x, y, and z, we can reopen schools and be in heaven present? yeah, because i think that is most important. could we overcome all the fears? i wish we could have.

i do not think it is anybody's fault that we did not understand what was going on in terms of schooling and in terms of covid. and i think it is not right or accurate to say that it was the unions, because look at how many of the districts that we worked with, we were able to get reopened for in-person learning between september and april of last year. [end of video clip. host: that was a recent interview. let's hear from rene, a public educator. caller: i am a veteran, speak three languages, and am a substitute teacher. yes, i was an educator. i live in my camry county, where i teach, and i give them an "a." like everywhere else in the country, we are back into a very fractured time.

and we are seeing that schools are microcosms. a previous caller was trying to blame pc culture. i give thanks everyday that i am not a teacher in florida. i happen to be a gay man and come to school every day with pride in what i teach students in my strict. i do not teach them to be gay, i teach them to be decent human beings, teach them self-respect, teach them tolerance for each other. at the end every class i teach, and i am so happy to be here, the kids come up to me and say, i wish you were my real teacher, not just a substitute. why? because i do not push, like this woman heather from bel air was saying, pushing an agenda. there is no agenda i am pushing, but trying to inculcate in my students the same elemental and basic decency that i received as an immigrant, the son of

immigrants -- i was born here in miami, florida, and that is what i teach them, i teach them to support each other, take care of each other, to not have this idea of each other as different because someone is black or chinese. the beautiful thing about montgomery county is that we have such an international student body. we are right outside of washington, d.c., and we have students from every stripe of life. what i bring to the classroom every day is that. i teach them pride. today we were doing introductions to get to know each other. where are you from? india, that is fascinating. so what i think we are doing, many of us, i get up everyday until you i do this, not for the pay, i assure you, because people complain about future pay -- what we give is invaluable. host: ok, renee there in

maryland, giving his perspective as an educator. if you want to call and get that perspective, (202) 748-8002 is the number you can call. a couple of events on the network today, the white house planning a conference today, press conference looking at monkeypox, an event happening across the united states, press conference at 2:00 this afternoon. you can see that on c-span, watch it on c-span now, and follow along at our website, c-span.org. that will be later on today, 2:00. mississippi, we will hear from marie, a grandmother. caller: good morning. i give our schools here lay in this -- here in the city an a-b. i think we have excellent teachers, despite the sabotage from the state department or

talk to the teachers about how children are passing, doing excellent, some say right in the middle of the school year, a truck will pull up to the school with boxes full of a whole different curriculum that they have to stop in the middle of the school year and change and start teaching the children all over again. so i feel like the schools are good, teachers are great, despite sabotage from our state department. also, i wanted to add, about the charter schools, these school choices, they make these schools , like they are the best schools since the light bulb. so if the charter school curriculum is such a good curriculum, is this curriculum a part of college courses? so teachers going to school college to teach, is this curriculum a part of the college courses that all teachers at every school could do, this

charter school curriculum, since it is the best in the world? in about homeschooling, to be honest, 50%, i did not say everybody, the majority of those children do not even qualify to go to college if they are homeschooled. they've been at home but really have not been schooled. host: ok, that perspective from mississippi. you can keep calling in and we will go until 8:00. a couple events featuring president biden today, he is expected to travel to pennsylvania to give a speech on gun violence and crime at 3:15. that will be on the main network, c-span, c-span now, and c-span.org. the president is planning on traveling quite a bit over the next week. later this week, he is expected to give a primetime speech on america's rights and freedoms and how he considers them still under attack emma returning to a

message from his 2020 campaign. americans are getting ready to vote in midterm elections. the thursday address in philadelphia would focus on the continued battle in the nation and how the presidency is the central argument over the 2020 candidacy remains with midterm elections. and labor day, the president traveling to pittsburgh, according to the white house, location not specifically given. that on monday, he is expected to deliver remarks to celebrate labor day and the dignity of american workers. that is president biden's travel agenda for the next couple of days. one thing to watch for later this afternoon, 4:00, dr. rochelle walensky, head of the cdc, will speak at the center for strategic and international studies on the topic of pandemic repair nests. you can -- pandemic preparedness.

this says that locally, our public schools are doing well but a lot of room for improvement nationwide in public schooling. we should pay teachers better, spread summer break time off across the year so that the year-round curriculum happens. another says reading is the key, i read to my daughter and got her a library card at the age two and a half, she could read by age three. at kindergarten, she read at a third-grade level. you have to work with teachers, it is a cooperative relationship. this viewer says quality education is available if disruptive students are properly managed. those left in the room with disruptions struggle. this is a call from san diego, california, a parent. caller: good morning, c-span. thank you for the great job you guys are doing. thank you for the information. the educational system in san diego, i give it a b.

the fact that our great teachers, most of the great -- most of the teachers here are underqualified, not qualified to teach. students, when they come back home with homework, the homework is actually a little easier than what the schools are supposed to give. so the parents end up giving the students more homework than what the teacher gives to them. we have to look for a way to establish a religious education in our system here. look at these children. when they come back home, they have no knowledge about anything. why not give the students books to read and bring it back home? that is my opinion. host: let's hear from gail, and

teacher in baltimore. caller: hi, c-span. thank you for being there. i wanted to share that i have been working in baltimore county and baltimore city for about 21 years. the teachers are overqualified for the positions that they have. they know that reading and writing is important. we have that drilled into us at the beginning, middle, and end of every school year. so the major issue, in my mind, is that we are in old school buildings. you cannot even drink the water in the school buildings. we have bottled water brought in. the buildings are 70 and 80 years old, not beautiful places to be, sometimes not healthy places to be. i know the school system is doing the best they can in baltimore city and baltimore county. but if you do not offer a beautiful place for child to learn, it is just not a good place to be. i will be spending $1500 this

year on my classroom to make it beautiful and inviting for a child to feel good about learning. host: where does most of that expense go? what do you spend it most on? caller: supplies. i used to be a history teacher, now an art teacher. so i do not have the supplies that i need. i do not have the facility, it is not what it needs to be. and i know the school system is doing its best to provide things for me, but i don't mind spending money. i believe out of my salary, if i take $1500 and put it toward my children, it is a gift i am giving to them that i love giving. i am a very generous person, and i do not mind giving it. i had a great education, great education. i have two masters degrees. i can teach history, art, special education.

schools, we have everything as far as education, we have everything we need to offer students. we just need to show them that we care more. we need to give them an environment that is much better. baltimore city, baltimore county. host: ok, it teacher perspective. one more perspective from andrew campanella about school choice, talking about student performance on the relation he saw with the topic of school choice. [video clip] guest: the reason we do this work is because we want to see students have every opportunity to succeed. and what we know, based on research, is that when parents actively choose schools and learning environments for their kids, students succeed in schools at higher rates than if parents do not actively choose those schools. it does not matter what type of school apparent chooses, just

the act of going through the process and making a decision is what matters. so what we see is if a parent participates in an open enrollment program or in public charter school program or a private school or online school or magnet school or home schooling, the fact that they exercise their options and the options were available lose to higher student graduation rates, higher college acceptance rates, higher lifetime earnings, and all the other good things we want out of education. that is why we do this. [end of video clip] host: sue texting from new jersey, saying thank goodness our kids are done with the local school system or little support, too many superintendents with handsome salaries in a mediocre school system. overall, a c. a fewer on twitter saying i have been out of touch with my area

schools for a long time, my concerns are on well-rounded classical teachings, writing a coherent and cogent paragraph, with math and science principles. artwork and soundtracks are welcomed. some folks making a point via twitter and participating in our twitter poll, where overall, respondents give a b. you can participate in the poll, too, on our twitter feed at @cspanwj. carolyn in tyler, texas, a retired teacher. good morning. having a little bit of trouble with the button here. can you punch that, guys? good morning. caller: can you hear me? host: yep, go ahead. caller: it is interesting you have this question today,

because the main educational agency in tyler just came out with grades for all school districts in texas. where i live in tyler, tyler got a grade of a b. i thought that was real interesting because, from what i observe, and i kind of watch the school districts closely, i would have given it a grade of c. that is mainly because when you start looking at individual schools within the school district, you see that some of the schools with low socioeconomic minority kids are in the northern part of the city, and those schools are getting mainly 70's. it is in the southern part of the city where you will have more, say, white students. most of the white students in

tyler go to colloquial schools, private schools. only about 20% of white students in tyler isd are white students. about 50% are hispanic and 20% are african-american. at the same time, about 70% of our teachers are white teachers. over 90% of the central office, the personnel making the decisions about curriculum, instructions, strategies are not minority people. tyler is what you call a district of instruction, and tyler is allowed to hire teachers that are not certified. and this has been going on for about five years, and now we have about 100 teachers in the district that have degrees but

are not certified teachers. host: ok, a retired teacher giving us a perspective from texas. in chicago, another retired teacher. hello. caller: good morning. can i start? host: go ahead. caller: i taught for 34 years in the chicago school system. what i found is that class size matters as much as anything about children being successful in school. and when you have 25 to 30 children in an underprivileged neighborhood, you generally have low scores when it comes times to test and everything. the second thing is social security has a program that pays children to act out in the school. they call it ssi. teachers have to write anecdotal records on children every day to prove that they acted out in school. they take those records to

social security, and the child is diagnosed with psychological or physiological problem. and that child no longer is fit to be taught as a regular student and goes to a special ed class, and his parents deceive, as i understand, $700 per month for each child -- his parents receive $700 per month for each child. half of our students were on ssi and were receiving, at the time, $500 a month from the government for being in the social security program. host: one more call, john in baltimore, maryland, a parent. caller: i just wanted to respond to the teacher from baltimore that was on who -- 21 years, i cannot give enough respect for that person. but i think when we are saying that the school system is doing the best they can, they are not.

and if she has to shell out $1500 of her own money to make the classroom inviting, then the school system is not doing a good job. i think we are giving the school systems way too much credit and giving a free pass on not doing a good job. in baltimore, we have schools with no heat or not adequate heat, no air conditioning. the governor approved money for air-conditioning units for the schools in baltimore city almost seven years ago and nothing has been done. there was a study done about two years afterwards to make sure those air-conditioning units had even been ordered and they hadn't nothing has been done. so the school systems, central offices, are not doing their jobs. they are not doing their jobs for teachers. host: ok, last call. thank you to all of you who participated. coming up, two guests talking about two different aspects of

the recently passed inflation reduction act. the first guest is indivar dutta-gupta from the center for law and social policy, to talk about what the ledge of patient -- what the legislation means for lower income americans. later, avik roy from the foundation for equal opportunity to discuss the drug pricing reform aspects of the bill. ♪ >> in 2019 then rains discovered remains in a swamp. sunday night the best of q&a he talks about his book which details the history and how and why it transported 110 slaves to alabama in 1860.

more than 50 years after the transit line was outlawed. clicks we have the whole story and it serves as sort a proxy in the world for whoever arrived in the hull of the ship. we know nothing about them because their stories were not recorded. this is a proxy for lost history for the millions of people who were stolen from africa and spread all over the world. it is the whole story of the slavery all encapsulated in one piece and we know everything about these people and what happened to them in their lives. >> sunday night at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span's q&a. you can listen to q&a and all other podcasts on our new c-span now app.

>> at least six presidents recorded conversations while in office. here many of those conversations during season two of c-span podcast presidential recordings. >> they are part private conversations part deliberations and 100% unfiltered. >> let me say that the main thing is my heart goes out to those people who with the best of intentions were overzealous. as i'm sure you know if i could spend a little more time thing but a politician and this time being president i didn't know what they were doing. >> find presidential recordings season to wherever you get your podcasts. >> "washington journal" continues. host: indivar dutta-gupta

we are joined by your to talk about the inflation reduction act. thank you for joining us. let's talk about your organization what does it do. guest: it is a 53-year-old national anti-property organization that focuses on racial equity as well. we also do work at the state and local level and we work across the whole range of dimensions of poverty as it relates to a range of issues from income to childcare to jobs and more. host: is this efficacy on capitol hill are there other aspects to what you do? guest: we work research analysis, advocacy as well, partnerships in cooperation with other groups. we are 501(c)(3) organization so a nonprofit. we are primarily funded through foundations from individual donors and we do provide some

assistance and have been funded by state governments at times. host: the inflation reduction act the name talks about one thing but as far as low uncompleted how did the two connect? guest: that is a great question. first the inflation reduction act as a have a number of measures that help with low incomes, immigrants and others indirectly and directly including some of their costs. there are as well a number of areas that if left unattended and we have a number of ideas on how to build upon it. let's start with the inflation reduction act and what is in it. we have important provisions for health coverage costs for families. reducing out-of-pocket premiums, helps the insurance market. we also have cost reductions for medicare beneficiaries or prescription drug provisions.

there are things people have not paid attention to for example there is a really important provision that would make affordable vaccines for many adults who are participating in medicaid as parents or caregivers and have been left out a free and affordable vaccines that even other folks would get. that is important for all of us because we seek much lower rates of for example getting the flu vaccine. that is obviously a public health issue. that is a few of the measures on the health side. there is a case to be made that a lot of the measures on the climate and energy side over time will have the effect of reducing the cost families face and have to pay for fuel and energy we can talk about. host: can you elaborate on that? guest: part of what the act is

doing when it comes to climate and energy equity by investing in communities that suffer from just -- disproportionate environmental hazards. that is an important and exciting part of the act that will reduce families'help spending. another part is like clean energy tax credits that can invest and help encourage those who have the capacity to invest in cleaner energy especially in some of the more marginalized communities and communities that have been affected by extraction industries and more. it is helping us with the green transition. what does that mean for people's pockets but -- pocketbooks? you will see a reduce any demand for fossil fuels which can reduce some of the prices for fossil fuels.

for those of you have to continue to rely on filling up there car there is have their that the inflation reduction act will help folks with the pocketbooks but in the long run it will make it much more affordable to have green and cleaner energy that we all will need to come to the light on. host: taking a look at the inflation reduction act that it has minimal inflation -- impact on inflation. with that be the main emphasis for especially those in the low income brackets the immediate reduction of inflation versus those other things? guest: it is tougher policy to immediately reduce inflation through the means that were on the table here. if policymakers had instead put forth significant subsidies for child care and education, something that my organization does and did argue for and fight for you can see immediate reductions in the cost but people face.

that i will emphasize there is inflation overall and there is a cost that people face. even with the inflation protection act it doesn't reduce health care costs immediately it will continue really important subsidies that will keep the out-of-pocket costs that families are facing down by extending these subsidies for a few more years. host: one is the deadline guest: of this extension? guest:american rescue plan has included some really important subsidies that extended existing subsidies under the affordable care act so when people have to buy health coverage and to pay premiums we started seeing no cost premium costs -- coverages. and expansion of lower-cost options. those subsidies were going to expire within the year. we really needed to do with the fact that a lot of people would

suddenly find health-care coverage unaffordable if they have to buy it on their own. it will buy three more years in these more affordable plans through the increased subsidies. host: our guest from the center of policy. if you want to ask questions particularly how it impacts low income people (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8000 for democrats and independents (202) 748-8002. if you want to text our guest and ask a question or make a comment, (202) 748-8003 is how you do that. you highlighted it but what should the bill have contained? how much further should it have gone? guest: when you think about the cost that families, low income families and moderate income families and middle income families face that make them struggle financially we are looking at a number of areas

beyond health care that really the bill should have tackled and didn't. in particular on the caregiving side, we have significant costs families face for more than the cost of higher education for childcare care and early education. there is nothing in this bill that tackles those costs. then we have the cost of aid family leave that the national level through the american rescue plan which is not established despite significant consensus that the united states is an outlier without such a program. similarly, homecare and community-based services again, huge costs that many people cannot afford. it is largely ignored by our system of public policies, medicaid provides some coverage for some people with limited assets and low income but it is

largely something that people are just left on their own to fend for. we also didn't do more even directly to help young people with jobs, for example, subsidized jobs or the government helps employers sometimes public and nonprofit affording the cost of training young people and preparing them. but you also can't ignore rental housing. renters, housing costs continue to rise. this predates the pandemic. of course, we did not tackle challenges people face with their rental burdens. there is more we can to cut -- discuss. host: democratic controlled white house and senate why do you think the aspects could not have made it to a final piece of legislation? guest: sometimes one or two senators have different

priorities, maybe they don't quite see the value of these investments. with our partners, we have been working to make the case and we will continue to. host: guest: there others? we shouldn't ignore that we had an extraordinary policy in the american rescue plan that reduced child poverty that did not get extended here and that was the child tax credit which dramatically reduced child poverty possibly to the lowest rates we had seen in the history of this country at least as far as measurements go back. those policies earned income tax credit for working people and their families, they were unquestionably affected with very little downside. very few policies have no dine side -- downside. it looks like a couple of

senators simply did not think that they were priorities or wanted to change the policies in ways that would have cut the effectiveness. host: dustin in georgia for our guest. you can go ahead with your question or comment. good morning. caller: [indiscernible] subsidized plans on the health market place. do not reimburse medical providers out of six specialties in my area we were the last ones to take one of the subsidies plan and three weeks ago we no longer take it. there is no place within about 80 miles so keep letting these people on these at subsidized plans, none of the doctors are going to take it because we can't do a $200 procedure and

get reimbursed $30. it has only gotten worse and the reimbursements have gotten much worse to the point where doctors and people that need high-quality medical care won't get it because the doctors are just not going to take it. guest: thank you for the question and for the care you are providing for folks in the community. i have some sense of the challenges that patients can face in accessing the care they need. it is certainly the case that a lot of health insurance plans, including medicaid itself, have quite significant limitations when it comes to access to the necessary provider networks and that is an area we need to tackle. medicaid is far less expensive

than even the private plans on the marketplace. in some ways, we get a lot of bang for our buck. there are real challenges you have highlighted and we have to look more broadly at how we can ensure that people especially with moderate to low income don't just have of coverage but can actually host: access the care. david from texas, go ahead. caller: i live in texas as he just mentioned. i would like to point out anything subsidized, anything the government is the provider for the price goes up and it goes way up. the housing, they made the rules, changed the rules for who is qualified for it and it did not lower the rates via the fed.

but back to the insurance part, using the word subsidized about 20 times back when obamacare was passed we were paying about $640 a month. we were looking at paying almost 4000 a month for anything equivalent. fortunately texas was one of the states where obama allowed to stay on the plan for the wild. we were able to stay on it for i think two years to the point were we got on it, our premiums the first year we did not have a bronze land. $33,000 for the first year with a $12,000 deductible. we paid 38,000 dollars for our health care that year. we didn't get a penny of it when it came to the deductible. we had one doctor in our area, i didn't even go to a doctor that

year. i will also say covid had such an impact on the business and that we actually burned -- earned so much less money that we qualified for the subsidized plan. i am on medicare now and my wife is on the plan but it is only because we are in a much lower status that we are able to take advantage of the subsidy. the subsidies are shifting the cost from one place to another. host: we will let our guest answer. guest: thanks for the call and certainly i am sorry about you being in a worse financial situation. two things, first we do need to get people health coverage. right now, we are probably at the lowest rate of uninsurance in the united states thanks to recent provisions including the subsidies in particular. that is something i think we should be proud of as a country.

we are down to maybe a percent are so uninsurance rate. after the american rescue plan and new provisions that are extending the subsidies. we should expect inflation reduction act will continue to keep that rate down. then the question is are you getting the care you need and how much is really paying out-of-pocket? those are questions that we need to tackle, the united states may have among the highest shares that spends on health care. maybe about one in seven dollars. that is a much bigger question. even before the affordable care act, inflation was high. overall inflation and in some ways actually when we do subsidies we can regulate and control costs. we see that actually in the health care context. and more optimistic that we combine subsidies with health regulations that maintain

quality. host: you mentioned medicare did it address the gap in medicare and how does it impact low income americans? guest: what happens with medicare is that we are going to reduce the prescription drug crossed -- cost which is along standing cult of many to allow for negotiations and to contain the prescription drug cost. a lot of people purchasing medicaid, medicare excuse me. they qualify because of disability or age. that is quite important it is a real chunk of these families'costs. host: a viewer asked how is giving money helping people out of poverty doesn't perpetuate the issue by making them more dependent? guest: turns out everybody needs

a basic foundation to even access and take advantage of the opportunity. but we have found with investment like the child tax credit, families with kids, we will give you a and a mom of a few thousand dollars per child by and large the fast move or -- majority of children were covered under the enhanced child tax credit. we found there is very little reduction in work effort if any. we found huge reductions in property and hardship like being behind on payments for housing and utilities. reductions on food insecurity and hunger. there is even some evidence of this for many adults that when you stabilize them, when basic needs are met they do better. they can afford a more robust job search and the transportation needed to meet basic needs and they can spend

time with kids in high-quality ways. overall i think we have good reason to believe it is a good return on investment for taxpayers. the child tax credit alone is estimated to give a return of eight or nine dollars for every dollar spent. host: we are seeing to pay for this effort corporations will get text, ultimately how is that going on people? guest: one of the ways that inflation reduction act helps a lot of working and middle-class folks is precisely by re- announcing our tax code. a cap secret but it is a secret elsewhere, the pop one per centers are responsible for maybe 20% of the tax gap. this is where, we know under the

law, a certain amount of money is supposed to be paid and is not collected. this is concentrated with the highest income households. that has forced the irs to focus on low hanging fruit, people with more moderate incomes rather than go after the big dollar amounts where they have to have the resources in the capacity and the wherewithal to really do these and go after people who can afford high-priced lawyers. i am actually quite optimistic here that the irs's newfound features will help them rebalance their customer service. actually focusing or of their audits and enforcement on people with the highest income. one of the things to know quickly we added a minimum corporate tax for some of the most profitable businesses. according to the committee on

taxation which is a nonpartisan part of congress 125 companies in the u.s. average $9 billion in profits. they paid a tax rate of 1%. the part that we can collect from corporations and from people with high incomes, the less the tax burden and the tax responsibility will be on low and moderate incomes. the final thing i will say is there is also a new study that inflation protection act will look at prefiling. the irs will look at free filing which will reduce the burden people face and just filing taxes. hopefully something good will come from that. host: just to remind people it would allow medicare to negotiate those prescription drug prices and will extend

affordable care act subsidies through 2025. 375 billion dollars for climate change investments. it is being paid for by 15% minimum tax on corporations also when it comes to the irs which we just talked about, it would put funding to expand enforcement as the irs. let's hear from george on the independent line in ohio. go ahead. caller: it seems to me if you study history, kingdoms and wealthy kingdoms take care of their people. in solomon, the wealthiest kingdom on earth he had a volunteer tax. and a gold standard. we should go back to the gold standard and start collecting gold. and we should back our economy with gold.

and we should have a volunteer tax be people give marvin they are free to give and are not extorted by a 1914 established irs. it was established to dominate the people. what we need to do is go to a volunteer tax. all the offshore accounts would come home to our banks. trillions of dollars would fill our banks. no irs. so we could try a volunteer tax. they find people give more to the country if they are free to give. the poor would give a little, the rich would give more. just on a volunteer basis. host: thanks for calling. guest: in many ways we have a volunteer tax system. people with the highest incomes actually spend resources evading taxes. i want to emphasize i think the

irs funding $80 billion over 10 years is it will level the playing field. those who have already been complying and playing fair and playing by the rules, and those who have been instead devoting their resources to evading taxes. host: terry is up next and terry is from minnesota. republican line. caller: i am really using the word evading taxes. this isn't right. they are abiding by the rules. the foolishness of the argument that you are going after only rich people is insane. this is going to hit the middle class and it's going to hit small corporations and small businesses. that is where it is going to hit. 87,000 new irs agents are going to come and get more money from the middle-class and the working force. that is how it's going to play out. you know it, i knew it.

the 15%, great idea. i am not foolish enough to believe the corporations are going to pay is sent on cost increases. you have an inflation reduction bill that everybody it doesn't reduce inflation. what a clown. host: ok. guest: it is marketed competitive and as we know they are. the corporations will have to reduce profits, that is why they are fighting it. they are not concerned about raising prices. they are concerned about reducing profit. the tax cap designed by the nine -- nonpartisan is about taxes that are legally owed, and not being paid. it absolutely is a situation of companies and people in the top 1% who create shell companies

and elaborate partnerships to evade taxes. they are getting away with it. the irs will have the resources to focus on that instead of on folks with low and moderate incomes over low hanging fruit. host: or guest from the center of law and social policy for this conversation. you participated in a committee in the house hearing last month. what was the topic of the hearing? what was the discussion like and what did you bring to the table? guest: i was honored to participate at the hearing by the house select committee on economic disparity. we focused a lot on our social protection programs when people think about our safety net that i think of as programs to help basic living standards for people. we had a great discussion, a lot of the focus was how we can strengthen these programs.

and also how the programs were handed with the labor market with ensuring that people can have improved living standards there work and formal employment. we got to discuss the research on how programs like snap or programs like disability benefits or tax credits for working people and their families, but also the child tax credit which created temporary income for a lot of kids in this country. it actually was a wise investment and how they reflect a lot of research that has gone on in this country that has been neglected in many ways for decades. really, i think how they are worthwhile beyond the pandemic. the pandemic was the trigger for some improvement. but we also found in the pandemic that we were not ready for even a mild recession and we

need these programs. host: some of the republicans on the same committee that participated expressed concerns about security programs, the impact on the economy particularly on the labor market. i want to play you a little bit of the conversation on the hearing and get your perspective on it. [video clip] >> sometimes it can help families but at their worst some of these programs trapped families into government dependency. the last three years offered a unique perspective to look at these programs before, during, and after the pandemic. during the pandemic, certain programs were temporarily expanded and they severed the connection to work. the keyword here is temporarily expanded. for example the child tax credit was temporarily made fully refundable. now we are seeing some of the data that shows the long-term impact of severing the connection to work in that program. as the country is getting back on its feet in 2021 we saw this

house past a $1.9 trillion spending bill that impart at work or stay on the sidelines. june 2019 the labor participation rate was 62.9% and two years later it was 61.6 percent the lowest since 1970. the percentage may become small but that is roughly 6.5 million people who were not working contributing to the u.s. labor shortage that we see. host: mr. dutta-gupta ? guest: you will find -- you will be hard-pressed to find economies that recovered as quickly as the u.s. the spending that was highlighted by the representative, we had after the

2007 or 2009 recession financial crisis a incredibly long, painful recovery. it took over seven years to deal with the shortfall from that recovery. in this instance within three years, we will have come back from a much deeper job shortfall. secondly, i think we have to think about evidence of researcher. what it shows is that by and large there is very little negative impact on formal employment and earnings from these programs, especially when they are in response to the pandemic and of course the right programs may not be exactly what you want. but we did not see, for example from ever enhance unemployment benefits the negative impact

people feared. there were half a dozen studies from researchers, economists and even in the private sector from banks and no one could document -- there were documented benefits. would just note that in general these programs to promote work. the vast majority already require work in some way or another. insofar as some don't, they are helping people with the very basic foundations they need to be able to pursue formal employment if they are able. there are people with disabilities who may not be able to work and it is important for society to support them. in particular, i want to talk a little bit about the child tax credit. for the first time in our country, there was a moment where we said we are not going

to tell children they are too poor for our help and give more help to people with higher incomes. we said, you know what, every child deserves the minimum income. we have seen virtually no evidence of harm and i actually think in the long run based on long-standing research we will see if we can extend this policy. the challenges of having almost no income, it undermines people's ability in many ways to pursue goals they have in life. education, and also it is important to keep in mind that people are caring for each other and no economy, no society works without caregiving. we have undervalued care, care was disproportionately provided by women. we have dramatically undervalued for a moment.

pay family medical leave during the pandemic, we were valuing care. much more so than we have in the past. the research shows we were saving lives. we were stabilizing families. there is much more to do but care is essential to our economy and so is ensuring that everyone has a basic foundation to excess opportunity. host: this is from juliet in arizona. caller: i don't know why someone said i'm in arizona. i did leave -- live in arizona. i have been in chicago for over three years. the reason i am calling the "washington journal" is because of biden's policies. i wish they wouldn't have put

arizona they should put chicago. i am calling because of's policies. he and the democrats are doing a great job and people that think the helping hand or helping up is not what america is about, you know, people need to start realizing there are many low income people and there are many sick people, people that are on medicare and medicaid. i am grateful to the democratic party and to joe biden and his policies. host: ok. guest: juliet in chicago, thank you for the question. i haven't arizona phone number so i have been mistaken from being from arizona. i understand your frustration. i would say that we have seen some extraordinary progress.

some even permanent. for example, the expansion of current income tax credit. in puerto rico, that makes puerto ricans more equally then in the past. it helps working people and their families. but in puerto rico we said we were only going to give it to families with three or more kids. we corrected that in equity and injustice by offering it to families with one or two kids on a permanent basis. there is a lot to take stock of and there is a lot more to do going ahead especially as i mentioned with caregiving but also a focus on youth, employment, the climate. i think many ways but it did for communities with low incomes, from the effects of climate change policy makers have a lot

of work cut out for them that there have been some extraordinary precedents in progress that they can build upon. host: from texas, robert is next. caller: good morning. i would like to make a little comment. i am listening to your guest talk about tax policy and diverting incomes. making corporations pay the minimum share, i would like to suggest something to him that maybe it isn't policy change we need. but an overall strategy in this country to address the economic inequality by simply saying let's eliminate all the health insurance and have a universal health care plan. let's eliminate the idea of cost for tuition to colleges and base

it on a merit system or if you can pass the qualifications, you automatically get in and you get a free ride. i think so much is geared towards texting people to pay for these benefits such as health care. i mean health care is a complete mess. it should be just a universal right and he this country that everyone has access to the same health care. now, i'm not going to include anybody with an exceptional amount of income that's not what i'm getting at. i'm getting it everyone from birth to death should be covered. that is just part of being an american citizen. it ought to be written in. it is not a tax. it's not anything. it is simply here it is, the overall tax structure after that can be based on what it is.

host: got your point, robert. inky. guest: i think there is a strong case to be made for a health care system. we certainly agree that coverage it should be a right, health care should be a right for all people in this country. i think the conversation should the financing higher ed and making it affordable for people. i think we will always need texas --taxes and they are in many ways a great use of our resources. but you are absolutely right. we should revisit the part about ensuring universal health care and higher education. host: we're president biden offer relief for student on

borrowers. should that be adjusted? guest: i would say that the president could only do so much and we should keep in mind that he provided as much relief to low and moderate income. stepping back for a second, our country has a significant problem with the racial wealth gap. the median for a typical white household in this country is something like eight times that of a black household. it is due to slavery, and beyond. it's a policy that persists to this day. one of the ways to tackle the racial wealth gap because i don't know but increasingly auto loans and student debt. one of the ways to tackle it is

through addressing student debt challenges. women hold maybe something like two thirds of that. they face additional penalties because they are facing penalties based on race. women also face pay equity gap in the labor market. even though they are attending college at higher rates than men what i think the biden administration policy is about is essentially acknowledging that, yes, some people who go to college and have this debt might have middle-class income but they are released all struggling. not just because the burden of the debt itself but they are supporting a lot of borrowers. a third of student debt affected by this policy do not have a college degree. a lot of people went to college

and were taken advantage of by for-profit entities and did not graduate. the biden administration in many ways is saying we are acknowledging that you may have someone with higher income but you are often facing significant costs that a lot of other folks don't face. i say a lot of other folks previous generations did not have this sort of student debt. we made a choice to stop investing in higher education and that is really in many ways or a lot of this comes from. he is acknowledging that. he is acknowledging a lot of families of color do not come from families of wealth. they are caring for others in their family. a lot of families who got pell grant's were probably the first to attend college. it is combined with restarting the payments at the end of the

year which offsets arguably any concerns about inflation. and with the income-based plan, there is a lot more that has to happen here. be $125,000 per person, it may seem high to some but these are unquestionably disproportionate people of color and the relief that i think about as well. it could've made a difference in the lives of a lot of people. host: republican line, karen. caller: i am calling about the irs just click on the student debt i don't know why there are billions of dollars why they can't pay it off. they are the ones that gave the degrees to people that they can't make money on. also obama passed a law back when he was president that you have to pay the interest up front which is why the balance never goes down.

once the government took over the student loans, that is when it all went to hell or just quick and the irs, you act like the corporations don't pay their taxes which is completely not true. they pay payroll taxes, sales taxes, when people create a business, start a business they will create a corporation an llc -- host: i think there is a connection problem but i think she got her point across. guest: let's start with the corporations. these are my estimates, not partisan joint committee on taxation congress is estimated there is a significant tax cap in this country for corporations are at least not paying what they owe. that's the first one to the

second point is overall, the tax rate paid by corporations is a share of their income. that overall tax rate in the united states is actually quite low compared to other countries. there is good reason why the inflation protection act targeted them for additional revenue to help finance things like expanded access to health coverage and more. host: the center for law and social policy, because.org --clasp.org if you want to check out there organization. we will talk about another aspect of the inflation reduction act looking at the cost of prescription drugs. the foundation for research and equal opportunity. the guest will join us next up when john -- "washington journal" continues.

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host: you are joining as to talk about the aspects of inflation production output first tell us about your organization put is it an what did you bring to health care? guest: we are a nonprofit founded in 2016 and now we have 25 people headquartered as he said in austin, texas. we also have offices in washington, d.c. and our mission is to expand economic opportunity to those who leased have it. or goal is to show how despite this narrative you hear about that we are hopelessly divided as a country, that actually most americans agree on what america stands for. a place where everyone has an equal shot at success. we see our role in providing ideas that both democrats and republicans can think of as advancing their values.

both regressive and policy outcomes but free-market and orientation so that both sides can get behind them and make a difference for the people struggling. host: when it comes to your funding where does it come from? guest: primarily from individuals and foundations. host: when it comes to the inflation production act, remind people what it does in the realm of her mystical drugs and what the impact -- pharmaceutical drugs and what the impact is? guest: despite a lot of the noise, they are purely to flip modest. it is an incremental change. there are 4100 drugs that the medicare part b and d cover. if you get a prescription they are paid for by medicare. what the new law says is that for 20 of those drugs, the most

expensive to the medicare program, to the taxpayers and seniors who pray premiums the top 20 drugs will be ones where the government, after a. of time, 12 years of them being on the market will try to negotiate the prices down and try to get a better deal for taxpayers. it is a modest bill but because the drugs, each of those drugs can be tens of billions of dollars in spending the impact fiscally is pretty significant. host: if i am a pharmaceutical manufacturer i am looking at the perspective what is the general consensus? guest: what you hear the pharmaceutical lobby say p hrama as it is caused they will make less money and if they make less money they will invest

less money in research and development and if they invest less money in research and development that means fewer, new treatments and cures for patients. that is their argument. as i mentioned, part of our mission is to use innovation. we are very much in favor of innovation and our research shows and we have eight washington post op-ed that we published a couple of weeks ago that talks about our research. it shows that if you take those older drugs that are 10, 15, 20 years old that have been around for a long time and the companies that have made a lot of money and start negotiating on those, it has almost no impact on innovation. most innovation is happening at small startups not these big multinational arm a suitable giants. host: can you elaborate on that? guest: if you look at the industry as a whole thousands of companies out there, they are the big ones most people have

heard of like pfizer or merck. those are some of the big companies that have been around for a long time in some cases hundreds of years, you see a lot of commercials on tv for prescription drugs. a lot of the new drugs, the new treatments that we enjoy or help us with diseases where there wasn't an effective treatment those are often developed at start up companies that you have never heard of. eventually from public investors and those companies operate at a phosphor for avon time because they are spending a lot but they don't have drugs approved by the fda to generate any money. so those unprofitable companies that are supported by investors, those are the ones where innovation is happening. because the fda, the drug approval process is so expensive in many cases, they need a lot

of money from investors and others to support their work. what happens is these larger companies like pfizer they come in and of in at the last minute when the drug is about to get approved and they will do the last bit to get it over the finish line and they can consider the money. one example of that is the pfizer vaccine. what we know as the pfizer vaccine was not developed by pfizer. it was developed by a german startup called biontech. we know the u.s. market, there are a lot of hurdles here. so to give up the right to your drug and we will sell it in the u.s. and the german companies that we don't have the resources so we will let you go ahead and do that. now we call it the pfizer vaccine but pfizer did not develop the vaccine. host: our guest with us until

930 if you want to ask questions about prescription drugs. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8000 for democrats and independents (202) 748-8002. you can texas too at (202) 748-8003. you mentioned the big pharmaceutical companiesp,harma is there trade organization they put out an ad. i want to play you the ad. you can hear it and then get your response to it. [video clip] >> it could mean fewer medicines in the coming years. which ones could be lost? today, there are 90 netizens in development for alzheimer's. 20 for childhood diabetes. 119 for breast cancer. the list goes on. which of these could go untreated if government passes

this? paid for by pharma. host: you respond to that? guest: almost every sentence in that ad is wrong. first of all, as i mentioned, this edit care negotiation only affects 20 drugs out of 4100. it does not affect people who get the prescription drugs from private insurers who are not elderly for over 65, people who are on medicaid. this is only for people in medicare. that is a significant population. that is not the whole country, first of all. it is a very small number of drugs. the idea that drug companies.

developing drugs for alzheimer's or breast cancer because 20 out of 4100 drugs are being negotiated medicare is preposterous. as i mentioned, if you already made a lot of money, the way the bill is designed it is really focused on drugs that have been on the market for a very long time where the returns have already been generated. so take humera. it is the best-selling they generate $20 billion a year before the patent expired. so they made a lot of money. way more than they spent developing it. at this point, if they start to negotiate the price at the tail end of that drug's life. it's not likely will be discouraged and say we are going to quit. that's not going to happen.

two say press cancer and alzheimer's as the examples those are huge markets. that's going to be a drug that generates 20 million or 20 billion or more in sales. more than enough to pay for the investment. this bill does not affect that at all. it is just the economic argument they are making is wrong. on a more basic principle level, the pharmaceutical industry negotiates with payers all the time. when an insurance company says we have a new drug out should recover that drug in our insurance plan that is a back-and-forth negotiation. when pharmaceutical companies negotiate with other countries whether it is a single pay system they also have to say does it work and is it worth

what you are charging for it? there is a back-and-forth. only in the u.s. for the drug companies are able to tell medicare we are going to charge and you have to pay it law and you have no ability to say yes or no to the price. that makes no sense. in no other context what we consider that a market. a market is when there is a buyer and a seller and they fight with each other about what to pay for something. when you have a monopoly power, there is nobody else who can make that drug and you just say we are going to treat the taxpayers like an atm. whatever we want to charge for this drug the medicare program has to pay. that is not capitalism. that is not a free market. that is not a fair system for generating a price system. so, you know, we would never say to the federal government if you

have a cafeteria in the u.s. senate, they can charge $1000 for a sandwich. we would not negotiate with the vendor we would say sandwiches should be five dollars. if the government is buying carriers or trying to build a power plant, you would want the government on behalf of taxpayers to negotiate those prices. we do the all the time. we do not say to aerospace contractors name your price and will accept that. there is a bidding process. in every other aspect, when the government is a purchaser, they negotiate the price. it is only for some reason in the pharmaceutical company where we say that you can charge whatever you want and the taxpayer will hand over the money. that is not the market. it has been really puzzling to me why so many people who say they are for free market are ok with that system.

host: gary, republican line. caller: [inaudible] host: gary, i apologize. we can barely hear you. can you try to get a better connection and then call us back. let's go to angela in west palm beach, florida, democrat line. caller: hello there. thank you for the work you are doing. i have two quick questions and may be my seconds more important. if pfizer did not actually develop the vaccine, i am hoping they had to go through the same review progress -- process. secondly, i am constantly amazed at the number of drugs and medicines that average americans especially of certain ages take. when i go to the doctor, i do

not take any. i do all the basic things you learned when you were a kid to stay healthy. i am hoping your organization and others are encouraging americans to do that. not to take the doctors first suggestion of you have this system -- symptom, so take this medicine. i do not understand that. it does not seem to be working for anyone except the drug companies but thank you for what you are doing. guest: thank you for the kind words. on the question about whether pfizer have to go through the same review process, they did area they went through the same review process as bedard and all the other vaccines that have been approved. there was the emergency use authorization which was to get things to patients as quickly as possible and then there was the full approval which was also something the fda has been working on. it is exactly the same review process. i would say it is kind of a shame that biontech did not do

it themselves because it would be great to have more people be aware of how much it was not just the u.s. where these innovations place. you hear people say if we have medicare negotiate prices for 20 drug at 4100, than all innovation is going to collapse like it does in germany and europe where they have no negotiation. but it turns out a lot of the covid vaccine that americans have taken were made in germany and europe. by the way, guess who decided the price of the covid vaccine? the federal government. the federal government negotiated with pfizer and modernity say we are going to preach purchase -- and moderna to say we are going to prepurchase these and that was good for the success of the

vaccines because they had a certain amount of cost and what they were going to make and if they were successful. the government was actually very involved in negotiating the prices of the covid vaccine and that turned out to be incredibly successful. when you hear the pharmaceutical industry say if the government negotiates drug prices, there will never be any innovation, you can point them to the covid vaccine as a counter argument. i just quickly want to point out about broader health and prescription drugs. in the case of diabetes or heart disease, diet and exercise is the best solution which any doctor will tell you. if you lose weight and exercise and eat well, that is much better for long-term health than taking cholesterol-lowering drugs or diabetes drugs later in life. having said that, there is a lot of great medicine out there that makes a big difference and we should certainly be grateful we

have access. host: granted saying the american public should know more about the cost of pharmaceuticals, especially older ones. this will highlight how we are getting price gouged. a much transparency is there about how much it cost to manufacture a drug? guest: there is a fair amount of transparency. almost all the companies that have fda approved drugs are traded on the stock market publicly. they have to disclose in their financial statements how much they are spending what is called cost of goods sold or the cost of manufacturing and raw materials. we have pretty good information about how much it costs to develop a typical traditional pill or a monoclonal antibody drug or a vaccine. we have good information on that. frankly, the fda at times

through bad regulatory design has made that process more expensive than it needs to be. overall, once you have a drug on the market, the manufacturing is not that expensive. the real expense is the clinical trial it takes to get through the fda process. host: lesko to richard in new jersey. independent line. caller: my point is this. in our country, corporate america runs every. corporate america is making big profit -- profits and do not make -- pay taxes but make a big prices. as customers are complaining of the government does not do this or the president does not support people but corporate america is why the prices have gone up. you have the whole issue with

inflation but look at corporate america. corporate america has reduced the costs and all these corporations are putting factories out of the country. yet, they are buying products to make and sell to us at very low price. there is no reason which should be paying -- we should be paying for drugs. medicare should be negotiating prices of prescription drugs and the government should come down on corporate america. the price of oil went up to five dollars in new jersey where over five dollars. the oil was already in the pipeline and the system. host: we will hold us there and stick to prescription drugs. guest: i would just say it is more complex than that. a lot of times these big lumbering companies like pfizer certainly have a lot of influence and pull in washington

and know how to use it. a lot of how to use this is to rigged the system with smaller upstart competitors. so the biontech company, a small german company, says they do not know how to navigate the u.s. so they go to pfizer. a fair system would be one in which biontech could go to the u.s. and save the rules are clear and i know how to navigate them. and because we developed this, we can sell it in the u.s. without pfizer's help. the problem is not corporate america. but that the biggest companies often rig the game against smaller competitors whether inside the u.s. or elsewhere. a lot of our work involves how to restore competition to market where you have monopoly power and a handful of players who have set the game so they win and no one else can compete. part of that is the government.

in the government creates all sorts of regulations and rules that make it offensive -- make it expensive and more complex for newer players who do not have as much money to enter the competition, that is what helps the big competitors. if we want a fair system, we need to think about the rules we put in place that makes it harder for smaller startups to succeed. host: there was a statement that came out over what we are talking about and they said "negotiation is simply a euphemism for government takeover of a sector of the on its own house then successful in saving lives. instead of strengthening the ecosystem, which has slowed from the pandemic, and in doing so, save taxpayers trillions, legislation would dismantle our innovation engine and our global

competitive said -- competitiveness, leaving america to address our health care needs. " how would you respond to that? guest: it is ridiculous. i spent a dozen years on wall street with the ioan tech investors so i very much -- with the biotech investors so i very much believe that innovation can help. i am a big believer in that and with biontech as a force for good. the idea that if you negotiate on 20 drugs out of 4100, it is a government takeover is patently absurd. if the biotechnology innovation organization thinks that it is really terrible that the government is involved in negotiating prices, than are

they going to give back all the money from the medicare program and the medicaid program and the ea program and the affordable care act and the tax break form employers that subsidizes health insurance for 155 million people in the u.s.? are they going to give back all the subsidies that go to the pharmaceutical industry and the biotechnology industry that come from the government? are they going to relinquish the intellectual property that is generated from labs who the nih funds from around the country? that then informs a lot of the innovation that the biotechnology industry can generate. the idea that somehow all of that is just fine because it makes us more money but if we negotiate on 20 drugs to save taxpayers and seniors a few dollars because people are struggling to afford them, it is

a moral. i think the ioan technology industry needs to wake up and understand -- the biotechnology industry needs to wake up and understand that they need to make drugs affordable. if the only drugs you are making are ones that people cannot afford, that is not real innovation. think about your iphone or android phone. it gets better and more powerful and less expensive every year. her laptop gets better and more powerful and less expensive every year. prescription drugs are a 20-year-old drug but we are going to charge 10 times more today than 20 years ago for exactly the same drug. molecularly, nothing has changed about it. just because we feel it is our god-given right to increase prices by 10% a year. that is not free-market economics and the biotechnology and history and the pharmaceutical industry need to understand the americans are just not fighting those arguments credible. host: mark in plainfield, new

jersey. independent line. caller: i would like to ask mr. roy about particularly sometime during the trump administration there was something going on with negotiations where the u.s. would become a most favored nation and somehow the drug companies would be charging another nation and would have to charge essays the molar amount. -- have to charge us a similar amount. i am wondering if mr. roy could share some light on that and whether that was a good approach or bad approach. it seemed like it would cover everything, not just medicare. thank you for answering the question. guest: a great question. the answer was focused on medicare, not the broader market

, just because in terms of what the white house's legal authority is primarily involves government programs like medicare. the negotiation or the idea that the trump administration advance as a way of tackling high prescription drugs was to say that you are negotiating with france and germany and the u.k. and these other countries out there and we want the best price that you are giving everyone else because we are the biggest arc it. in any normal market, where you actually have a free market for pricing, the biggest purchaser who has the best purchasing power gets the best deal. if you think about anything in life, you get the best discount. if you buy 10 or 100, we all see. the more you buy, the more discount you earn because the seller and manufacturer of the products makes more money if you

buy more of the products because of the way manufacturing works. all of that to say that with the u.s., trump's instinct was the u.s. should get the best price of any country because we are the biggest market and purchaser. that is a technique a lot of other countries use. if you look around the world, even in canada, a lot of what the other countries do is start from the baseline of how they negotiate price with the pharmaceutical industry. they say we are going to look at the prices negotiated with all these other countries and based off negotiations of that. that is called reference pricing. president trump was simply trying to do the same thing here and the idea did not carry over to the biden administration. a biden administration through that overboard when they came in which i think was unfortunate because that could've been a useful technique to add to the arsenal but we can revisit that at a later time. host: mr. roy, the inflation

reduction act as 15% corporate tax. what does that do for those who manufacture drugs? guest: it is interesting because the biotechnology and history and the pharmaceutical industry should have been much more bothered by that. because that is going to be much more economically impactful to those companies bottom lines than the 20 drugs that are being negotiated by the government. i think the trade associations in that sense did themselves no favors by fighting so hard to make more drugs less affordable on the negotiation side, instead of addressing the tax policy which is going to this incentivize and a lot of those companies from being -- to disincentivise and those companies from being taken seriously.

there was a thing where a company would sell to a british company or a canadian company just to have a lower tax rate. unfortunately, what we may see with the 15% tax is off shoring of jobs. you can have in your own mind that i think corporations should pay this or that but you have to look at the competitive landscape. companies are going to be based where it is more tax efficient for them to be based. i am wary we are going to create a powerful incentive for companies to leave the u.s. host: democrat line, tammy. caller: good morning. i have a few points. if the u.s. government provides research on funding for all the drugs that are coming through and americans are still having to pay the higher part of that, i am not sure why that is ok. i was also wondering when it

comes to become generic, are companies able to change molecularly or an agreement there to keep the patent? also, is the u.s. one of the only countries that allows pharmaceuticals to advertise a commercial? think you. guest: a lot of great points. in terms of advertisement, i do not have a problem with advertisement. i think that can be good that if you have a new drug on a market that treats a disease that is otherwise untreated, you need patients to be aware that if you have these kinds of systems that you did not think you have, go ask your doctor. i think it is important to ask -- raise awareness for new treatments for new people. in terms of your point about the fact that a lot of the research is funded in academic centers

like the by national institute for health and to pharmaceutical companies than a fit from that? -- benefit from that? that is not necessarily a bad think. we have incredible innovation that comes from academia that leads to cures. the problem or economics of that sequence is not fairly distributed. the nih or the taxpayer does not get a lot of those benefits economically. the royalties are the go to the universities where they go to the pharmaceutical industry like the biotech industry. i think it is fair to say there should be more of an economic payoff for the taxpayer. i think there is more thinking we can do about what the nih's position should be about what the royalties they should receive our. it is absolutely true that

negotiation, if you think about it from a moral standpoint, the biotechnology innovation organization says it would be a terrible thing if the government got involved in prescription drugs. but the government has been involved all the way through in terms of supporting basic science and paying for the price of those drugs. there is a lot to say there. i think the most important thing is 90% of all drugs prescribed in the u.s. are generic, dirty drugs. if you go to your doctor and get a prescription, almost all of those drugs are less expensive than a six of sparkling water you get at the grocery store or soda you get at the grocery store. we are actually really good once a drug goes off patent at making that drug and expensive. the problem is 0.4% of the

prescriptions lead to 50% of the cost. because companies are charging american patients incredibly insane prices and that is where we have to do better. host: should influence -- insulin have been part of the inflation reduction act or at least a cap? guest: i think it was fine in the way it finally shook out. democrats were trying to make an argument that we should cap the co-pays that patients pay. that would have been a terrible mistake because if you force the insurers to say the patient can pay no more than $10 for their insulin, then what happens? then the manufacturers of insulin, in italy and denmark and france primarily, they say this is great. i can charge double wide charged before and the patient is still

paying the same $10. who is paying the rest? the taxpayer. the people who pay for their insurance premiums. all you do by capping co-pays is kind of a band-aid. it does not fix the problem and is pro inflationary because it gives a more powerful incentive for drug companies to raise their prices. what you have to do is have a more competitive system for the manufacturer of older insulin. insulin has been around for a hundred years so why is it so expensive? the reason is that the insulin patients get in the u.s. today are better than insulin from 100 is ago. these manufacturers keep tweaking it every year, kind of like the microprocessor in your computer. they make it a little better every year. just like you do not want to buy a 20 year old computer or a five-year-old phone, you do not want a 20-year-old or five-year-old version of

insulin. but we still need to say the older version of insulin should be on the market for the patients who need a low-cost alternative. so let's have that. there are really cool efforts in the philanthropy world to say let's manufacturer the lower costs of insulin and older insulin so people have the most affordable option possible. the challenge is insulin is hard to manufacture so it takes a lot of investment in trial and error to develop this that people are working on it which is great. host: one more call from bob, tennessee, republican line. caller: mr. roy, you are a very brilliant man. i am a republican and conservative on most things. but i do think in this country, there should be equality among poor people and the races. i am not a liberal but my friend

went to medical school with you. are you still a republican consultant? do you still consult republicans? what does your a quality mean in your foundation? you were sued for defamation, although you won. but my brother does not have a great opinion for you. he says that you are a brilliant man but you are using your brilliance in the wrong direction. host: ok, we will let our guests respond to all that. guest: i think i missed the part about who your brother was but tell them i said hello if he is someone i know. in terms of your questions about my political orientation or what ever, my views are that there are good people on both the

democratic and republican parties want america to a better country and want to use the traditional ideas of economic freedom and innovation and competition and pluralism to make america a country where everyone can succeed. my commitment is to work with everyone who advances the values from every party. historically, i have advised republican presidential candidates fast whether that happens in the future is up to the candidate. they need to decide whether or not they like my ideas. whether that is a democrat or republican, we work with people from both parties. the way it -- the way i look at it, is what the members of the parties stand for is changing all the time and my job is to have the northstar of equal opportunity for every american. that does not mean equal outcomes that means we should all have a fair shot at six as

which is an idea -- shot at success which is an idea both democrats and republicans have. host: there is a story the past couple days about the planned release of an omicron booster. this is not necessarily being tested on humans. is that a concern at this stage? guest: i am impressed by biovail and vaccines which are designed to treat the original or older strains of coronavirus or covid-19 but also some new variants like omicron. those vaccines have shown to be very effective in clinical trials. it is important to test vaccines in humans. it is obviously a lot harder now. the technical challenge is in country or the world were almost all of us have been vaccinated or exposed to covid and have some immunity, it is a lot

harder now to say that if you give someone a vaccine, are they going to be infected with covid? it is harder to know and harder to test positive. it is becoming harder to do trials and i'm sure the fda and manufacturers are doing their best to come up with a good scientific way to do that. we should have a law of confidence the fda is doing its job in the right way. i have criticized the fda on this program from being a bit too conservative or too cautious, creating higher costs, when it comes to clinical trials and making sure they are safe, the fda does a pretty good chop most of the time and i think we can have confidence in their work. host: -- declaring a public health emergency on monkeypox. is that a good movie? guest: no.

there is a lot of fatigue from public health emergencies. i think they could have done a better job by saying this is something to be concerned about, here are the risks. two x and y to minimize reduction. i think there are a lot of people in the public health committee who think that if less -- that unless you terrify people, they will not do things like wear and mask. the opposite is true. if you try to terrify people, it is like the boy who cried will sexual. host: avik roy from the foundation of research on equal opportunity. the president has the pennsylvania for a speech on crime and safety. he will travel on labor day as well to talk about that.

that and other things you can talk about during public forum. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. the cracks, -- democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. >> if you are enjoying book tv, sign up for our newsletter using the qr code on the screen to receive a schedule of upcoming programs, author discussions, book festivals and more. book tv every sunday on c-span two or anytime online. television for serious readers. >> listening to programs on c-span for c-span radio just got easier. tell your smart speaker to play c-span radio and listen to washington journal's daily at 7:00 a.m. eastern.

catch washington today for a fast-paced report on the day. listen to c-span any time. tell your smart speaker to play c-span radio. c-span, powered by cable. lives, sunday on in-depth. uc berkeley's scholar stephen haley will be our guest to talk about leadership, ronald reagan's career and the conservative movement. he is the author of several books including two volumes in the age of reagan series. you change the course of conservative politics in america. join the conversation with her phone calls, -- your phone calls, texts and tweets. steven hayward life sunday at at noon eastern on c-span 2. announcer: washington journal

continues. host: if you want to participate in open forum and text us it is (202) 748-8003. president biden traveling to's -- traveling to pennsylvania for a speech on gun violence and crime. you can see the speech at 315 them this afternoon on c-span, and c-span now, our app. the new york times reports congress is seeking -- four gun sales. democratic lawmakers want the firm crypto book financial to provide -- one a firm to provide anything about buy now, pay letter is not being sold to anyone else. they also want to know if any of their consumers have used the guns to access including high-profile shootings. lawmakers made the request in a

letter sent monday. they asked about cordova financials deals. when it comes to the information that was taken from mar-a-lago, the washington times has a story by jeff murdoch about the possibility of attorney-client privilege protecting smoke those documents. he wrote the privilege review team "identified a limited set of materials that turned -- that obtained attorney-client privilege and also wrote they will provide more information about what the fbi team concluded. they said agents are in the process of following procedures with a search warrant handle any privilege pursuit". fbi agent are still reviewing any material for potentially classified information. bonnie in alabama. democrats line. good morning.

caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. what i would like to know is i need someone to tell me the definition of treason. i am 87 years old and to overturn the government sounds like treason from what i know. if someone could answer that, i would really appreciate it. host: bob in illinois, republican line. the morning prayer -- good morning. caller: good morning pedro. i want to talk about the fbi bias. going back to 2016 when former president trump -- former president obama started

investigating trump after he won the election, even before he was sworn in. all the turmoil we went through for six or seven years with the violent -- a phony russian stuff. now right in front of our noses we see joe biden and hunter biden and joe biden's rather -- brother involved with things and looking at january 6 and trump's mar-a-lago criminal activity. that is not criminal activity yet. you might find something but not yet. president trump was the best president and we need him back. we are going to go back to the stone ages if we do not start producing oil again. host: that was bob in illinois. the associated press reporting a man affiliated with the far right proud boys extremist group on monday has been sentenced to

more than four years in prison for storming the council. he was one of the few capital writers to come face-to-face with a member of congress during the attack on january 6. "one look at permit -- pruitt and the leader of chuck schumer and his arm security how to change their route on the dime". that was in court filing ahead of the case monday. scott in mississippi. caller: i am a veteran and so i love this country but i basically do not love the government. this government, speaking of the fbi, they assassinated black leaders like fred hampton. there is no effort to stop the income inequality.

no way should one race have 40 times as much as the race like black people. there is no free education for us or anything like that. in my opinion, i think 99% of all the races in the world know this is a capitalistic world and that the industrial revolution was started from black people. you do not want to pay your debts because they like their position and black people's position. however he going to get respect from the rest of the world when we have -- when we were already polluted, rates and enslaved to get our advantage. but now we do not want china or anyone else to do that. come on america. host: mark from atlanta, georgia. republican line. caller: i just want to say, america listen to me. it is unmoral for me as a young

man to go out and have sex with as many people as i can so i guess it would be unmoral for a young lady to do the same thing. it is a moral -- immoral to do so because the consequences are great. host: one of the leaders of the secret service is leaving. 20 or auto, the assistant director. he reportedly told a witness that donald trump was "irate". he left the agency. he retired after 25 years of service. he was, at the time of the riot, serving as president trump's deputy chief of staff. he came into the spotlight by cassidy hutchinson who said that tony ornato said the president

became irate when tony told the president he could not go to the capitol that day. from lincoln, nebraska, this is wesley. caller: hello. earlier this month there was a report by "politics insider" that there is a growing call for a constitutional convention that is among republican strong-leaning states. i am not opposed to that motion but with very different priorities. like amending every article except maybe the sixth. host: the biden administration was offering free covid-19 tests. the rapid tests. that program being cost. ms. ginger otis reporting in the wall street journal that " ordering through this program will be suspended friday,

september 2, because congress has not provided additional funding to replenish the nation's stockpile". on the website, the biden administration has pushed congress into billing additional funding for covid-19 vaccines, boosters, treatments and testing. lawmakers negotiated a bipartisan deal to purchase 10,000 dollars in fund for covid-19 funding but that got held up. orders for tests will continue to be accepted until september 2. tommy in kentucky, independent line. caller: what i was calling about is i just want to get this off my chest. i do not understand how nobody can defend the president like lindsey graham as all of them. when he has been into so many things and they know this and know this well. yet, they keep backing this and people ask why.

i tell them to keep going back and i wish they would because trump and then were told they would not end up in office. i think that is a lot. they do not want that to come out about epstein and i would like answers on that. host: jerry from michigan, democrat line. caller: i have a couple questions. i want you to know how long did it take the germans to recognize or pardon me, i am 99, so i am a little slow. how long did it take the german people to realize what had happened? how terrible hitler was? and also, the same thing with japan.

how long did it take the japanese people to be aware of what their country people had done? host: why is that important to know in your opinion? caller: because, i do not understand trump supporters into why they cannot see through him. i equate him with hitler. i think he would, if he had his chance, run the country the same way. i am a democrat. so, and the same thing with the japanese. they finally came around. the people finally understand but how long did it take for them come around?

to realize what horrible people the nazis are and, i was here during the war. [laughter] world war ii. i was a teenager. host: that was jerry in michigan. in president biden's speech later today, there will be briefing by a team at the white house that's concerning himself with teapots in the united states. they are expecting to make comment at 2:00 this afternoon. what's that on c-span, c-span now and our website. when it comes to the cdc and the next pandemic, dr. rochelle walensky, the head of the sea bc -- of the cdc, will talk at 4:00 this afternoon. sandy, silver spring, maryland.

democrat. caller: i think lindsey graham should be put in jail and never be allowed to speak to anything that is human again. he is a discussed that disgusting -- disgusting -- host: johnny in north carolina. caller: i am calling about this investigation on donald trump. how did the district attorney rate a president's -- raid a president's house and people do not say too much about it? host: what he means people do not say too much about it? caller: and a lot of people are coming over now. it is running but not like it is supposed to. it should be on high alert. a raid on the presidents house should be top priority.

you see what i'm saying? but, hillary clinton and all of that. that shows the fbi is two-faced. what one company does for 1, 1 company should do for the other. just like in the world, some get away with something and some do not. the democratic party can do what they want to do and get away with it so the republican party candies of the like that and they are getting ready to run them into the ground. host: that is johnny in north carolina, independent line. on the front page of a study today, taking a look at what is happening in greenland with ice. even if the entire world stopped burning fossil fuels today, the study finds greenland's ice sheet would still lose enough ice to add nearly a foot to rising sea levels.

for the ice sheet to correct that and balance, it would lose an estimated 100 trillion tons of ice adding at least 10.8 inches. the story adds that greenland contribution to sea levels could be more than two feet in the next century if global warming continues. that is the front page of usa today. you can find this on their website. this is open forum for the next 15 minutes. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. independents, (202) 748-8002. text us at (202) 748-8003. very, up next. michigan, democrat line. caller: this is in response to your first caller.

the lady i believe that was from alabama. it is not only treason, it is fascism. anybody that does not agree with that, all they have to do is google the meaning of fascism and find out that everything donald trump has done is in that category except murder. he has to in every single thing under fascism -- has done every single thing under fascism. as far as drug prices, all people do is go to a doctor. i have been dealing with them for 20 years and i have had four spine surgeries. all they do is change one ingredient in a drug and they can name it a different right and get a patent. these patents for 20 years i believe is what is causing all these high prices of the drugs. it is there patent. they should not have a patent

for 20 years and then claim they are negotiating with the government. are not negotiating when you are the only one that can make a drug. where basically just setting the price. people in this country need to open their eyes and look at a few details. this goes a lot deeper than just people on c-span whining, moaning, and groaning. host: buried in michigan. the hill reporting that republicans are hoping to seize control of the house and are setting their sights on a top priority which is impeaching president biden. a number of rank and file conservatives have already introduced impeachment documents. they have accused him of high crimes from a range of issues touching on border enforcement and coronavirus and withdrawing troops from afghanistan. the resolutions never had a chance of seeing the day with democrats holding the lower

chamber but republicans are largely expected to win the midterms. they deemed the president unfit and some would like to make this the first order of business. representative bobby good's has repeatedly said that people should be impeached for opening our borders. saying congress has a duty to hold a president for this and any other failures of his constitutional responsibilities. any republican majority must be prepared to stop oversight on day 1. ron on the republican line from work on. caller: yes, sir. i just would like to say one thing about our military. i am retired u.s. army for almost 30 years. i think one of the biggest

mistakes our country has ever made is at the end of the, they did away with the draft. maybe this was one of the most tragic things that has ever happened in our country and we should bring back the draft and draft all men and women to serve at least two years for our country. this would give for them -- this would do so much to give training to everyone. all the military bases would be operating at full speed. training, we need to bring this back. we need this done in a hurry. so many of these kids nowadays do not have an idea what they're doing. they are not being trained. we are talking about giving the

money for college and all of this stuff. i think the best thing we can do with the bring back the draft and open up these training sites and faces and everything else. answering the military that they can go into any branch -- and training in the military. they can go into any branch. host: minnesota, joanne, democrat line. caller: i do believe that ex-president trump is guilty of treason. one of the things i would like to know is there is a gentleman that was just on a few minutes ago that talked about the fbi going in and taking president trump's papers. he referred to that happening during president trump's term. that did not happen until president biden's term.

you did not correct him and i want to know why you did not correct him to say the right thing. that it was not during trump's term that the fbi went in and was confiscating the papers that trump had taken from the government. trump is not a good man. i hope that the people wise up and put trump -- put somebody in there that has a conscious. and that politicians would quit sparring with each other and get down to doing good things for this country. host: debra in georgia, go ahead. caller: i am calling about a weird thing. i have been in my house for so many years. my husband and i and than all the prices went up. then, i got a tax bill for

$80,700 in one year. an increase on my assessment in my house. so i put my house for sale. tell me the truth. i got offers from chinese corporations. i got three offers for my house from corporations from china. not just a family or --. the federal reserve increased the interest rates to buy homes for american citizens is out of the question. but, i got offers from chinese corporations. communist china people are coming in here and offering to buy my house. i said no. even though, the prices were good and i could have gone out of here and i need to go to a

senior facility. i am getting so old and i cannot take care of the property by myself. but, i love my neighbors. i know all of my neighbors that do not want to hurt them. with this chinese invasion of corporations from communist china. host: george in pennsylvania. republican line. caller: i am a republican until i have a chance to go register and change over to democrats. after lindsey graham said there will be riots, that is not my party anymore. to me they are turning into a nazi party. the party of death and lies is what the republican party has come to under trump. that is my comment. host: when it comes to the biden administration and taiwan, politico reporting yesterday at the administration plans to formally ask congress to improve

-- approve an estimated $1.7 billion in arms sales to taiwan which would include missiles. that is from three sources with direct knowledge of the package. this news comes as china continues to send where crafts to taiwan on a daily basis is. just after nancy pelosi visited the island and condemned beijing's attempt to isolate and intimidate taiwan. china launched unprecedented military drills in response. debbie in west virginia, independent line. caller: yes. i would like to say the u.s. is very nice country. i think if we would all start pulling together like we are in the same ship, let's just pull together and get out of this recession and all this animosity. i think we could have a better life for all. host: nate is up next in

minneapolis. democrat line. caller: hello. i would like to speak on one thing. i would like to understand how in the heck can you possibly support trump? with everything that he has always touched her and to poop -- always touched, turns to poop. you should think about that next time you vote for him. host: speaking of china, when it comes to businesses in china, the wall street journal is reporting pessimism among u.s. businesses saying there was a pool of member companies by the u.s.-china business council that founded americans are increasingly losing confidence in their china business prospects. they shared 21% of respondents said they were pessimistic were

somewhat pessimistic about their five-year business outlook with the world's second-largest economy compared to 90% last year. they were hit especially hard in the spring when the country impose a two-month long locked on shanghai. amid the country's worst covid-19 outbreak in two years. the chinese export hub was interrupted and factories were first touched forced to close or operate under tight restrictions. jeffrey in florida, republican line. caller: good morning pedro. how are you today? my favorite host. i listen to all of this and i just like to lighten things up a little bit. because, we have the artemis rocket and it did not go off yesterday. but, we still think there is a chance we could put in.

donald trump, nancy pelosi, and kamala harris and have joe biden pilots it and i believe the u.s. would be better off. thank you so much. host: ohio, democrat line howard. caller: hello. how are you doing? i have been in three military services. from high school, i think the gentleman before you was on point. a lot of these guys and kids when they get out of high school, they should go either into a training program for the country. not just for their city but the country. then we could get the forces back into the military. a lot of them should get back in there. as far as anybody, democrats or republicans, i pray for them. i am telling you that the only way you were going to do something now is put professional guys in here. host: the local television station in orlando, when it

comes to artemis. a follow-up story sing after the launch was scrubbed, nasa tuesday will provide an update. the conference is set to begin at 6:00 this evening to provide an update on data analysis. the launch on monday was scrubbed as nasa was working on a leak and not able to properly chill one of the four main engines. this was part of the artemis project to take astronauts back to the moon for the first time since the apollo program and did years ago. james in indianapolis, democrat line. caller: i want to tell you guys at the republican party has turned nazi and trump is a hitler. i am tongue you guys this because i am warning you that what you guys are entering is the bible and tribulations and you are going to see everybody kill each other. you guys better get your act

together or else the antichrist is coming. host: finishing off this program. and the route of calls. we appreciate all of you who participated. another round of washington journal comes at 7:00 tomorrow morning. ♪ [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2022] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2022] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪ >> here is coming up on c-span, live at 2:00 p.m. eastern, the white house monkeypox response team will provide updates on the disease and efforts to prevent further infections. live at 3:15, president biden will be in pennsylvania where he will deliver remarks on his plan for reducing gun violence.

and then live at 4:00 p.m., dr. rochelle walensky talks about the agency's role in preparing for the next pandemic. you can also watch on our free mobile video app, c-span now. ♪ host: it is the "washington journal" for august 30, that time of year when many kids are back in school, and some schools are facing teacher shortages while others are dealing with how the pandemic impacted educational quality. a recent poll looked at the overall quality of schools. we will show you that. also, we will ask what grade you would give your public schools. you can use the abcdf method or another great if you want. (202) 748-8000 for eastern and central time zones. (202) 748-8001 for mountain and pacific time