at noon eastern. for the first time in two years, they'll return to washington as a divided government. republicans will control the house of representatives. while democrats retain control of the senate by a slim majority. the new incoming members are younger, with an average age of 47, compared to the average age of 58 in the previous session. the new congress will also be more diverse with a record number of women serving, including more women of color. follow the process as the 118th congress gavels into session, holds the election for new speaker of the house, and new members take the oath of office. new congress, new leaders. watch the opening day of the 118th congress, tuesday, january 3, at noon eastern. live on c-span and c-span2, also on c-span now, our free mobile video app. or online at c-span.org. a focue subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis.

alex ruoff joins us. some history first. why was the committee established? guest: thanks for having me. at the very beginning of the outbreak, in 2020, to respond and keep an investigative on top of the federal response, there was this understanding that the federal response needed oversight. there needed to be a body to keep tabs on what the government was doing. it started as the check on what the federal government was doing. it was an opportunity to get officials in front of cameras. they would oversee how this was going. host: there will be a hearing happening this week on capitol hill.

why a wrap up hearing if it's not over yet? guest: this congress is over. select committees like this are required to start and begin with endpoints. you have a good point. this is an over. the committee does have this big report, how far should this keep going? democrats say the job isn't done yet. they have work to do. there are financial institutions that took advantage of pandemic programs and need investigation. republicans take over. it's their choice whether to restart this. it was a big question for the next speaker. he's got a choice if he wants to bring this up. a lot of republicans have said absolutely, there is work undone. they want to turn that spotlight

onto the biden administration. they have not had a perfect response. i think there is a lot of interest in turning this body over onto the most recent issues. like any other congressional body, there is a political advantage. they want to turn this on the by demonstration to show and gain political points. host: what were the recommendations that came from that report on friday? guest: it's a very long list. i would recommend readers take a look. it's very broad. these recommendations are quite broad. they are things like having a better look at some of the pandemic response programs. looking at anti-fraud programs, improving our response.

there is a lot to look at. the u.s. fell flat on its face. it really failed to meet. we have one of the best public health institutions. we did not fare as well. there are recommendations about investing in pandemic. this, things that we failed at. it is quite nebulous. host: one is modernize modern health communication. dig into that one a little bit. guest: for the past -- everyone has felt this over the past two years. there has been this challenge from the cdc, all the directors have experienced this. how to describe to americans

what we should be doing and how we can protect ourselves. it's been very difficult. there has been this challenge. the report -- what is our responsibility? that's been a real challenge i think. it's been like that for long time. it's been a challenge for people to understand what we need to do. everybody has family members who asked themselves if they need boosters, what do i do about the next virus? how do i go about my life? the cdc has had a challenge getting those messages out. host: alex ruoff is with us until the bottom of the hour. if you want to join the conversation, it is (202) 748-8001 four republicans. democrats (202) 748-8000.

independents (202) 748-8002. he's been tracking the work of the select committee on the coronavirus. what are you expecting from the hearing this week. guest: some of it is going to be about the future. the expectations about what will come of these recommendations. this is a little bit of a hitter subcommittee. there has been discussion on what the focus should be. there is going to be a big fight. republicans have said this is unfairly focused on just the trump administration. of one of things i am hoping is about the future. where congress is going to turn its focus. we are two years into this. where we should invest tax dollar money. i think to improve, many people

know it's a real difficult situation. are we ready if we face another outbreak of another disease? host: has this committee looked at the origins of covid? guest: that has been a sticking point across both parties. republicans have vowed to make this a focus. almost every committee has vowed to do this. energy and commerce in the house, they of all really said this is something we want to discuss. democrats have not rejected the idea of doing it. it's not been a high priority. host: we will have you chat with a few collars.

jeff is in new york. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to propose that one of the problems is we politicize public health. that was one of the problems you just talked about. we don't have enough money to address this adequately. public health is sorely underfunded. people need to participate in providing public health. there has been no response. thank you. host: on that question it, the

politicizing of public health funding. guest: they are not an appreciation's -- appropriations committee. they have said this is been underfunded a long time. they are focusing on a spending bill. how much money needs to go into domestic programs? there are a lot of mouths to feed. there has been a lot of discussion if we need to boost domestic spending. public health is a subset of that. you talk to appropriators, they will say we do want to fund this. the federal government has a lot of mouths to feed. there is a real discussion about wanting to do this. whether or not we see it this year is undecided.

we have called for it year after year. that long-term investment has yet to appear. host: this is pete. you are on with alex ruoff. caller: how are you this morning? i wanted to see what the shots were going to do. i took the johnson & johnson shot. then i took both of the moderna boosters. then this past september, i got the pfizer booster. i also got the flu shot. the information people are putting out on the internet and whatever these websites are putting out, i didn't find anything different with the shots. i've got a brother on disability. he got moderna, the modernity

boosters, the pfizer booster. he got the flu shot and a pneumonia shot. my other brother got his shots. we are still alive. only 14% of the people have taken the new booster. only 62% are fully vaccinated. why don't our citizens get on the ball out here and do what you are supposed to do? this vaccine is not going to kill you. it's going to keep you out of the hospital. host: on vaccination rates? guest: that's a good point. i talked to a lot of public health people. there are a myriad of reasons. a lot of people, its accessibility, time.

this happens with the flu shot every year. we are busy people. that does reduce it. it's a combination of factors. people don't necessarily feel they need it. i think it's up to the public health officials to describe the real need to drive booster campaigns. when you ask people about it, there is little uncertainty about where we should be on our schedules. that is part and parcel of our system, it is hard to keep on top of it. that is a big public health issue. knowing when you need to get boosters to push them forward. host: let me come to one of your recent stories. americans may play -- pay for covid shots next year. guest: there has been a lack of

public funding. starting early in the year, they warned it was running out of money for covid vaccines. congress has been reluctant to give a boost of funds. at some point, the white house is going to run out of money. sometime around january this year. they won't be able to buy anymore. they won't have the money to send out free vaccines. this has been part of where we are in 2022. everything related to covid is supposed to be free. one of the early pandemic packages said if you need treatment or tests or vaccines, all of that should be paid for by your insurance company. that is less and less. the programs for the uninsured has dried up.

the white house is warning its running out of money for vaccines. what it has proposed is shifting it back over to our other vaccines. you pay a co-pay for the flu vaccine. they are going to shift this back into the public realm. when the government buys it in bulk, it is cheaper. the person who's getting it will receive few. in the future, you should expect to pay money for this. it's going through your insurance. it's been bought by the hospital. they are typically a nonprofit enterprise. host: good morning. caller: thank you. i am in my seventh day of isolation with covid.

i have looked at it. i am fully vaccinated. as soon as i can, i'm going to start getting boosters because i don't want to get this again. i was looking this stuff up while i was stuck at home. i'm grateful to have a place to isolate. i am going to say -- i want to talk about the neurological effects of a mild infection. there have been studies out of the u.k. that there is neurological damage from a mild covid infection. the loss of smell is not your nose. it's a neurological damage. we don't know the effects of this. it clearly hasn't been studied enough.

if everybody knew that a mild covid infection was going to damage your brain it, a lot more people would be getting vaccinated. that's my comment. thank you. guest: i think this is an interesting aspect to this. the real damage and what is the real threat at this point to us all. there has been a lot of interest in putting more studies into long covid. to have this question about where the risk is focused. that is something all of us have had to deal with. this idea of where the risks are and where we can place them. it's a challenge we all face, getting back to living our lives and living with the risk of this virus existing. this goes back to the public health question. the cdc needs to describe where you can reduce the risk of being

sick. of facing real harm. it's a challenge i don't envy. it is something i can't possibly explain it to other people myself. i think it's a challenge we are facing in the world. covid continues to exist. host: let me come back to the select committee. they opened an investigation last year. guest: that is one of the partly open-ended parts of this. the report goes into a series of websites that.

there are a series of things that were popular in certain communities, but were unproven treatments for covid. there was a gold rush or funding rush to get these out. if they were really acting against that. one of the reports were supposed to be handled by medical boards. covid broke down those barriers. typically, you need to be seen by a doctor in your state. there was a change affect area a lot of our medicines were online. a lot of hospitals embrace that.

this was one thing they said may have been an opportunity for people to take advantage. it's been an interesting look at where these things rose and fell. there is a lot of challenges here. some medications a been a real challenge to recognize. host: this is christine in rhode island. caller: good morning. i've been following the covid because i lost five people from covid. it was from a lot of propaganda

coming from the news. if the republican party would work together, that's what we need now. we need these people to work together instead of just shooting off all this propaganda. what about the people that lost a loved one? how do they get money? thank you. have a great holiday. guest: i believe some states have set up survivor funds. there was a discussion about that in california. families who lost people from covid, they have a lobby presence here in washington. they have argued for a lot of things. they lost parents, caregivers, that never took off.

there has been a discussion around states, particular for people who lost parents. millions of people across the world have lost a loved one who died from the virus. the response has been an interesting one. i think that's going to be a real escutcheon. they were talking about having a memorial here in washington, a discussion about it. it never quite got off. one of the issues has been a deeper bipartisan investigation into the response. menendez was a big sponsor of that in the senate. some survivors have sought

answers to what happened, how they could have seen such a big loss of life. it's very tragic. host: sarah is in indiana. good morning. caller: i just wanted to make a comment. the lady said she got all of her shots and was going to get more roosters. yet she still had it. my family and a lot of people i know have not gotten shots and we haven't had no covid. i have some friends that we hang out with. all of them had shots and i had friends, we hang out at the american legion in our area, they found him dead.

i was sitting next to him the next day. i think the shot deal is overrated. if you want to take it, that is fine and dandy. my family don't want to take it. it's not a vaccine. it's not been tested. they don't know that much about it. my very best friend got her shot. she has to go in because she's got led clots in her leg. please -- i've got a grandson in the air force. they forced him to take the shot. they were going to kick him out. he did not want to take it. we've got the commonest in the white house right now. host: that was sarah in indiana. she brings up the air force, the

idea of editorial covid vaccinations was a sticking point in this defense authorization act. guest: the covid mandate, this was a public health tool. a lot of them have -- they won't be enacted here. they found politically there's not a lot of support for that. democrats did not say that. that shows you how much they are willing to say we can't cash our chips on this. the same thing has happened when it comes to the senate. i believe the only mandate that exists is one for health-care

workers. they had one for contractors from the federal government. they have not been enacted. it has shown that is an issue, mandates have been a challenge. it's an issue for them. they see this as one of their big tools for getting people vaccinated. if another pandemic were rolling around, a lot of officials are worried that's going to cause a challenge. they've got to get another set of vaccines. that may be a real challenge. that is not something they have in their toolbox. if you want people to be healthy, they need to be vaccinated. that's an issue. host: the last call is from colorado. good morning.

caller: good morning. i live in a small mountain town. every two weeks, the mobile vaccine truck comes up here. there are doctors offices. i would like to ask, has the status of the vaccine? host: it is for emergency use only. i could be wrong. i am one of those americans who believe

[no audio] [no audio] [no audio] put it through trials is overlapping. not compromised or slower or cutting corners. the idea was to do them in sequence sequence of the whole process, in the end is faster. without cutting deep corners.

we don't question the efficacy of vaccines because they've been around for a long time. that's the main difference here. i would caution people not to look at the word of emergency as a happening. >> check out alex ruoff's story on twitter. thanks so much for the time. >> thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2022] >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we're funded by these television companies and more. >> the greatest town on earth is the place you call home. at sparklite, it's our home too and we're facing our great of the challenge. that's why we're working round the clock to keep you connected. we're doing our part so it's a little easier to do yours. >> giving you a front row seat to democracy.

>> here's a look at what's ahead. next, the house financial services committee hearing about the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange company f.t.x.. then president biden commenting on newly released inflation numbers and later signing the marriage quality sparklight supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> here is a look at what is ahead the financial house services committee hearing about the financial collapse exchange currency -- with crypto exchange currency with ftx. and president biden on inflation and marriage equality. and representative andy biggs.