>> coming up on washington journal, stephen moore on the economic outlook and biden administration economic policies and the director of the democracy program at the brennan center for justice discusses new state laws affecting voting and elections and harassment of election officials. join the conversation with text and tweets. washington journal is next. ♪ ♪ >> 12 days until election day. the economy is the top issue for voters as they cast votes.

which party do you think does better for the host: if you want to call us. if you make between $35,000 and $80,000, (202) 748-8001. if you make over $80,000, (202) 748-8002 is the number to call. if you want to give us your perspective on which party does better for the working people, text us at (202) 748-8003. you can post on facebook, twitter, or follow the show on instagram. frontpage this morning of "usa today," taking a look at issues heading towards the midterm elections. when asked in july if elections were held in congress with a

vote for republican or democratic candidate, at the time 45% said the democratic candidate, 40% said republican candidate. same russian in october, 49% dead the republican candidate -- question in october, 49% said the republican candidate. the top issue people responded to was the economy. 37% of those asked in october said that the economy was the issue that would most affect their vote, compared to 31% when asked of the same question in july. abc had it so cerise and took a poll looking at specific up and make issues and which party does better on them and when asked about that when it comes to issues of the overall economy, 35% said republicans do a better job. matters of inflation, 36% of republicans compared to 21% of

democrats and then specifically gas prices. 36 percent of those responding said republicans did a better job versus 22% of democrats. the issues of the economy at the white house yesterday, president biden talked about the specific plans his administration wants to do when it comes to controlling prices but overall when it comes to the headlines this morning he implored americans to be patient with his economic plan and the policies he put forth. the full response is available on our website, c-span.org, but when it comes to matters of the economy, here's the president from yesterday. [video clip] >> my administration is announcing new actions to lower the costs of everyday living for american families, putting more money in the pockets of middle-class americans. holding big corporations accountable. these steps will immediately start saving americans collectively aliens in unfair

fees. i'm here with the director of the consumer finance reduction bureau, mr. chauffeur, and the chair of the federal trade commission, lena con. they are members of the competition counsel that i created last year to promote competition across the economy and lower costs for families. one of the key things i have asked them to take on where the unfair hidden fees known as junk fees taking real money out of your pockets. real money out of the pockets of american families. things like surprise banking overdraft fees, excessive or hidden hotel booking fees or use termination charges to stop you from switching to a better deal for cable internet plans. surprise charges companies sneak into bills because they can. it's an entire industry popping up in america. health companies using

complicated algorithms to hide fees that hurt consumers and help them. these things add up. host: when it comes to yesterday's event, the president reportedly blamed the high prices on let them your pollutant's ongoing war in ukraine and repeated the call for gas companies to pass down the savings to consumers and predicted gas prices would continue to fall, saying it will take some time and that he appreciates the frustration and the american people. when it comes to which party does better, matters of the working family in the united states, the average working american, which party does it better, we have divided the lines differently. you can text us at (202) 748-8003 or post on our social media site as well. mike starts us off this morning in circleville, ohio. for those making under $45,000,

which party does better. mike, good morning. go ahead. caller: how you doing? i'm a truck driver hurting pretty bad right now. the main thing is these student loans. they got a bill out, hr 9110, asked 2598. we need to get bankruptcy protection back to the student loans. file bankruptcy, thought my student loans were in there. found out it wasn't. $40,000 in student loans to $63,000 and i can't pay them back. i'm working 14 hours a day. a one hour commute oath ways. i can't get a second job because of dot regulations. i can't work more than 14 hours a day. it kind of hurts me. host: those of the issues. when it comes to matters of party who do you think does better for people like yourself? caller: well it used to be the

democrats but now it's the republicans because the democrats are not helping anybody right now. i mean i can hardly afford to get to work. i drive 46 miles one way, $3.49 to three dollars 79 cents a gallon right now, i can hardly afford to go to work. my wife works dirty miles away from our house. kind of in a bad spot. host: ok. let's hear from gordon, plant city. hello. caller: i'm up for republican with a bone to pick with the president and my fellow republicans. the republican party platform says the federal government should not originate student loans. there's only two reasons for this. either my congressman is a rhino or the last of self-defense at the free market check made the department of education back off

. the previous caller was right. he sounds a bit liberal but student loans need bankruptcy protection like donald trump and gambling. with our student loan bankruptcy, we could make the department back off and stop the insane lending, crashing the dollar. it's not students versus taxpayers. those bills, even rick scott has it at 4772, the durban bill holding the cause accountable. student loan bankruptcy is the free market check. constitution requires the bankruptcy code to be uniform. host: got you on that front. are you saying neither party does it for you as far as taking care of the working person? caller: actually, 14% of democrats follow the democrat plank on bankruptcy. 8.14% of republicans follow the

plank on our platform that the taxpayers should not originate student loans. host: we will move on to charmaine, springfield, ohio. hello. caller: hello. i feel the democrats had our backs for years. i watched, i've been retired. they have tried everything to try to help all people. not just the republicans, not just democrats, but all people. republicans have done everything to hurt everybody. the economic problems, just look at the trucks they held up with the food and everything. when it came to the gas, they are the ones that owned most of the gas.

biden asked them nicely not to do this because of the ukraine war. people want their independence. they want their democracy. but yet they still raised the gas prices. they do everything they can to hurt people. that's what i want everybody to know. host: ok that is charmaine in springfield, ohio with a sample on the thoughts on which party does better for working families, working americans. you can give yourself a chance to talk about these issues calling the phone lines or you can text us, (202) 748-8003. you can post on our social media spent -- sites, facebook.com/c-span. james, between the 25 thousand and 35,000 mark in kentucky. hello. caller: hello. i was calling to, i believe the

other democrats are better for the economy because they are trying to help the poor and the middle class. they have, they don't give, they don't raise taxes on -- they want to lower taxes on the working people and raise it on the billionaires and millionaires. and on high profit corporations. not small businesses. they raise taxes on them. the republicans are putting out this message that it's biden's fault about the gas in the gas, that's controlled by a worldwide market. and it's actually a lot of these large corporations are, are raising taxes. i mean they are raising their prices.

they are making, they are making huge profits right now. they are kind of using inflation for a cover, i believe. and it's, it's, so, that's about all i got to say about it. host: that is james in kentucky. "the new york times" takes a look at the topic of gas prices and the perception of the economy. the paper makes the case that as the price of gas drops, shown by the first chart, hitting $3.50 just before october, they say if that happens, the next chart over, they also chart where voters gave the perception that the nation was back on the right track. as gas prices went down, more of those people said the nation was on the right track. and then at the third question

is those things were happening, most people had the perception at least from those who compiled this information the consumers had more faith in the economy as a whole. there is a whole story there taking a look at the topic of gas prices and how they factor into people's perceptions. if you want to go as far as how each party deals with matters of the economy and which does better, some of you are texting us this morning, joan in minnesota saying republicans understand the business in the economy. you need the wealthy to provide jobs. the rich know how to make the economy work for everyone, especially the poor. from our twitter feed, viewers saying that i've been waiting for 40 years to -- as republicans -- for republicans to pass laws to get the money to the people. but in the end they were laws for the rich. both for blue.

republicans are for millionaires and billionaires. stephen south carolina texts us saying clearly the average american is better off under a republican administration. we got to keep more of our money out of our paychecks. are you better off now than you were two years ago? not many people are and we all know who is in charge. that is just a sampling of those on social media. mike, silver spring, maryland. go ahead. caller: i think i'm any unique position, 62, about to retire, i start collecting social security and about a month and i've been in each of these categories at different points in my life. i was an attorney for the labor board. i was a caregiver for elder citizens, putting me in the middle category. now i'm collecting retirement, putting me in the lower category.

i'm a distant cousin of jacob javits, the former senator from new york. republican senator who, big piece of information, young people who the internet is their only source of information, javits was a rigid republican who supported social programs. he expanded social security. expanded disability benefits. there are, there are very few but there are people out there who are true public servant who have the interests of people at heart and are trying to do the best they can. we need to support those people. host: which party does that the most, do you think? caller: well, the democrats. for the reason that they still support democracy. the current crop of republicans apparently wanted to get an

appointment for life and the dictator they want appointed life is donald trump. i don't know why. there is a suggestion from some commentators that it is kind of like a cult and he's the cult leader and no matter what he does he can do no wrong. host: ok, ok, we will keep it there. randy in kentucky, hello. caller: i'm voicing the opinion that the democrats are the better party for the economy and for social programs. the republicans are for rich people. $2 billion. they added that to the deficit. the republican party is the conservative party, but for the last 20 years the democrats have been the conservative party, regardless of their social programs.

the deficit is better under democrats. excuse me. the republicans have no plan to deal with inflation. they have no plan at all. the members are, are, i think, stupid. to say it mildly. host: fayetteville. jay, you are next. which party does better for average families and working americans? good morning. caller: i'm a lifelong democrat. good to be on. i will tell you, i grew up liberal, believed in all the right things and can say without hesitation that the democrats today, the democrats of old were the party of the working man. i will tell you.

working man and woman. i know because my dad worked all his life. worked as a child. 1942, enlisted in the army. he flew b-17s and be 24's as a radio gunner. after world war ii he worked all his life and died around 60 years old. he was a working man and he was a deming committeeman of the day in northeast philly. so we were proud democrats. the democratic party of today, definitely the party of the rich white woke. they are like fanatics today. i don't understand. to me this is the most malignant bunch of legislators. it's like they hate the country. i definitely believe in civil

rights and everything. i don't understand these people today. host: that was jay in georgia. giving his thoughts there. when asked about the theme, adrian smith is one of the top contenders in the ways and means committee if the republicans take the house after the november elections and on this program last month talking about tax relief towards the middle class, his top priority, here are some of his thoughts. [video clip] what would be the best >> what would be the first thing you would bring to the committee? >> making permanent the middle class tax relief allah sees that were actually made temporary. out of the house they were made they don't survive the senate as well, we have temporary tax policies that have been good for the middle class that we need to make permanent. host: sue sent us a text saying that while it's all good for

this, the middle class is too often overlooked with big tax breaks and those below the poverty levels following into the government assistance programs. both parties have sold out average joe with poorly negotiated trade deals and high taxes. harry in pennsylvania said republicans are low says to rural and suburban and main street people. lofty plans for tomorrow don't get us through the day. stacy from facebook added no contest, democrats have always represented the middle class. republicans are the party that reek of entitlement. sam says the republican party is the one to pick up the tax burden created by the democratic policies that have hurt the american middle class. ask them if they are better off than two years ago. manwell in denver, colorado. go ahead, you are next up.

caller: i think it's obviously the democrats. can you give me an example of when the republican party has passed any policy that led to the need of the people over the greed of the privilege? go back as far as nixon. name one policy that was actually completely for the need of the people. thank you. host: chris, illinois. caller: for the working class i would say republicans. i was under the poverty level but knowing that policy allowed businesses to function without paying so much in taxes and all of that, that allowed me to go from being a teenager under the poverty level to making a good salary right now and it's all because of the policies of the republicans and it is a matter of fact that we are for the working people and you need to

work in order to make money. that is why a lot of democrats think it's the other way around. thank you. host: this is charles in memphis, tennessee. hello. caller: thank you for taking my call and giving me a moment to speak. the answer to the question, no doubt about it, the democratic party has always been the party for the people. but i would like to ask the republicans out there, if republicans are better for the working people and you've got a 50-50 senate, why haven't they submitted all of these great ideas? i don't think anything republicans have submitted over the last two years hasn't been blocked by the democrats. they have two democrats who have been voting for the wrong.

if they've got all these great ideas, which i haven't heard any of, why haven't they submitted them? you don't have to be the party in power in order to submit ideas and laws to help people. thank you, that's all i have to say. host: two perspectives on this, one coming from the former chief of staff, mark meadows. he made this in a recent statement to politico saying that working-class voters of color have been a reliable block but are among the hardest hit by raising rent, gas prices, grocery bills. democratic strategists worry they may not vote or that republicans could peel them off at the margins because of it. democrats can complain about the white working class all you want but we are confronting a much larger problem. a poster granted anonymity said they are struggling, regardless of race.

that is from mark meadows, who we should note in recent days, mr. meadows said that he had been forced by a georgia or to testify in the investigation and the georgia election in estimation. that's the story therefrom "the new york times," just give you that headline. another perspective they're coming from american prospect magazine, writing that when it comes to the messaging that the democrats should be delivering when it comes to the matters of the economy they framed it as a memo and said this, there's no reason in the world that democrats need to be defensive or bushy about their inflation plan. the american rescue plan and tax relief for the poor, wking class and working families, inging prices down for pharmaceutical drugs, health insurance premiums, passing the anti-house gouging bill that all republicans worked against.

the populist message works. three points thamake up a persuasive set of policies to help with the cost-of-living that republicans voted against or stopped. these are key reasons to highlight the difference of what happens when you vote for democrats or republicans. more is in the american prospect. jack, good morning. caller: [inaudible] [indiscernible] the murphy station in danville, virginia. [indiscernible] the world and north dakota. president biden at least said no. that's one reason gas and oil are so high. the people for abortion are

going to have to face god someday. host: earl, far rockaway, new york. caller: yes this is far rockaway, new york. two things you never hear about. people calling to say how good things were before and how bad they are now. just two things. i remember when there were thousands of cars lined up in texas and other states just to get food. cars were lined up for miles to get food and 2020 for the people who were out of work, people who didn't get their unemployment checks. democrats gave them a stimulus. and also a terrible thing, funeral homes were crowded into thousand 20. they were so crowded that they had to use refridgerated truck's to stack people. i want to thank god we don't

have that today. and about the food, we don't have that. people, when you go to the polls and vote, thank god for what you have today. i see people shopping in grocery stores. i see people buying things. i see them going on trips. maybe you do have to get less food or something you don't normally eat, but i see people in stores shopping. it's not as bad as we think. things could be much worse. thank you. host: let's hear from jimmy in florida. jimmy, good morning. caller: good morning, my friend. thank you for c-span. thank you to the vets on the line for your service. thom hartmann, free-speech tv, just told me now that trump sold our refineries to saudi arabia.

there should be an investigation. what happened? how does trump sell our refineries to saudi arabia? host: the topic at hand being which party does better for working americans and working families. what would you say? caller: democrats. democracy is at stake in this election. vote democrat. host: why are they the better party on matters of the economy? caller: because republicans only know about tax breaks. the democrats are working for the working class. i believe. host: that was jimmy in avon

park, florida. views from florida in terms of the midterms coming up, just announced that politico said former president trump is planning a rally with marco rubio. according to the story, governor of florida is not invited to the rally but there is the headline, we are less than two weeks from election day with more of these stories coming out. president biden is expected to go to new york today to visit the macron semi conductor laughed and sarah, talking about that, talking about matters of the economy as well. you can see the visit play out as we follow along on our website. c-span.org, keep abreast of the presidential travel in the lead up. the president and vice president are helping -- heading to philadelphia on friday to campaign for john fetterman in

that race. james in brooklyn, new york, hello. go ahead, we are talking about which party does better for working americans. caller: neither. host: why is that? caller: because it doesn't really matter. the good cop, the bad cop, it doesn't really matter which party does better. it's basically you elect to office and what they, their viewpoint is and how they think. host: ok. luis is next in illinois. hello. you are on, good -- go ahead. caller: good morning, thank you for c-span. personally i think the democrats do better for the working people. i think the republicans had a very good idea with trickle-down economics, but what happened is

the companies, instead of trickling money down, they moved manufacturing to china. it's helping their economies, not our economy. i think the democrats are trying to improve the quality of life for all americans with education , health care, and social security. and i think we should vote for democrats because i think republicans appear to be very fascist and are putting this country into trouble. host: out of las vegas, elaina schneider writing the writing -- rising cost-of-living cuts into the coalition that powered democratic victories in the state. nevada has been a tough bright spot for the party thanks to the white collar working-class voters.

particularly latinos urged to vote by the culinary union. there are some signs that this formula is weakening under the stress of inflation and economic uncertainty the. it could be catastrophic for democrats in states where they rely on voters of color. anxious voters reflected this at recent events. one nevada and thank them for handling the pandemic but set afterwards that she was still undecided about supporting democrats up and down the ticket, working on the strip and in an interview she said the economy is holding her back, going on to say it's a big concern because the cost-of-living has gone way, way, way up. politico is where you can see that story. jim, michigan, hello. caller: good morning.

the question seems like a no-brainer. like a fifth rate aptitude 12 -- aptitude test question. growing up obviously was the democrats. i was told at a young age that if you want to live like a republican, you vote like a democrat. those were things that were said. but the parties have blurred together. almost to the point where as one of the callers previously said, it just doesn't matter. when they do that, people will look for a cult. they will look for an outside leader. we are destroying our country. to where the democracy part of it is being discarded. you have to vote. host: getting back between the question -- to the question, what do you mean by blurring? caller: we are not going to have

to worry about the dow jones where interest rates if we have a totalitarian government. host: you said both parties are blurring the issue. what do you mean on that? caller: on the side of caution, i would support the democrats and what they are putting forward. democrats are just muddying the waters, creating dissent and division. if that's what they are stoking, i haven't heard any plans they have to do anything host:. -- to do anything. host: grass valley, california. good morning. caller: what crossed my mind is governor newsom in california

started, i don't know the details, but he has sent homeless people back to their families and friends inspired a woman or teenager or female. i think that's good. you know, so that's something governor newsom has done. the party here in california is making strides, trying to gain positions to make life more affordable for people. the city i live in, grass valley , here at night when i walk, presumably a number of people, they knew there was a fellow on the sidewalk outside of. you know, this is the day many

people have recyclables picked up. this man was in front of a motel going through the trash and he had a basket. it's something i have heard for years, i have heard reports about homeless people. this is at an elevation below 5000 feet. so the snow level is around 3000 feet. we get homeless people in from sacramento and other aces that no, makes it illegal for them to sleep in parks. host: as far as the party that does better on these things, how would you characterize that? caller: this is a democratic city for how many years now? it's been fairly liberal. people have been good in terms of what i characterize as liberal services, holistic health care, there has been sliding scales. a lot of the money that comes in through the health care system is because of the people with

medical issues. not just the people with social assistance. i'm inclined to think that people are good at getting money in this city and county to help people. but our economy is not agriculturally based like it was in terms of timber and gold-mining. people don't want it in their yard. it's down the street. i don't know how many ounces of guilt -- goldmine yielded. -- gold might be yielded. host: we got the point. indianapolis is next up. caller: i would say the democratic party is the party of the people and -- and let me explain to you five. they are the party of the people, giving them a helping hand and sending them on their way. prime example, millions of

people out there waiting on belief for their college or university tuition that they owe . as soon as the democratic party helped them out of that situation, now consider themselves as being middle class or upper middle class. once they become that become republicans because they look at themselves as capitalists and they do not want anything to pull them back down and give to the people they left. forgetting that they was helped by the democratic party. host: ok, so ultimately then with policies like student loans, is that a good thing ultimately, if you think that works out? caller: it's a good thing, it really is a good thing. but capitalists run on greed. it we are a capitalist society. once these people get to that

level in their life where they don't want to get back, they look at themselves as looking at those they left behind like the situation of apartheid in south africa. host: let's go to christine in michigan. hello. caller: yeah, hello. definitely the democratic party. living in michigan under barack obama, the auto industry was saved and if it wouldn't have been saved by the democrats, god only knows what would happen to the state. i mean i just wish people in this country, mainly republicans , would look at the whole world. look at the united kingdom. look at europe. everyone is suffering. everyone has high gas prices.

everyone has high food prices. it is global and it is not caused by the democrats. the democrats have the ideas. the first thing the republicans are going to do is impeach our president, biden. for what? it doesn't make any sense. so it's definitely the democratic party. host: the issue of inflation and income taxes was a topic last night at the debate between mcmaster and his challenger, cunningham. he had called for the elimination of the state income tax, asking for south carolina to make up for that lost revenue and here's a bit of how that laid out. [video clip] >> we propose new streams of revenue.

legalizing marijuana. legalizing sports betting. we also have to eliminate these corporate handouts that governor mcmaster has given to campaign donors. like david kemper up in rock hill, where we spent $35 million of taxpayer money. on an interstate exchange to know where. he has had so many bad deals like that go south in we have had industries and companies polluting our waters and picking our pockets. we need a new vision for south carolina. we can eliminate state income tax and make money by seeing impressive -- unprecedented growth like they have another's. like texas and florida. >> if we wanted unprecedented growth, you ruin an economy with vaccine mandates and if you need proof of that, look around at

other states around the country. it's what they did. that's what north carolina did, what virginia did. these are democrats. as far as tech, i remind you again this is the first time the state income tax has ever been cut in the history of south carolina. went to net 5%, raised to 7% in 59, been there ever since. the district wants to reduce it more? that's a good start. the economy will boom. there you go again, joe. we didn't lose money. we built the interchange ahead of schedule everywhere we can. ahead of schedule on 85, 95, and 26. you heard christie hall say we put $2 billion into those roads and we are doing it ahead of schedule, six years ahead of schedule. didn't get a penny from the

taxpayers. tax credits paid back? he didn't do what he said he was going to do. we are booming with a consistent hand on the throttle and a great team working together to see the people of our state get good paying jobs. that is how you prosper. >> $35 million was pissed away on an exchange to nowhere where all it did was enhance the pockets of one of mcmaster's donors. will you give back the money that you took from david tempora for that tax break? will you give that money back? the interstate exchange system enhanced the value of his property and taxpayers are on the hook for now, folks. that's the difference. we need a strong governor that will stand up to anybody and everybody as long as it means standing up for south carolina. we shouldn't have to bribe businesses to come here.

best people in the world, best state in the country. i don't believe that we should be giving corporate handouts to billionaires. they should want to come here of their own volition. if we had great schools and great roads, which by the way, we are dead last, businesses would want to move here, existing businesses would want to expand. host: that's the debate on income taxes yesterday out of south carolina. part about coverage of campaign 2022. you can see other debates tonight on our network. we will have live coverage of the senate debate between tammy duckworth and kathy shall be. it begins at 8:00 and you can see that on c-span, c-span now, our app, and the website. 9:00, we take you to alaska. hosted by alaska public media at

9:00 tonight. new hampshire, 10:00, maggie hassan debates the republicans on the senate race there. hosted by new hampshire pbs. again you can watch that on our main network, c-span. if you have the app you can watch it there or watch along at c-span.org. bradley is next in michigan on this idea, or at least this topic of which party is better for the working people. go ahead. caller: i'm 71 years old and democrats have always been for the working people, supporting minimum wage, health care, social security. republicans want to pull back on all those issues. the middle class really is no more and we have the comfortably rich and the working poor who serve them. they are never focused on and that's why they don't intend to vote.

-- don't tend to vote. the republican party really shuns these people, calling them lazy and non-contributing and it's pretty clear to me how democrats favor the working people. host: raymond, dallas. caller: democrats without a doubt. without them, social security and medicare, social security, disability and medicaid, the republicans would cut it so quick. at the beginning when the epidemic hit, they said it was a hoax. it took too long. everything broke down. the economy shut down under donald trump. the supply chain with the ships stayed out in the thing without getting loaded for 20 miles or more. nobody was. the food chain. all of that's happened under donald trump. that is how. and he's the one that told all

people to slow down on the oil. that's because nobody was moving but it shut down under him. he started that. he did the mess. but had to come into something with the mess. thank you, c-span. host: greg, ohio, your next up. caller: yes, great conversations. it's curious, $4 trillion coming in this year, spending $7 trillion, who get in trouble doing that? republican party doing a better job on defending that the thing is who can stand up of the world into a better job? with oil independence, we see how much it hurts when you don't do the right thing, otherwise sending money to countries that want to build a bomb. it really hurts us. spend a dollar and knock off a

dollar the way they used to do, now it's they don't want a budget at all in the first thing that we do before we look to cut money, we went to the taxpayer to load them up again. $4 trillion. something in their has a cut that isn't really needed. host: we have had a couple of people when talking about the republican perspective saying the republicans had no ideas when it came to working families in the working class. what do you think of that idea? caller: i think that when they do drilling and oil in that, they reduce the prices so the family in the winter in new england isn't going to have bills going from $1000 to $4000 a year, which is very hard. the money has to come from somewhere else. the government could do the same thing to find out what it's really not needed. when they put something in that's needed for 20% they make

a christmas tree out of it and make a lot of other things hanging on the christmas tree. if you need fire trucks, we won't give it to you until you add up all the other junk. that's how we get the problem. host: this is harold calling from washington state. caller: it's one of the greatest states in the country, a blue state. i'm sorry that these people that live in the red state don't know what blue states live like. i'm on social security and i'm surviving because of the government helping me out. $1000 a month doesn't buy even an apartment or a hotel or anything anywhere. ok? yet in washington state i can survive.

because washington state helps the people. these people in red states, i lived in missouri and basically i made $2.50 an hour. here in washington you can make $15 an hour for the same job. only because the people basically act stopping people from wanting to pay these, these companies wanting to pay basically the taxes put on them. they are basically eliminating, making it harder for everybody because they are trying to make it hard so people are depressed instead of looking at positive things, like we do in washington . what it amounts to is these people need to get off of their asses and get out of the red states and into blue states and have a good life. host: let's go to jean in detroit, michigan. caller: i think the democrats do

a better job and i would like to tell you why. i remember being in gas lines in the 70's. i remember i worked for an automobile company. i know that the unions at that time, they are the ones that built the middle class. food, better wages, retirement, better working conditions, pensions. and then ronald reagan came along and fire the air traffic controllers. that was the beginning of the decline of the unions. one of the biggest things they did other george herbert walker bush, they came up with nafta and when they passed it, i had jobs in the mills in georgia. the mill closed in those jobs moved to china. the republicans have done more to hurt the working class. and then you know, clinton signed that bill into law but it

was a republican idea. and then came phil gramm. 98, i believe, pushing for the repeal of glass-steagall, separating the banking industry from the investments. that led to all of those crazy mortgages and the biggest financial decline since the great depression of the 30's. 2008, when our financial system collapsed. now they are talking like if they get into power they want to sunset social security and medicare and have it be on a renewal basis every five years. host: it's a proposal by a couple of senators, i don't know if it's a widespread republican policy, it's a proposal. caller: but they have been after social security for years. right before the financial collapse, bush wanted to privatize social security.

if that had happened and then the financial lapse came along, it would have wiped us out. all of the americans on social security should not vote for the republicans. they have been after that for years since it was passed. host: you brought up president clinton, shouldn't he take responsibility for nafta? caller: i was very angry with him. i remember clinton, hillary clinton at the time said something like she didn't agree with nafta. host: ok that was jean talking about which party does best on matters of economics. here's a bit more from biden yesterday talking about other factors when it comes to the economy and what most people look at. here's the president from yesterday. [video clip] >> you heard me talk about this

before, the people talking about it around their kitchen tables. how much is the monthly bill, what's left for necessities, is there enough left over for breathing room? we are bringing down the costs for families and by the way, the price of gasoline continues to fall. down for a third week in the row. gas prices in the decade before the pandemic averaged $3.30, before i got here. during pandemic when no one was driving, prices went down. even with the historic were covering we are seeing in the economy, 10 million new jobs, gas prices are continuing to go down. because they are going down we are making serious dog rest in getting them to what they were before pandemic. the most common price right now is $3.39 a gallon in america. it's going to come down more in even further when the gas and oil companies agreed to my

demand to pass on the savings on a price of a barrel of oil, considerably down to the pump, where in fact you get charged by the gallon. host: it's from "the wall street journal," taking a look at why democrats are losing, saying that if democrats lose the senate they will regret in particular that they nominated candidates like barnes and federman. federman tries to come across as the king man's family but his history against fracking pits him against the blue-collar workers and puts him off climate elites and is a killer when energy prices are soaring. sarah in coal city, indiana. caller: morning. we were doing well under donald trump. gas were down.

we were doing very well under him. now the democrats took over. our 401(k) went to heck. the food prices and everything, i don't know how people are going to do it. the people, the democrats had better wake up. look at biden, he's senile. federman, i can't begin to tell you about him. host: what republican policies have been introduced that you think will help the average american? caller: first of all i have 14 grandkids and the way that democrats are pushing stuff in school, i don't want my grandkids being taught that. just everything they've done. i can't believe how the democrats are doing. i just really can't. i don't know. host: finish that thought? caller: i tell you what, my

mother was a democrat. she's dead now but if she woke up to see what the democratic people had done, you people, the democratic party isn't the same party it used to be. you guys have better wake up. host: that was sarah indiana. this is charles, maryland. caller: i'm an immigrant who came to this country about 30 years ago. hello? host: go ahead. caller: i came here 30 years ago. i watch c-span a lot. i formed an impression and realized that the democratic party is just a party of emotions. you know? i think the republican party is the party of economics. you cannot run the country based on handouts and emotions, you know?

trump was a candidate for the working people. the democrats are actually looking just at people. who just want to sit and don't do anything to prosper the economy. host: when it comes to that point, what do you think republicans do? what proposals do you -- do they have to prosper the economy as you put it? caller: not for me, they urge people to go to work. when you go to work, you know, you generate income and you be able to pay taxes. you know, that made the country grow. host: donna is next in south carolina. hello. caller: good morning, c-span. thank you for taking my call. my opinion is the democrats seem to do more for people, for the working people. i'm not even sure we have a

middle-class any longer. my husband and i for the last 15 years, we considered ourselves middle class individuals. we were not living like kings or queens but we were doing a whole lot better than we tend to be doing in this environment. my concern for the republican party being in control is that for the last 45 years they have said to us that they would not touch roe v. wade. i am not necessarily a pro-choice or pro-life person, either way. when you tell someone that you won't do something in you turn around and do the exact opposite of what you have said, that does not bode well to have people who are willing to believe and have faith in you. the republicans are telling us

now that they are interested in looking at social security and medicare. they have been saying for years that they will not touch it. well, now they are talking about it so just like roe v. wade, i am inclined to believe they will go in touch it and for that reason, i can no longer support republicans. host: that was the last call on topics of economy and the working class. two guests are joining us through the course of the morning. first up we will hear from freedom works stephen moore. he will talk about the handling of the current economy by the biden administration what he expects from the midterms in 12 days. and to that topic, when it comes to election security we will be joined by brennan center for justice wendy weiser, those

conversations are coming up next on washington journal. >> election day november 8 starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern. watch c-span's live coverage to see which party will control congress. see victory and concession speeches from the candidates. on c-span, the c-span now mobile app and it c-span.org/campaign 2022. if you are enjoying book tv sign-up for our newsletter using the qr code on the screen. to receive the schedule of programs, book festivals and more. but tv every sunday on c-span2 or any time at book tv.org. television for serious readers.

do all americans have a fundamental right to privacy? sunday on q&a. the look at the struggles between an interval -- individuals right to privacy. her book looks at several cases involving this topic including hulk hogan's lawsuit against daca. >> he argued that his level of privacy would trump the right of gawker to publish that truth. in hopes the jury agreed with him and a lot of people were shocked at that because we understand so much about the freedom of the press and truth and how it will protect us and

this was an instance of someone's privacy becoming more important. the jury decided the right to privacy was more important than the public's right to know. you can listen to all of our podcasts are new c-span app. "washington journal," continues. host: our first guest this morning is stephen moore. he served in the trump administration during the 2016 campaign. thank you for coming back on the program. guest: pedro, thanks are having me. i love what you do there. we ask people in the last hour about the various parties of what they do for working americans and time and time

again their comment is that the rubble can -- republican party has no idea how to help the working people. guest: i am proud of working for the trump administration. i know a lot of people are sitting and watching the show don't necessarily like donald trump or some of the things that he does or the way he behaves. i respect that. what i tell people, you have to disconnect trump from his policies. his policies were extraordinarily successful of putting america first. we did the deregulation to make the economy grow faster. we did a tax cut that brought trillions of dollars of capital back to the united states so it could be invested in jobs here rather than invested in europe,

china or mexico. we secured the border. something that is critically important to americans, especially in those western states. making sure we had a border that was secure and regulated. i am very pro-immigration, i think we need more immigrants. i think they are incredible assets to our country. we need a border so that people who are criminals, drug smugglers and terrorists don't come into the country. under a trump policies we had an incredible economy. we had a low inflation rate, the lowest unemployment rate. we have the lowest poverty rate not just for white americans but also for hispanics and blacks. those policy -- policies really worked well and then we got hit by covid. just to give you a sense of what

is happened in the past 20 months. when trump left office our inflation rate was 1.5%-2%. now we have a percent-9% in the last nine months. the gas price was $2.49 when trump left and now it is four dollars a gallon. interest rates, i just looked up these numbers, it was 2.85% for a 30 year mortgage. now the mortgage rate for anyone who wants to buy a home is up to 7%. i think we did a really great job and now i think we have a president who has wrecked our economy. there will be a move for a change in the november elections. host: president biden spoke to democrats and telling what he thought would happen if

republicans took power in the house. i will play you what he had to say about that. [video clip] they will increase every day cause. making sure that corporations corpo -- pay their fair share. the republicans will have corporations pay 0% in taxes. that's after making $40 billion leaving the burden into working folks to pay more than their fair share to keep things going. we, the democrats, are the ones who are fiscally responsible. we are investing in all of america. reducing everyday costs while lowering the deficit. republicans are fiscally reckless, pushing tax cuts for the wealthy that are not paid for and exploiting the deficit.

democrats will protect social security and medicare. republicans have stated boldly that they want to cut social security and medicare. to the point that they will shut down the government if we do not cut social security and medicare. i am not going to do it. host: that was from earlier this week. he made a lot of points there, what you think of that perspective? guest: first of all, let's address the issue of what has happened with our debt. most americans would agree who watched what's happened just horrified by the 4.1 trillion that joe biden has spent since he has come into office. every penny of that has been

borrowed. i look at the congressional budget office, what i found was that when trump left office, and just 20 months we have spent about one trillion more than the cbo would. they said over the next 10 years, a lot of these programs are ticking time bombs. we are now 5 trillion over what we were supposed to spend. that is more money than what we paid for world war ii. it is very important, the single most important thing i hope people come away with from this discussion, the reason we have

this massive inflation that we have not seen a 40 years that is causing incredible hardship for low income and working-class americans. you are $4000 poorer today than trump. the reason for that is because we have massively spent money, multi trillion dollars. we have borrowed for every penny of that spending. and the fed has had to accommodate it. we have this inflation crisis which looks like it is getting worse rather than better. host: if you take power in the house, do you know of anything specific that republicans are proposing in matters of economics? guest: that's a good question. i remember when i worked with

newt gingrich and deck army in 1993-1994 and they have a contract with america and that was very specific about things that were going to happen. a lot of those things happened within the first 100 hours. major changes were made and they were very specific by making congress play by the same rules as all americans do in getting control of the deficit. the commitment is more general goals the republicans have set out. i will tell you a couple of things that are going to be very high on the priority list. one is to rescind the funding for this absurd idea of hiring 87,000 new irs agents. we are talking about 40 billion to double the number of irs agents to harass americans.

i have been speaking about this for decades. why don't we have a simple tax code that people can understand where you don't need armies of auditors and accountants and lawyers trying to figure out how much people owe. i went through a bruising audit, the irs said i owed 75,000 my wife and i said we think we overpaid the money in the fight went on for five years and cost me thousands and thousands of dollars to fight the irs. if you are ever in a dispute with the irs it's like having your wisdom teeth pulled. at the end of the day, we won our dispute but we were guilty until we were proven innocent. i am saying that as an example of how intimidating the irs can be and how unfair that processes. we don't need 75,000 irs agents.

host: let's take some calls. (202) 748-8001 four republicans, (202) 748-8000 for democrats and (202) 748-8002 independents. you can text us at (202) 748-8003. we start with alexander on the democrats line. caller: you are literally just asked what will republicans do and the only thing you said is fear about the irs and 75,000 agents. since truman, no republican president has grown the gdp more than democrats. you want to play amnesia as if somehow trump did a great deal

for this country. if you go back to 2000, look at the disaster that bush did. two wars, trillions of dollars. obama had to come back and pull that together. finan is trying to do everything he can to stabilize the economy because trump made such a big mess. with data, can you tell us exactly what republicans are going to do if they take control of the house to make the economy better? there is no agenda to make things better. guest: i do think president trump has one of the greatest records ever on the economy. i remember before covid hit, i had a premonition that something would happen because the economy was so good. 70% of americans rated the

economy at 70%-80% gray. we got hit with covid and that was something we had not seen in 100 years. i think trump made some mistakes but on balance, it was a response that helped us get through this. let's put it like this, in my lifetime we have had three wound periods. one in the 1980's when ronald reagan really rescued the economy from a miserable years of the 70's. ronald reagan really did resurrect our economy. i will give credit to a democratic president. when we had bill clinton in office and a republican congress or six years. we had one of the greatest economies of all time and that

is because bill clinton moved to the middle. he was a new democrat that believed in things like welfare reform in a balanced budget. we had a great economy. and then trump, is economic record was sterling. the lowest unemployment rate, lowest inflation rate, lowest property rate. the highest number of americans that ranked the economy good and now it is in the dumps. i would simply say, if you're going to vote with the democrats . everyone will vote how they want to vote but you are telling these people, the people who voted for pelosi and chuck schumer, keep doing what you are doing. i think that is a real danger. i think we do need change. the economy has tended to do best, i looked over the past 60

years, the economy does best when there is divided power in washington. not when republicans control everything or democrats control everything but when you have division of power and that is what we will see after these midterm elections. host: but the manhattan institute looking at trump and how much debt he added to the economy. how do you account for that? guest: how much trump did? host: the debt raised under trump due to his policies. guest: biden has borrowed more than all other presidents combined. we were on a really good path in terms of the economy booming, the debt coming down, deficits coming down before 2020. and then, we got hit by covid. i do think republicans in

congress spent way too much money on covid. the greatest mistake in the history of the united states, or at least the past 100 years of shutting down the american economy, shutting down our schools, businesses and restaurants which crashed our economy. we should have never done that. the lockdowns did not work and that has become a big issue and a lot of these governors races. these states that shut down their economy, they really suffered, their kids suffered. i am not going to sit here and justify all of that spending we did under covid. i think if we had kept the economy open we would not of had to have that amount of debt and the economy would've been stronger and everyone knows what we did to our children was almost criminal.

it was the greatest incident of national child abuse. host: here is joe from ohio on the republican line. caller: good morning from dayton, ohio. i just want to say i love you. you state the facts and that is what scares them. please bring back donald trump. bring back republican values. i was better to years ago under donald trump that i am hunter biden. joe biden never created 10 million new jobs. and of course the media and nancy pelosi push that.

those are people going back to work post-covid. brink oil back, you won't see inflation come back. that democratic collar from pennsylvania on c-span and he said for $1100 for heating oil. [indiscernible] host: your connection is a little spotty but i think you got your point across. guest: i heard most of it but i miss some of it because of the connection. i am so glad he brought up the energy situation because this is the thing that is unconscionable what we've done with energy policy under joe biden.

i forgot to mention, one of our great achievements that trump should be proud of, and this was an issue that i did work with trump on. i met with him many times in the oval office. from the very start of meeting donald trump when he first started running for president. we talked a lot about how we could make america energy independent. when trump talked about that, people laughed at him. they said that is never going to happen, we will always be dependent on opec and russia in the middle east for our oil. we did become energy independent. we had an all in energy policy. so that we don't have to be dependent on these other countries. it is heartbreaking to me that

we went from the last month of donald trump in office, we were not only exporting gas we were selling it. by then killed the pipeline, declared war on american oil and gas and cast. he shut down a lot of the parenting -- permits so you can produce as much oil. so when you look at the high gas prices, a president has to lay himself in front of the saudi's to increase their oil production when we could be doing that in texas and oklahoma. i don't understand this energy policy. it has nothing to do with climate change because we are still using gasoline. somebody has to explain that one to me. it makes absolutely no sense and

i think it is criminal what it has done to the u.s. economy and made us dependent on countries that hate us. host: this is jason from alabama on the independent line. caller: hey, good morning. i think stephenremember that trn economy that had been growing for seven years. when you talk about all he steps lighting or campaigning for another role in trump's campaign in 2024. we are all old enough to did, he piggybacked off of what obama did not to mention the first thing he and the republicans did when they got an office was passed to trillions words of tax cuts for corporations and we got no return and economic growth. when obama was in office, the metric was gdp growth. obama never got over 3%, trump

never got over 3%. now everything is biden's fault. what he forgot to mention, what did we have to do? we had to recover from covid. not everything we saw began january 1, it started because we were in a pandemic. let's not pretend we are also stupid we don't remember what happened. it is a global thing. biden cut down keystone? it is years from being finished. if it was so wonderful why didn't trump phoenicia? that will not increase our oil production or any of that. we have been importing oil from

canada every day. host: thank you so much for that. mr. moran? guest: the economy under obama was not that good. i looked at the whole eight year. . did he do good things for our economy? yes he did. only one in three americans rated the economy as good or great. trump comes in and two out of three people rated the economy great. we created a prosperity. it was such a shame that we got hit with covid. i happen to believe if joe biden had been president during covid,

he would have done exactly what the democratic governors did like witmer and michigan and like cuomo and new york. in other words, what would've happened if joe biden had been president in 2020, he would've shut down the entire american economy. what tribe did, he said we will let the states decide if they want to stay open or closed. on balance, the red states opened up their economy and the states like new york and new jersey and connecticut in california tragically shut down their economy for almost two years. what happened? the red states basically carried the economy on their shoulders. joe biden came in and spent $2 trillion, he had that massive green energy bill.

that cost massive amounts of spending. as i said earlier, i think trump did too much spending. we are at the cusp of a world financial crisis because of the massive amounts of money not just the united states but germany, europe, all of these countries have spent and borrowed $20 trillion since covid. if there is you come away from with this discussion i want people to understand this. the new virus that is destroying the world economy from britain, europe, and asia. it is unprecedented amounts of government spending and debt. we need to get this under control or we will see a world

economic crisis. host: you have heard from several senators about the potential of putting up social security first sunset votes? host: the idea that putting up social security and medicare up for vote every five years, what you think of that proposal? guest: every program in the budget we should progress every five years. we have programs that we continue to spin money on that are 100 years old. all of these things go on. i think the most important thing when republicans take control of the house and we will see what happens.

you have to investigate what happened with all of this massive spending over the past three years? it was 150 billion of money ripped off and stolen from the unemployment benefit program. 150 billion dollars, that's unbelievable. and congress has done nothing about it. the republicans said, let's figure out where this money went and lets put these people in jail for stealing from medicare, medicaid, the food stamp program. massive amounts of fraud, hundreds of billions of dollars. we don't need to be raising taxes. we don't need to be cutting programs. let's get the money back that people stole from the american

people. a lot of these people, they don't even live in the united states. they are fraudsters in china, russia. nobody does anything about it. host: host: stephen moore is joining us. from minnesota, on the democrats line we will hear from sharon on the democrats line. caller: good morning pedro, thank you for taking my call. i hope you are that upset that kushner took in money off of that deal as well. i am a poor person. i am legally blind, almost completely blind. back in 2015i was making 1006 dollars a month. when trump took office, i took a big boost.

i went to $1011 a month. that is where i stayed the whole time trump was in office. just this year, i took a nice little bump thanks to joe biden or whoever, i am now making 1095 a month. again, that is well under poverty. i hope you all believe that. what i see from the republicans is that they are not helping me. they never have. they are only helping the rich, that is it. for you to sit there and say to say they have no intentions of touching my disability and social security, you are crazy. i hear republican senators talking about it every day how that is one of the first things that they will definitely change. what am i to do? this is the only income that i have.

i guess i am hoping that we can go to the right to die in this country because i won't be able to survive even this winter. i am looking at whether i can heat my home or put food in my mouth. i make less than $2000 a month. i know that you are an economist and i want you to please explain to the american people because i'm tired of the talking points. the oil prices and inflation is not just an american issue. this is a global issue. every single person in this world almost is feeling this pinch. so quit saying it is biden's fault. it is not. this is a global issue. host: thank you for the perspective. we will let our guests respond to that. guest: must respond to that last point because i think it is an important point in this is

something that joe biden has been saying. we have a global problem with inflation. i want to remind people, we did not have an inflation problem under trump. his average inflation rate was 2% and the month he left office it was 1.5%. someone has to explain how we went from 1.5 percent under trump in 20 months later we have a .5%. it seems impossible you can screw things up so quickly. what biden is saying that this is a global problem. i've two responses to that. number one, japan doesn't have an inflation problem. there are eight industrial countries that have lower inflation rates than the united states. why did other places go up while japan did not?

number two, it is important to realize, the united states, this great country we love so much. this is the greatest country on earth. we are at the top of the world economy. every other country as a spoke. many countries have tagged their currency to the dollar. for 40 years under reagan, bush and clinton and then bush and td trump. we did not have an inflation problem. inflation went away under ronald reagan. when we went to 1.5% inflation to a percent. we exported that inflation everywhere in the world because all these other countries are pegged to the dollar because it had been good as gold for 40 years and now it is a spiral of inflation. i think it is tragic to 1.5% inn

to what has happened to the inflation rate. you getting a payment increase, people can't live on that. the price of everything you have to buy, gasoline, groceries, you mentioned electric and utility costs that could double this year. this is a huge tragedy, not for rich people, the people who are getting hammered by these inflation rates, essentials are up by 20%. the person harmed the most are the lowest income americans. rich people don't care about inflation, it's the people in the middle and bottom. host: in the third quarter of this year, the economy rose two

point 6%. guest: this is the first i've heard of that. i think we all thought it would be around 2.5% growth for the third quarter. that is a relief. in the first two quarters of this year we had negative growth in the economy. we are starting to see a little bit of growth in the economy so that it's a good thing. i am happy to hear about that. i keep saying, the job market is still good. there is no question about that, there are jobs out there. the crisis in the economy right now, it is a cost-of-living recession. americans are getting destroyed by this inflation. by a new car, used car, an airline ticket, ground beef or estate. all of those things are up so

much. that is what we have to get under control and the way you get that under control, the way you get inflation under control is cut this massive, excessive spending and debt that is pouring dollars into the economy. host: hearing that figure, do you think recession is still possible or does that figure change your mind? guest: good question. i hope and pray we do not have a recession. that would do so much damage to the finances of americans. who have really faced a tough two years. pedro, i listen to some of the worlds businessmen who are saying we are facing a tough 2023 and here's the problem. the fed, they have to try and

stop that inflation by raising interest rates. when you raise interest rates, that slows down the economy. we are in the middle of a rock and a hard place. my advice to politicians is, don't raise the interest rates. cut the government spending that is out of control and let's get this debt and deficit down so we don't have to have prices raising by 8%, 9%. host: this is gloria from taxes on the republican line. caller: i disagree with mr. moore. i am angry with the republicans and democrats. i am extremely angry that biden is sending all this money to the war with russia and ukraine. i don't believe that's our problem.

when you talk about the great economy under trump, i don't believe that. he messed up with covid in which you have prepared to have had the schools shut down or have them open and people dying? people are still dying in texas from covid. nobody seems to care about that. now the hospitals are filled with little kids having respiratory infections. i am very angry that you keep insisting that under trump it was a great economy. he inherited a great economy from obama. it took eight years to get it under control. i totally disagree with you. i don't know what in the world i am going to do. my rent is going up and my social security is not keeping

up with inflation. every time i go to the store, i have to really decide do i need this or do i not need it? i have a lot of health issues. i believe in term limits but congress is never going to vote in term limits. guest: i think you are hearing a theme, people are angry. we are all angry about the way things are going in this country right now. this is the united states of america. we should not be begging other countries to produce energy for us. we should not be fighting inflation rates. fuel prices look like they are going through the week -- roof.

i don't want to be partisan about who is responsible, let's get the economy under control. i do think we had a real good economy, the lowest unemployment rate ever. i want to see us get back on track and this is really causing problems who cannot pay their bills. look at credit card bills and credit card debt. middle-class americans can't afford to pay their bills because everything is so expensive so they have to rack up higher personal debt on top of government debt. we need a change in direction. host: this is steve in ohio on the democrat sign. caller: i will tell you what

attracted. first of all, when covid came he said there was nothing to worry about. the world health organization has things under control. nothing to worry about here. he killed 500,000 people in the united states. citizens of this country because according to dr. birx and other researchers had trump done the right thing, he could have saved 500,000 people. what you have to say about that? guest: i am not an expert on covid. i'm not a medical authority but i will say this.

did trump make mistakes at the beginning of covid? we did not know we were dealing with. this was something we have not seen in 100 years. i visited trump many times during that. and trying to figure out what we were handling here. number one, let's not forget it was trump speed, the vaccine manufacturing program that created the first vaccine that saved hundreds of thousands of lives in the united states and millions of lives throughout the world. that was the first vaccine that works. number two, a lot of people don't understand, the evidence is concrete and clear that locking down the economy, shutting down businesses and

restaurants, telling people to stay home, shutting down our churches and our schools which is something that trump was against, it turns out that was a catastrophic decision. the evidence is clear that lockdowns did not work. they did not save lives. what they did do was run the economy. destroy people's businesses. massively increase the debt. i am hoping we don't do that again and it is a relevant issue to today because these democratic governors, they are being held accountable. in michigan, it was witmer who shut down the economy. in new york, it was cuomo who shut down the economy. florida did not shut down, texas did not shut down, tennessee did not shut down and they had the same death rates from covid as

he states it did. let's get the facts rate about what happened so we don't make these mistakes again. host: we will get in one more call, tom and denver on the republican line. caller: good morning. host: you are on go ahead. caller: drunk did not really do anything but take all of the money in the economy and run it into the ground. everything was running on high but he needed to cut the tax rate so our interest rates were already going up. basically, i had asked you a question just before the tax

vote was coming out and you said , i asked you specifically with the corporations paid 20% without fail with all of these tax breaks. you did not answer. you went into some reagan rant. what we found out is that all of the loop pills -- loopholes you left in, you said you helped write that bill. the tax breaks turned out to be nothing. they are paying zero. host: ok, we will leave it there. guest: i did help craft the trump tax plan. we created so many jobs. the most important thing so people understand, the reason we cut the corporate tax rate is

because we had the highest corporate tax rate in the world. american businesses were leaving the united states and they were going to mexico. they were putting the jobs in china. they were putting the jobs in japan, ireland. our strategy, which worked, let's lower our tax rate so that just like florida and texas have the lowest tax rates, they have the most jobs. let's encourage these businesses and american companies to bring jobs back to the united states and that is exactly what happened. we brought one trillion back into the united states. a lot of that was used to create new businesses, new factories in the united states. we had businesses moving from mexico back to the u.s. rather

than the u.s. to mexico. that is the reason we had a low poverty rate, a low unemployment rate. there were a lot of things trump did but i do think the truck tax cuts, eat you just reported yesterday the new revenue numbers. we don't have a revenue problem. tax collections are strong as they have ever been. we have massive amounts of tax revenues. the problem is, we are spending millions of dollars more. we don't have a tax revenue problem, we have a problem of too much spending and let's get that under control. let's get rid of the waste and fraud. that money being pickpocket it out of your dollars that have gone to people in other countries that are ripping us off. host: stephen moore at freedom

works. guest: you guys do such a good job and thanks for bringing a balanced discussion to all policy issues. no one does it as well as c-span. host: we appreciate the sentiment. we will talk about voting rights especially if laws could impact this year's midterms. wendy weiser from brennan center for justice will join us. but our next hour we will do an open forum discussion. and those numbers are (202) 748-8001, for republicans (202) 748-8000 for democrats, (202) 748-8002 for independents. >> live sunday, november 6.

the ceo of the lbj foundation will talk about presidential history. his brooks include the last republican, jfk and the presidency. join in the conversation with your phone calls, texts and tweets. that's on in-depth on book tv on c-span2. american history tv, saturdays on c-span2 exploring the people and events that tell the american story. house speaker pelosi along with the delegation reveal a statue of harry truman. and to mark a return of pows

back from vietnam. they talk about the national league of p.o.w. families to bring them home. watch american history tv saturdays on c-span2 and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online any time at c-span.org/history. this election day, november 8. the control of power in congress is at stake. will republicans retake the house? from now until election night, follow the c-span coverage and key house and senate races with their coverage of debates, rallies and events. events as they happen on tv and the c-span app. find our collection page at c-span.org/campaign 2022. "washington journal,"

continues. host: you can text us during this open forum at (202) 748-8003. as part of our campaign coverage we have been taking in debates from all across the united states. later on you can see the debates out of the alaskan house rate. it features the democratic candidate and she asked questions to the republican challenger and former governor sarah palin. they had an exchange about bipartisanship. [video clip] >> our history surprises a lot of people. we worked very well together in juneau for two years and you work very well and a bipartisan way with a focus on the house side. those are two of the best years that i had in my 10 years because of the good working relationship i had with you. how can you translate that and

working with this administration democrats in congress? >> even in this race, people hold our friendship against us. they act as if we are not dedicated to our platforms because our platforms are quite opposite of one another. i have great respect for mary. hopefully, my track record proves i am able to play as a team e. i know what it takes to win. in this day and age of so much division. the politics of personal destruction and lies and campaigns. it is nice to stand next to someone who gets it. maybe it is that alaskan chick thing. even professionally, someone

like mary and i get along, let that be an example. >> i think it is important that as people who are running for an elected position we show young people and other alaskans in the nation how to be a candidate in a civil way without tearing people down personally or professionally. i think it is time we get past vilifying people in the other party. where are all americans, we are all in it together. we all have the same future together. host: that was coming out of alaska. you can see that in full on c-span. a host of other debates he can watch asell. 8:00 tonight we start off in illinois with the u.s. senate debate between tammy duckworth and republican challenger.

it is at 8:00 on c-span, c-span now and our website. you can watch the alaska house debate which you just saw a portion of. that will be at 9:00. at 10:00, new hampshire's u.s. senate race is hosted by new hampshire's pbs. you can see that on our main channel, c-span now or c-span.org. we will start off with david in virginia on this open farm. david, go ahead. caller: good morning c-span. thank you. this is to your previous guests mr. moore. he spoke just as i expected him to. i was just wondering, i was hoping to ask him, for folks to

look out it is on truth out.org. a website. trump in his final days in office rest to cancel oversight on the ppp loans. 95% of these are red flag loans were forgotten about because a lot of them do not go to the workers. they went to the business owners. and to enriching the richest americans. why did trump sneak that by folks and why are people not talking about it since his treasury guy, mr. mnuchin, they talked back and forth about how they would carefully watch the money going out.

they don't even want to pursue fraud investigations. host: let's hear from robert in greenville, north carolina. caller: as far as donald trump is concerned, when he first came in he promised he would build the wall of mexico would pay for it. that did not happen. he also said he would not have time to play golf and he would not draw a salary because he would be too busy working for his great country. we spent 145 million taking him to take golf. they overcharged secret service to stay at mar-a-lago, four times the amount they charge customers. half of his people were indicted for something. they were all grifters. half of them cannot even get a

security clearance. donald trump is a complete fraud. i can't believe -- there are two republican senator willing to speak up and the rest of the republicans all with their tail between their legs. they are watching our country go down the tubes with a bunch of grifters. host: let's go to steve on the republican line in wisconsin. caller: good morning pedro. a couple of quick comments. thank you c-span for having a more balanced set of talent coming on. stephen moore was nice to listen to. my message is for the independence who really wasn't an independent and other liberal democrats. let's follow the science of listen to the xers. talking about dr. fauci, climate

science, listen to the science. my message is, stephen moore you just had on as an expert in economics, economic theory and history. he was talking the pure truth about what was happening in economics and yet it seems to me that the liberal democrats and independents don't want to listen to him when all day long they talk about listen to the science, listen to the experts. and another world we would call them hypocrites. host: larry is up next from taxes on the democrat mine. caller: good morning pedro. i want to remind people the way trump mishandled the covid crisis is the reason we have inflation. they are very good with soundbites, this is bidens inflation just like they did

covid was china's virus. it is misleading and it's a lot of soundbites. people asked mr. moore direct questions. he danced around it and never answer that. they asked him about social security, which everyone pays into by the way. several percent of your salary goes into social security. that is entitlement, something we should have. they are not coming up with any solutions to what they would do. they keep blaming this and that. there is hypocrisy. it is crazy. as a child, my mother told me that if a person would lie about one thing, they would lie about any and, and republicans have told too many lies. trump is on the trail. he just left texas.

he is still trotting a line about a big steel. that the election was stolen from him. this inflation is caused by the country being shut down for 18 months. zero distribution, zero manufacturing. the manufacturing will get employees to work there. >> let's leave it there in texas. in other news, nbc is reporting that there is a block enforcement of the jra sex seeking phone records. it is a move by justice kagan who handles emergency applications that are originate in arizona. the supreme court as a whole decided how to proceed. the house committee has until friday to respond to the locked subpoena on wednesday. they declined to comment. they are looking at mark meadows, and it was shared earlier.

there is a pop up there, but the judge ordered that the white house chief of staff will testify before a special grand jury. they are investigating whether the president and his allies legally can sway the results in the election. the congressman is a key figure. they sat in on trump's phone calls and coordinated and communicated with outside influencers who were encouraging or discouraging campaign pressure. that is from ap. nbc is reporting that a new jersey senator on wednesday acknowledged the existence of an ongoing federal investigation against him, more than four years after a corruption case. and then does is under investigation by the u.s. attorney's office in manhattan. this was reported on wednesday. the government is investing this probe, but it involves different

people. prosecutors issued at least one. that is news you can factor in. this is an open forum. this is from bruce in dayton ohio. independent line. go ahead. caller: i'm calling because the rhetoric is being disguised in a format in the public sphere. in other words, the media perpetuates a narrative to avoid a solution. both sides sell hyperboles and lies about the other. and, the public is fooled into believing just before an election, which way to follow their gut instead of critically

thinking. this is called political malfeasance. without integrity to disguise the real issue which is we are in a mature economy, trying to grow in a finite system. host: that is bruce in ohio. this is sandy, republican. ohio. caller: hello. i am tired of hearing about trump who is out of office. biden is the very first day, he signed 50 executive orders. the first one, it was to stop

the pipeline, and it is not just the pipeline, it is drilling. it is fracking. you have to take out the leases for 10 years, and when they -- when biden said he was going to stop all drilling, people are not going to cost him a lot of money to drill, so they are not going to try and open up a lease area it is a lie. biden is the one who is in tried of this economy -- in charge of this economy. we paid two dollars of -- a gallon of gas under trump. trump is trying to lower it to fool people long enough to get the votes. but, he is the one who said it was ok for russia, a small incursion into ukraine was ok. so why did he do that? it is part of the global reset.

he wants our dollar to drop. they want to go to a digital dollar. by the way, obama was the one who did the most golfing of any president. not trump. host: that is sandy out of ohio. here is a story from georgia. a second woman has accused herschel walker, that heat pressured to get an abortion. the unnamed woman's allegation was revealed that a press conference yesterday. it was scheduled by an attorney. it came weeks after a different anonymous woman said that walker had paid or an abortion in 2009. he pressured her to get a second 12 years later. we will hear from that -- mac in california. , crestline. caller: i haven't talked you for a while, but i've listened all the time. i want to remind my fellow americans that, i am 70 years in

february, and in the 70's, when we had these gas troubles, when the oil embargo -- we had 100 cars per gas station in california, lined up, stations opened, and we had five gallons, maybe six. that was all we got. there are no gas lines in america today. i came back from kansas in northern michigan, up in dup, and down to wisconsin. to visit all of my family, no gas lines. their prices are not as high as california, but let me tell you why they are higher did i saw as a kid growing up, and as an adult, working out here that we have five refineries right in the bay area. during covid, no one was driving. everyone was working from home, and our economy had to shut down. like every other country, the

oil country -- company lost billions of dollars in profits because people were staying home and not stuck in traffic jams trying to get to work read they wanted money back. there is no gas line, there is no gas shortage in california. we had 40 million people here, and in the entire state, no one was waiting in line. it was a bruised reedit was a red herring. it was all bs. the companies want to make their money back. all of these giant corporations have run out all of the farmers. they are controlled by the prices. they don't want the democrats because electric is common and it is working. host: ronald in new hampshire, independent line. caller: thank you for taking my call. pandemic response is on the ballot. all of the lockdowns, the ruined economy, forced vaccination.

net -- masks on and off. americans didn't have to die. that is on the ballot. there are six senators who are responsible for the pandemic response. patty murray in washington, maggie new hampshire, rand paul in kentucky, licia -- lisa murkowski alaska, tim scott and south carolina, and jerry moran in kansas. those six senators are on the committee that have oversight over the cdc and other agencies who are responsible for the pandemic response. so if you live in any of those states, washington, new hampshire, kentucky, alaska, south carolina or kansas, holger senators accountable for what they've done to the country. >> several polls say the economy is top of the list for reasons that people will vote this november. how does that factor as far as the pandemic is concerned?

caller: what ruined our economy? people who are dead and can't work. people who are too sick to work and we have a worker shortage. they are six feet underground. that is why there aren't any workers. they are sick or dead it was the pandemic. it was the response to the pandemic caused all of those problems. host: robert next democrats line. hello. caller: these republicans, they want people to take the house, and i've used it on horses, and i don't care. democrat or republican, you need to vote democrat. republicans will take your demo -- your social security and medicare. host: why are you convinced of those things? he hung up.

let's hear from lisa in florida, independent. caller: hello. i can't help but laugh because the propaganda, the media for actuators this on the masses. it is certainly working. don't forget that it was clinton who cooperate with that was a democratic resident i was an independent, and i want to say that the two-party system is designed against one another. it is designed to have us be in separate tribes, and it is wrong. we need to have more parties, like a libertarian party. we did green party. they won't let anyone else on the platform. they don't want to allow other people, and we need people who are really willing to solve the problems of america, and i want to say that there are more registered independents than there are democrats or republicans. we need to have a formal

independent party, and we need to really start solving our problem is. i am a property manager. i work with people that literally live paycheck-to-paycheck. i will tell you, under the eight years of obama, people struggle and were unable to pay the rent. when trump came into office, people were able to pay the rent. quality of life and living wages went up. when biden came to office, the same problem. people can't pay their rent. they are struggling. i am a realist. that is the real world. wake up. host: the wall street journal reports out of saudi arabia that as the west looks to saudi arabia for higher oil production, the kingdom officials are sending a message. do more to solve your own energy problems on your own. " the chief executive of the saudi arabian oil company.

he criticize the execution of the evolving global plans of decarbonizing. it is too much on investment in renewables and not on transitioning from cold and cleaner fuel. it was a day earlier that the saudi energy minister took aim at the western governments that said it released crude oil to ease prices that shot above hundred dollars a barrel after russia invaded ukraine and has stayed high among the western governments that have released crude from storage in the united states. president biden ordered 100 80 million barrels released earlier this year. that was from the wall street journal. if you want to read there, we will hear from jim in kentucky, democrats. caller: i just want to ask, we were talking about the senate race and pennsylvania, how important it is read i was wondering when i could watch that again on c-span? and you help me out? host: are you connected to the

internet? are you connected to the internet? caller: i have a smartphone. i can do that. i've looked on the information that you have, and i cannot see it listed anywhere. i was asking. host: if you go to our website at c-span.org, you then pull it up on our phone. there is a search box at the top, and i'm doing it myself to see if i can make it work read if you type in the word federman or ahlers or something like that, you can look at other ones. the reason why you probably can't find it on the website is that we couldn't pull it in or take it in and we broadcast it. you can go to other places online. there is a television station out there, they aired the debate. if you go to their website or type it in, full debate, you can

find a link to that on your phone. caller: i enjoy your program. goodbye. host: sorry it took a while to get to you there. joanna, republican, fort lauderdale. caller: can you hear me? host: go ahead. caller: i am from plantation, florida, and i want to make a comment about the student loan crisis that is going on, that i am affected by. i have a student loan, and i just want to say, it is horrible , and bankruptcy rights were taken away, and we are trying to get the passage of two bills that we currently have in the house and the senate, and there is a fresh start to bankruptcy.

limited bankruptcy rights to those with federal student loans, and hr 9110, it would restore bankruptcy rights for all types of student loans. it is absolutely horrible that people cannot sleep at night like myself, even after earning a college degree in some cases and getting a masters degree. it is not my fault. i was never able to pay back my student loan. right now, for the last several years, to make it clear, i have been taking care of my 80-year-old mother who has blood cancer. he is currently in treatment. we deserve some relief.

host: that is joanna. if you go to the w pxi website, you can see a debate from john fetterman mm allies. that is a website you can find it. we will take a look at voting rights in the united states. joining us for that conversation is wendy weiser. we will talk about voting rights in recent years, and how we could impact the election cycle. that conversation is coming up.

>> washington journal continues to --. host: we are with the vice president for democracy advocacy center. thank you for giving us your time. guest: thank you for having me. host: can you talk about the center yourself, and how it deals with voting rights? guest: it is a nonpartisan not for profit think take that focuses on issues of democracy and dusters. and for many years, for several decades now, we have been studying voting laws, changing to the voting system, and

working to improve election administration and strengthening that across the country. host: as far as funding? are you supported by outside sources? how are you supported? guest: we are a not-for-profit organization that takes contributions from individuals read for pound nations and not the university. host: as far as a recent report of yours with election laws, the center put out a report. what drove that? guest: we have been tracking changes in voting laws for more than a decade. we have tracked and documented a huge spike in laws. they restrict access to voting across america. this is a fairly recent trend for just over a decade. there has not been any legislation like that for really over a century. we have seen it increasingly go

up in a real spike since the 2020 election. we are trying to raise public education about what is going on with country and put out accurate information so people can get involved in their voting system. host: the report i am quoting says that between january 1 and september 12, at least 20 states enacted laws restricting voting. of those, it was in effect for the midterm. there were 20 states. before that, what do you mean by restrictive? guest: we look at which laws will make it harder for eligible citizens to vote. to access ballots and register vote or cast their ballots have been encountered. we have been documenting laws that make it easier for people to vote. and also a new bleed -- breed of

legislation that we've only seen since the election. it targets the administration process, and it makes it easier for partisans to meddle in that process as well. host: can you give an example? guest: on the interference front, for the first time, we have seen legislation like in georgia that enables the legislature to remove local election administrators midway and replace them with their own selective leaders. we have seen laws that criminalize ordinary and necessary acts of administration which makes it easier for there to be intimidation of election officials or people who assist them. we've seen laws that remove critical checks on abuses at the polls by poll watchers and other of initials.

or intimidating workers. we are seeing a new breed that is not targeting voters in addition to the laws restricting access to voting. it is a real dramatic surge in legislation that is complicating, disrupt the process and making it harder for people to vote, and vote with confidence. host: the washington post did a story out of georgia saying that one million people have voted early in georgia. that is up from 2018. if that is the case, is it still restrictive as far as what has been passed, while wise? >> to be clear, it increases voter turnout, and it really is an encouraging and we hope to see -- we did see in 2020, a huge and historic surge in voter turnout where it was the highest voter turnout in over a century,

at the same time we saw what department of homeland security called the most secure election in history, but at the same time, the term out is -- turnout is not equal. while increased for white voters participating, for nonwhite voters, participation was only 58%. we have just issued a study looking at the georgia early voting as well, and the primary voting, and we found that it had a significant racial turnout cap, and a growing one. we found the highest turnout gap in over a decade after the state passed a significant restrictive voting law, it was a six-point gap between white voter turnout and black voter turnout in the primary. that is a dramatic disparity, and one that should concern us. host: as far as the gap is

concerned, can you draw direct parallels to what is causing that gap? guest: with the prominent black candidates at the highest level of the ballot, one would expect voter enthusiasm across all races, including black voters to be higher. turnout is affected by many factors, with having significant candidates from all communities, and it is driving turnout up you would expect to see the opposite result, so it is curious, and something must be going wrong. the gap has grown, rather than shrinking in the environment read we have been doing studies, looking at some of the impact of the new voting restrictions. we are finding that those are harming voters of color much more significantly than they are

harming white voters. if we take the restrictive voting laws that happened, we are looking at the impacts of just one of the restrictive provisions, and it is a provision that added some number checking requirements for absentee ballots and applications for the rick west before the absentee valid. we saw that more than 10% of texans have their absentee ballot acted in the primary because of the red with dramatic racial disparity for white voters, and it was 11.7 percent. for black and latino voters, it was over 16%. for asian-american voters, it was 19%. we have seen these laws are differentially impacting voters by race, and it is hurting all voters. host: wendy weiser of the

brennan center for justice is joining us. if you have any questions, call the number on your screen. there are some provisions in laws that involve putting down a driver's license number or social dirty numbers did how does that factor into those people who are writing with their ballot getting rejected because of that very thing? guest: part of what is happening is that assumptions, ballots are not clear, and some people are interpreting these is optional provisions, and they are actually completely outside of the voters control often, whether the ballot will be rejected because the election officials are required to match exactly what they put on the ballot application with voter registration. voters might not remember that.

as someone who registered using a social dirty number to put on their driver's license number, they might find their valid rejected because those don't match. or, if there is any kind of discrepancy or transposition, they will not find their ballots. these are minor errors that are causing very large numbers of voters in texas, and other places as well to get their ballot topped out. host: there was a story about election administrators retiring or leaving because of worries of intimidation's. what do you think that means in terms of an election cycle that it ministers elections. guest: there is a crisis of administration across the country. many talented officials are leaving their job area in part,

it is because they are significantly harassed, subjected to regular threats from their families, and because there is a lot of misinformation and heightened emotion around the elections right now. we have been working nationwide, and surveying local election officials earlier this year, and we found that one in six, more than one in six election administrators have experience not just threats for themselves and their families, but also more than half of them were worried about violence or other threats against their colleagues, and many, one in five, have said they are going to leave before the next election. leave their job bid that understates it. we have some places like in one county in texas, the entire election board laughed because

they were being subject to constant harassment, and this is a county that went 80% for president trump in the 2020 election, but nonetheless, they were being accused of rigging elections against president trump. south carolina, almost half of the heads of local election boards have left the 2020 election. this is a really crisis -- real crisis of retention for some of the most critical roles in running elections across america. >> our first call comes from cooper. he is in california. republican line, you're on with the brennan center for justice. go ahead. caller: thank you. good morning. i would like to ask, i believe they should have these voter laws because what we here in california, they all -- they

allow illegal aliens about, and i believe the heart -- the harder they make it about, the better. that way we have intelligent voters instead of voters who are voting willy-nilly for anything. we can't believe how joe biden got voted in because let's face it. there is no other way he could have been voted in. it is illegal with illegal aliens voting, and probably, let's face it, it was stolen. that is all i have to say. you have a great day. guest: thank you to the caller. it is absolutely the case that only eligible voters should be able to vote in america. undocumented noncitizens or any noncitizens are actually not eligible to vote in america or in any state. in fact, they do not vote in any state. there is -- there are many

studies and investigations of the rape and voter fraud and non-citizen voting in america, and it is so extraordinarily rare that it does not impact our elections. one is more likely to be struck by lightning than to encounter in america. i think there is a lot of misinformation out there. we have a lot of checks in our system. it prevents that from happening, and it holds people accountable, and with everything, there is always some misconduct, but it is infinitesimally small. the department of homeland security, as i noted, in 2020, with the 2020 election, it was the most secure in american history. that includes looking at the rape of -- rates of voter fraud or misconduct. >> from missouri, we will hear from wilhelm. caller: yes. i voted for joe biden and,

harris, and if we lose this election, disability will be gone, social security will be gone, and medicare will be gone. medicaid will be gone. obamacare will be gone. how will people pay their bills? how will people by their medicine. just think about president trump. he discriminates against people. he has that is their own business. it is greedy, and his families greedy. he does not deserve to come back area. host: that was wilhelm in missouri. guest: we do not work on -- in favor or against candidates, but i want to observe something. the caller was talking about issues.

those that affect his life and the lives of his community. that is what our election should be about. right now, there is so much conversation in elections about the election process itself and people are politicizing the election process. instead of, with discussing those issues, the issues that affect the day-to-day lives of ordinary americans did --. host: there are reports about shortening windows for mail ballots and restricting access for a male ballot. there are number of locations or availability of mail ballots and drop boxes, he it goes on from there. and mentally, what is wrong with these approaches? -- fundamentally, what is wrong with these approaches? guest: it makes it harder for people to vote, but it also it is discriminatory, and many of them come as we have shown, there is an easing pile of data

that is disproportionately knocked out. and the people they are knocking out our eligible voters. it is just as manipulating in the system, creating a sense of unfairness, making people have to go through and find an obstacle course, and i should note, we mentioned there are states that have new restrictions, new states with plenty of them in the 2022 election, that were not in place from 2020, and this was layered on top of restrictions that were passed in recent years. in some of these states, like georgia, florida, arizona, the assistance has had more than five restricting bills. so it is death by a thousand cuts. that is very frustrating. it is unfair for voters. woodstock georgia, independent line. caller: i live in georgia.

i have never had a problem voting in georgia. so, i was wondering because there are differences. you can use them to vote. you don't have to stand in line for 10 hours if you don't want to. so i was wondering, can you bring in an example to the senate or congress to show a person who is having difficulty voting, and then, maybe see if you can resolve that problem. another thing, the younger black voters, i listen to podcasts, and they may not want to vote, because what they say is that black people normally vote for democrats. but they put joe biden in office, but they don't see any incoming from the democrats to their group, and they want something or their vote. they want tangibles for their votes. that may be the question.

if they are not coming out. i was wondering if there are examples of people who can't, or people who cannot vote in georgia. >> thank you for this question. it is an important point. despite the fact that we are seeing a surge of lawmaking. for most americans, you will not experience that difficulty. people should feel they can vote with confidence, whether that is by mail or whether they are going to the polls on election day. the laws we are seeing are targeted. they affect us lights of the population. a disproportionate affecting of color, and younger voters, voters with disabilities, and most voters, including with color, they are not going to experience a difficulty, but if you are in one of those, with

counties or precincts where you have to wade through five hour lines, not even have any water or food provided to you, if you are one of the voters in georgia this year, for example, it is now 45 times more likely your absentee ballot will be rejected than it was in 2020. the tens of thousands of voters in texas who have already had their ballots rejected and thrown out in the primary, that is going to be unfair. but the most -- most voters are not going to experience that problem. it does not make it ok to target voters for disenfranchisement to our eligible voters, and to carve them out of the electorate. >> some ideas as far as voting is concerned. this is from our twitter saying that voting rights include ballot access, ballot security, having a vote diluted, and having it denied.

they make the -- make this free and easy. there is vote fraud and insurrection. what do you think about those ideas? guest: it should be easy to vote in hard to cheat. on the id front, we are certainly not opposed to requiring voters to identify themselves and have a reasonable requirement. the problem on the voter id debate is that we are not actually debating about these ids. the strict id laws that have been controversial are the ones that actually cherry pick which laws, which forms of id can be used by voters, and it excludes a very large number of voters and don't have other mechanisms for those voters to cast a ballot that will out. if we take, for example, the voter id law in texas that was passed several years ago, that

law was found by a court to have excluded more than 600,000 eligible and registered voters that were already on the voter rolls in texas at the time. that was in part because it excluded certain forms of ids that included a concealed carry license and an acceptable form of id, but it excluded state issued student id, state appointment ids and other forms of id that were actually more likely to be held by younger voters and voters of color in the state that is one example, in north dakota. it carved out ids that didn't have residential street addresses, but that was a state where the witch or d of the population that was living on reservations didn't have street addresses, so those reservations actually had tribal lands with a

discuss in the legislation, and they did not create some of those carveouts or other processes with the identification that would work. these laws are targeting voters for exclusion and they are not reasonable laws, but absolutely, it should be hard to cheat and easy to vote, and fortunately, we do have so many checks and play in our system that the rate of that kind of cheating is so infinitesimally small. the punishment is quite severe for those who do it. host: john in washington. republican line. caller: i've got a question for you. you take your statistics and you have categories of black-and-white and blue around -- brown, how do you look at that and see the person for the color, or do they have it on their ballot? when they submit their ballot? is that how you categorize

whites and blacks if you look at them? you are just saying whether they are white or black? or is that racist? guest: this is census data. it comes from self identification by voters. that is actually the way that research, what researchers rely on, and it is widely thought to be a valid method of doing that. host: do you think there will be numerous legal challenges stemming from the election? if that is the case, what is the ability of states to meet those challenges? guest: there already are so many legal challenges across the country, and people are challenging the rules governing elections, and we are seeing at the state level, people who are trying to make it harder to vote, have, for the first time, hired -- filed a second time,

because 2020 was the first time, but it will try to make a challenge for accounting a vote. it was acceptable under state rules, but they are trying to get will change so that absentee ballots without a handwritten date shouldn't be counted, according to them. there are other theories that knock out large portions of ballots, and at the same time, there is a huge move of challenges for restricted voting laws, and sadly, those challenges are not decided before the election because the supreme court has put in place rules that essentially mean that you cannot get any kind of remedy or unconstitutional or discriminatory laws in advance of election in the election year, so that is creating a lot of disruption, and i backed that like in 2020, we will see

postelection challenges, challenging election content, but also the same kinds of losses trying to challenge how the rules were interpreted, and which balance count and which don't. trying to sabotage election outcomes. in think we will have to rely on courts to do as they did in 2028 to that this kind of raft of litigation is not used to sabotage his elect should outcomes and interfere with our system. >> you mentioned the supreme court. it is supposed to hear more versus harper, which will affect voting laws and processes. any level of concern about that? >> this is a very concerning case read actually a case that conservative judges have said that this is the most important case for american democracy in 200 years. since it was founded. it was a very complicated case

that people might not be following, but what it is essentially -- what north carolina legislature that brought the case is asking the case to do is to say that the state legislature should have virtually unfettered power to regulate federal elections without the use of checks and balances that we say are the hallmark of the american system without gubernatorial vetoes or judicial review. it is free from any constraints by the constitution, and without the ability of an elect an administrator to fill in the gaps and make things work, the radical position has never been how the constitution has been interpreted. it would up and thousands of on thousands of constitutional provisions. elections. practices. laws across the country. it is a concerning an dangerous case.

it would also empower legislatures in a way that makes it a lot easier for them to sabotage future elections and --. host: nancy in florida. democrat line. caller: i turned on the tv and i saw you, and i got interested. i wanted to call and say that i have never been so afraid. to go around the country, to go to the mall, to send my kids to school. you know, to spend too much money because we are going to have a recession. it is just so come bounding and we are all americans. why -- i don't understand. why do we have to stay on our side of the board, and we can't reach across like i think you sap in. we could solve this problem. let's solve immigration together.

it would be better for everybody. we need immigrants to work in our country. my grandkids don't want to do the work that the immigrants can come into willingly. let's do it right. i don't understand the -- it seems like ace -- such a fight for power. that scares me because i see what happens around the world. host: that is nancy in florida. guest: thank you to that caller. i think the extreme level of polarization and demonization's and the other side, it is indeed frightening and dangerous for the country, and it has been especially around the electoral system which used to be a point of bipartisan pride and one of the things we were proud of across the world that was a model for the rest of the world. now, it is being torn down just

about 15 years ago. democrats and republicans alike came together to reauthorize and update the voting rights act of 1965. it was voted unanimously in the house with a bipartisan super majority and signed into law by george w. bush. there was pride in her voting rights and you fast-forward just 15 years later, and there was only one republican who is willing to sign on to the voting rights act and reauthorize it, and strengthen it again. we have polarized on these issues that we should be bringing us together. host: in texas, independent line. caller: i have a couple questions. where does the push to be everyone voting come from?

is not in the constitution or in the bill of rights. the founding fathers didn't do that. i also want to get an answer to the question, does the ballot know what race people are? is it different rules for different races, or is it the same rules for all races? just answer those questions, thank you. guest: at the time of the founding of the constitution, we fell short of our ideals did we did not say that a citizen was eligible to vote. we have systematically amended our constitution, and opened up our political system so that now, every citizen, 18 years and older, they are eligible to vote without discrimination, without barriers in america. that is been a progress in our constitution and our country. it was not the case at the

beginning of our founding, and it was not the case even in practice after we passed the reconstruction amendment that should have ensured the right to vote for free black men, for example, and it took half a century before we could fully realize the voting rights act of 1965, so that is an ongoing project. our ideals and our constitutional principles are sound. on the race, there are not and may not be different rules for different people of different races, and that is why it is really pernicious when politicians craft laws that are designed to make it harder for people with -- from certain backgrounds to vote. targeting them and knocked them out. you can do that expressly by

calling out there races, or you can do it in a sneaky way by manipulating the rules so it is more likely to harm certain voters than others that is something that the constitution prohibits, and federal law prohibits in state law prohibits as well, but it is very hard to renounce our voting rights that are being constrained when the supreme court is raining in our ability to enforce our rights, and when the states across the country are pushing the envelope and being very aggressive and rapidly putting in place so many restrictions faster than people can challenge them, process them. host: from john in florida, democrats line, you are on with wendy weiser from the brennan center for justice. caller: good morning brennan center. two questions. one, my sister from florida

wanted to know why we can't all get together on immigration. you might ask her if she quit voting for the needham caucus republicans, we might get genuine comprehensive form -- reform, but that's not my point. as the institute taken any cognizance of the voters, potential voters as return citizens who can't vote for any other reason than they don't have the means to pay a poll tax. i don't care what florida calls it, it is a poll tax, and we all need a couple gifted lawyers to come on down and point out to the florida supreme court that when probation is older -- over, they decide to complete it, that except for these costs, it takes it out of the realm of punishment, and it puts it on a poll tax. can you come with me on that, or do you have other views, and it is a pleasure to talk to you, and think god for your center. guest: thank you so much.

we have been working on this. it is a horrible set of laws in florida, and one of the few places in the world that permanently disenfranchises returning to citizens who have passed criminal convictions in their past. floridians voted overwhelmingly by huge bipartisan super majorities to restore voting rights, to return citizens when they complete the terms of their probation parole, their sentences, that should have re-enfranchised 1.2 million floridians. and may be one in four black men in florida were actually disenfranchised under that law that was actually a real vestige of jim crow. one of the most significant ones in the country. the legislature turned around as the caller noted and passed a

law that violated the -- what that amendment was -- when they were trying to accomplish that, no one was getting their rights back until they pay all of their debt, and all of the fees as part of the criminal justice system. we found that more than 750,000 people, an expert in kids, and actually had more than $500,000 in debt, but more importantly, it was impossible. the government and the department of corrections, voters, the individuals themselves, they could not find out how much they owe. right now, we are seeing -- real people don't know. if they are eligible to vote in florida, the state can't tell them, and what we have now is a politicized police force. florida stood up, responsive to the governor, and they are going after people, past criminal convictions that they have been

told are eligible, and they are registering to vote, and they might vote, but they don't know about it, and they're publicly trying to make a spectacle of prosecuting them. this is a real scourge, and something that needs to be fixed in florida. host: we have a viewer off of twitter. he has this to say. overall, the voting rights ask was eight draconian solution to a warble situation. it requires this obligation -- the subjugation of states. it has to end sometime. guest: we are seeing significant race discrimination in americans -- and the voting process. we are still seeing court decision after court decision finding that local legislators are actually intentionally discriminating and how they are setting up their voting laws, and we are seeing a ridiculous

thing system. we have seen a significant -- there is a much greater amount of restrictive voting laws and discriminatory measures that have been put in place in those states that were previously covered by the voting right act, and there was a voting rights act that had two very key provisions. one that had a preclearance that the caller is talking about that took a subset of states with a history of discrimination, and it didn't prohibit them from regulating their voting process the way they wanted to. all it required is that they got federal goal before implementing changes to the voting rights law, just to check if they were discriminatory. if they were not, they would go through. if they were discriminatory, it would be not put into effect. there is a nationwide provision that prevents -- habits this coming nation based on a voting

system, but it would only be challenged after they are already in place. the supreme court actually invalidated that preclearance regime, and after that, with discrimination, there was a giant spike in laws restricting access to laws targeting voters of color, and maps that were discriminatory, and this was at state level in the local level, and much more so than we saw in the rest of the country, suggesting that we still needed to have that more powerful protection, and the other thing we have seen is that the nationwide protections are slow to enforce, and in those states with a clearance provision, you would go through, for years, six years of litigation, and hundreds of state and local elections in federal elections,

beef or unconstitutional or discriminatory provisions were locked and loaded. this is still necessary in america. i do look over to a time when we don't need these kinds of remedies because we are not trying to manipulate the voting system, but i do think we can perhaps get closer to that time. if congress steps up and has some baseline national rules and guardrails for the voting process, congress can come very close to doing that. earlier, with the freedom to vote voting rights act, that could move us more quickly to a place where states are not manipulating the voting role, and where we are not attacking our election officials, and where americans can vote with confidence. sadly, in the meantime, we are going to need a voting rights act to be strengthened.

as much as possible. host: the brain center for justice, wendy weiser, the brennan center.org is the website if you want to see more of their work, and wendy weiser, thank you for your time today. guest: thank you for having me. host: that is it for the program. several debates are scheduled to take place. go to c-span.com for more information as we take in campaign 2022 coverage. we are about to take you to an event as the center for strategic international studies is taking a look at cybersecurity in the united states with the national cyber director chris england and the security adviser andrew burke. as hosted by them out to start momentarily. that is it for the program. another addition of washington journal comes your way at 7 a.m.. we will see you then.

>> c-span this morning is having an event with national cyber director chris english and deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology and newberger -- anne neuberger. it is hosted by the center for strategic and international studies. >> good morning, steve serves with our senior economist and served with the trumpet

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