behind the rest of the country when it comes to almost every socioeconomic measure in eastern kentucky and lags behind the rest of appalachia, so we are talking about the region of appalachia from a socioeconomic standpoint has generationally struggled. >> "twilight and hazard" sunday night on c-span's "q&a." you can listen to all of our podcasts on our free c-span now at. >> the january 6 committee returns wednesday for its hearing ahead of the release of their written report expected by the end of the year. you can watch the hearing live beginning at 1:00 p.m. eastern on c-span3, c-span now, or anytime on demand at c-span.org. >> all the republican members

going throughout the country listening, listening to the challenges, fighting with what democrats have been doing. and we want to roll it out to you, to the entire country, to know exactly what we will do if you would trust us and give us the ability to take a new direction for this country. ♪ it is saturday, september 24. house republican leader kevin mccarthy unveiled his commitment to america agenda ahead of the midterm elections. we are asking for your reaction to that proposal. give us a call by party affiliation. democrats, (202) 748-8000, republicans (202) 748-8001, independents, (202) 748-8002.

you can send us a text at (202) 748-8003. be sure to send your first name and your city and state. on social media, facebook .com/c-span, and on twitter and instagram, @cspanwj. welcome to washington journal. i want to show you a headline and we will hear from kevin mccarthy and president biden. here's the associated press. it says mccarthy unveils house gop agenda in pennsylvania. the article says house republican leader kevin mccarthy friday confronted president joe biden and the democratic majority in congress with a conservative midterm election agenda filled with trump-like promises, working out a way to win over voters but hold together the uneasy coalition of his own party that has struggled to govern. but tear a portion of what kevin mccarthy said yesterday in --

let's hear a portion of what kevin mccarthy said yesterday in pennsylvania. [video clip] >> after opposing, obstructing everything we tried to do for the last two years, the house minority leader, kevin mccarthy, went to pennsylvania and unveiled what he calls a commitment to america. it is a thin series of policy goals with little or no detail that he says republicans will pursue if they regain control of the congress. in the course of nearly an hour, here's a few of the things we didn't hear. we did not hear mention of the right to choose. we didn't hear him mention medicare, social security. let's take a look at what kevin said today. he said republicans want to preserve our constitutional freedom. that sounds great. i am for doing that as well. we all are. but look what they have done. the maga republicans have cheered and embrace the first

supreme court decision in our history that did not just fail to preserve a constitutional freedom but took away a fundamental right that had been granted by the same court to so many americans, the constitutional right to choose. host: that was president biden. here is house minority leader kevin mccarthy unveiling that plan. [video clip] >> they use their political power to go after people for their own political beliefs. we watched children left behind. that is what happened with the democrats because they control washington. they control the house, the senate, the white house, the committees, the agencies. it is their plan, but they have no plan to fix the problems they created. we have created a commitment to america. [applause]

we are going to talk about it today. we want an economy that is strong. that means you can fill up your tank. you can buy the groceries. you have enough money left over to go to disneyland and save for a future. the paychecks grow. they no longer shrink. we have a plan for a nation that's safe. it means your community will be protected. your law enforcement will be respected. your criminals will be prosecuted. we believe in a future that's built on freedom. that your children come first. they are taught to dream big. and we believe in a check and balance, that government should be accountable. we should work for you. not the other way around, like

it is today. host: that is the republican leader of the house, kevin mccarthy. we are talking about the new midterm agenda, called commitment to america, revealed yesterday, and asking for your reaction. here is foxnews.com. the headline says mccarthy's commitment to america includes fighting inflation, border security and protecting women's sports. they seek to follow the playbook of former speaker newt gingrich. here's a couple points from that commitment to america agenda. one, fight inflation, boost energy independence, strengthen supply chains, secure the border by hiring 200,000 police officers, boosting military spending, advance a parents bill of rights and education, protect women's sports, increase oversight of the white house, protect the unborn and increase

accountability in elections. we want to know what you think of that. we will start with danny in yuma, arizona on the republican line. caller: good morning. how are you doing? host: i'm good. caller: i'm so happy that c-span and you guys have finally given republicans what they deserve. not only that, the democrats only have two things, january 6 and abortion. other than that, they cannot run on their failed policies. this is so sad. i really, really, really hope that america listens to what's going on. the democrats have nothing but tax and spend, reckless spending. down here on the border, in

yuma, arizona, it is really, really bad down here, mimi, and i would like to see the democrats, including joe biden, from the top, and the so-called borders -- border tsar, to come down and see what they have done. the democrats and joe are running this country into the ground, down the toilet. and i hope americans wake up and vote the right way in november. thank you, mimi. you are very kind. host: all right, danny. then his next in state college, pennsylvania, also on the republican line. caller: good morning. even though i was not born in 1994, i have studied history,

especially political history. i think this will be an exact rerun of the 1994 midterms. in those midterms, republicans gained 54 seats in the house, 10 governors seats and eight seats in the senate. 1994 is the last time a party flipped control of both houses of congress in a president's first-term. looking back at that election, that's when president clinton started working with republicans instead of trying to fight them. they did manage to get a lot of stuff accomplished. if president biden is willing to work with these republicans once they take control, which i predict they will, it might be a net positive. if we can actually get something done, that would be fantastic. host: you like the idea of kevin mccarthy becoming speaker of the house, then? would he be your first choice? caller: yeah. i have only positive thoughts about kevin mccarthy.

the thing he is telling now really reminds me of the contract with america that newt gingrich did in the 1990's, so yeah, kevin mccarthy, let's go. host: all right, ben. let's hear from john next in brentwood, maryland, democrats line. caller: good morning. can you hear me? wonderful. i'm a proud pro-life democrat so i'm disappointed in president biden choosing to attack the republicans from an extreme pro-abortion position, but i'm also disappointed -- and my understanding is that this plan the republicans put forward did not mention abortion at all and, you know, i'm a pro-life democrat, but if the republicans are going to be pro-life, they

should own it, run on it. so many of the proposals put forward by the democratic party, like the women's health protection act, are extreme, and running against that is a good position. host: so, john, they do actually mention "protect the lives of unborn children and their mothers," so that is in there. caller: ok. i had heard otherwise on the radio yesterday. i am glad they gave it at least that much. host: let's talk to scott next in maryland, democrats line. caller: thank -- hey. this is the first i'm thinking of the commitment with america but i immediately thought of the contract with america. i was like, oh, commitment? it's like a contract that they budget for, but not necessarily

exercised, so it is like, are they actually going to do this stuff they say they will? they at least intend to. but it's less commital, even though it's called commitment. that's all. host: ok. let's hear from herbert next in romulus, michigan, independents line. herbert? caller: good morning. i have a couple points to make. i was a republican my entire life. when i see -- what i see from the republicans doesn't make sense anymore. in 2020, they spent nearly $5 trillion, cut huge checks to large corporations. i see they are talking about biden spending now, but the spending he is doing now is going to working people, right?

aren't we the ones who pay all the taxes? who doesn't need roads, sewer systems, medicare, bridges? people need to think about this. what will we get with the republicans back? taxing and giving it to wealthy corporations. that is all i have to say. host: a couple people mentioned newt gingrich. let's take a look back almost 28 years ago. next week, it will be 28 years ago when then republican whip georgia congressman newt gingrich signed the contract with america on the capitol steps. [video clip] >> on these steps, we offer this contract as a first step for renewing american civilization. i'm going to sign the contract now, as the last member to do so, on behalf of the republican conference. [applause] let me just say -- let me just

say -- close by saying this. as you watch the evening news tonight, as you see the barbarism in bosnia, where snipers shoot children in the street, the devastation in somalia, as you see the human tragedy of rwanda, where half a million human beings were killed, as you watch the chaos and poverty of haiti, recognize that if america fails, our children will live on a dark and bloody planet. if the american people accept this contract, we will have begun the journey to renew american civilization. together, we can renew america. together, we can help every american fulfill their unalienable right to pursue happiness and seek the american dream. together, we can help every human across the minute seek read him -- the planet seek

freedom, prosperity, safety and the rule of law. that is what is at stake. god bless you and god bless america. host: that was from 1994. newt gingrich announcing the contract with america. you can see the whole clip and other historical political events on c-span.org. this is from florida politics -- floridapolitics.com. it says new lincoln project ad hits house gop plan as about 1990's throwback. it says the lincoln project is leaning into a 1990's throwback theme, comparing the new house republican plan to former speaker gingrich's contract with america, which someone asked at the time -- some wags at the time coined "the contract on america." we talked to ruben next in philadelphia, pennsylvania. good morning.

caller: good morning. i just want to know, just recently, the republicans are saying that they will be -- but didn't they just deny a house passed bill on police funding and didn't they go against the infrastructure bill that biden proposed, the voting rights act that biden proposed? they were in charge of the house when trump was in office. they had the house, senate and white house but did nothing about the border at the time, and mexico never built a wall. the republicans are just giving empty promises. kevin mccarthy was one time overheard saying rohrbach and donald were both on putin's payroll, and we know rohrbach at the time was nothing but a russia sympathizer. how can they support this guy,

who is now under all kinds of criminal investigation, the most corrupt president we ever had? we are also about to elect a bunch of election deniers in the white house. how can we even tolerate such things? they want to ban books in the take away what we can read and understand and they want to rewrite their own history and put different types of historical facts in. these people are not to be trusted. what they said sounds good because he didn't say anything. i remember once talking to byron douglas, representative from florida you had on your show one time, about inflation. we were talking about the cable bill and they said get apps. netflix went up to $20. you cannot watch a football game without having amazon prime. republicans are not going to do anything. they are lying.

they have been doing so for the past six years. host: let's take a look at some tweets that we got. here's robert, who says republican mccarthy's agenda is just what this country needs to recover from biden's disaster. and another, insurrection enabler. no thank you. look at where you took us already. only billionaires are happy about that. finally, there's no way someone should vote for someone like kevin mccarthy. that's not a leader. let's talk to rodney next, calling us from san leandro, california, on the democrats' line. caller: first of all, i would like to say kevin mccarthy, he's talking about checks and balances, except when it comes

down to donald trump, you know? they should have impeached him. they were all against it, most of them anyway. other than that, you can take anybody's speech or anything anybody does or says, and you can manipulate it in good way or in a bad way. all these republicans do is take everything joe biden does and manipulate it in a bad way to excite people, people like me, working people. most americans, they go to work every day, they are good, their honest, but a lot of them are angry. they play on people's anger. what happened to the budget that bill clinton left? he lowered the deficit. we had a surplus. george w. bush came in, started two wars, didn't pay for either one, gave huge tax breaks to companies, and we are still

getting over that now. companies are not paying the same amount of taxes that you and i pay, someone in a much lower tax bracket than someone who does not pay any taxes at all. the billionaires, like the gentleman that just hung up -- we are suffering down here. joe biden is just trying to repair the damage of the pandemic, which could have been stopped if trump wasn't trying to save his face and was trying to save our health and went on and did what he was supposed to do from the very beginning instead of blaming it on china. china, yes, was part of the problem. we all know that. but he could have done a lot more at the very beginning, but he wanted to look good. he wanted to put down anthony fauci. it was so worried about having yes-men around him to make everybody see how big he is. you know what? host: let's hear from john next

in clifton park, new york, independents' line. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you today? host: good. caller: the commitment to america, not speaking politically one way or the other, you look this up statistically. if republicans are stating that they are going to do all these great things for the country, red states have the highest crime rates. they are 10 for 10 as far as child mortality goes in this country. gun violence, virtually all the things they claim they are going to correct, they currently leave the country with the highest majority rates, the highest rates as far as the highest crime levels and various other

things. instead of both parties working together trying to accomplish things, they are demonizing each other. you can look things up statistically speaking, exactly what i'm talking about, and essentially that's why, in my opinion, this proclamation by mccarthy and clowns like elise stefanik do nothing but demonize democrats. democrats are wrong for demonizing the other party, but by the same token, what it amounts to is people likes to -- like stefanik and mccarthy do that. host: let's hear from house majority leader steny hoyer, democrat, outside of pittsburgh, friday.

he was rebutting the house republican agenda and talking about the democrats' legislative agenda. [video clip] >> democrats voted to bring down health care, prescription drug and energy costs for american workers and their families. not a single republican voted to cap costs. we wanted to cap costs for everybody. we couldn't get the votes. only seniors. that was a step forward. we are not stopping. they voted against tapping -- capping out-of-pocket costs for part d, prescription drugs, so citizens weren't driven into bankruptcy. if they had to have life-saving drugs. they voted against keeping 13 million people who didn't qualify for medicaid, and who couldn't afford the affordable care act, to keep them on the insurance, which we had done, as

you know, and the initial rescue plan. talk is cheap. action is what men and women that they represent and the men and women i represent one. not talk, action. that is what we have done in this congress. that is what the president has done, setting forth a vision, which we have accomplished. we enacted the law in august. democrats voted to bring down health care, prescription drug and energy costs, and made an investment in confronting climate change. not only will it confront climate change but it's going to create hundreds of thousands, millions of jobs, over the next decades. decades. not years, decades. it is also the largest investment any nation has ever made to tackle the climate crisis by promoting the adoption of american-made clean energy technologies. you are going to make them.

america is going to make them. we are going to make it in america. we paid for it without raising the deficit by one dime. republicans voted against these policies time after time after time. but they come with a commitment. it's a piece of paper. it's not a vote, because they don't vote for the policies they talk about. host: that was steny hoyer, house democratic majority leader. let's hear from charles in spartanburg, south carolina on the democrats line. what do you think about the republicans midterm agenda? caller: i don't think much about the republicans. i am a democrat but i usually call in the independent line because i have to give the

republicans credit. go back to mccarthy. he always says he represents the people. what people does he represent? how did he come to the conclusion that he represents the people? i see more republican women protesting now than i've ever seen. i see more demonstrations than i've ever seen. we just got rid of a president who i thought would have to be dragged out of the white house. the only thing he did was deny and delay. i'm currently authoring a book, the rise and fall of america, and i'm working hard trying to finish it, but if the republicans are not careful, they are going to be the ones that take america down. host: all right.

james is next on the republican line. sierra vista, arizona. good morning. caller: how are you doing? host: good. caller: i have a couple things i want to say and i know you will probably cut me off on one of these issues, but the guy from yuma has it dead on the nail. the thing is we are always talking about this other stuff, about what trump did or what biden is doing. my issue, i live 30 miles from the mexican border. within 45 minutes, i can be on the border. the fentanyl that is coming here and destroying our youth is my issue. i have not only lived this. i have been here for an awful long time, living on a border, and nothing has been done by either administration other than, basically, remain in

mexico type things. unless you actually come down here and see for yourself what is going on, you are not going to believe what any of these people are telling people. the guy from yuma basically hit it. this is an open ass border -- i'm sorry -- and it is dangerous. eventually, what you are going to have here is border patrol being overran, and people like me and people that associate with me, when our lives are being threatened by these cartels, you don't -- this is not going to be pretty. this is not going to end well. unless that border is shut down and people are not allowed to come in by the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, then what do you expect?

every town, every city, every state is going to become -- if it hasn't already -- it is going to become a border city, state, or county, because this fentanyl is going to kill your kids. ok? host: all right, james. brad is next in nola, oklahoma on the independents line. caller: hello? host: hi, brad. caller: i will keep it simple. i think that america has had the wool pulled over their eyes by our leaders. i don't believe anything that any of them say anymore. i think they are all in it together and i think until the american people wise up and take a look at what's not ever being done by either party, we are going to have to vote them out and have to get some

independents for just some other -- independents or just some other parties in there to stabilize this thing because i don't think either party has the best interests of america in mind. i think they have the best interests of themselves and the lobbyists they represent in mind and that is where i will leave it. thank you for letting me voice my opinion. host: all right. deb is next in nashville, north carolina, democrats line. caller: morning, mimi. appreciate you taking the show in a good direction. thank you for your work with c-span. i agree with the previous caller. there's a lot of self-interest, obviously, in washington, d.c. what got me about the house republicans contract with america, i feel, when i look at the audience, i see so many people beholden to donald trump, and unfortunately, donald trump will probably be in jail at

the time when these people's so-called contract for america will be put into place. i don't think donald trump will have anything to say about it at that time. the two things that are the most important to me are campaign-finance reform and term limits for the people in office, and i hear nothing about that when people discuss the upcoming election. but thank you for your time and have a great day. host: all right. let's take a look. here's another clip from house minority leader kevin mccarthy from yesterday about the republican plan. [video clip] >> our job is to work for you, not go after you. our job is to make america strong. we believe america is more than a country. america is an idea. we can secure our border. we can become energy independent, where your price of

gas is lower. we can build an education system that has appearance bill of rights, that you have a say in your kids education. we can be a check and balance on the miss government that's going after individuals. if you believe like us, join with us. because this job will not be easy. we will get it through the house. we need your help to get it all the way to his desk. the president last night already attacked me on the plan. maybe if i caused that much damage i would try to change the discussion too, but i will commit. i challenge the president to join with us. let's go across the country and debate what his policies have done to america. let's let america make the decision on the best way for this country to go forward. host: we are asking for your reaction to the house republicans' midterm agenda,

called commitment to america. let's check in with twitter and see what people are sending us. mlb says republicans are counting their eggs before they're hatched. even if they take the house, it's unlikely they will take the senate. let's see how effective they are with governing when there is a democratic senate in president. they are taking a victory lap before they win the race. lucienne says this speaks to herding a variety of americans from women to senior citizens to schoolchildren to transgender. republicans go from having no platform to having a commitment of hate. bonnie said this. "i watched the whole show. i was a bit perplexed at their lack of agenda, but the same old rhetoric of blaming democrats for everything. the people asking questions

shouldn't have spoke up. they didn't answer anyone's questions." let's talk to betty. caller: hi. i would like to tell you that i'm an independent. i have always been independent. i will never join a party, either one, but i want to say that this inflation complaint republicans are screaming about, the truth comes out. the republicans in the four years they were in control under trump were a disaster for inflation. the tariffs, the tax cut, a trillion dollars added to the debt the most, in four years under any president, in the thing that drives me crazy is all these things for the last week that they've been talking about, trump's charity foundation, the seven dollars check he wrote to his kid in the boy scouts.

if nothing else tells you what kind of people these are, that does. thank you and may god protect c-span and our country. host: julian's in aurora, north carolina on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. i'm actually in boone, north carolina. you know, sometimes i wonder where these people get their news from. i mean, it is so slanted. that's one of my biggest issues, is the news, but when it comes to the contract, i think that's a great contract to america. keep your promises. so many of these washington people go up to d.c. and get bought out by lobbyists and so forth. so i do agree with term limits. but the reason why bill clinton had even a surplus is because of

the original contract from the first contract with america from newt gingrich. and i just would like to say, think about this, america. every lie that you have told about -- or accusations you have made about donald trump has not panned out. it's not true. the russia hoax. nothing came of that. the only thing i found out about it was hillary clinton was involved in simply, you know -- involved and simply, you know, spied on his campaign, made a false dossier, colluded with the fbi. back to the pfizer court -- the fisa court. this is not a criminal.

he's not going to jail, if he even did anything wrong, which i don't think he did in new york. that's a civil matter. host: getting back to the original question of what you think about the midterm agenda that kevin mccarthy rolled out yesterday, what are your thoughts on that? caller: my thought is i love it. i love when somebody, if it's a democrat or a republican, says this is what we are going to do. i guarantee you we will put all of our eggs in that basket and focus on getting this done, so at least i know, when i go to the polls, i'm voting for that agenda instead of, i don't know -- do you know what my first grader gets taught in school? he cannot even say mommy and daddy. pronouns. i mean, we are losing this country over some silly crap.

host: let's hear from stanley next in asbury park, new jersey, independent line. caller: love your show. people are talking about things they have no understanding of. this guy, i would like to know where he was educated. he's not guilty? that is what they all believe. the education problem in this country is beyond belief. host: stanley, getting back to what you think of the house republicans and their unveiling of the commitment to america, what do you think? caller: they don't stay with their commitment. everything they do is a lot since mcconnell came on and stopped the election or the vote

on the supreme court justice. thank god he's the attorney general. thank you. have a great day. host: stanley is next -- sander is next in greenville, north carolina on the republican line. caller: we need to clean the whole white house out, start all over again, and maybe we can get someone in the white house that will do for the people that voted them in office. host: ok. anything specific you want to say about that, sandra? caller: i just think the whole world is going to hell in a handbasket and it seems like nobody is working for the people. they have their own agendas and that is all they do is their agendas, what makes them rich, to hell with the poor and working people. we pay their paychecks but they do not want to help us. host: let's go to kansas next on

the independents line, julie. caller: hi. i have something to say about the republicans. i watched yesterday but they don't have any details, so i don't get it. but i'm not very forgiving as the rest of america, i guess, because i go clear back to when we were having the covid problem, and i was talking to my mom and my friends and we were all scared about it, and donald trump came on tv and said it was a hoax. now, that -- after i found out that he lied about that and put people's lives in danger, i was done with him, and from then on,

i watched him on tv just to catch him in lies constantly. and that's all i have to say. host: we will take a look at axios here. it says house republicans agenda gamble. house republicans roll out their four-part midterm agenda friday with the blessing of a surprising group, democrats. they see plenty there to campaign against. after the agenda language was accidentally released, democrats seized on the gop's pledged to "protect the lives of unborn children and their mothers" and taking aim at the much heralded drug pricing law. still, senate minority leader mitch mcconnell, who disagreed strategically with senator rick scott's release of a 12 point gop plan earlier this year, does not have the same worries about

house leader's kevin mccarthy's document. john in ohio, independence line. caller: we haven't had a budget for 30 years. if this is a budget, everyone at the kitchen table, they cannot even pay for the table and gas. i used to teach economics. i'm 87 years old.

it's sad. we don't have any budget. why? the dark money. for every congressman, there are three lobbyists. host: let's hear from larry next in houston. caller: thank you for taking my call. as far as the agenda, we know what their agenda is, to kill this country, the republicans. we have seen what they have done because of ally.

and i do not know why these people are always hollering about donald trump. you have to start watching other news stations than fox. this man has done nothing. as for the lady about the surplus that clinton had, no, ma'am. clinton did that, not ronald reagan. because i'm a southerner, baby, and i went through those years. host: what do you think of the republican plan? caller: it is all the same, a lie. you take the supreme court justices they put in. every one of them went on with that lie. they went to congress and lied. let me ask you something, ma'am. with the washington journal still have you hired over there if you lied to them? no. host: all right, larry.

let's take a look at nancy pelosi, current speaker of the house. she spoke on thursday. she offered a prebuttal to the gop midterm agenda. [video clip] >> they threatened to repeal the lower costs of prescription drugs and also, as one of their former speakers had said, medicare should wither on the vine. so these are kitchen table issues, the cost of drugs, medicare for seniors and the rest. and again, they are endless in their assault on democracy, and that's a big difference between us. not to talk politics, but that is one of the things at stake in the election. i can talk more specifically about what they have said and done on that if you wish, but i want to talk again about democracy, and that is expecting

the right to vote and not undermining or jeopardizing the integrity of our elections, which are fundamental to our democracy. so the extreme agenda they are putting out makes it harder for americans to vote. it would purge eligible voters from the rolls. it gives extreme maga state legislatures absolute power to change the rules of elections at a whim, including after that election, on that same election, and this has a chilling effect on whether someone will go to the polls, if they fear for their safety. they know what they are doing. host: speaker of the house nancy pelosi. we are asking you about what you think about the new commitment to america unveiled yesterday. margo is next in camden, arkansas, democrats line. good morning. caller: hi, how are you?

i was just calling to say a comment about the republicans. if the republicans was for the people, they wouldn't vote against everything the democrats try to vote on to help the people, so basically, the republicans is just in there for themselves. they are not for the people. host: vicki is calling us from hurricane, west virginia. republican line. hi, vicki. caller: hello. good morning. i wanted to say i'm really glad they unveiled their commitment to america. it is easy to criticize, but it's a lot harder to find solutions to problems. also, you know, it sets a goal and it allows the american people to know exactly what their plan is instead of just, like i say, just criticisms without solutions. so i have not looked at the

entire commitment to america, but the things i have looked at i'll like. i think that border control is certainly an issue that we have -- that we need to handle. host: all right, vicki. let's take a look at a tweet here from the liver tony -- from the libertonian. "just vague." michael is next in michigan, independent line. michael? caller: yes. i'm calling -- yes, i'm here. good morning. i'm calling about the republican party. yes, i'm calling about the republican party. the trump campaign for presidency, when he won, the

republicans were talking about replacing the affordable care act as soon as we got a republican president. they were talking about securing the border when we got a republican president. they did neither, but it's because of the freedom counsel in the republican party was acting as democrats. they would not back trump's agenda on anything hardly. and i think trump would have done real well give he -- real well if he hadn't had the total establishment against him. he wanted to drain the swamp. we have too many lifelong people working in the bureaucracies and in the house and senate. we have to get rid of them because all they do is pander to special interests to get money for their campaigns. they are just working for themselves. they are not interested in the

general public. and i heard a woman on tv just now saying that the republicans don't do anything for the people. the people have to get off their duffs and start working for themselves. we have thousands of people in michigan alone that are on the dole and will not work even though they are capable of work. i have seen this day in and day out. i do not care which party is in office. all they are interested in is their own future. they are not interested in the future of the united states and the people of the united states. thank you. host: all right, michael. isaiah is in columbia, south carolina, democrats line. caller: i'm just calling about all the negative about this country. there's a lot of things going on as far as construction.

if we didn't pay her taxes, we would never have these nice roads to write on. if you go to third world countries and look at their power grid system, you would be appreciative of what we have in the united states. look at all donald trump has done since he got into office, lied about the pandemic, lying about this. and, you know, on abortion, give women the right. let them choose what they do with their body. you have got lindsey graham talking about a federal ban. what are you making a federal ban for? you are not a woman. america is great but we have to pull together as a people to make it better. host: let's go to navarre, ohio

on the republican line. john? caller: yeah. newt gingrich is the 1 -- yes, i'm here. can you hear me? host: i can. go ahead. caller: newt gingrich is the one who balanced the budget with bill clinton kicking and screaming to sign it. every time bill clinton tried to increase spending, newt withdrew the budget, cut more spending out of it, and handed it back to him till he finally signed it, and the result was prosperity and a lowering of the actual debt. so america has to get back to good politicians like grover cleveland, who said a citizen's job is to fill the coffers, not to live off them.

same with grover -- another great quote from a republican president was you are better off to be a statesman that killed two bad laws then create one. thank you. have a good day. host: all right. ted is up early in ocean view, hawaii on the democrats line. good morning. caller: hello. thank you for taking my call. yes. i think there's something that everybody needs to take part in, is there's 300 million of us and we all have our wants as far as the midterm agenda. each person is one 300 millionth of that. we all think we are right and something others are all wrong, but if we all get together and

realize we are only one 300 millionth of the country, you can take with a grain of salt everything that you hear. we all kind of need to get together and realize that so we can cooperate. i have been a farmer my whole life in the state of washington and hawaii so i understand what it takes to make things work and i think that's a really important part, that we all need to realize we are one 300 millionth of the solution, and if everybody thought that way, we could get together and get something done. host: what do you think of the republican agenda? caller: i think there are good parts to it and it comes back to what i said about being a small part of a big machine. each of us are. the republican agenda has good and bad parts, but that -- we just need to realize our place

and there's not going to be any magic bullet, you know? that is the negotiation part of government, negotiation, and a lot of the people in government realize negotiation is negotiation. you give and take. that is when we get something done, when you give and take. that's a good part of the midterm agenda that could be good if we accept the good parts. host: got it. paul is in kentucky on the democrats line. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you today? i wanted to call. we call this an agenda. i didn't see that mccarthy did anything but give us platitudes. i don't think any party is against lowering taxes or having

lower inflation or better education for our kids or better health care for people. i don't think anybody is to argue with that, but the republicans are not presenting any -- this is how we are going to do it or go about it. we are going to cut money out. you can cut money out and not spend, but i always grew up, it takes money to make money. what we have done in passing bills for infrastructure and that type of thing, we have not seen it so much yet, but it's going to happen in that bridges are going to be repaired, water systems are going to be done, we are going to see things improve. it just takes time. i worked in the government and i know it takes time, but all this -- and then dodging the question

about whether trump has created all these crimes. that's immaterial. what matters is he's never learned since he's been in office or even running for office how to tell the truth. if you cannot say the truth, don't say anything. that's really an irritant for me personally. and then i will switch one more time, and that's to go to the supreme court. i'm in favor of the supreme court staying at nine. i don't like the composition of the court, but what bothers me more than that, barrett, the second to last one appointed, she was -- i thought she was doing a good job when she was

met with the -- host: the confirmation for the senate? caller: yes, thank you. but she was deceptive in -- i think --and i'm an attorney, so i have a little bit of bearing -- she was deceptive in that she really has voted strictly parting line since she's been -- strictly party line since she's been on the suffering court. host: paul, i want to do couple more calls in. john in lombard, illinois. caller: i will try to take any emotion out of this. i asked myself, am i better off today than i was two years ago? and quite frankly, i'm not. i'm looking for help.

if somebody throws me a life preserver, which is a metaphor for hope, i'm going to grab it, and that's the way i feel. thank you for taking my call. host: all right. dan is in woodbridge, virginia on the democrats line. caller: good morning. how are you? host: good. caller: my first thing is how come the republicans haven't unveiled something that they have done ever? you know? everything they say is a lie. they sit there and not defend our constitution. you know, with all the wrong things that trump was doing. and as far as abortion, they should pass a law that, if a man has a child with a woman and does not support her or whatever, they should make him get a vasectomy or they should lock him up. let's see how they feel about

having a law about their bodies rather than a woman's body. host: judy is next on the independents line in waterville, mississippi. judy? caller: yes. i didn't hear the republicans saying anything about taking away your social security and medicare. ron johnson in wisconsin and rick scott in florida want to let it sunset in five years, and if they decide they want to give it back to you, they might reinstate it. when they start playing with your social security, people need to be thinking about that, because it's our money. i just feel like a lot of the republicans need to be out of there. maybe some democrats too. but i don't know if i could ever vote republican again when i used to vote republican

even with a good candidate like the one from maryland, larry hogan -- i like him a lot -- there are so many scumbags in the republican party fighting with trump and not letting him do what he wanted to do. host:host: june is in cheyenne, wyoming republican line. caller: i'm calling from wonderful wyoming. it is devastated. it we have lost our oil and gas rights, most of them. there are not many of us in wyoming. it we are in trouble like the rest of the united states. i am listening to these people with their negative comments calling in, and i am thinking " would you rather have it the way it is right now?" it is not getting any better.

if we don't, we will end up with the same thing in a year with on hell of a recession. we have more people in our country who are immigrants, and it is getting worse and worse. the drug problems are horrible. give the republicans a chance! host: we are out of time in this segment. thank you to everybody who called in. next on washington journal, nancy roman discusses efforts to close the nutrition gap. later this morning, the host of politico's global insider podcast will join us to discuss the podcast and the 2022 u.n. general assembly.

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a step-by-step guide. >> washington journal continues. host: welcome back to washington journal. i am joined by nancy roman. she is the president and ceo for partnership for a partner -- a healthier america. our lines this time are by region. if you are in the eastern or central time zones, you can call us on (202) 748-8000. if you are in the mountain or pacific time zones, you can call (202) 748-8001. guest: great to be here. host: start by telling us about partnership for a healthier america and how it is funded. guest: we are the nations leading nonprofit working on food equity.

we believe every single person and every zip code in the united states should have access, not only to food, but to good, healthy food that helps build better health and food they can afford. we work on that ways large and small, both through direct distribution, but our primary belief system is ultimately the private sector can and should be making food access available for everyone. we are funded in 4 different ways we have foundation funders who believes in nutrition and make large contributions to us. individuals give generously. the corporations that we work with, because we do work with companies, not only to try to get salt, fat and sugar out of

foods, but to find creative models that provide access to places that do not have it. those companies make small contributions to offset the cost of the work. finally, we have a little bit of federal funding. host: this concept of food equity -- explain that a little bit more. guest: it is so funny. sometimes i say it is like new wine in an old bottle. we have known for centuries that vegetables and fruit are good for us and good food holds health. that is not in sight. what is ne-yo is the pandemic made us really realize the extent to which -- new is the pandemic made us really realize the extent to which a poor diet contributes to diabetes and the reason people were

disproportionately dying of covid in under resourced communities. we realized it was time to help people understand that when you are low income and you do not have access to good food it is, an issue of equity equitable access. if you live in this is code is there an equal chance that you and your children will live healthy and well? host: then you have the concept of food deserts. how does that work and why does that happen? guest: food desert is a concept that refers to areas where the primary food you can get comes from fast food restaurant, like mcdonald's and pizza hut and others, or you can get food in a corner store that might be a

honey bun. if there are fruits and vegetables, they tend to be poor quality. it means you have to drive to a grocery store. most people do not have access to delivery like amazon fresh. walmart is not delivering to your front door in these communities. getting high quality food means driving somewhere or taking the bus somewhere, which apart from being inconvenient is expensive, and if you are a single mom with three kids, you do not have time for that. host: viewers, if you would like to talk to our guest, you can call in on the airlines by region. if you are in the eastern or central time zone, it is (202) 748-8000. if you are in the mountain or pacific time zones, it is (202) 748-8001.

how is food insecurity defined? guest: food insecurity means either you are your family has trouble securing the food that you need to have meals for yourself and your family three times a day and 10% of the people in the country are defined as food insecure. one thing we are doing is using the phrase in nutrition and security. for a long time it came from a generous impulse, but there were food drives, and people gave away grandma's leftover jelly and a couple of cans of putting in things they did not want. those groceries were passed on to people in a generous spirit, but it is not always what people needed to build healthy lives and function well.

we are realizing now, it cannot just be food, which is generous. it needs to be the right food, if you really want to set people up for a healthy life. host: this is from usda.gov talking about the food security status for u.s. households in 2021. they say food insecure households make up 10.2 percent of the american population. with sound that -- 10.2% of the american population. within that, households with very low food security at 3.8%. what differentiates those? guest: it is how often you are insecure with food. if you have trouble affording

food for your family on a regular basis -- very low means you are living in a chronic condition is not being able to have enough food. your children open the refrigerator, there is nothing in there. you are scraping pennies and dimes together to piece together a fast food meal. when it comes to the end of the month with people -- when snap benefits run out, you are stretching it, living on roman noodles, not able to afford -- ramen noodles, not able to afford a fruit or vegetable. host: what is the impact on children especially? guest: children are vulnerable.

i worked for the united nations where a lot of the food insecurity we saw was following a natural disaster like a hurricane, earthquake or flood, and people did not have any food at all, and you are coming up with emergency food. to return to run a food bank in this country, it was really surprising to see in the greater d.c. area how many people really struggled for food. what does it look like? it is everyone, sadly. communities of color are particularly addressed, but there are many white communities in rural america that struggle very much to get food. it is old, it is young, and affects senior citizens, young mothers with children. it is a problem that can touch every single demographic. host: can you tell us what

happens as a result of the covid pandemic? when that first shutdown happened, a lot of people lost their jobs. some were going to food banks for the first time ever. >> it was an emergency sit -- guest: it was an emergency situation, as we all know. people lost income. , food banks were overwhelmed unable to meet the need to. it was aggravating conditions. i feel the broader point is that poverty breeds food insecurity, and always has been with us. there are moments when the public is more focused on it, but sadly it is something that is a 365 days a year. it is something we need to work on and not tolerate any longer. host: i want to ask you about food prices.

here is an article from cnn business that says " food prices are skyrocketing, and it is not just because of inflation." it starts by saying inflation may be slowing overall", but food prices are still skyhigh. grocery prices soared over 13%, which is the largest annual increase since 1979." can you talk about the impact that has been having? guest: it is devastating. it hits some of the things that are extremely important. the price of eggs is up 33%, flower 20% 0 -- flour 20%, chicken almost 18%. it has touched course staple items, even vegetables have been up 9%, and they traditionally

are more resistant to inflation. that makes it harder for everybody. host: some food manufacturers are responding by not putting the prices up, necessarily, but giving you less food. it is called shrinkflation. some companies are using cheaper ingredients, and people are you calling that skip -- people are calling that skimpflation. guest: i notice shrinkflation. it is a way of charging more for less. what is the least expensive for food manufacturers? it is ultra-refined shelfstable carbohydrates that are easy to produce inexpensively.

i hope we do not start falling back on more crackers, cookies, noodles, and less vegetables, fruit, less lean meat, because it is important. i want to keep coming back to this. it is not just getting enough food, getting nutritious food. that has been one of the things the united states has gotten wrong. i am a very proud american, despite all our many challenges. when i see how we differ from other parts of the world, we were settled by people who were hungry. most cultures have been around longer, but we are a very young country, and we were offended by party immigrants who were hungry and struggled to get enough food. arthur this has been on getting enough -- big portions and carbohydrates, which are belly

filling foods and making those delicious with salt, fat and sugar. i love salt, fat and sugar. most people do. we are animals. we crave it. when you turn to the 1950's when we started focusing on convenience, people were going back to the workforce and they valued convenience. our system is not something people created by food companies. it responded to consumer demands. they gave us what we wanted, but it is time now to be deliberate and intentional about shifting what we want, and saying, " yes, we went things to be delicious and affordable, but we need to have more vegetables, fruits, and quality ingredients in our food. it is critically important." i'm glad it will be focused on at this white house conference later this week. host: is that white house

conference on hunger, nutrition, and health -- what is the significance and what do you hope comes out of that? guest: we will see how significant it turns out to be. the last conference of its kind was in 1969 in the nixon administration. it led to landmark nutritional legislation, including snap, wic, school breakfasts, school lunch. coming out of that conference, there were 1800 recommendations made to congress, and 1600 of those recommendations were passed into law, giving birth to the nutrition system we have today, including dietary

guidelines and things that frame the food system. many of us who care about food and nutrition have been urging various white houses for the last, more than a decade, to have another conference to talk about how we modernize and improve the system. i applaud the biden administration for doing it. it will be wednesday all day, and at minimum it will really draw attention to the issue in a super important way. one of the problems we have - -nobody wants to be unhealthy. ask anybody do you want to eat food that is good for your -- bad for you or eat well? it is one of the few issues that is not controversial! democrats favorite, republicans -- favor it, republicans, independents.

we have simply not prioritized public health. we have not focused attention on the fact that food is more central to health than other things. we spend so much money on sick care, treating people for diseases once, they are sick and not nearly enough time and energy focusing on the preventative power of food. the potential is in or mess. the fact -- is enormous. we will have to see what happens as far as reaching it goes. host: let's start talking to some of our callers. mark is in salt lake city, utah. caller: i had a great idea! why don't we just buy mexico? buy venezuela? buy brazil? buy everything that is down there?

i don't see why not. host: not the right subject. dixie is next in pelham, alabama. good morning, dixie. caller: i was calling about school lunchs. - one should- -- school lunches. when i was a kid, the lunches were coped. when my kids -- were cooked. when my kids went to school their lunches were fast food, and i think they are still that way. what can we do to make school lunches better? guest: it is true not just in school lunches, food has become more processed and we know food is le -- food that is less processed is better for you. there have been efforts to

putting more vegetables in school lunches, and reducing the processing somewhat.. volume make that hard, but it comes back to national priority. when i worked for the united nations and was based in italy, the farmer drove up to -- with vegetables to my children's school. that is because italy values locally grown food. our country figures it would be harder to do that, but we need to take steps in that direction. that will be one of the things that is discussed wednesday. host: noel in richmond, virginia is next. caller: it is noelle. i have a question that has concerned me for a long time.

can you address how crime plays into that and restricts the ability for young mothers and seniors to get the food that they need? thank you, i will take my answer off the line. guest: that is an important issue. one of the things we have seen in our data that is very much a factor, sometimes when people can walk a distance to get food, say half a mile or so, but it would have to be through such a dangerous neighborhood that people are reluctant to do it. that is why some people fall back on something less healthy that is next-door, if they are in an urban environment. that is not something that will come up this we get the white house conference. urban crime affects access to so many things. public health -- you cannot get

out and get exercise. it is discussed frequently, but it is not something i am involved with directly. host: ihost: need a is in richland, washington -- anita is in richland, washington. caller: you are talking about the price of food going up. people forgot one thing this summer wehave had extreme climate change-- -- people forgot one thing. this summer we have had extreme climate change. you see pepper $1.5 each0 -- $1.50 each. they got hit with the asian bird flu, and i cannot tell you how many chickens had to be

destroyed because of that particular disease, thus a lack of chickens, the lack of eggs, raised the cost -- the price of food. they need to look back to the agriculture. weather has caused a great deal of the lack. host: let's get a response. guest: juanito raises an important -- one eta -- one eta -- juanita raises an important point. in addition to fuel costs going up, she raises an important point about agriculture.

one of the things i believe is we need to connect ag policy to food policy. agriculture has been deemed to be about commodities. it is oddly separate from the way we think about food. i believe there is an opportunity to look from farm to fork, but literally from seed to cell. the crop, how it is grown, we need systems that can be dragged resistant. there are people working on that -- drought resistant. there are people working on that. knapp we -- now we know that the way a crop is grown impacts

its value. host: let's take a look at twitter. mary lou says " in cleveland, a major supermarket chain opened a market in an underprivileged part of town. when i drove by i side full." -- i saw it full." another -- opened a store in a depressed part of our city. when i was driving by, i stopped in and saw the market, packed with people finally getting a chance to buy quality food.

another twitter user says " at least food deserts in urban areas are being countered with the delivery services offered by many grocers." guest: i cannot share that now, and i am glad that someone is referencing some delivery options, but many, many neighborhoods do not have delivery options, because delivery to those neighborhoods is more expensive, partly because of the issue that the previous color referenced, crime, partly because in some neighborhoods, google maps do not even have the last mile directions for delivery. delivery is more expensive for areas that don't have access to food. i i'm excited to announce our partnership next week, but we have a long way to go on that

front. host: let's talk to sam next in hillsdale, michigan. caller: i was wondering if there are any programs in the country that supply seeds or seedlings or cuttings or small plants for people, particularly in rural areas to plant their own gardens? are there any programs for that? guest: i am not aware of a national nonprofit that provides seedlings, although there are groups that provide seeds and there are so many people working on community gardens. truth be told, the hardest thing -- i grow some of the produce that our family eats, and the hardest thing for low income people is having access to land, but if you are in a rural area or have a patch of land and some sunlight, seeds are not that expensive.

you can get some packages of seeds. partly it is the knowledge and education, and there is some time involved, so that will not necessarily be the solution for a single mom working 2 jobs. host: dan is calling us from virginia. caller: at the end of the cold war when the berlin wall came down, east berliners were coming into west berlin seeing fruit for the first time. they were trying to eat bananas and oranges with the appeal on. they had never -- with the peel on. they had never seen them before. yo green is notur -- your green is not going to bring your products into the stores.

you better get the white house to change its energy policy. guest: i agree about the exposure to produce. if you have not had produce -- it is heartbreaking to think of someone eating a banana with the peel on because they have never had fruit in their lives. there are people in this country who have seen an orange or an apple, but have not experienced to the broad array of vegetables or fruits. energy is -- we are in an inflationary cycle where a lot of the things we know we need to do will be more expensive, but we still need to do them. host: we have a tweet from jodi. she says " high gas prices where the excuse far higher grocery prices, but since high gas prices have come down, consumer prices have not. this makes me think that high

gas prices were not the cause in the first place. could it just be corporate greed?" guest: -- could it just be corporate greed?" guest: gas prices were without question part of the reason for rising costs, not just a food, but of other things. this costs have passed on -- those costs have passed on. historically very few sectors of any kind, once they raise prices, are inclined to lower them. we continue to be in a inflationary cycle with other challengesn. i am not an expert on how much the prices that are sticking are directly affected by that, but it is a point. th bigger pointe -- the bigger

point is food rises and falls like everything else. we are in an inflationary cycle where things are getting more expensive, and i believe they will for a couple of years. we need to talk about how we get to a better food culture, how we invest more at every level. at the government needs to create an enabling environment with their policies, start educating people, use the federal dollars already appropriated for food -- step, -- snap, wic, in smarter ways, but the private sector really needs to double down. this will require innovation. i hope and pray that high prices and inflation do not become an excuse not to do what we need to do.

that is my comment. host: john is in new jersey. good morning. caller: great topic! i once saw a documentary by michael moore in which he put the attention on france and its school system and the food system within the school system across-the-board, rich, poor. they had actual food! the children didn't understand the concept of sugar and soldiers in the classroom, the corporatized ideas we have here. it is all about profit. they were actually eating food for lunch. have you ever seen that? are you familiar with that?

we are so profitized here. it is all about the dollar. guest: i could not agree more with the caller. most of the food systems in developed countries are superior to ours. the government sees it more as a responsibility to nourish children. what is your country's most precious resource? it is human beings. adults spend their time at work. the government should be providing heavily subsidized healthy food for employees. kids spend time in schools. the government should make sure our youngest citizens are getting proper nutrition in school. japan has an amazing system of healthy food. it is more expensive, and it is more difficult.

in america what you see is what we value here is time and convenience so that leads you down a path towards more processing. new get to more processed foods, you will have less healthy foods. it is the government and business giving us what we think we wanted but i agree our capitalist tendency towards profit does aggravated because it will be more expensive. juanita mentioned school meals she was a child. , we can do it but it does require an investment. there are some things we so clearly invest in. we are investing money in how to cure cancer, we are investing money to improve technology, we are investing money in faster

internet, but we are not investing money in better food. i am hopeful next week that we will hear we will begin investing in better food across-the-board, across the culture so we can all be better nourished. host: douglas is calling from laramie, wyoming. caller: good morning. an advertisement to its viewers suggest that a healthy dinner consists of french fries and soda. what is the propriety of imposing restrictions on advertising unhealthy foods and who determines what foods are healthy? guest: the caller raises 2 critical holy important -- critically important points.

as someone who has worked on defining what is healthy for some time, i believe this is one of the biggest things holding us back. leading food companies -- the consumer wants transparency and no 3 people or companies agree on what is healthy. there have been all the various phases -- low fat is healthy, then low sugar, then high protein. it is very difficult to come to an agreement. i hope the fda will issue its definition of healthy. i hope it becomes a common base for us to begin really rallying around making some improvements towards health. that is a challenge. defining healthy has been

complicated, and we have not done it well. our nutrition specs on cans emphasize calories. calories are not what is important. walnuts are high in calories. they are great for you! some things that are low in calories are not great for you, like artificial sweeteners. we need to do a rethink and help consumers understand the amount of fiber that is in products, to clearly understand how much added sugar and sodium is in products, so what is healthy -- that is important. the other critical point you raise is on advertising. we spent $14.2 billion advertising food. americans spend $1 trillion on food every year, and we spend more than $14 billion marketing

food. 80% of what we market is fast food, sugary beverages, snack foods, and candy. very little of what we advertise are what things are good for you. we are animals and it is easier to manipulate -- i wrote an article decrying the development of the deep-fried cheetahs sandwich that some -- cheetos sandwich that some restaurant was serving, and when i saw pictures of it, my mouth started watering! my biological response was to want it at some level. it is easier to effectively use marketing to get people to buy things with salt, fat and sugar. imagine yourself seeing a cheeseburger dripping on this

screen, versus seeing a bowl of lettuce. which one would appeal to you? we need to acknowledge these things, be intellectually honest, and get the top marketers in the world to focus on this challenge, because we are now currently not only marketing junk food that we are targeting it at the lowest income communities and it is wrong. host: should there be federal regulations against that? guest: i intentionally skip that part of the caller's question! it is tricky. i am not a fan of banning things, texting things, and making them -- taxin things -- taxing things, and making them illegal. if the right organizations prioritize it, that can be done. we have already done that with advertising to children.

most companies do not advertise junk food to children. if we try another path and do not succeed, it may be necessary to regulate, as much as that is not my preferred option. host: michael is next in trenton, new jersey. caller: back in the 70's and 80's we did not have all the internet where you could research what a child would need. i was a sick kid. the doctor said " i do not care what he eats, as long as your son eats." parents, they can research it for themselves to feed their kids. i don't think it should be a government choice to tell us how to feed our kids. you are here, you are talking about food equity. if you cannot get to the store

because there is crime, then you have to deal with the police, but finding good food? you can see if it is fresh or if it is not. this is not something like -- we had the food triangle back when i was in grade school. your meats, breads, fruits. i mean, i don't understand where now the government wants to tell you what to eat, how to feed your kids. you know how you ate. kids these days are picky. host: michael, let's get a response. guest: i appreciate the spirit of the caller's comment. in this country we value

freedom. as a mother of two kids, they can be picky. i am a big believer in treats. i bake cakes and cookies for my kids. no one wants to be the food police and tell people exactly what to feed their kids. if everyone -- anyone tries it will be a huge backlash in this country. we know something now -- there are things i know today that if i had known when i was raising my kids, i would have done things differently. in this country we have 40% of the population with diabetes or prediabetes. we have higher rates of heart disease and hypertension than most about countries. we are on the top of the bad lists when it comes to diet, and i think we do not want to live like this anymore. we got this way because doctors

were telling us " feed your kid anything," and we did feed them anything. we know things now, we know the extent to which a better diet improves your health. you still have tons of room for choice. you can feed your kids really healthy food and have lots of oatmeal and cream of wheat on school days and make pancakes on the weekends . there is lots of room for flexibility in making choices. no one is saying you have to eat healthy all the time, but what needs to change is right now in america the built environment, what is out there when you worked on the street are dunki'' donuts, lattes, dennis everywhere, cookies this size -- doughnuts everywhere, cookies the size of frisbees.

there are not fruits and vegetables every single place you go. if you want to eat healthy regularly you have to opt out of the food system. the basic food system needs to be healthy and when you want treats, you opt out of the healthy system. you can and should have treats. i look forward to baking something nice this week for my husband. treats are an important part of it. we need to respond to the burden of knowledge. we do not want to continue on this trajectory. it used to be that 5% of people had diabetes. now it is 40%. do we want it to be 80%? this is a diet-related disease that does not have to be. we need to respond to the burden of knowledge, and there is plenty of room for freedom and choice. host: let's try to fit in a few more calls. catherine in corona delmar, california. caller: hello.

this topic -- where to start? i am 70 and i grew up with jaclyn lane, fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. now i find organic. is a must it is very -- now i find organic is a must. i live in a gated community of over 18,000 seniors between the ages of 55 and 110. i go to the doctor and they are shocked i am not on multiple prescription drugs. they say to me " you can tell me the truth," like i am lying about it! we not only have horrific diets and habits, but we also have a pharmaceutical industry that is advertised on tv to take a 10 of chemically produced drugs for

these symptoms. meanwhile, they advertise and disclose they will cause all sorts of calamities, even death. there is a huge problem in the last couple years. we have a shortage of water in northern california, and it is because the cartels are growing a lot of marijuana up there and they are stealing water from other firms. i am very near a strawberry farm, yet i looked on duck, duck, go. hardly anybody knows this. 3 months of the last year, food processing plant in san antonio, mississippi poultry fire, that is in 2 months of last year. then this year, hamilton mountain poultry plant fire, --

host: we are running out of time. let's get a quick response. caller: walmart, this is all in the last six months! guest: thank you for that. the point i would respond to, and i very much agree with, is we take drugs to fix problems that are caused by a lifetime of eating poorly, most people have done this without realizing how poorly they are eating. i do not take any medications either. medications would be so much less necessary if we established a culture of health, if the government worked to create an enabling environment, if the private sector came behind and were deliberate in producing

better food and innovating, and if there was murder consumer transparency so people could begin to choose better foods. one thing i heard was the mayor of new york telling the phenomenal story. he was diagnosed with diabetes. he was losing his vision, tingling in his fingers and toes, he went to the doctor and the doctor said " you have acute diabetes. you are probably going to lose a few digits, and you will probably lose your eyesight within a year. -- within a year." he found a doctor who believed in reversing diabetes through food. he is now the mayor of new york! he is requiring the hospitals in new york to offer better diets to patients. as the culture adapts, if we

become a culture of contributing to health rather than treating disease, i do not think we will need as many drugs. host: nancy roman, a partnership for a healthier america, president and ceo, thank you for joining us today. host: still ahead, our weekly spotlight on podcast segments with ryan heath. he will discuss his podcast and the 2022 u.n. general assembly session, but first more of your calls on open forum. you can start calling now. the numbers are on your screen. stay with us. ♪ >> next week on the c-span network, the house and senate are both in session and both chambers are expected to take up a short-term spending bill to avoid a government shutdown at

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in publishing with book tv's podcast about books with current nonfiction book releases, bestseller lists, industry news and trends through insider interviews. you can find about books on c-span now or wherever you get your podcasts. ♪ >> inc. in -- incorporates in 1884, this model coal tow lit in kansas -- he discusses the impact of the opioid epidemic and recent flooding has had on the city. >> they lagged behind the country. eastern kentucky lives behind the rest of appalachia.

we are talking about the region of appalachia that from a socioeconomic standpoint has generation it -- >> " twilight in hazard," on c-span's q and a. you can listen to q mende on -- >> washington journal continues. host: welcome back to washington journal. it is open forums. i will be taking your calls until about 9:15 eastern time on anything you want to talk about policy wise, anything happening in politics. i want to show you real quick the wall street journal front page is about the stock market. this is the dow over the past week. you can see the drop there. there is an article here on the

u.k.'s fiscal plan. it says it unnerves investors. the u.k. government unveiled on, friday, yesterday, that the country's biggest tax cuts since the 1970's, a bold start at kickstarting growth, but one which spooked investors and sparked the biggest one-day selloff of the pound since the pandemic roiled markets in 2020. let's start taking your calls now. tom is first in erie, pennsylvania on the independents' line. caller: whenever you have somebody on talking about these types of problems, inflation being the main one, what you need to do is expose the companies and the individuals who are getting rich during this inflation.

nobody in this country is really stupid enough to believe that somebody is not getting rich. the only way we are going to stop this since we do not have a benevolent, totalitarian government, the only way we are going to stop it is to expose these people. host: let's go to matthew next in meridian, idaho, independents' line. caller: my name is matt. i wonder why i have not heard anyone make a statement about why we are in the situation we are in, in the world today. when donald trump was president, he held putin unaccountable for everything he had done, when it came to hacking a pipeline, he just let him run rampant.

i believe that is why prudent was able to do what he -- putin was able to do what he has done to ukraine. trump gave him an open ticket. why would we want that againhosw york times front page this morning, about the russia or on ukraine. the first article is about the draft, so putin has imposed a draft, provoking anguish and russia, targeting villages and minority populations. this one is about -- it says putin tightening his grip on raines as a war commander. it says present puno russia thrust himself more directly into strategic in for the war in ukraine in recent weeks. including rejecting requests from his commanders on the ground that they be allowed to retreat from the vital southern city of here sans.

a withdraw from there would allow the troops to pull back and and or -- in an -- it would be another public acknowledgment of the prudent failure in the war and would hand a second major victory to ukraine in one month. let's talk to tell calling from harrisburg, pennsylvania. democrats line. good morning. caller: good morning. i wanted to get in when the last person was on but i can't recall her name. host: nancy roman. caller: but i couldn't get through because i couldn't remember your number, your phone numbers, and you did not show them for such a long time. host: sorry about that. we will put them on the screen more often. caller: i appreciate it.

the comment i wanted to make was probably -- the food problem has to do with is the capitalistic system in america where the quality of food you do get is not what it should be. i know years ago when i bought a can of food, i had more food. now today is what i find is if i buy canned, mostly now i buy frozen if i don't buy fresh, but i do buy canned from time to time. what happens is that they are allowed to put in more of the waste product of the product than they did years ago. it seems like you will get more core or if you get more vegetables you get less of the edible part in your food in your can. so i think that the government

needs to do a better checking of whatever system whether it is fda or whoever in how they are allowed to give products to people. host: here's an article about that on cnbc. it says it is built tightening time, how to save as food inflation jumps more than 11% in one year. rising food costs help push inflation higher again last month according to latest government data. prices for staples like eggs, milk, cereal, bread, and butter notched a largest increases, for this training also budgets and then we will go next to cliff in tulsa, oklahoma. independent line. >> i got a question, does anyone know what happened to the artemis rocket they launched? i have been trying to find out information.

i guess they had trouble with the engines, the leak, and all of that. host: they tried a second time and they had to cancel it again but i believe it is the 27th of september that it is scheduled to try again. so hopefully it will get off the ground. caller: i noticed their cost per pound -- i found something on spacex's website -- their cost per pound to launch into spaces $60,000 per pound and falcon 9 to the space station is down to 2500 per pound. and if the starship was allowed to launch, they had $10 profound because it is such a huge rocket. i don't see why the taxpayers want to a $60,000 to launch it in space when they can pay 2500 or what the starship would be, way less than this artemis boondoggle. hopefully they can get off the ground, get the mission done,

and go on to something else with nasa's money. host: i hope so too. middleton is in west virginia, democrats line. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: i want to make a statement by using a quote. i can do anything i want to fight think about it. i think that is a quote from a certain ex-president named donald trump. i-5 think i can rob a bank, i can get the money automatic because i think about it. that is donald trump's quote. i wish people would understand why he said something like that. what kind of person can say i could think about it and it makes it right. is that what a president does? host: all right. let's go to hallandale, florida,

republican line. i cannot read your name. what is your name? caller: virginia cook. host: go ahead. caller: i try to get in last week when corn was on and i wanted to ask him if he was enraged regarding the riot that we went there all summer from the rights of january 6 but i did never get to asking the question. i wondered when he's going to be back on so i can ask him. host: i'm not sure the schedule. stay tuned to c-span and if he comes on, try again, ok? mickey is in on the independence line. good morning. -- independents line. good morning. caller: i want to comment on the immigration system. we are allowing dictators and thugs to force people out of their own homes, out of their own countries, and force them to come here.

by doing this, we are handing those countries over to dictators and thugs. we need to solve the problems in their own country so they can send their homes home -- on homes and quit allowing dictators and thugs to push people out of their homes. host: on that note, there is sad news. here is the "new york times." it says the mass death after a migrant boat capsizes off of series -- syria's coast. at least 75 people died in that tragedy. ronald is next in florida, republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. can you hear me ok? host: i can, go ahead. caller: yes, i wanted to talk

about the american problems. we worry about these other countries and the ukraine thing. biden is destroying our administration, borrowing money from the federal reserve and bring it away. they intentionally that these people come across the border and the taxpayers are supporting these people. we are getting so far in debt that i don't see how we will ever get out. these people are destroying us and doing it on purpose. there is a purpose on what he will be doing. host: what you think the purpose is? caller: people, just people. host: lenny is next in arizona, independent's line. good morning. caller: caller: good morning. i had a question and i never have gotten an answer on it,

when we are supposed to keep religion out of politics and yet every time they open congress, they started with a prayer. i never understood why we do that when we open our congress. you know why we start with a prayer and who implemented that? host: i don't know. would you rather it not be there? would you rather them not start with a prayer? caller: yes, because i think we should give our allegiance to the constitution, not some of cereal belief -- etherial belief. alex in minnesota, democrats line. good morning, alex. caller: good morning. i was going to ask if you are familiar of any i guess policy initiative to kind of in the long run manage the water supplies and the continental

united states. we have seen obviously infrastructure and failure of the ability to provide water and possibly the most core resource needed for human survival, not to say anything the damage of the midwest. in the long run, looking at things like the colorado river, it is extremely concerning and i'm not familiar with any government program at this point but seriously is looking at on the federal level managing water. host: there is an they bipartisan infrastructure law quite a bit of funding for water infrastructure around the country. so maybe take a look at that. he will find quite a bit of funding for water. brian in ascota, michigan,

independent's line. caller: can you hear me? host: i can. go ahead. caller: i'm going back to 1979 when brian lam was running this. i have been with your program for quite a while concerning water. quite simply, you can take a water from the pacific ocean -- we only have 17 stations for desalinization. you need to run that by a hydrogen or nuclear, taken from the pacific. that will lessen the burden on the colorado river, the growth in nevada is obscene, they really don't have their own proper water supply. we can solve the water problems, but concerning monetary's, concerning europe in general, the u.n. and nato was set up so europe mainly could take care of themselves after the world war. now we have gotten so far followed that. i worked with nato and they are

fine. they need to handle their own stuff. as far as monetary value, when i was in high school, we were 450 billion, that is it, and dad. this is obscene. the earlier caller hit on it, to be where we are at now, we are at underwater at $2 trillion per year we are overspending. we are overspending that amount. this is obscene. we will be ro khanna on the monetary end. you asked a good question earlier, why? why the back is most monetary things around the globe, that will change under this program. one final point, i've spent a lot of time south of the border. these are fine people, they need to handle their own country. i like our immigration party at one million per year. we allow nearly legally another one million just to work here on

visas which are overstated. so you are add to million dollars per year legally. we far surpass any other country on the globe for allowing this. we are the kindest nation on this already. we did not ask to change that, we have to stop them from coming in. these are not bad people, they have to fix their own country, they have plenty of minerals, many dollars in south america. why do you think china and them are trying to get in there? so these people need to stay in their own countries and they will do better. it may be ugly for them, i get that stuff, but this is not right. in the end, this is going to turn out terrible for the entire world the way we are heading. host: let's try to fit in a couple more calls. debbie in flint, michigan, democrats. caller: good morning. welcome to c-span. host: thank you. caller: i wanted to call today

because i'm a democrat but i watch hannity for entertainment purposes. they disclosed their new platform and i'm doing air quotes there. they admitted they have not done one in 28 years, so here, six weeks before the midterm, they are coming out with this one sheet of paper, singlespaced, two points i want to make about that. the first one is any time the republicans are complaining about the school board, at the base of that is the unions. they have never been able to break the women in the teachers union and there are few but it is predominately women. anyone that has lived on earth knows you back us into a corner and we get tough. the second one is immigration. quit calling these people illegal when they walk up to our border and ask for asylum. it is in the constitution that

they can request asylum so quit calling them illegal. that is not an illegal process, it is legal. i'm a little tired of them shoving the second amendment and 14th amendment down my throat but ignoring the fact these people have a right to request asylum. thank you. have a great day. host: and she will be the last call for -- and keith will be our last call for this segment, independent line. caller: are you doing? host: good. caller: i think president biden needs to make up $400,000 to make up $200,000. how do these people in the senate get off their buzz and do something instead of collecting this money that they are collecting this year. i think that is the reason they put out 400,000 because most of them have been there their whole lives and their collecting probably maybe right under $400,000 and getting all of the stocks and stuff and putting

them away, but i think that is what needs done. then take that money they get from their butts and help the people out in the united states that really needs the money. host: and that is it for open forum. next on "washington journal," is ryan heath, the host of political's global insider podcast and newsletter and joins us to discuss that outcast and the 2022 you and generalissimo session. we will be right back. -- general assembly session. we will be right back. >> inc. in 1884, hazard is a small coal mining town in the appalachian mountains of eastern kentucky. sunday on q&a, former reporter for the louisville career journa, shares his book in finite -- journal shares his

book where he talks about the opioid epidemic and recent flooding's and effects on the city. >> appalachia as a reason lags -- regiona -- region lags behind the rest of the country. eastern kentucky eggs behind appalachia. we are talking about the region from a socioeconomic standpoint has struggled. >> alan neiman with his book at 8:00 people eastern on c-span's q&a. you can listen to q&a and our podcasts on our free c-span radio app -- free c-span now at. -- app. >> c-span now is a free mobile app featuring your unfiltered view of what is happening in washington, live and on-demand. keep up with the day's biggest events with live streams of floor proceedings and hearings from the u.s. congress. white house events, the courts, campaigns, and more for the

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in this year's a studentcam documentary conversation -- competition. picture yourself as a newly elected member of congress. we asked what is your top priority in my? make a five to six minute video that shows the importance of your vision from opposing and supporting perspectives. don't be afraid to take risks with your documentary. be bold. amongst the $100,000 in cash prizes is a $5,000 grand prize. videos must be submitted by january 20, 2023. visit our website at studentcam.org for rules, tips, resources, and a step-by-step guide. >> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back to "washington journal." it is our weekly spotlight on podcast segments and mike guest is ryan heath, host of the podcast called "global insider." he is also at politico and he is

the global insider newsletter author. welcome to the program. guest: it is great to be here. host: tell us about the podcast first. when did you start it and why? guest: we kicked it off a little over a year ago, timed in with you and general assembly, and what we were wanting to do was go in depth with different leaders around the world, not just leaders of governments or political organization but all the people that try to make it a different -- try to make a difference on global challenges, that is nonprofit, that is people who advocate for a particular cause, and anyone who is really struggling with these challenges. we feel like we are being bombarded by crises at every level of the moment so i wanted to talk to the people who struggle with that and make decision on that so we can understand how they do their jobs and what they are dealing with. host: let's talk about the yuan general assembly that happened this past week. what were the biggest issues

they focused on and what were the biggest takeaways from that? guest: i think probably there are two different answers to that question. there is one crisis that fueled all of the others and infected the leaders discussion and their speeches and that was russia's invasion of ukraine. there was no getting around that. putin mobilizing his reserves through the middle of the week, almost threatening to use nuclear weapons, there was no skate from that is the honest answer. we should remember russia is still speaking today at the general assembly because they did not send putin and china did not send president xi, so two of the biggest antagonist out there in the world at the moment, they have yet to speak at the general assembly. then you have these other events outside of the u.n. headquarters, so that is people dealing with hunger and food security. it is dealing with climate and the world bank president made

controversial comments about climate this week. all of these other challenges i would also include gender equality and all of the problems with education that have been increasing since covid lockdowns began and teachers started retiring and mass around the world. thousands of people have been tried to raise money and debate how to address the issues. host: if you would like to talk to our guest, you can call in now. the phone numbers are democrats, (202) 748-8000, republicans, (202) 748-8001, independents, (202) 748-8002, and if you live outside of the united states, you can give us a call on a special line which is (202) 748-8003. ryan, regarding the u.n. general assembly, you wrote a piece saying the event is much dead and that it is the sideshows

that are the most interesting things happening. explain that. guest: yeah, so if you watch any of the leaders speeches and it is very in the zone for c-span audience to be narrowing in on those details, they are often delivered to an almost empty hall in the general assembly. other leaders are not listening to the leader giving the speech. the leader giving the speech is often tailoring that talk to their twitter audience to getting a soundbite on their domestic news channel back home and that obviously is something a politician has to think about. the point of the general assembly is for people to come together in global dialogue. they are not doing that in the formal venue of the u.n. anymore. what has sprung up around all of that, which is driven not only by how boring the speeches are but the fact that you have large corporations, big nonprofits saying we cannot wait or rely only on government to address

these big problems. you have people running massive fundraising conferences, you have people getting together for something called the transforming education summit, because there is massive learning loss. i learned this week this stunning statistic 80% of children who have an intellectual disability are not in a school system at all around the world. these are the sorts of problems that others are trying to solve, whether they're bringing their brain, money, or connecting into a government. all of that dramatic, intense discussion happens outside of the official u.n. hall. host: and back to the official u.n. hall, president putin alluded to nuclear weapons, and i want you to listen to a clip from president biden who spoke at the assembly and he talked about holding russia accountable. [video clip] >> a permanent member of the

united nations security council invaded it neighbor. attempted to erase the sovereign state from the map. russia has shamelessly violated the core tenets of the united nations charter. no more important than the clear prohibition against countries taking the territory of their neighbor by force. again, just today, president putin has made over nuclear threats against europe in a reckless disregard for the responsibilities of the nonproliferation regime. russia's calling up more soldiers to join the fight and the kremlin has organized a sham referendum to try to annex parts of ukraine and extremely significant -- an extremely significant violation of the u.n. charter.

the world to see these outrageous acts for what they are, putin claims he had to act because russia was threatened, but no one threatened russia and no one other than russia sought conflict. host: what do you make of that? is it possible? can the world hold russia accountable? guest: it is a tricky question. what we sow this week was the richer western alliance countries really doubled down in the unity on confronting russia. so i interviewed the spanish prime minister and norwegian prime minister this week, the estonian prime minister, i've talked to a lot of europeans and i was keen to hear how far this unity was going to head into the winter where they would have this energy and heating challenge, not just the prices but can we keep people warm and alive? i was quite impressed by the

coherence of their messaging and determination to stick with us. this pro ukraine front i think will hold together, and what we already knew into this week is there are countries that are not willing to side with america and this western alliance. i do not think that it is they particularly like what russia is doing what their experience of history and sometimes experience of being colonized is a does not pay to throw all of your chips in with the west. you need to stay independent. so they separate the human aspect of what is going on in ukraine from their national interest or long-term interest and they refuse to side with the western democracies at the u.n.. we have seen some shift over the past week. i think the indian and brazilian foreign ministers are the key canaries in the coal mine where they think the implement -- implementation -- where they

think the implications are shifting because of what russia is doing so they are out more. in starting to express some concerns, but the end of the day, we have not seen fundamental shift over the past week. president biden managed to hold the line and intensify dealings on his side of the argument but he has not shipped to the global calculus i would say. host: russia is part of the un security council, and they have a veto power. what does that mean and is it possible for them to be removed from the security council? guest: yes. this is a tricky situation. the bottom line is now, they can be frozen out of some discussions, they can sort of be told off procedurally, but the way the u.n. is set up, unfortunately means russia can basically dumb up the system. because the ui does not have its own military force, it has the capacity to do seat -- keep

peace at some level but they don't have the capacity for war. so there's not really anyway to hold russia accountable properly in the current system. the only way you can hold russia accountable is through transparency, the rhetoric, speeches, through shaming them and that is what president biden was trying to do this week. the u.n. is a particularly interesting forum for this to happen because one piece of history relevant here is that ukraine, even during the soviet era, had its own seat at the united nations so this idea that ukraine is not a real country that putin puts in the world, that it is not a real people and is not deserve sovereignty, ukraine has been a member of the u.n. from the get-go and part of that was tactical. the ussr wanted to maximize its votes inside of the u.n. system so they basically said ukraine is not part of us, ukraine gets its own seat and out bang, so they have been there from the get go.

so you can't turn around in 2014 or 2022 and say ukraine is not a real country. that is not true in the united nations context as well as the other moral and legal contact we already knew. host: we will start taking calls before so i want to ask about something you wrote in one of your newsletters, which was at only 47% of people in the u.s. expressed a positive view of the u.n.. was that surprising to you? i wonder how that compares with internationally how people overseas view the united nations. guest: yes, so it does differ a little bit, sort of evil ratings tend to be lower for the u.n. than in most other parts of the world. i also think it depends on how the question is asked. if you tell people the responsibility or impact of a certain part of the u.n. and a popular one is often unicef, which works to deal with children's education, children's nutrition, defending the rights of children to be able to live

and grow and be children. that is an extremely popular part of the united nations. if you ask people separately about how they feel about climate change, there is a lot of concern and it is the u.n. that tries to tackle that at the global level and bring governments to agreement and set them on a path to deal with climate change. i do not think the u.n. is deeply unpopular. but obviously people want to know where their money is going. and people are generally suspicious of bureaucracies and their ability to spend the money wisely. so i don't think the u.n. is seen particularly worse than other levels of government, but there is more trust in other parts of the world in government in general. that is why you see the difference. host: let's hear from our callers. michael is in imperial beach, california, on the democrats on, good morning. caller: good morning.

this is sort of a weird comparison but i really looked at this world today as a parallel to 1937-1938. we have hitler's, mussolini, tojo, but they did not have billionaires behind them, right? there were no billionaires in the plane i don't believe. i was wondering with this rise of autocrats combined with the money of billionaires, can you imagine what this world would look like if hitler's had billionaires behind him, nuclear weapons, social media, satellites? i was wondering what you think of that comparison and if it works at all. thank you. guest: i think that is an interesting comparison and you are right, it is different. i would say the billionaires kind of divide into two sides of politics, the way other people divide into two sides of politics. it is common for example.

i was at an event thursday night and i did not think the ceo of bank of america himself as a billionaire but huge organization and he is in the elite class of people. i was all about how he works to raise money to fight aids in other parts of the world. you see other billionaires really putting money behind climate change efforts. elon musk might be in a different category, i'm not saying all billionaires are in some kind of progressive because or giving all of their money away in the way bill gates does, but i think the billionaires get mobilized in different sides of the debate. it is not as if the billionaires all go towards right-wing or warmongering people will, it is very much a split at that level as it is in other income levels. host: pat is next on the republican line, new jersey, hello. caller: how are you doing? guest: thanks for calling. caller: you are welcome.

i just have a comment. i wanted to say the purpose of establishing the u.n. was and still is -- actually they are still by communists. they were founded by communist and are running it for communist purposes. i just wanted to say that unicef, who, under these peacekeeping disguises, this is completely where our taxpayer money is going. if people would do their research, a lot of things that are going on our two remove or dissolve the military from the united states, and they have plans for us and it is not very good. i do not think it will be too popular when the climate change is a hoax and people need to do their research and they will see it is about oculus because a lot of things are kept from the american people and we should not be using our taxpayer

dollars. look at the condition of our schools and the condition of everything. host: let's get an answer. go ahead. guest: you're right, pat, that the communists were involved in setting up the u.n. but harry truman was the president in san francisco doing the final grafting of the charter and yes a democrat but certainly not a communist. i think that was clear at the time. my country was there, they were not led by communists. there were a meeting of minds that were trying to say the devastation of millions of people dying in the war is not the future that we want and this is one of the important points of the u.n. which is however frustrating its slow progress might be, an element of inefficient or corrupt spending from time to time is happening there, it is cheaper than another world war, it is better than the consequences of another world war, and that is the real

value of the dialogue is we do not get back to that situation we were in from 1939 to 1945. host: and i want to show this article from the morning consult.com, saying this, despite the body's global popularity, the republican views of the united nations will constrain u.s. engagement. companies in the climate tech, health, and food sectors should plan for a slowdown in u.s. reelection post midterms. what do you think of that and the political divide and support for the u.n.? guest: that certainly is the case on some issues. for example, the global aids funding is bipartisan and is almost unanimous in congress. that is not something we could have said in the 1980's and 1990's. part of that is the effective advocacy of celebrities, out of

that is george bush -- george bush being so involved in the early to thousands so he gives a republican aura and credibility and endorsement that these members of congress continue to back funding for the issues but republicans do expect to see more united nations internal reform so they may hold that up. one of the tricky things that happened this week was a republican and president of the world bank, appointed by president trung, he said during the week he was not a climate scientist and that he did not want to say exactly how responsible humans were for climate change or not. he has gone and backtracked on that but i think part of his motivation for making those comments or being ambivalent about the real reason for climate changes he was probably thinking ahead to what about a republican congress would look like and how he would manage the

money thought of that. so you see it is tricky politics and data is pointing to something that will be a difficult debate. i think what tends to happen is the u.s. gives some funding when it is the republicans, when democrats are in charge, they end up paying back u.s. and getting them up to speed again. host: sydney is calling from alexandria, louisiana, independent line. good morning. >> good morning. didn't russia use article 51 to go into torrey of newland who overthrew the ukraine and bombed the people of russia for eight years and didn't we use article 15 to go into attack all of these countries where than bombing lately? host: brian. -- ryan.

guest: yes, i'm just pulling it up so i don't get it wrong. article 51's about -- 51 is about self-defense, saying russia uses the argument it was acting in self-defense in ukraine. the caller is right that that is what russia says, but i do not think there is any evidence at all that russia has rightfully used that article of the u.n. charter. it is really clear on the overwhelming weight of evidence that ukraine was not trying to attack russia or did not have any secret nuclear plans or otherwise with russia. so that is a pretense from president putin for wanting to install the puppet government there and making sure he continues to control some of the territory. he already occupies crimea, he is trying to get in the east of the country fully in russian control and they want this puppet government and keep. i thing we all know now having

looked at evidence that it is a ridiculous argument. host: let's talk to duane next in westbrook, maine. independents line. caller: that's me. your guest is being completely disingenuous. we invaded iraq, murdered one million iraqis we were supposedly liberating. look, ukraine may have been a member of the u.n. but it was not a member of nato and still is not. we in 2014 installed a government there that murdered 14,000 russians in dundas, ethnic russians, and that is why -- that is the reason for putin's invasion. your guest is being disingenuous. there are plenty of good reasons why putin attacked them. we are about to cause a nuclear war arming neo-nazis and right sector and battalion who are killing russians because their ethnic they try to cleanse

ukraine. host: let's get him a chance to respond. guest: i think there are grains of truth there but there is a lot of things being mixed up. first of all, the yuan did not support the invasion of a rock. the bush administration went around the explicit concerns and condemnation of the u.n. to conduct that invasion. i don't think we are here to discuss whether that right -- that is right or wrong what the ui did not support that. the situation in 2014, it was protesters in ukraine that overthrew their government. when the government was going to backtrack on its plans to get closer to the european union. that was when russia decided it cannot handle this level of independent thinking or this pro-european slant that was coming into ukrainian politics. thigh really don't think the u.s. had a large role to play in

that. the u.s. obviously is an interested observer but they are not -- they were not engineering a coup or anything like that. it was very much driven by the ukrainian people in 2014. host: he lies on the democrats line. caller: good morning. i would like to make a comment about these republicans saying the socialism and communism and democrats. how about these congressman, republican congressman, and senators getting wages and retirement? what you call that? one more thing to my valley voting republicans. we are democrats and republicans are going to take away our social security and our medicare. host: a little bit off topic there. carl in kenosha, wisconsin. democrats line. caller: yes.

i'm worried about the republicans taking away social security. i'm a union guy and not everybody has a pension. the republicans have put it up for taking away social security and medicare, and the old people , what are they going to do about it? host: also a little bit off topic. ryan, do you have any comments on that? guest: well i think these are very legitimate concerns, but if i get a little bit of a global context there, it is really tricky. the u.n. has 17 global goals but they deal with things like the basic security needs people have, and around about two thirds of the global population does not have a social security system like in the united states or alike in my home country of australia. it really is a global battle to

implement these basic safety nets, whether that is your right to an education, whether that is women allowed to exist outside of the home, whether that is you getting basic health care so you can live into your 70's and 80's rather and have a more stunted life. so these debates in the u.s. are definitely going on in other parts of the world and the world is falling behind in efforts to meet those 17 global goals. host: randy is next in arlington, minnesota. democrats line. caller: thank you for taking my call. a quick question, talking to a republican friend yesterday, she started going off on how we are sending all of these billions of dollars to ukraine, which is just profited by their mafia and so forth. my answer to her is do it i do, send through a ukrainian

catholic church and lutheran church. is there money wasted as it has in all of our other countries and conflict we have been in? it just air tainted me and i would like your political response, thank you. guest: yes. this is a tricky issue and i think you have a smart solution to it. one of the problems with money going to ukraine is buying weapons tends to be a very slow, complicated process and there is a lot of approval. when you see a number congress or president biden has a room to ukraine, a lot of that money has not been spent at all yet so that is part of the problem. it takes a most to long to spend the money and republicans in congress have this complaint, they are like we want these weapons and it is not getting spent quick enough. the second layer is yes, on the ground in ukraine, it is a country that has faced

persistent corruption. i think in a time of extreme unity and stress like during the war, i do not think there is as much room for the corruption to faster let's say. people are too busy surviving to be running the scams that my have pervaded levels of governments up until now. i think the u.s. money is not just being handed over to people ukraine to spend gruffly, it is spent throughout lies, who deliver weapons to ukraine. i do not think the weapons are then in any significant extent based on the black market or mafia, but one of the reasons why ukraine never got into the you in the first place, why it came up in all of these debates around trump impeachment and so on is it has not been a particularly well governed country. what we also saw was the united nations agencies were not really equipped in europe to deal with problems in europe. they are pretty good i going

into africa for example and dealing with a famine are some other health crisis but they were not equipped to do that in ukraine. so you saw others whether it was as androcentric is world central kitchen or other religious organism -- religious organized efforts, they were quicker to mobilize people in the ground in poland and other places. that is it -- is a good place to send your money because those people are morning ball and now have a track record of doing those things in ukraine. i think there were -- i think the lesson is money at several levels, diversification is a smart back, it would be better if weapons were quicker and delivered to ukraine quicker and corruption is going to be a big problem that we still had to deal with when this war is over, but it is not such a pressing concern at this very minute. host: eugene is calling from new york, independent line. caller: good morning.

my name is eugene. i remember as a kid my parents told me about world war ii because they are holocaust survivors. about the ukraine massacring being hired by the nazis to kill and massacre. i heard these horrible stories about ukrainians with the nazis and that is all i gotta say. i have no faith in what is going on with these people today. none. host: what do you think? guest: i was reading a book from a former colleague about all the nuremberg and other procedures that happened after world war ii to hold the nazis and perpetrators of the holocaust accountable. what was so tragic about that is some of the worst stuff was happening in ukraine and evidence that ended up convicting those nazis was collected from ukraine in 1943 and the russians were quite

involved, determined to kind of win this propaganda battle against the nazis. they were the ones that set up a lot of the procedures for collecting war crimes, evidence, and sending it to this tribunal, and now we have these other international criminal court's and other tribunals with these -- where these crimes can be tested and it is sad the crimes have happened again in ukraine. i do have faith the evidence is collected and that some form of justice will eventually occur, but it is such a tragedy that it is happening again for the second, third, fourth time np was lifetimes. don't forget this has happened in rwanda and in the balkans. it is not just something that happened in europe. but it is kind of -- it is never really justice because it comes too late for all the people dead and all the people in the mass graves now and their families that will be devastated forever

because of this. host: we have got a tweet from michael who says the u.n. does lots of talking and has peacekeepers across the world. maybe the guests could tell us when the most recent time the you and send keepers. do you know about deployments around the world? guest: yeah, so there are peacekeepers deployed in different parts of africa at the moment and it is a tricky situation. because some of the armies that are most interested and best able to try to reduce extremism or keep peace in the region in western africa for example, they also include the former colonizing countries and in this case france and those troops are not necessarily welcome. sometimes the you and peacekeepers are more welcomed than follow -- then former colonizers are, that the u.n. is under resourced and hard to manage region of the world.

there are not a lot of cannot -- of collections. -- of connections. these are decentralized terrorist organizations they are dealing with. we in the west do not really know a lot about them. i am in no way an expert in that region so it is hard to know is the ui doing a good job when you are thousands of miles away and you don't know a lot about these organizations? but you and peacekeepers are being deployed, they are considered critical by a lot of organizations i respect like international crisis groups which is very specifically a nonpartisan group that tries to look at how to unwind extremist groups around the world and they think it's important that these u.n. troops are on the ground in those regions. host: let's talk to sam in washington, d.c., independent line. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: i have a question for your cast who is an australian. we know another australian but

they are more -- truth tellers could be destroyed by telling the truth and you're giving your guest a platform to spew this nonsense. why? he should be ashamed of himself. he should talk about his country and defend the right man and not hide. host: we will give him a chance to talk about julie and assigns. caller: it's a trick -- guest: it's a tricky one. i think there's a lack of transparency in a lot of governments around the world. at one level, i appreciate the transparency that the wikileaks saga unearthed. i think governments can share more information with journalists, with the people that vote them in or out of office. i will be the first to do's -- to defend transparency. i think there's a level of danger involved in just randomly

leaking information that has security of occasions. i know the u.s. collect more intelligence than anyone else and has the most advanced military and intelligence organization on the planet, so the u.s. has the most to lose from that stuff being leaked. i can see why the u.s. system reacts so strongly against someone like julian assigns. i do not think it is ok to steal data and throw it out there willy-nilly. i think that is different from the professional practices of journalists who do also publish information that government officials do not what out there but they do not just throw gigabytes of data into the world and tens of thousands of tables and see what happens. that is the political version of move fast and break things, the famous slogan of mark zuckerberg had facebook. and to think when people's lives are most -- are at stake, you need to do more than move fast a break things.

i will not comment on whether julian assange should be in prison or not but he has to have some responsibility for what he has done. he is not just a hero i would say. host: let's talk to marty in massachusetts on the democrats line. caller: hi. i just want to clarify this 14,000 victim for care -- victim figure thrown around earlier that was a perley caused by america. this is the total number of victims in the donbass region between 2014 and 2021. of these, 10,900 were soldiers firing bullets and various artillery rounds at each other. i wanted to clarify that. this is another example of this perversion of fact and figures thrown around. that is all i've got. guest: the only other context i would ask there, and thank you

to the last caller for calling and with that, is it is true that the ukrainian population is ethnically different in different regions with different levels of support for the government in key, a russian government in moscow. i think this war has shifted sort of all regions in terms of not wanting moscow to come in by force but it is true in the east there have been strong support for moscow. i do not know what the right settlement of that is what the wrong way to do it is to invade the country and the wrong way to do it is have fake referendums where people are told at gunpoint to vote to say they want to be part of russia. that is not the way you resolve these problems. it is not what happens in scotland when there is an independent movie, when it happened in catalonia, and it is not something that we should accept. the idea that the u.s. murdered

thousands of people or was responsible for thousands being murdered is not true. it is part of ukraine defending what is there legal territory and there are other ways to solve those disputes without how people or where people are loyal to. host: charlie is next in roslyn heights, new york on the independent line. caller: hi. i'm coming in late on this or maybe off-topic a little bit but i remember when putin announced his war. the first thing he did his took the high ground and said we would do you not see -- d e-nazi-fy ukraine. and load a whole, nazis were in the national guard. my question is, what the hell are nazis doing in ukraine or any other places on the face of the art? any group that threatens the human race should be shot into their hearts. and no it will not stand.

they will not go anywhere. anyway, either nazis and the national guard? number two, why are my tax dollars going to support them for the so-called freedom of ukraine? this does not make any sense to me. guest: i don't think that is the right way to look at it. there are bad apples anywhere. there are neo-nazis in german forces and german security forces that have been revealed by "new york times" reporting in the last couple years. extreme right-wing terrorism domestically is a problem in the united states as well, but no one says we should ban the u.s. military because there are extremes in the u.s. military. i think absolutely is the case anyone who is a neo-nazi should not have access -- should not be part of the military and have access to machines that can kill people. that is a problem. you deal with that through other means but you don't let someone

progress with those views. independence line, patty, good morning. caller: good morning. i'm sorry to be off-topic but i'm -- my call is in reference to some of the people who called the show earlier and were discussing how the republicans are trying to take away social security and medicare. i'm so sorry these people are scared of this but it is just not the truth. there has never been a bill to totally get rid of social security and medicare. there has never been a bill proposed to me in the house -- repose to be in the house for such a thing. i'm sorry they have to be afraid and live in fear. host: that really is off-topic. paul is in for chester, new york, independent line. good morning, paul. >> good morning.

it surprised me when ryan said the speakers basically speak to an empty audience, and it confirms to me that it is a debating society. my question is so what extent is there like diplomacy and meetings going on behind the scenes thank you. >> that's a good question, and that does happen behind the scenes. we don't not -- do not get to see a lot of it. a lot of journalists didn't have access inside of the halls. they were just limiting the number of journalists allowed in there. but the leaders often do catch each other in the corridors for a couple minutes at a time and they also sit down for what are called bilateral meetings or by lats if you ever hear that phrase. that is what it is referring to. any given leader might have four

or five of those separate meetings. what surprised me about biden's agenda this week as he did not spend more time talking with for example african and latin american countries on board with his campaign against russia. he was often talking to the people who already agree with him. i got my questions about whether that was a good use of time but absolutely those meetings do occur on the sidelines and what we've seen in the past is sometimes that is where the radiant diplomacy takes place, but i think what we've learned out of this week as well is it is not really any prospect of that iran nuclear deal being revived before the midterm elections. and going into the week, maybe that would happen, definitely not going to happen now. host: that is all the time we have. ryan heath, host of "global insider "podcast

-- thanks for being on the program. guest: thank you for all the questions. host: we will be back again tomorrow morning 7:00 a.m. eastern on washington journal. in the meantime, have a great saturday. ♪ >> c-span's "washington journal." every day we are taking your calls live on the air and we will discuss policy issues that impact you. coming up sunday morning, brian and democratic pollster nancy discuss campaign 2022 and political news of the day. the migration policy institute

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television providers, and you a front row seat to him -- to democracy. >> ceos from the country's six largest banks, including jane fraser and brian moynihan testified before the house financial services committee on regulatory and oversight matters in the banking industry. they addressed several issues, including the influence of chinese banks, and the impacts of the pandemic. this is part one of a three-part hearing. this first portion of the hearing is two hours. the committee will come to order. that chair is authorized to declare races of the committee at any time. this hearing is entitled, holding meghan banks