♪ host: good christmas eve morning. it is saturday, december 24, 2022. a few of the stories this week are the passing of the 1.7 trillion dollars spending bill funding the government through the fiscal year.

the january 6 committee has released its final report and former president trump's tax returns were released. this morning, we would like to know, what is your top story for the week? give us a call by party affiliation. you can send us a text. be sure to send your first name and your city, state. find us on social media, facebook.com/c-span or twitter at c-spanwj. welcome to "washington journal." i mentioned a few of the top stories happening this week. here are a coupleore. the supreme court temporarily extends title 42. that keeps the pandemic era public health role in place, at least for now. and ukraine's president

zelenskyy gave a speech to congress. let's start with that funding bill. here is the house floor yesterday, congressman tim burchett of tennessee spoke in opposition on the arm limits funding bill. >> mr. speaker -- on the omnibus funding bill. >> i rise in strong opposition. you are railroading this $1.7 trillion bill full of garbage without any regard to what it is costing americans. our constant flood of reckless, bloated spending bills has blown inflation rates right through the roof and americans will pay the price. what are we spending americans' hard-earned money on? over $45 million for ukraine -- $45 billion for ukraine when europe should be bearing the burden of these costs. you blocked any efforts to audit this money so we knew where it was going. that works out to about $200 million per congressional district, mr. speaker. i wonder what we could have spent that on.

an east tennessee $1.2 million for lgbt pride centers in sago. that's a whole of a hot -- in san francisco. that's a lot of pride. nearly half $1 million for an equity institute in rhode island. 540 5 million dollars for international family planning and reproductive health included in areas where population growth would dare to threaten biodiversity or endangered species. over $400 million for middle eastern countries to protect their borders, when we don't even protect our own borders. >> the gentleman's time has expired. >> has expired? >> i hope you have a merry christmas. 5 yesterday, -- host: yesterday, majority leader steny hoyer spoke about the note must -- omnibus spending bill and spoke about senator burchett's opinion about the spending package. >> we are here to fulfill one of

congress' basic responsibilities, to fund our government and keep it working for. the people. we are not doing that very well. it is december 23, the day before christmas eve. the weather is bad. members, we will see how many, are here to fulfill their duty. this sweeping passage is anything but garbage, as the previous speaker intoned. it is, in fact, the essence supporting our national security, our domestic security, and the welfare of our people. that is not garbage. host: that is steny hoyer on the house floor from yesterday.

here is an article from politi co about that. house sends $1.7 trillion funding bill to biden. it includes about $800 billion for domestic priorities, and 9.3% increase from last year. the article says this. the house on friday approved a mammoth 1.7 trillion dollars funding package, capping a chaotic week as party leaders dashed to avoid a shutdown and an intensifying winter storm just days before christmas. it passed on a 225-201 vote. one double grant -- one democrat voting present -- wasn't present. one democrat voted against it. new york's representative alexandria ocasio-cortez. we want to know what your top story of the week is. give us a call.

phone lines are open. publicans, democrats and independents. let's start with dave in asheville, north carolina on the independent line. hello. caller: hello. how are you doing? host: i am ok. caller: i am just calling, i am a little disgusted with those guys passing this bill. it is basically irresponsible, does not make economic sense. there is a lot of bribery involved in this. we are just so corrupt now. there is an article that exposes some of this garbage these guys are doing. i think it is time to get rid of them. host: ok. let's take a look at social media. we've got a facebook post here

from rhonda, whose top story is the blatant cheating revealed in the kari lake election trial. here is a text from fred in panama city, florida. liz cheney and adam kissinger showed that democrats and gop can work together, but the maga crowd are traitors and insurrectionists. here's a text from mike in orlando. sean hannity admits in court deposition that he never believed trump's claims of voter fraud. let's go back to the funds now. lisa from louisville, kentucky, democrat line. hi, lisa. caller: how are you? merry christmas. my important issue is the new misspending the. i believe -- omnibus -- omnibus spending bill. i do believe the democrats went way too far. i am a big supporter of the lgbtq community but let them fund their own centers.

some of the spending in some of these studies, it needs to stop. but i do support the spending of the euchre -- further ukrainian people -- for the ukrainian people. anyway we can did get putin that we can dig at -- anyway we can to get putin -- dig at putin is fine with me. host: here is a breakdown. the defense department gets in nearly 800 billion. let's take a look here at the washington post, a story on that finding the. it says this. the house passes $1.7 trillion budget.

and it says this. the house on friday approved a roughly $1.7 trillion bill to fund the government through most of 2023, sending to president biden a sprawling year-end package that funds his top priorities, provides new aid to ukraine and diverts a government shutdown. the outcome marked that often deadline to deadline -- that often saw politicians hurtling from deadline to deadline. most rejected it in the house, foreshadowing the perilous fights to come once the party assumes control of that chamber next year. speaking of the senate, let's take a look at mitch mcconnell. this is from tuesday. he praised the omnibus spending bill, particularly for meeting the defense requirements of the country. senator mcconnell: this omnibus

bill that will be on the floor provides a real dollar increase for the defense baseline and a real dollar cut for the nondefense baseline, if you exclude veterans. that is absolutely critical in breaking the pattern we've had in the past when we've ended up in one of these situations where every time republicans try to get an increase in defense, we would in effect have to pay ransom to the democrats on the domestic side. holding beside -- holy aside from the needs of the country. let's get back and say, what are the real needs of the country right now? in the defense part of our expenditures, making sure the defense department can deal with the major threats coming from russia and china.

providing assistance for the ukrainians to defeat the russians. that's the number one priority of the united states right now. according to most republicans. that's how we see the challenges confronting the country at the moment. so, admittedly, i am pretty proud of the fact that with a democratic president, a democratic house and a democratic senate, we were able to achieve through this omnibus spending bill essentially all of our priorities. host: and we are asking you about the top news story of the week. give us a call on our lines by party affiliation. 202-748-8001.

202-748-8000. here's a tweet from steve. it is obviously president zelenskyy address to congress. here is a text from ed in south carolina. regarding president trump's tax returns, i have not heard any democrat accuse him of doing anything illegal with his taxes. he made the monetary investments, encouraged by tax laws passed by democrat congress, to lower his tax obligations. if the democrats don't like the results, simply change the tax laws. here is marianne, who says on twitter, zelenskyy addresses congress, visits u.s., the cyclone bomb storm engulfing the u.s. and the omnibus bill passes, government shutdown averted, and the january 6 report was released. let's go next to the phone lines . ocean city, new jersey,

independent line. >> at o'donnell. top story is christmas. everybody treat everybody with love, kindness, forgiveness, mercy, tolerance, chivalry, courtesy, and old-fashioned manners. christmas is the key. host: ok. all right, that was ed in ocean city, new jersey. let's take a look at a text from joe. every year, joe biden and obama's taxes were checked. in over four years, the irs refused to check on trump. he never made no money or pay no taxes while he was president. or for the 20 years preceding that. the law said they will be audited every year. let's take a look at the -- i want to show you something real quick, this is liz cheney. a couple people mentioned the january 6 panel releasing their final report. this is from the january 6 last

hearing on monday. the vice chair is liz cheney. she criticized former president trump's lack of action while the attack on the capital and folded. >> among the most -- unfolded. >> among the most shameful of this committee's findings was that president trump set in the dining room off the oval office watching the violent riot at the capitol on television. for hours, he would not issue a public statement instructing his supporters to disperse and leave the capitol, despite urgent pleas from his white house staff and dozens of others to do so. members of his family, white house lawyers, virtually all those around him knew that this simple act was critical. for hours, he would not do it. during this time, law enforcement agents were attacked and seriously injured. the capitol was invaded, the electoral count was -- and the

lives of capital police were put at risk. this was another moral failure and a clear dereliction of duty. evidence of this can be seen in the testimony of president trump's own white house counsel and several other white house witnesses. no man who would behave that way at that moment in time can ever serve in any position of authority in our nation again. he is unfit for any office. host: and we are asking you about your top story for this week so you can give us a call. i wanted to follow up on that january 6 panel with this from the new york times. it says for january 6 panel, one last report on trump's role. there was a push for national guard but it was to protect supporters at the capitol. here's what the article says. the has january 6 committee's 84

5 page final report is chock-full of new details about former president donald j. trump's effort to overturn the 2020 election. it documents how mr. trump and his allies tried at least 200 times to convince state or local officials to throw out president biden's victory. it reveals that mr. trump did in fact push for the national guard to be present on the capitol grounds on january 6, 2021 but to protect his supporters as they marched on congress, not lawmakers. and a has no testimony from trump aide's like hope hicks, who became overwhelmed with discussed at the president's behavior and the mob riots they were witnessing. "we all look like domestic terrorists now," she wrote in a text. want to know what you think. give us a call. we will go back to our phone lines. tony is in greenville, north carolina. republican line. hi, tony.

caller: [indiscernible] host: say that again. caller: i ain't happy [indiscernible] to congress. host: michael in strongsville, ohio on the independent line. caller: how are you? host: i am ok. caller: what would you like to know? host: what's your top story of the. caller: liz cheney just went on there and was voting on this thing with donald trump. i don't understand how people know that she just hates donald trump and let's set it aside how we feel about donald trump. even if he was right, he is still going to be wrong with this kangaroo committee they put together. those people that all, you

should have people doing a committee that don't have feelings about a political thing, then you get the real answer. but liz cheney hates donald trump, she made it clear in public that she was going to do everything she could to stop him. host: i have another question for you. which is, the people that the committee talked to, hope hicks and other aids that work for president trump, what did you think of their testimony? caller: i think they were thinking out loud, regardless whether he was right around. -- right or wrong. they were expressing that it does look like that. if we go back to the same scenario, why didn't nancy pelosi provide the guards? everybody in the whole world knows that she was asked to do it but they did not talk about. you cannot just have it one way. you have to be fair and tell everything.

you know what i mean? it's always one-sided. that's one thing as an independent that i don't get. why can't we tell the whole thing the way it is, even if we like them or not, it doesn't matter, you got to tell the facts. the other thing is, let's talk about the borders. i want everybody to hear this. if you support an invasion of the borders, then you pretty much screwed your grandchildren and your children with all these drugs. we know, we see the drugs coming across. how could you support something like that? that is ludicrous. think about it. host: all right, michael. let's talk to timothy next in new york, democrat line. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you. i would point out a story which is the federal deficit running at a record high and we have taken about 50% of federal spending in tax revenue. and in the inflationary environment that's running

contrary to the fed, i would promote a discussion back to the simpson bowles compromises on federal deficit reduction. host: all right, timothy. let's take a look here. we got a text from larry in winchester, illinois, who says this. "i don't understand why in the new spending bill there is money to protect other countries' borders but not our own." and on facebook, jim says this, "president trump is right, the washington establishment is out of control and it shows in the out-of-control spending in the spending bill. even when republicans take over the house, things will not get better." and a text from gary in atlanta. "my top story is the trump tax returns. he lied when he said he was being audited. hillary was right." sherry calling from minnesota. republican line.

caller: i was just wondering with the federal government, isn't their job basically to see to the needs of federal growth, the infrastructure of the country, the security of the country? and they are busy putting up special interests of their own little state. how do we put an end to that sort of garbage spending? host: ok. is that your top story, sherry? caller: yes. host: all right, let's go next to john in the vernon, new jersey, independent line. caller: merry christmas and happy new year. i would just like to say that as far as this week's issue is concerned, what happened on january 6, they got a little too violent, they got a little carried away. but what trump wanted to do was

he wanted to hold all of this garbage and review what happened on election i. he was right and it's part of the constitution, you can do that. we know that the democrats, they have been -- are harvesting ballots. they've been doing in orange county, california for 30 years. if you don't think elections are dirty, just go to jersey city on any mayoral election and you will see the dirtiest, the dirtiest politics ever. as far as the media is concerned, 97% far left wing, academia is even worse. what we are getting is a totally, totally false narrative here. i don't believe in violence that went on, i think those guys got carried away and they are a bunch of jerks. what they did. but you know what? we never heard the media outrage about antifa or blm burning down this country for 12 months before that and it's really hypocritical. you have a really good day and enjoy your holiday.

host: happy holidays to you. elvin, decatur, georgia, democrat line. caller: good morning. thanks for taking michael. i would like to talk about something from a historical perspective. and it has to do with how all this hate and stuff started. i believe it started when, they say that -- left africa. when they left africa, they went to europe and eurasia and they changed colors -- all men left africa. when they left africa, they went to europe and eurasia and they changed colors. there was no inventions and he and things, there was fighting amongst each other. when they started fighting amongst each other, they developed a culture of violence. and up until this day, to what's happening right now. all this hate and violence is caused by what i call intergenerational trauma.

thank you for michael. host: all right. -- thank you for my call. host: let's go to louisa next in hampton, virginia, republican line. caller: i want to discuss the fact that the january 6 committee started their investigation on january 6 for violence in america and the political environment. they should have started it back when kathy griffin held trump's head with blood coming out of it in her hands on social media. we have to stop letting these politicians decide when violence is ok and when violence is not ok. this is america. i'm black. it's ok for white america. i can't hear you. host: i'm listening. go ahead. caller: ok. i'm sorry. it's ok for white americans to do cocaine, not for black americans, they can do crack.

it's like -- they can't do crack. it's like this system is so driven by the powers that be that decide who can and who cannot do things. the second thing i want to bring up is the fact that here we are in america still where we were back in 1950 in america where we are fighting for ukraine, but not fighting for africans or haitians. we don't give no money to the haitians that we know are, i can't hear, i'm sorry. caller: ok, we got your point. let's move on to john in mendocino, california. independent line. host: that was a good point. very good point. i don't think the democrats actually thi that 1/6 is the big story t the media is trying to convince them of that and i guess they a doing that.

let me read you a definition from webster's dictnary. coup d'etat i wanted to start with, a jean provocatu's -- asian provocateurs. those employed -- agent provocatrs. those employed to associate themselves with members o a group or with suspected persons and bike fake sympathy to their attitudes to incite them to some illegal or harmful action that will make them liab for punishment. webster could just put 1/6 you know there was many, many, many agents of all stripes. if iad to say, well, i won't y. let's leave that. let's leave that to the second definition. coup d'etat. a sudden, decisive exercise of localized or concentrated force unseating the personnel of a government.

host: your point on january 6 is what? caller: well, the point is there was no mention of people are inflamed and you can insight them with professional insiders -- inciters. i happen to know the facts that rt television presented that there was actually people from ukraine involved in both the berkeley and charlottesville incidents. and i am sure this one, too. there's a lot of money involved. we've been spending billions for 30 years. host: let's take a look at january 6 panel member jamie raskin, a democrat from maryland. he talks about the criminal referrals the committee made to the justice department. >> the first criminal statute we invoked for referral, therefore, his title 18, section 1512 c, which makes are lawful for anyone to corruptly obstruct,

influence or impede any official proceeding of the united states government. we believe that the evidence described by my colleagues today and assembled throughout our hearings warrants a criminal referral of former president donald j. trump, john eastman and others for violations of this statute. the whole purpose and obvious effect of trump's scheme were to obstruct, influence and impede this official proceeding, the central moment for the lawful transfer of power in the united states. second, we believe that there is more than sufficient evidence to refer former president donald j. trump, john eastman and others for violating title 18, section 371.

this statute makes it a crime to conspire to defraud the united states. , in words to make an agreement to impair, obstruct, or defeat the lawful functions of the united states government by deceitful or dishonest means. former president trump did not engage in a plan to defraud the united states acting alone, he entered into agreements, formal and informal, with several other individuals who assisted him with his criminal objectives. our report describes in detail the actions of numerous co-conspirators who agreed with them participated in trump's plan to impair, obstruct, and defeat the certification of president biden's electoral victory. that said, the subcommittee does not attempt to determine all of the potential participants in this conspiracy, as our understanding of the role of many individuals may be

incomplete, even today, because they refused to answer our questions. we trust that the department of justice will be able to form a far more complete picture through its own investigations. third, we make a referral based on title 18 section 1001, which makes it unlawful to knowingly and willfully make materially false statements to the federal government. the evidence clearly suggests that president trump conspired with others to submit slates of fake collectors to congress and the national archives. we believe that this evidence we set forth in our report is more than sufficient for a criminal referral of former president journal -- donald j. trump and others in connection with this offense. we don't try to determine all the tar -- participants in this conspiracy, many who refused to answer our questions.

we trust the department of justice will be able to form a more complete picture through its own investigation. the fourth and final statute we invoked for referral is title 18, section 2383, the statute applies to anyone who incites, assists or engages in insurrection against the united states of america, and anyone who gives aid or comfort to an insurrection. an insurrection is a rebellion against the authority of the united states. it is a grave federal offense anchored in the constitution itself, which repeatedly opposes insurrections and domestic violence, and indeed uses participation in insurrection by officeholders as automatic grounds for disqualification from ever holding public office again at the federal or state level. host: that was jamie raskin of the january 6 panel. and we are asking you about your top news story of the.

the phone numbers are on the screen for you. give us a call. let's go to rhonda in freehold, new jersey, democrat line. >> good morning, america. merry christmas and happy hanukkah to all of my beautiful americans here. my top story is the january 6 committee and the referral for trump to go to jail, where he belongs for a long time for treason. the bad guys, and i say this to the trump supporters who i love, i got friends who are trump supporters who i love with all of my heart, you have been deceived, you have been deceived. you are paying all of donald trump's bills, his mortgages, everything he has. you are paying for donald trump's to take your democracy from you, your constitutional rights is what donald trump

wants. he is a fascist and there is no way around it. and fox news is ppetrating this scheme, fox news, newsmax, these guys are fascists. host: rhonda, that's take a look at an interview on fox news. this is the former vice president, mike pence. he talked about the generous six committee's work. -- of the january 6 committee's work. this is before the criminal referrals were made. >> to have a committee that was literally appointed in its entirety by the democratic speaker of the house really violates the history and tradition of the congress of the states. you may not remember in 2007, i was the ranking member on the select committee that looked into voting irregularities that had taken place on the floor of the congress. we had proper representation of both political parties, all

political parties were allowed to ask questions of witnesses. we produced a report at the end. but this select committee from the very beginning has represented kind of a partisan pain. i think it's one of the reasons why so few americans are paying much attention to what will happen today or to the results or recommendations of this committee. >> if you feel that way and answered the that way, then you don't believe it should be a criminal case that should be referred to the department of justice? is that what you are saying? >> i wrote this in my book, how many times adam schiff said that there was evidence of collusion with russia, 2.5 years we listened to adam schiff talk about evidence that he had seen that was never there. let me be very clear about this point. congress has no formal role in justice department decisions. they can make recommendations

today. but when it comes to the justice department's decision about bringing charges in the future, i would hope that they would not bring charges against the former president. look, as i wrote in my book, i think the president's actions and words on january 6 were reckless, but i don't know that it's criminal to take better advice from lawyers -- to take bad advice from lawyers. host: we are talking about your top news story of the weekend taking your calls. dan is next in kentucky, republican line. good morning. caller: good morning and merry christmas. happy new year. this built they just passing, i hope you don't cut me off, last time i called, you pushed the button before i even got to talk. but i think before they should

pass any big bill like that, if they are going to wait until the end of the, stay in washington -- end of the year, stay in washington. 4000 patients? i am -- 4000 pages. i am laughing. i read books. it takes a long time to read 4000 pages. a lot a people need to be reading about. just think, what's it going to be like next year? that takes us up to september? they are going to wait until christmas next year so they can vote for something just to get out the door? i don't think they get paid if they are not going to be there and do their jobs. but last time i called, you cut me off. host: i have not cut you off, dan. caller: i got cut off before you got me on the phone last time. host: maybe that was a mistake. caller: somebody was talking about the border, how we store

the west -- stole the west. i guess they did not read much history in school. because the louisiana purchase. it was purchased for $15 million from napoleon. some people call and don't have a clue what they are saying. they are like that lady before that was ranting. she got trumped arrangement syndrome real bad -- trump derangement syndrome real bad. host: ok, dan. caller: i hope everybody has a good christmas. host: merry christmas. allen, asheville, independently. caller: merry christmas. i was listening to that lady ranting about the fascists people that don't agree with her. but anyway, the people that are

seething are people who listen to the regular media. for 2.5 -- the media told us russia was a spy. i am not a trump fan. he did not get a chance to defend himself in the january 6 thing. the topic, the big news story, the censorship. nobody is talking about the twitter files and that the fbi was so involved in censoring what the people heard for the election. -- before the election. the other big thing is this ftx guy, this crypto thing that went on. this guy has got a lot of money behind him, he's home for christmas, he is a huge democratic donor. none of that is going to make the mainstream. that guy will get off. there is money that went to ukraine. there is money that went to ukraine. host: can i ask you a question

about something you said earlier? which is the january 6 and that trump never got a chance to defend himself. he was asked to testify in front of the committee, and he refused. caller: right. you know, he calls it a witch hunt, whatever. they've been after him before he was ever nominated as president. i understand what you're saying, i get it. trump is not, you know, anybody i am recommending to be president of the united states. but his whole presidency was undermined, undermined by people in our government that did not want him there. he's not part of the political class, i get it. you know, but he did not get a fair shake. host: all right, ellen. i got a. this is an article from bloomberg about the tax returns. the headline says this, trump's tax returns will be released after christmas, panel says. trumps tax returns could be made

public as soon as december tourney seven. democrats have to publish before they lose house majority. six years of former president donald trump's tax returns will not be released until after the christmas holiday, according to the house committee that is reviewing the documents. the ways and means committee this week voted to make the tax returns public once they were rejected to remove -- redacted to remove key identifying information, such as account numbers. the earliest of the information would be released is december 27. let's take a look at, this is from tuesday, the house ways and means committee chair, richard neal, a democrat from massachusetts, he spoke at a press conference after the committee debated releasing the former president's tax returns. >> for all practical purposes, the research we've done as it relates to the mandatory audit program, was nonexistent.

the tax forms were really never audited. and only by sending a letter at one point trump did sort of a rearview mirror response. i emphasize, again, that the mandatory program, as highlighted in what you will likely get in the next few minutes or so, it was almost nonexistent. and my point is that that was the legislative purpose with which we won 4 federal court decisions in three quarts. we argued for in examination of how the audit process played out. once staff went to visit the irs and once staff had a chance to go to some of the other locations that are within the jurisdiction of the irs, they quickly concluded that, in fact, the audit did not occur. there were no audits in a timely

manner. that goes i think for 2017 2018, and 2019. and i am restrained from talking about the other issues by the speech and debate clause. the mandatory initiative, it highlights the idea that it is sort of a two-tiered system. if you are at the top, you really have no chance of being audited. as steve pointed out today, your chances of being audited if you claim the earned income tax credit are far better than being audited for people at the very top of the economic system. so, as i noted, we made it through those substantial court decisions. it required patients. let me say something because i think it bears a personal note. this was never about being punitive. it was never about being malicious. i never over promised, i never

built an unreasonable level of expectation. and time and again, i refrain from the questions in the hallway that you posed to me because i was not about to upset the very sensitive court case. the other thing that happened, much to your dislike, was that there were no leaks that occurred from the committee. we kept this very much aboveboard, went back and forth with the attorneys at committee, and we were determined to put forward a case that would, as i noted early on when i was asked in the hallway right after my letter originally was sent, i was asked, what do you expect? and i said, "a long and grueling court case." that was my quote 3.5 years ago. that's what happened. host: that was mr. neil talking about president trump's tax returns. let's go to the democrat line.

caller: seasons greetings to all of your listeners and you as well. thank you for taking my call. clearly, the most important story of the week has to be the recommendation for indictments of trump. it has never happened before in our history. about the closest thing i can think of or find that would be close to it would be in 1862 when former president john tyler was elected to the confederate -- confederate -- confederacy, house of representatives and of course, that did not happen, no indictment happened. i have one question. for everybody who is high-fiving at the decision to refer to indictment, and that is, what happens if you put donald trump on trial? then he's acquitted what happens then?

do you strengthen his claim of innocence and the everything is a false narrative of fraud? andrew you then give him strength with people who are on the fence about whether or not he's been picked on or whether he deserves it? and his supposed candidacy for 2024? host: so what do you think? do you think that would happen and he should not be put on trial? caller: well, i think it's a risk. i think he should go on trial because he deserves to be tried, like any other american, he deserves the opportunity to defend himself. however, consider what happens if you acquit him. and there are similar different ways. you could have a hung jury. you could have a trial thrown out because of technical mistakes. there are any number of reasons why this man. could walk free. . and are you prepared for that while you are high-fiving each other and recommending he go to

trial and go to jail and go to hell? you may offer an opportunity to strengthen his candidacy in 2024. host: got your point. that's take a look at some social media posts. here's actually a text from, it says, the top story is sadly how the republicans totally caved across the aisle on the long-term spending package. the fbi twitter release was just too hot to handle and there is no better solution for a major problem then closure to a self-inflicted crisis. steve says i have heard many people question why didn't so and so do such and such to protect the i january 6? such questions do nothing to address the issue of what caused the interaction in the first place. they are merely attempting to divert attention from the root cause, donald trump. finally, a text from mary and sheffield lake, ohio.

trump's nft's. how can anybody ever taken seriously again? let's talk to randy in wisconsin, republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. i hope i can get them all in. when jamie raskin was up there, find out who jamie raskin is. as soon as trump was elected come he started impeachment proceedings and all kinds of stuff they brought. the papers did the same thing. the papers and the news media is what made trump what he is. trump is not a bad guy. he went by the tax code of anybody. how come the irs did not arrest him if his taxes were wrong? no, this committee that is voting or did vote to release his taxes to the public, they are going to come after you maybe next.

they're going to release your taxes. how about nancy pelosi before she leaves? let's audit nancy pelosi. she's got her money in the caribbean. let's start auditing some of these people in congress. it's terrible. number one guy you got to get on the stand here and get him, i would love is adam schiff. i want to know where he got this i have got definite 100% information that trump is a russian spy and all this stuff. the news media is with trying to wreck trump. trump did more for this country than anybody else and i'm voting for him next time and i hope a lot of people read right through this phony deal that they just had. no republicans kicked him out. liz cheney. i always liked liz cheney.

when she went on that panel and started saying the things that she said, sorry, liz cheney, you are out. host: this go back to those taxes because this is from tuesday, ways and means committee ranking member, this time a republican from texas, kevin brady, urged democrats on the committee not to release the tax returns of the former president. >> let me be clear, our concern is not whether the president should have made his tax returns public, as is traditional, nor about the accuracy of his tax returns. that is for the irs and the taxpayer to determine. our concern is that if taken, this committee action will set a terrible precedent that unleashes a dangerous new political weapon that reaches far beyond the former president and overturns decades of privacy protections for average americans that has existed since

the watergate reforms. our current law was put in place to prevent presidents and members of congress from targeting political enemies through their tax returns. unfortunately, the supreme court chose not to intervene to stop the flimsy and admittedly partisan democrat efforts to target former president trump's for purely political reasons. the result is that long-standing privacy protections for all taxpayers have been compromised. going forward, the majority chairman of the house ways and means committee and the senate finance committee will have nearly unlimited power to target and make public the tax returns of private citizens. and not just private citizens, political enemies, business and labor leaders, or even the returns of supreme court justices themselves. no party in congress should have that power. no individuals in congress should have that power. it's the power to embarrass, to

harass, or destroy americans through disclosure of their tax returns. after nearly half a century, the political enemies list is back in washington, d.c. and we worry this will unleash a cycle of political retribution in congress. many of us in congress believe that the current law was stronger enough to protect private citizens against political targeting but it is no longer. so today, republicans will fight to protect american taxpayers from this abuse of power. today, we will insist a transcript from the secret executive session be published so that american people know which lawmakers in congress support the power to target political enemies and which side will stand with long-standing taxpayer protections. this is historically a thoughtful committee that should

understand the precedent it may set today will have severe consequences for taxpayers and democracy for years to come. we urged democrats to turn back while they still can. if they make private information public today, it will be a regrettable stain on this committee, and on congress, and will make american politics even more divisive and disheartening. host: and we are asking you this hour about your top news story and we will hear next from mary in michigan. independent line. caller: good morning. alpena, michigan. yes. my top story was, well, was the reaction of kevin mccarthy, he is so-called future speaker of the house, who tweeted out when

the senate passed the bill that he will not work with the 18 republican senators who voted for it. so, the republican party ran on helping the american people when they got in power, that they would work together to help the american people with inflation, gas prices, the crisis at the southern border and the first reaction of kevin mccarthy is, i will not work with these 18 republican senators on any bills that they center the house of representatives in the next two years. so, so much for working together. and the other thing i would like to say for any of the, oh, what do you call it, the january 6 committee. i hope they have future republican committees have as much luck getting people to answer subpoenas to come before congress to testify.

because if you go through, there is many people that either refused to answer the subpoenas, and most of them are members of congress, or they pleaded the fifth. so we will see how their -- future -- host: we will see what happens. you can watch on c-span. that's going to bobby in spartanburg, south carolina, republican line. hi. caller: good morning and merry christmas. my top story is the united states postal service workers. i think they deserve their own holiday, because they do so much at this time of year giving out christmas cards that everyone sends out to each other, and getting our gifts to us

this time of year. i think they deserve their own holiday like the veterans do. thank you for taking my call and merry christmas. host: merry christmas, bobby. well, let's take a look at twitter. we have this tweet. we will have a clip from that, although we don't have it yet. i do want to show you the zielinski speech. we would do that the later in the program. despite the evidence assembled by the january 6 committee, any accountability for donald trump's attempt at an electoral coup d'état in 2020 will evaporate when the new congress convenes. happy holidays to all. and here is russ.

$1.7 trillion spending spree extravaganza. most politicians sitting in session board, never read the 4000 pages, eager to go home and tired of the criticism they deservedly are getting. how disgraceful. let's go back to the phones now. bill, alexandria, virginia, democrat line. caller: good morning. i am talking about the january 6 committee. the democrats took something that was very serious and made it into a tv show like the republicans said. starting with things like marching in. they march in in a single file. that's the most ridiculous thing i've ever seen at every hearing. like they were so important, the democrats took august off. how can an attempt to that you are investigating, you take august off? there was a hurricane in florida on a wednesday. they canceled a hearing until

thursday because they did not want to share the video time with the hurricane. the head of the committee had covid but he could not give up that tv time. he had to run the meeting remotely on video. and i'd like to see all the video from january 6 posted. you will not see video of white people spreading feces on the wall. they will not show that. thank you. host: all right, let's go next to tim, our seo, wisconsin, independent line. caller: yes, so i am independent and i have always voted, well, not third-party but i voted both parties quite a bit. and always you will see in politics, there is nuance, god knows there is hypocrisy, there is a lot of it on both sides. but my top stories for the year are hypocrisy and sheep.

i mean, we had the worst economy with inflation, that border is just aloof with people running through, and the people being affected most by that are poor minorities, african-american and latino workers, and the people are just being bogged down down there. and we have people in this country that voted them all back in. and you reap what you sow. i know the republican party are about as pathetic as the democrat party. you have mitch mcconnell and all those cheap in the senate voting for that outrageous omnibus bill . you got to turn your god to solve your problems. because obviously, congress is not going to do it. merry christmas to you, ma'am, and everyone else out there. host: merry christmas. let's take a look at this, michael who sent us a text. another good story is from joe

rogan, who did a podcast on cobalt mining. our country has financial interest in cobalt, the majority mined in the congo with child labor. very sad our country supports practices like this. let's take a call from john, cocos bay, oregon, republican line. john? caller: thanks for taking my call. merry christmas, everybody. host: merry christmas. caller: my top story of the week is the -- hello? host: yes, go ahead, john, i can hear you. caller: hello? my top story of the week is the exposure of the fbi by elon musk and the social media criminality in our government. that's it. merry christmas, everybody. host: merry christmas. and that's going to be our last call for this segment. we will have more time during our 9:00 eastern our for your calls.

if you did not get a chance to get in during this one. next on "washington journal," we kickoff authors week with dr. ben carson and talkshow host and entrepreneur armstrong williams. we will also be joined by benjamin crump, the civil rights attorney. they will be talking about their book called "crisis in the classroom." stay with us. ♪ >> there are a lot of places to get political information, but only at c-span do you get it straight from the source. c-span is america's network, unfiltered, unbiased, word for

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7:00 a.m. eastern and important events throughout the day. catch washington today for a fast-paced report on the stories of the day. listen to c-span any time, tell your smart speaker, platspane radio, powered by cable. >> with great confidence in the caucus, i will not seek reelection to democratic leadership. in the next congress. >> -- leadership in the next congress. >> on sunday, we will talk with journalist susan page who wrote a biography on nancy pelosi and will discuss the most memory of the speaker. >> by electing meat speaker, your part is closer to the ideal of equality that is america's heritage and hope. this is an historic moment and i

thank the leader for acknowledging it. it is an historic moment for the congress and for the women of america. [applause] >> watch our conversation on the speaker of the house nancy pelosi's career sunday on c-span and online at c-span.org. >> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back. this week "washington journal" kicks off our authors series and we are going to feature different writers and others from across the political spectrum on a variety of public how a seat and politics issues and we will begin our series with former trump housing and irving development secretary dr. ben carson and also armstrong

williams. they are co-authors of the book called "crisis in the classroom." welcome to all of you. dr. courson, i want to start with you. you have different backgrounds and political persuasions. how did you come together to write this book? guest: we have known each other for a noble of years and we were talking about what was going on in the city of baltimore, inflation, people graduate from high school who are functionally illiterate, and how this was literally robbing these people of opportunity. even though we come from very different political perspectives , we recognize that good education is really the ticket to success in this country and we have so many who are not

getting a good education that it has resulted in a crisis, particularly in the inner cities. from the very beginning of this country, john adams said our system is based on a well educated and informed populace and the reason that is so important is people who are well education -- educated and informed are difficult to fool. if they are not informed they can be swayed easily. host: if you would like to call in with a question or comment for the guest, feel free to start now, the lines are republicans (202) 748-8001, dem doubts (202) 748-8000 -- democrats (202) 748-8000, independent (202) 748-8002. how is the book organized?

guest: everything starts with education. i grew up in a household with 10 brothers, and three sisters. i have seen a lot of education in the household and i learned some of us did well in school and some of us did not. the one thing my parents understood, as much as you emphasize education, the education experience is different but skills, morals and understanding right from wrong, my brother bruce may have had to repeat the third grade, but my father taught him how to work and he is very successful. my brother is a state senator in south carolina. our brother who is a professional fabricator. another brother is top of the class in electricians.

sometimes it may be a vocation in need to learn but education is the foundation that helps you communicate. understanding what the capabilities may be and if they don't they teach will have trouble in the school system. you see so many kids in the system with a 1.0 gpa. the teachers are not only teaching they are becoming disrespected. what we wanted to talk about was how do you get kids to learn? it is not the indictment of public schools but indictment with all the money being spent, why do we have very little to show for it. so i said, let's put this in a book because it is not that we were trying to make anyone feel they were doing their job but we

need them to do a better school. we know the charter schools have more say so in the child's curriculum, discipline, and or interaction with the parents. it may not be perfect what works better than most public schools are working and we have to find out what that is. host: dr. carson, back to you, he just said we are not indicting the school system of the teachers, so what is the problem? there is enough money going income according to your book. guest: there is plenty going in and what isn't happening is children are not getting appropriate guidance and we are emphasizing the wrong things. we have school so that people learn how to function well in a society. web will graduating and they buy something and they can't read the instructions in don't know

how to follow the instructions. sometimes i ask people question, what countries border the united states and they are like florida. they have no idea. how can you function in a situation like that? whose fault is that? i probably am not as generous as armstrong. i think there is fault there. i think a lot of school boards and political organizations are dictating to teachers what they have to do. you have many people who go into the teaching profession because they have a talent and a desire, but then they are constrained in a way they are not allowed to use those talents and they become frustrated and that is why there are such a large portion of teachers quitting within the first five years and

we can have a somewhat turnover in that area. guest: i do believe that while we are not indicting schools and teachers, we should take a look at bureaucracy and transparency, especially in baltimore, when they tell us the kids were showing up in class and wait talk to parents and the kid hadn't been in the classroom for two years and they are still getting paid on the pupil. you see bmws and restate his bends in the parking lot. -- and mercedes benz's in the parking lot and are we paying for their lifestyle? the teachers unions coming into power is showing less kids educated. host: let's talk to benjamin

crump, who is joining us on zoom. can you hear me ok? guest: i can. good morning. host: can you tell us what role race plays and class and your focus on baltimore for this book? guest: certainly. i think civil rights plays such an important role in every aspect of american society. education seems to be even more prevalent when you think about the disproportionate rate of high school graduations and certainly college age students who are given an opportunity to be further educated. as i have said in the book, along with dr. carson and armstrong williams, if you don't

have an education in american society today, it is as if you are already in prison. they just haven't slammed the jail cell doors yet, because how do you provide for your family in an legitimate way? how do you keep the lights on, pay the mortgage if you can't have a job because you don't have the basic literacy skills to be able to compete in this ever advancing technological age? you think about the digital divide and how black and brown people are being left hind, and that is part of the education component. even though we have different political views, we acknowledge there is a problem and many people choose to deny that a problem exists, and we cannot solve this problem unless we at

least acknowledge the problem that there is crisis in the classroom. even though dr. carson and armstrong have different views, we agree that we have do something about this crisis. for me, it is about getting everyone to the table. if we have everyone to the table acknowledging the problems in the business community, the faith community, the law enforcement community, and especially the education community, all sitting there saying we can solve this problem, being honest in transparent, i know we can make sure all of our children have a quality education so they can all have equal opportunities at achieving the american dream of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. host: i want to ask one more

question, we know that education is the key to a better life, but how do you define a good education? is it simply literacy, a college education which can be expensive? how do you define it? guest: being literate, the ability to communicate, express yourself. host: is that enough? guest: it is more than that, create a skill. we have kids turning to drugs, prostitution, sexual trafficking , homicide, because they don't have skills. they go through school for 12 years and it required no skill. they are ashamed and embarrassed. unless you give them engineering, math, science, give

them the skills they need. we all agree that every child can learn if they have the right tools. my parents found a way to find the best of our skills but it was not necessarily in the classroom. my brother could've been a better electrician or carpenter. you have to develop those skills and they take an education and it takes math and the ability to measure. parents must engage to give them the beth -- best path so they have the skills so they have the best chance at the american dream. host: let's talk to callers. kevin is in arkansas. caller: thank you for taking my call. listening to the comment on the

panel this morning, everybody is touching on the basics of what public education should be in the united states. the debate is, what should be do in terms of educating our children? should our children learn how to do reading and math are sure they just learn to be citizens and that is one of the debates in history. as far as the present date problem is because one of your panelists mentioned that a baltimore graduate can graduate from high school and not be able to fill out an application to get a job. that is not just true in baltimore, that is true for the average public high school student in america, especially in more rural areas. the schools are doing something

right. they are successful in one area in this area, if they can be successful in this area they can be successful in academics. when i go to work and i leave at 5:30 in the morning i see the high school kids practicing football in on the other field the girls are practicing soccer. if they can get those kids out there to practice while in soccer at 5:30 in the morning when it is raining and cold, then the are doing something right. we need to figure out what it is the coaches are doing to get the kids involved in those athletics and turn that into the classroom. part of our job as a college instructor is i train teachers. a lot of the times these students come to me and i asked them why do they want to be a teacher and they say it is an easy job. i don't have to work summers and i get off at 3:00 and i love

kids and i love being around kids. at that moment, i am forming a mental image in my mind that the student is not going to make it after a year of teaching, because teaching is hard. the students in my college start to understand that teaching is hard by the second year when they are getting into the teaching classes. host: let's get a response. benjamin crump, would you like to make a response? guest: i think there are solutions. he offered the notion of motivating students, that is not the problem here we have a lot of energized students. i think a lot of times the rocker see teach it -- the bureaucracy teaches that doing what they love is a lifelong mission trying to engage and

inspire and most importantly empower students. one thing we did in baltimore and i agree with the caller that it is not just baltimore but all throughout american cities, it is not just the inner cities. it is lot of the rural communities as well where you have students who graduate and cannot do the basic functions of society. we think about how they inspire these young people. i think with the african-american community, you have all of these young people doing everything humanly possible to try to make it to the nba, and they will spend all their energy and time trying to make it to the national basketball association, where there are only about 300 jobs.

we have to educate them and say, in the engineering field, there are 800,000 jobs. you are much more likely to be able to be successful and for longer as an engineer versus being a basketball player. we have to have teachers in the classroom that start to break these aspects down and have support staff and school boards that inspire them to do that. i was proud to know that in carolina they are making an emphasis on getting more black teachers in the classroom so you hope they can find common bonds with students, especially young black men who have the highest dropout rate amongst the school system. it is starting with those basic things, looking at what is

successful at the school and how can we intellectually and strategically inspire students to say i want this education because i can get a realistic job, support to support my life and my family, just like all of them trying to be the basketball and football players that is a pipe dream or being a lawyer, doctor, teacher, engineer is much more practical. guest: i think we have long lost the capacity to treat children as individuals. we have the cookie-cutter approach when we try to fit them all in one setting because a lot of this comes from the teachers unions. you don't have a real curriculum that works and a real tutorial where children can learn.

we are trying to make them all the same. we have forgotten about individuality and that is part of the problem. guest: we want everybody to fit into a nice little package and when people start thinking outside the box and thinking for themselves, often they are persecuted. guest: the teachers associations are pushing the standardized tests. i think these are politicians and everybody has to come to the table and be honest. the problem is prolific, more than just the teachers associations but the politicians and the community and everybody is at fault and every buddy can be a part of the solution. host: will go to ronald in mississippi, independent line. good morning. caller: good morning.

i want to start out by saying i and dashcam and educator who has been in the classroom for over 45 years. i am a black educator and black mail, by the way -- male, by the way. when i first started i had a couple of laws and now i have 10 pages. most of it is how much money we have lost in financial age, and you can't teach this or that and we are only going to teach this bylaw. how are you going to deal with that? teachers are bound by the law. in most states, if we don't follow the law, we get put in jail. i understand the conversation, but how much money are they spending?

how many months did you spend talking to teachers and parents, because right now as a teacher you get your education and you get the bachelors degree and you have to go back again and again. you spend more money trying to become a teacher than a doctor trying to become a doctor. host: let's get a response. armstrong? guest: what he is saying is they are placing the burden on the teachers just to teach and you ask yourself, how am i going to do this? that is why we are losing so many teachers. it is the government and the bureaucracy because they are not focusing on education. they are focusing on

indoctrination with the teachers and students and books. how often do we get fresh and different books in the classroom? when i grew up, not only did we talk about the things we talked about today, but we talk about morality and how do you teach teachers -- treat the teachers and how not to disrespect them. in the past, if kids had problems teachers and parents could intervene and now there are so many laws passed that prevent teachers from teaching and parents from disciplining the children where they can have a healthy learning experience. all of these things are just unraveling in the education system. we need to change it or it is going to get worse. host: dr. carson, i want to talk to you about the pandemic

shutdowns. you said a study demted that students were rapidly' inground academi bureaucrats doubled down and let continue.tional carnage in poor communities, any students did not have access to high-speed learning which made very difficult. in many cases the children were underachieving and this put them on a trajectory of academic failure. as a doctor, what do do? you need to protect students, families, teachers, but at the same time, there is a pandemic going on. guest: you have to do a little research and find out what the facts are. the facts are that for healthy children, the chances of dying or having a severe complication from covid is 0.025%. host: what if they are exposed to parents or grandparents at home or teachers? guest: the facts show that

children are not spreaders. there was a lot of propaganda that encouraged people to do things that make a lot of sense and who suffers from that? the children here they are not learning. you always have to do a benefit to risk ratio. there is no situation where there is zero risk. so you have to ask, what is riskier, not having these people educated which will have a terrible impact on the rest of their lives, or thinking about the tiny percentage of people who may have this and spread it to someone? you have to be able to put those in perspective. host: let's talk to kevin in owings mills, maryland, republican line. caller: a twofold question and i will keep it short. first of all, with dr. ben carson and armstrong williams

and mr. crump, with that political thing looming, why would you, mr. crump, how do we negate the fact that the persons delivering the message have credibility below zero in the black community because of their relationship with donald trump? politics does play a role. host: let's get a response. guest: when the congressional black caucus was founded, they

had a motto that i think is relevant to your question. they said "no friends, no permanent enemies, just permanent interests." interests are the children and so i tried to say, politics were always separate us, cultural conflicts will separate us, we have to try to rise above that to say we want our children to be able to be educated and be successful. i have great respect for armstrong and dr. carson just as i have great respect for all of my friends on the emma craddick side of the aisle -- democratic side of the aisle. what i am saying is we can learn from everybody. even though we don't believe in

everything with each other, we can have common ground to work or solutions. this book is about trying to get people at the table together to begin to discuss the issues. we can disagree and agree not to be disagreeable to have a dialogue. part of the problem in america, we won't even attempt to communicate with one another, and that continues to have this chasm of division that makes it when we talk in circles and get nowhere, we can't be forever at a brick wall with each other where our children continue to lose. we have to try to communicate. that is one of the things that made martin luther king great. he talked about how we have to

communicate if we have a chance to create the beloved community. host: let's go to a text from roy and austin, texas. he said i appreciate all three panelists and dr. carson, i love and respect you so much. my question is -- do you believe the problem began in the education system when discipline was taken out of the schools, hamstringing staff at schools? thank you for what you are trying to do. guest: certainly that has a role to play. there are a lot of things that used to happen in the schools that don't happen now. in 1831, the europeans were studying us and said how could a nation barely 50 years old be competing on everything with us. it is impossible. one thing he looked at was the education system and he was very impressed by how much emphasis we placed on it and by the fact

that we also taught our kids the difference between right and wrong. most of the schools, the 10 commandments are not in. what is wrong with thou shall not kill, commit adultery, lie? what is wrong with that? we need to understand that we were different and it was that difference, that faith, that respect for each other, love your neighbor, don't cancel your neighbor if you don't agree with them. maybe that played a part. guest: the other thing is, the charter schools are not cookie-cutter like public schools. they have more flexibility and the ference can -- the parents

can enroll the kids and remove them if it doesn't work. the state is more interested that the system stays in place, not that they work. you change the system and you change the educational opportunities. the reason you are seeing such disruption around the country is because after covid, parents realized what the system was doing to their children. they decided to change the laws and change the superintendent and the process and have more say so their child's education. if you don't look them, go to the people and elect people and change the laws and that is happening across the country and children are beginning to learn again because parents are involved. host: joe is next in silver spring, maryland, democrat line. caller: for 23 years i have been

working with the navy and you are my hero. i was surprised you took a job from a man in the department of housing. i wonder why you took that job. talking about black americans about a man who has no respect. armstrong williams has no respect for education. host: let's get a response. guest: i would say that i was given a choice of any department

. i wanted housing and urban development because i grew up in dire poverty and saw the kinds of things that were impeding the progress of people and keeping people mired in poverty. that is something that was near and dear to my heart and we created a lot of programs and encouraged self-sufficiency. that is very important. we have to put aside the politics. from working in the top administration, i can tell you how much emphasis was placed on helping people in minority communities excel and the policies resulted in less unemployment than had ever been the case and greater wages than had ever been the case in the minority communities. tremendous support for historically black colleges and universities.

there are a whole host of things, but you have so many people saying, it is just people because it is associated with this man. people have to be able to divorce themselves from politics and actually see what happened. host: armstrong, your response? guest: people define us by what they read and your. as long -- hear. we are loyal to our labels as republicans, democrats, we are not loyal to our values and principles anymore. when you are loyal to your labels and not value, you don't do research. host: the caller asked about your qualifications. guest: they are so much more than my life and i am not here

to talk about my qualifications, because matter what i would say it will not change your mind and that is your right and freedom. we are here to talk about education. i have my education. i would love to see others have it. it is a part of giving back with mr. crump and dr. carson, why we are here, to give children a better passport and give them a quality education. host: let's talk to henry, de soto, texas, independent line. caller: when a baby is born it cannot talk and by the time it can enroll in school it can talk. children come here ready to learn. it is the parents' responsibility to keep the child with that life and wanting to learn.

they can learn wherever, at school, at home, but also if a person has resources, they can help that child in terms of giving them an opportunity to get exposed to other things beyond schools, be it traveler or whatever. parents have to be able to keep their children engaged in terms of wanting to learn. guest: the caller brings up a good point. most of our education actually does not take place in the classroom. if you can inspire a kid to want to learn, you have really lit a fuse that will result in very good things.

i went to the school system in detroit that was not top-notch educationally, putting it mildly. but everything i needed to get me where i needed to go was there at that school or in the city. i got to the point where i would get on the bus and go downtown to wayne state university and go to the library there and get familiar with a lot of people there and i worked in the laboratory there. i would go to the detroit institute of art. i knew every picture in there and who painted it. all of that i did on my own and that prepared me for a lot of things in the future. guest: it is so important. growing up, reading books, reading newspapers, education is not just in the classroom

continuous education. i still read two books a week. i read everything, science, fiction, history. it is a constant thing. not reading what is on the internet. that is not really reading. getting into books and history and learning about other cultures and the intricacies of ukraine and russia, history of how we got here. you have to learn about the ottoman empire, the greeks and socrates and all of these philosophers and sculpture and art. it is a process that never ends. even when you do it, it, is still a fraction of what is in the world. host: dr. carson, i want to ask you about your educational journey. i know initially you weren't doing well in school. guest: that is correct.

i was a horrible student. host: why though? . guest: first of all, i couldn't see. when i got glasses, i went from an f student to a b student. she made us start reading books, my mother and submitting her book reports. that completely changed my life. as i started reading about scientists and explorers and surgeons and entrepreneurs, i began to realize the person that has the most to do habits with you is you. it is not someone else -- most to do happens with you is you. it is not someone else. i was a bookworm. i would miss the bus because i was reading. host: so that contribute into

you doing better in school? guest: absolutely. host: paul is next in rockville center, new york. caller: good morning. i am enjoying this presentation immensely. i have enormous respect for dr. carson in particular. i am an educator for some 50 years now in the new york city public schools for 10 or eight of those years and also in boston, massachusetts and or myers, florida. the one thing i see consistently -- and fort myers, florida. the one thing i see consistently with students is not ring prepared from -- not being prepared from home. these kids are ill prepared for learning. the main thing we try to accomplish as educators is to teach somebody how to learn.

it is a process. these gentlemen you have on the program are all very remarkable individuals who have understood that a lot of it comes from self-motivation and wanting to learn, and they have done that. i am a former high school dropout. i am an attorney and have been for 25 years. that is also if motivation into something i wanted to do for myself. part of it came from home, the values and the work ethic. these judgment have all of those qualities and it is a very impressive thing to hear today. my primary objection to education is teaching and a lot of kids being prepared in the home for they come to school. a great book i suggest for all readers, the worm and the apple written some years ago about the

teachers unions and the destruction they have had on american education. host: let's get a response. benjamin crump? guest: i think a lot of it is based on what this caller said in the previous caller said is about motivation. i remember thinking, it is not just about aptitude but about attitude. when i was a little boy, i remember thinking of how cool it is in america when we were preparing to go to school, my grandmother when we complained it is cold weather, it is too cold, she would say, there is no such thing as cold weather, it is just people don't know how to dress properly to deal with the cold weather. and my grandmother had an eighth grade education but had incredible common sense, and she understood that for any problem

there was a solution, and it was your perspective and how you look at it. one person can look at cold weather and say, i just don't want to deal with it, it is painful, agonizing, or you can look at it is how i can prepared to deal with these challenges. it is attitude. we have to give our children the right attitude to know that this education is probably the most important dynamic of your life to teach them to be lifelong learners and make them understand what malcolm x said that education is the passport to the future. when you start empowering children with those different mentalities that education is key to my well-being and key to my success and key to my culture and children's' future, then they look at it differently but

it all starts with having the right attitude as both dr. carson and armstrong and many people have acknowledged. host: let me get to a question from an educator in washington, d.c. who says this -- i have taught students who have a lot of needs that need to be met before they are even in a position to learn. there is only so much a teacher can do with 28 kids in the classroom and standardize tests looming. is there a way we can hold parents accountable are mandate therapy that parents have to complete outside of school hours? what do you think, armstrong? guest: we just had a town hall in baltimore and talking to people who take care of people at homeless shelters and feed them. they were talking about when they would bring young mothers

with their children to shelters and they would say let's get the kids in the classroom and the mother would say i don't want my child in a classroom, what did it do for me? for a lot of these, it is a generational thing. they put less emphasis on education. you have many things people are dealing with. you pass that value onto your children or if you meet someone along the way, mentors who can mentor you and everyone has a role to play in this process. they are younger and they don't necessarily have the same value of education and the teachers are left with the burden and it goes back to the parents but the larger society. much of what they want to teach now in classrooms is diversity, whatever that means.

there are so many things we are distracted from then teaching a basic education that it is overwhelming. host: there is a question from twitter, marcus asks -- where does culture fit into the equation? if math and science was valued as much as sports and entertainment, would passion be limited to what is taught in the classroom? guest: it is all important, but it needs to be prioritized. the key thing about education is you need to be able to function in society. is there room for discussion about cultural issues, absolutely, but that should not be the first thing. we shouldn't lace all of our emphasis on gender pronouns and things of that nature. after you have accomplished what you need to accomplish in terms of becoming academically prepared, maybe you could talk about that.

it is so unimportant. an attitude, the previous caller talked about attitude, it is critical. my mother is to tell us if you walk into an auditorium with racist, bigoted people, you don't have a problem, you can sit anywhere you want. host: let's go to pikesville, maryland, carla, democrat line. caller: good morning, all. happy to speak with you. i grew up in baltimore city and am a product of the public school system. i am 63 years old. i came from the time where mom and dad said do your homework and you did your homework. i graduated from high school and

i attended baltimore community college and from there the university of maryland college park. i was thoroughly disgusted and upset with the system. i would like to share my thoughts and suggestions regarding accountability to eliminate this crisis. i think accountability is on all of us, parents, teachers, administrators, and politicians. i would like to see some type of quality and assurance program established, review. when we are accountable, we are more productive. accountability for administrators, mentoring programs, absenteeism programs. this normal now is extremely dangerous and it is going nowhere unless we all come together. i would like to see more women, men of my age group get more involved.

gentlemen, i am so proud of you. i am a mother of two sons who i am extremely proud of as well. i would like to see us create a system that will open up the mindset, change this normalcy of just coasting. i will get off of my soapbox now. guest: what charter schools do so well is they are able to change the curriculum to meet the child's needs consider buying a curriculum that creates chaos, confusion, dissension. you have to create the curriculum that works for the child where you are. guest: we talk a lot about accountability. right now in the system, teachers, administrators get paid the same whether the children fail or whether they succeed.

that is not the way it works in the rest of the world. we need to have something that brings some accountability to what they are doing. guest: i want to interject. i think that we can never, ever give up our public school system, because i am an opponent of public school education. the majority of our children will be educated in the public schools, so if we want to deal with the crisis quite honestly, we have to deal with the public schools. the thing i loved about carla is the fact that she said there should be quality assurance at every level. i don't blame just the bureaucrats and parents, we have to see that it is all of us and see that all of us are part of the crisis and have to be part of the solution. the caller will be talked about culture, it is critical.

it is the chicken and the egg, which comes first? by saying that everybody can be an entertainer or ask all or athlete to be accessible and -- successful, and these are constantly pushed in immediate and social media and culture. we have to change the culture to say you are better trained to be an engineer or a lawyer or mechanic. these you have are much more realistic because their market share numbers. that is part of education too and part of culture. it goes hand and hand. the last thing he said before he was shot, he said if we can

educate the masses than we will uplift the race. that was culture and we have to continue to talk about how important education is, not just for some people, but for a buddy in america. host: mike is next in akron, ohio, independent line. caller: thank you for c-span. merry christmas to one and all. we are all a product of how we were brought up and raised. i taught for 30 years in public schools, but before that i attended both public and private schools the suburbs. i went to public schools up to eighth grade and went to a jesuit high school in 1957. the jesuits are considered the liberal wing of the catholics. that is i -- where i learned

about the gop, kennedy, martin luther king. since then, when i graduated from high school, i went to kent state university after the shootings took place. my sister was on campus when it took place. we have many interesting family discussions about that, but to the point of education, i believe it is something that is achieved, more than received. no matter what school i went to, public or private, i coached soccer and track with junior high school kids and i loved every minute. i would never go to a game and say i think the game is rigged or the coach is cheating.

my last comment is this -- i believe the most important factor as to whether a school is failing is the mr. if it has a high mr, it is probably a failing school and if it is low, it is doing well. it stands for mobility rate. with public school and private school a few blocks apart, the private school has a lower average income and more people of color attending and better statistics. that is because the mr is 10% or lower. if you are lower than 10% you will have good scores. if it is over 80%, it is tough. host: i think we got the point. want to get in a couple more

calls. athens, georgia, independent line. caller: thank you. american black heroes, superstars, the prototype for black leadership in america, thank you for that. mary christmas. -- merry christmas. your readers of this weiss is do not read -- crisis do not read. the attention of the masses of lower income people is distracted. if you sold 10 million books, what is next?

i suggest you take more cities and build an institution and organization to combat mass segments in america. i love c-span immensely. i love it because it is the source of stability and government oversight and source of freedom. host: appreciate your comments. dr. carson? guest: that is the reason we establish the american cornerstone institute, to do the things this man articulated. looking at those pillars, faith, liberty, community, and life. we have the little patriots program, the and ocular to indoctrination we call it. we have to take a stand and oppose those things that are in the process of destroying and

bringing our country down. host: joe is next, richmond, virginia, republican line. caller: -- caller: the elephant in the room no one is addressing is the critical race theory. we are talking transparency and we want to educate americans, but our children have devices they learn from. they go to class, and adults look at them and say, you don't know what you are talking about, right? so everybody is well spoken. thank you for doing the hard work you do. we love you for that. thank you for taking my call. host: comments? guest: there is a time and place for everything in the classroom. and until the kids learn that, i don't think we should overcrowd

their mind with these things about critical race theory, transgender is him, -- trans-genderism. and parents have to be involved, teaching them something outside of what should be the correct one. but, listen. i am not trying to lessen the importance of it. i am just saying there is a time and place and parental involvement. that is a whole other topic area >> my previous -- that is a whole other topic area. guest: my previous book extensively deals with that. host: leon? guest: i am suing over these prohibitions to being able to teach all of american history when you start saying you cannot talk about the struggles and obstacles and the racism and

discrimination that black people had to suffer in america. our young people used ability to learn from the mistakes of our past. host: leon is next, democrat line. caller: good morning. good morning, everybody, on the panel, good to see you again. in terms of education in the book that says "crisis in the classroom," i think there is crisis within the community, and in terms of the lack of parental involvement with the school system from what i see, never had involvement in elementary school years, and then in high school, very low parental

involvement. i do believe that literacy is what we need to think ok, as a trade-off to the united states army, i took that from a platoon, turning people who had a platoon sergeant and platoon leader, and the classroom size went from one to 15 ratio of students that did well. i don't see why they should not have teachers assistance, not just in elementary schools, but all the way through high school. with one teacher in the classroom to have the majority of kids over 30 and iep's they have to address, it is overwhelming. when one side of the classroom goes up in smoke, the one side

goes to where the teacher is. they need support. there is less than 1% black males on the floor teaching young black males. that is why they gravitate to the music industry, the entertainment and history, and i look at people with motivational speaking, and when they tell me they want to be singers, i said, there's no book in here that says football 101 or basketball 101. host: let's get a response. benjamin crump? guest: i agree with him that we have to engage our students more to get them to thinking about greater possibilities than just the influences of social media, basketball, rap, football. that is not the reality of what

most people will achieve in the community or in this country, so we have to teach them practical applications for how to have a roadmap for being successful in their lives. host: that is benjamin crump and also with me dr. ben carson, armstrong williams, co-authors of "crisis in the classroom." thank you for joining me. guest: thank you. guest: thank you. host: coming up next, open forum. i will be taking your calls on anything public affairs or public policy related up until the end of the show. you can start calling now. we will be right back. ♪ >> on the cover of mark berger's recent book, it says he will take the reader "inside

youtube's chaotic rise to world domination." he has reported on google for the past seven years, youtube was bought by google in 2014 for $1.6 billion. in his prologue, he reports that more than 2 billion people visit youtube every month, making it the second most visited search engine on earth. google is first. the bloomberg reporter writes that youtube is dominated i music, gaming and kids videos. >> mark bergen on this episode of book not+, available on the c-span now app or wherever you get your podcasts. >> and with great confidence, i will not seek reelection to democratic leadership in the next congress. >> in november, how speaker pelosi announced she is stepping down after two decades in the top leadership spot.on christmas

day , we will talk with susan page, who wrote a biography on ms. pelosi and discuss her most memorable moments as party leader, using the c-span archives. >> by electing the speaker, you have brought us closer to the ideal of equality that is america's heritage and america's hope. this is an historic moment, and i think the leaders for knowledge and it. thank you, mr. boehner. it is an historic moment for congress, and for the women of america. [applause] >> watch our conversation on speaker of the house nancy pelosi's career, sunday at 10:00 a.m. eastern, on c-span and online at c-span.org. >> the new 118th congress convenes on tuesday, january 3, at noon eastern. the first time in two years,

they return to washington with a divided government. republicans controlled the house and democrats retain control of the senate majority and new incoming numbers younger with the average age of 47 compared to 58 in the previous session. the new congress will be more diverse with a record number of women serving, including more women of color. join the process as the gavel into session and hold 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. ♪ >> middle and high school students, it is time to get out your phones and start recording for your chance to win $100,000 in total cash prizes for the

grand prize of $5,000 by entering c-span's ent cam documentary contest. this year, we are asking students to picture yourself as a newly elected member of congress and tell us your top priority and why. create a five minute to six minute video showing the importance of your issue, from opposing and supporting points of view. be bold. don't be afraid to take risks. there is time to get started. the deadline for entries is january 20, wh a3. for competition rules and tips, visit our website at studentcam.org. ♪ >> "washington journal" continues. host: all come back to "washington journal." it is open forum until the end of the show at 10:00 a.m. eastern. i will be taking your calls on anything you would like to talk about. something that we really did not get to in our first hour was

president zelenskyy's visit earlier this week, so i want to show you a clip after president biden announced an additional $1.85 billion in assistance to ukraine. [video clip] >> against all odds and doom and gloom scenarios, ukraine did not fold. ukraine is alive and kicking. [applause] thank you. and it gives me good reason to be here with you to join in victory. we differed eight russia -- we defeated russia.

we have no fear. nor should anyone in the world have it. ukraine has gained this victory and gives us courage, which inspires the entire world. americans gain this victory, and that is why you have succeeded in uniting the global community to protect freedom and international law. europeans gained this victory, and that is why europe is now stronger and more independent than ever. the russian tyranny has lost control over us. [end video clip] host: that was ukrainian president zelenskyy, who was in washington earlier this week, talking to president biden and addressing congress. it is open forum, so let's start taking your calls right away. matt is in salisbury, maryland,

democrat line. caller: good morning. permission to make two comments, please. one is about the school system in montgomery county. i have a child, comer county. one of the things that is affecting us is grading. the grades are not posted real-time. sometimes it takes two weeks that a child takes a test. sometimes it takes two weeks before you get the results. and it goes for multiple classes. let me jump to my next point real quick. i felt so good knowing that that guy came over here to speak to congress and finally made a case. we need to stand with ukraine 100%. all the way to the end. regardless of what it costs because, you know, peace and

stability in this world, it is nothing to take lightly. we have come from the barbaric age, and there is no way we can go back. we cannot tolerate this other thing that is going on. you have putin doing that to ukraine. it is not fair. what is really happening, a lot of people have missed in the media as this, putin has failed the russian people, and what he is doing is to divert attention from his failure. for example, a whole lot of the first world countries are losing very fast. putin took a huge bet on fossil fuel, pulling oil rigs, all

through europe because he wanted to be the king of fossil fuels, and it was wrong. he cannot tell the russians he is not strong enough to face the russians because we were wrong. we got this wrong. the whole world is moving toward electrification, we, too, need to move toward electrification. host: got your point. let's go to the republican line, cincinnati, ohio. the morning. caller: good morning. thank you for the previous segment. i was really great and all of those gentlemen, the book, all of you there. you were talking about earlier the week's top stories. one of them was the one with sam bankman-fried being let out on sources reported half a billion dollar bail, $500 million. i someone that's a $250 million

bail. however, it was a no cash bond. his parents signed over the equity of their home to cover that. it seems as if, somehow in my opinion, he is getting specialized treatment, especially with so much money missing, and he is out of the country, and a lot of times flight risk is a question. they are just so many unanswered questions. all the money, following his campaign contributions. i don't understand why there isn't much difference between him and bernie madoff. i called bankman the crypto bernie madoff. i don't understand that. host: all right. go ahead. caller: real quick, with this nation's freeze and ohio in the midst of it, we could use some good old global warming right now. merry christmas. host: merry christmas. real quick, i believe this is

from "the wall street journal" about ftx. this is an article that says executives knew ftx was illegal. caroline elliston apologized in court this week as she pleaded guilty to fraud and other offenses, telling a judge that she and others conspired to steal billions of dollars from customers of the doomed crypto exchange while misleading investors and lenders. "i am truly sorry for what i did ." she is the former chief executive of mr. bank freed's crypto trading firm alameda research. that was a new york federal court. she said "i knew it was wrong." nolan's next in chester, pennsylvania, independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call.

i was actually calling regarding last segment with armstrong williams, my fraternity brother, dr. carson and benjamin club. i am calling as a misclassified american indian. i loved the segment, although, i would have loved to speak more about the education attainment with american indians and how we often are left out of the conversation and this is our land. i would also like to discuss american indian heritage society. we have a position regarding misclassified american indians and restitution so you can head online. lastly, on ukraine, the only thing i have to say regarding that as an american indian is billions to ukraine -- $40 billion to ukraine but where is

the money here for the vets and small business owners, for the people who are homeless that are suffering right now? that is all i really have to save. please go to urbanindianhertiage society.org to sign a petition. have a merry christmas. host: staten island, new york, democrat line, kevin. caller: good morning. excellent show. it is what i watch c-span for. three gentlemen from all kind of different educational levels and political perspectives. it was an excellent, excellent show. i particularly like how c-span can bring these individuals together who do not disagree, but, to keep the dialogue focused on the issue when people

try to bring in other things, critical race theory certainly important, but not with these gentlemen were talking about. another observation i have is that at some point or the other, these three individuals have said some kind of statement to make my blood boil. i do not understand where they were coming from. the conservativism or liberalism . again, to bring them together united on this issue that it is plaguing the african-american community is i just hopes c-span follows up with the american cornerstone institute and i see more shows like this. please keep up the good work. happy holidays. host: happy holidays, kevin. a previous caller mentioned ftx founder bankman-fried and how he

was released on the $200 million bond. here is the article from cbs news.com. it says that he walked out of a manhattan courthouse thursday with his parents after the agreed to sign a $250 million bond and keep him at their california home while he awaits trial on charges that he swindled investors and looted customer deposits on his ftx trading platform. the $250 million bond is believed to be the largest federal pretrial bond ever, says the u.s. assistant attorney nicholas ruth. philip is next. west virginia, republican line. caller: good morning. i just wanted to make a comment on the previous section. i think c-span did a disservice to its viewers having benjamin crump on and promoting him as a civil rights author. in fact, he is a personal injury lawyer. he rose to fame by going on tv

every night during the trayvon martin issue, claiming every single night that trayvon martin was murdered. he polluted the legal system by trying to influence the jurors that eventually sat, even when trayvon martin -- even when mr. zimmerman was found innocent on all counts, he still claims trayvon martin was murdered. i checked his website 15 minutes ago. his website still rants on and on about how trayvon martin was murdered. having him on was real distinguished -- with real distinguished intellectuals like ben carson and armstrong williams was a bad thing. he is a race hustler. it was a bad decision. please don't. host: got it. mike and middletown, new york,

independent line. caller: hello. host: hello. caller: i watched the previous segment, too. and i am past their age. i went to grad school in new york city. they had history books that taught us about slavery, how it became. and the debts went to africa, as far as i know, according to those history books, and one tribe would capture the other tribe and put them on the ships, so their own people, one tribe was capturing the other tribe and putting them on the ships. i have heard nothing about that. was it the catholic church or somebody who wrote that, did they have the full story of that? you know, that is what i learned

as a child and going to grad school. but they were trading with the african tribes. host: so, what is your point, mike? what does that mean? caller: let me hear that the one group of black people capture the other group of black people and put them on those ships. it was not americans that did it. they are saying we did it. americans. host: but there was slavery in america for a really long time, mike. caller: yeah, but it did not come -- it started with the story i just told you how it started. as far as i have got with history books when i was a kid. host: ok. nancy is in brooklyn, new york. democrat line. caller: hi. host: hello.

can you hear me? host: yes, i can caller:caller: --can you hear me? host: yes, i can. i also wanted to talk about c-span's other segment. it has been great. and to the gentleman who just called about slavery. that is just one aspect of it. but what i want to talk about is border control. i, new york -- i am in new york. we have recent arrivals, and we already have problems. now, because of that, i am more sympathetic and understanding the border states, but i also wanted to say that every country, every sovereignty, every country has to protect their borders. it is not that we are not welcoming new arrivals, it is just that we cannot afford the many numbers in new york city.

we already cannot even solve our homeless problem. our schools. yet, our mayor eric adams, so graciously has accepted people and trying to do the best we can with it. so, thank you for allowing me to speak. thank you. host: speaking of the border, there was a supreme court decision about title 42, and here is a portion of this week on abc last sunday. it was texas governor greg abbott who has fought to keep title 42 in place. [video clip] >> if the courts do not intervene and put a halt to the removal of title 42, it is going to be total chaos. >> how do you keep that in place? that is about covid and public health risk. >> whether it is covid or some other issue, when you have

people coming across the globe without knowing at all with their health statuses, that almost by designation is a public health risk. there is every reason to keep that in place. >> are you talking about>> the flu, rsv? in fact, you have seen people come here across, and they were seeing may be person a day with covid. so how does a judge look at that and say, oh, it is a public health issue? >> but some do come across with covid. no one knows exactly who comes across with covid. they are not tested when they come across the border. who knows how many people have covid. who knows what other types of disease they have. the answer is nobody knows because nobody is testing. [end video clip] host: we are back on open forum, taking your calls. you can call in now on any topic, public affairs or politics related. republicans, (202)-748-8001. democrats, (202)-748-8000.

independents, (202)-748-8002. patricia is next in sterling heights, michigan, republican line. caller: hi, good morning. i was hoping to get a hold of dr. carson. there is a black gentleman and there was a movie out that i saw that upset me so bad. i do not know if people remember , they were called blue babies. well, this gentleman, he discovered the cure for this, and he never got credit until he was old. in fact, the white dr. would not operate unless this gentleman was by him every step of the way. i thought, what a disgrace that this black gentleman was a genius and discovered this procedure and saved so many lives and he was old before they

finally acknowledged who he was. and it is a shame. the same with nasa. it was black women who got our astronauts back to earth. they never got credit. i am thinking, how many black people out there are not given this opportunity? what a shame in this country, the geniuses out there, our school system, so many out there, god help this country, thank you very much. host: all right, patricia. let's go next to mark in washington, independent line. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: this is probably the most important phone call i will ever make. this is concerning avoiding world war iii. i cannot understand why the news is so entirely one-sided. a quick history lesson. the united states put nuclear missiles on jupiter rockets in turkey within range of striking moscow back in 1962.

in response, the russians put nuclear missiles in cuba, which we found absolutely intolerable, which we blockaded and bombed cuba and went to the threat of nuclear annihilation. how is it we don't understand that 14 nato countries already have u.s. nukes that the u.s. already has 850 military bases, and that putin does not, nor will he, tolerate nuclear missiles at his doorstep. the united states would not tolerate nuclear missiles at their doorstep. the united states is a military aggressor based on world domination. just yesterday, they received a 10% increase in their military budget, outflanking any to vest extending. the news -- outflanking any

domestic spending. the news is crying about the cold and ukraine third we have a million americans out here. yesterday it was six below with wind chills here. the news needs to get their head on straight and take a history lesson. mr. putin has a right not to have nuclear missiles at his door. we would not tolerate it either. merry christmas and may we all live another year. thank you. host: merry christmas. tony, las vegas, nevada, democrat line. caller: yes. tony. hi. i finally got through. i am so glad. i love your program. it is great. i just wanted to mention about the education. i was born in 1960, went to school in 19 625, and guess what -- went to school in 1965, and guess what? i was born with a handicap. i stutter. they just pushed me through school. did not try to help me.

but this was in the 1960's, before, you know, texas was the last state to do the -- how much can i say here -- integration. so you were in an all-black school, where i was getting an education, to an all white school, because texas was forced to do integration. and i just wanted to let you know it all starts with a kid going to school hungry, not having the right education, not being paid attention to. but, you know, i was able to squeeze my way through life. 63 now. and looking forward to retirement. but, yeah, education all starts at home. your parents have to send the

kids to school, put food in their stomachs. somewhat of an education before they even go to first grade, and they are not doing that. thank you very much. host: all right, tony. let's talk to jim next in pennsylvania, republican line. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: listen, with great interest i saw the zelinski speech before the united states congress, and as a former professor of history, i was wondering, what is the endgame in this whole process? we have not asked that. there is no idea as to what is going to happen and when it is going to happen. what are we going to do when the russians don't evacuate? are we going to give them more weapons? it just seems like democracy demands funds for defense, but

also it involves an endgame. we should have an endgame in mind and we should be receiving in certain areas of ukraine and withdrawing their troops. host: do you think that should be up to us? caller: absolutely not. host: what -- caller: that should be up to the individuals involved, but we should encourage them. for instance, we should encourage russia and zelinskyy with our weapons, and we should say, this is far enough to read b cannot sacrifice anymore because of the -- far enough. we cannot sacrifice anymore. there should be an endgame. a lot of people are wondering, how long does this go on? to give them another $30 billion next january? host: what president zelenskyy is saying is the endgame's victory and they don't want to give up their country.

caller: defined victory, what is victory? is that let russia take a portion of crimea westmark they are not going to give that up. we can talk all night about worship should do, but there -- about what russia should do, but there has to be a point where zelenskyy says, we will accept that and we are not going to have these disastrous bombings of hospitals and orphanages. the russians are not going to stop because right now they cannot win that war but they are going to win this war. they were hoping the crimean people would say enough is enough. that is the point where we should come to an endgame. host: jim, let's take a look at a portion of that press conference between president biden and president zelenskyy from earlier this week. [video clip] pres. biden: today, i am announcing the next of our security assistance to ukraine. $1.85 billion package of security systems that includes both direct transfers of

equipment to ukrainian needs, as well as supply and ammunition ukraine will need in the months ahead with artillery, tanks and rocket launchers. critically, in addition, like rescission aerial munitions, doctors will include a patriot missile battery, which will train missiles as far as the ongoing effort to bolster ukraine air defense. this could take some time to complete the necessary training, but the patriot will be another critical aspect for ukraine to defend itself against russian aggression. altogether, today's new security system with humanitarian funding amounts to $2.2 billion in additional support for the ukrainian people. we should be clear about what russia is doing. it is purposely attack ukraine's critical infrastructure, destroying the systems that

provide heat and light to the ukrainian people during the coldest, darkest part of the year. russia is using winter as a weapon, freezing people, starving people, cutting them off to one another. it is the latest example of the outrageous atrocities the russians are committing of ukrainian civilians, children and their families. the u.s. is working with allies and partners to provide critical equipment to make emergency repairs for power transmissions to strengthen the stability of ukrainian grids in the face of russian attacks. we are also working to hold them accountable, including efforts in congress to make it easier to seek justice for russia's war crimes in ukraine. [end video clip] host: that was a joint press conference between president

biden and zelenskyy earlier this week. it is open for them, so feel free to call in. republicans, (202)-748-8001. democrats, (202)-748-8000. independents, (202)-748-8002. dan is in virginia, democrat line. caller: good morning. i was calling over the issue of education. i listened for the last hour, and they never really bring up what they are preparing students for. what does the country have them prepared for going to work? they never look at what other countries are doing. they prepare their people for jobs, and then they are concerned about people coming across the border. you know why they are coming across the border down there? because they know that america

has a big gaping hole in preparing rich people assume the jobs that they're coming over to get. they are cleaning peoples houses and picking fruit, but that is not all, and people understand that is not all they are doing. they are doing the framing, the painting that americans could be doing for a decent wage. but we don't prepare them. you get the kids in there, and at 12 or 13 years old, they say they have hyper active tendencies, what is bad with giving them a bag of mortar and teaching them? when i was in the six grade and went to junior high school, i walked into a shop class that was loaded with equipment that i never touched. they had tools, they give me a saw, a piece of sandpaper, and some shellac.

i made a gift for my mother. i spent three years and could not so much as build a dollhouse or frame a shed in my yard. they did not have any intentions of preparing the to be able to do any of that work. host: what did you end up doing, what do you do now? caller: well, i went into the service and spent 30 years in the service, but, you know what, that is a great point, the service said, i have a job for you, and i will prepare you to do it, and i am going to prepare you and certain disciplinary aspects to do it well, right? and that is what i ended up doing, but my education and school system, they left me and funneled me right to the military. i was standing there at the toast grade with very little options, and i went right in. if you look at the military, you had it on your segment, we are running behind on recruitment, right? you know what they're going to

do about that. they're going to make it happen. that is what they are spending those multibillion dollars for. they are going to spend money in communities to get these kids wherever they are to do it because we need them and we need a workforce. it does not serve a nation any purpose to have great numbers of people running around in america with no jobs and no future. that is where your crime starts. host: let's talk to leroy next. raleigh, north carolina, independent. caller: good morning. your last caller made an excellent point about what your panel should have been talking about with education because when talking about critical race theory, oil, the teacher should have a say in something taught outside of the curriculum. black history should've been in the curriculum because everything happening to black kids now has a residual effect on slavery when white people

wanted to teach like children how to read and write, and they were lynched for that. and to the fair huizinga act of 1968 -- housing act of 1968 when a black person could buy a house, and the kick the black men out of the house, social service could come at midnight, and decree that women could not raise young black men, when you have folks next-door that would say, if you don't join us, we will kick your behind every day, so what are the kids going to do? we were not allowed to create black wealth, and they could not buy houses in the community to create black wealth, and white 12 was created by free slave labor, and i am 77 years old,

and i did not know about it until i was 75 years old, and i found out i knew nothing about black history. and ben carson and armstrong williams missed the whole point. trump was not -- he was a symptom of what is happening in this country. it reminds me of how hitler lead to destruction because i mean anybody can see that you don't attack the white house and get away and part of it he is getting away with it because the laws were written to protect people like trump, not

black people. and when the constitution was written, black people were considered 3/5 of a person because this out to not have an representation so they counted eight black men three fits of a person. i could go on and on. host: we did get your point. abraham in newport news, virginia, republican. caller: thank you very much. i want to say racism in america is a billion-dollar industry and we will never get rid of it because just as soon as black people or the country start coming together, somebody, whoever is in charge of the country, will all of a sudden say that clarence thomas is -- to me, he should be the poster child and should reach the top

ladder. host: what do you mean that racism is big business? caller:caller: yes. host: how? in what way? caller: this way. look at all the people like the george floyd's. all these people that the police shot, and look at all the money handed out on a daily basis, all because all they have to do is say it is racism, and the checks start flying. host: the money is handed out to who? caller: black people, and what happens to the money? the money goes right back to the white community. just like if you gave every black person in america $10 million a day for reparations. at the end of the year, the white community and the people who own things, if they would end up with those $10 million per person, the money is a

business, racism is a business. host: let's take a look at outgoing speaker nancy pelosi. this is at a press conference on thursday, and she was asked about her time in leadership and what it meant for female colleagues and women who might want to join congress. [video clip] >> 23 women, 13 democrat -- no, 12 democrats and 11 republicans, out of 435 people, they were 23. over 400 men and 23 women. some of us just made a decision. we have to change this. we have to recruit, fund, encourage women to run, give confidence to them, that not only should they be here if they are needed to be here, but we

now have 90 democrats, and they have made some progress lately, and that is good but we need more. we need more people of color and our caucus is about 77% women, people of color and lgbtq, the beautiful diversity of america. in terms of women, though, they always ask me, what advice do you have? the best advice i had that i extend to you is be yourself. you are the only person in the history of the world who is you. what you have is authentic, special, unique, and that diversity is necessary at the table. also, i want women to have confidence and sometimes i ask a little more, should we say, like

myself, it is because i want them to know it is ok to assert yourself and have confidence in what you bring to the table, and, also, to understand your uniqueness. so, i mean, i get overwhelmed by women telling me how i have given them confidence or a role model. i say, don't worry about any role models. be yourself. [end video clip] host: outgoing house speaker nancy pelosi. it is open forum. we are taking your calls. give us a call about anything you want to talk about in the news, happening in washington. republicans, (202)-748-8001. democrats, (202)-748-8000. independents, (202)-748-8002. mike is in laguna woods, california. independent line. caller: good morning. first of all, i have an observation for america history.

if you ask most americans what in one word was dr. king's dream, you generally draw blank. i invite viewers to go read the dream. it is short. it is about freedom. he mentions freedom more than 20 times throughout the speech, and, freedom has clear policy implications that means the individual has a power to run their own lives. for example, in education, that means the parents or customer of the education service has the power to choose the school for their own child. if that school is not serving the interest of the child, the customer, apparent parent, should have the power to choose another school for school vouchers.

it has another implication. it means for you as an individual, own your own body, which means that drug coalition has found a front to that principle, so in california, those two goals are undermined by the public unions. in one case, the public union that runs the school system for its own interest, and the prison guard union, which has an interest in maintaining a large number of convicts, more convicts than more money for the prison union. instead, freedom is the implication there, and drug prohibition that radically reduces the number of convicts in the prisons. host: we got that, let's go to michael next in springfield gardens, new york, republican line. caller: good morning. it was a great show in terms of

having mr. benjamin crump and armstrong on. students are required to pass in math, science, u.s. history, and global history, and the english-language arts. however, in big urban areas, we have a large percentage of kids who are coming from other areas of other countries, and these kids are able to pass the math, the science, the u.s. citizen majors, and the global regions because they are given it in a different language. however, our language is only given in english, and in new

york state, we have a lot of kids that are very great readers, and they are very consistent, but a lot of them has failed to obtain a high school diploma because states require kids to pass an exam in english, and then they just entered the country just impossible. host: all right. martha is in hampstead, north carolina, democrat line. caller: hi, mimi. host: hi, martha. caller: can you hear me? host: yes, go ahead. caller: i am retired now, but for eight years, i was a nationally certified school nurse, and a suburban say title 20 school, which at least 80% of

our students lived at or below poverty levels. so we provided free breakfast and lunch for all students, and a walk-in clinic because i was probably the only medical person who saw many of our students because they cannot afford to go to a doctor. my comment is that it does not really matter what you are teaching. if you have teachers who are hungry or not well, they cannot learn. we also had a diverse student body. we even had a special department called english as a second language so that we had lots of children who could not speak english so they had to be taught

english before they could even, you know, go to any of the regular classes. and you would have to pay attention to the amount of children who are subject to domestic violence. a lot of my children, their parents were working two or three jobs, so parents could not participate in a lot of school activities. i think we are a band-aid society. we start talk at the top, and we don't take care of the core issues that make it possible for people to learn. anyway, -- host: all right. let's go to terry in danville, virginia, independent line. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: good morning, c-span. i would like to make a comment

on the three guests you had earlier. yes, education is very important, but i believe more than that, the number one priority is morals. we need to get a spirited background. that is what has been missing. out of all these three guys you had on, ben crump has selfish motives. hey, you have been disseminated against. you have always been the victim. no matter how much as black people we get, we always want more because of listening to people like that. we need morals. when i started off as a child in the 1960's, i went to school in the fifth grade. i was misbehaving on a constant basis. i was crafty enough where when a person got caught in my little

group, i would always sit back and watch them go get a spank ing. one day i was caught and got the spanking. i told the teacher, hey, i am going to tell my parents. i was shocked when my teacher said, i spoke to your mother yesterday. and that day, since that day, it changed me because it was someone who was more crafty than me. i started behaving like i should, and that is where it starts, from the home. we have a bad morals. we need to teach our children the bible first. then education. and another thing about this white and black, it is always white and black. i am so sick of white and black. there are many white people who i love who are decent people, and there are many blacks, as well, but there are many evil

black people and evil white people, and if i meet some, i don't care what color you are, i am going by, hey, are you a decent person or not? i think we need to implement the death penalty, and we need to carry it out in order for us to be a better society. and let the people know that we care because as long as we don't, we are going to keep having murderers every day. host: all right, terry. let's go next to john in west jefferson, ohio. republican line. john? caller: hi. a while back, all this money was being spent. i have it in my mind, like $7 trillion being spent, but maybe it is more than that, maybe closer to nine with this new bill passed.

a while back i posed a question, if i had $1 trillion bills and i stack them on top of each other, would they reach the moon? host: the omnibus bill is $1.7 trillion. caller: i know, but then there is that other bill, the transportation bill, you know, i am talking about in a few years that biden has been in office. host: ok, anyway, go ahead with your point. caller: well, ok, so the answer came back, no, $1 trillion stacked on top of each other would not reach the moon. it would take $3.5 trillion to do that. the point i am making is biden has signed enough money into law to go to the moon and back, if you stacked on top of each other. and those are dollars that we, the taxpayers, have to repay. just trying to put perspective

on this for everybody. merry christmas. host: merry christmas. jim in georgia, democrat line. caller: good morning. to ui for taking my call. merry christmas -- thank you for taking my call. merry christmas and to all the c-span team that brings this magnificent program, thank you. before i say anything else, i want to give a shout out to my u.s. representative. i think he is fantastic. i really wish he had run for governor instead of the woman that ran against our current governor. i think he would've done a much better job. i think he would do great and a bigger role in the democratic party. i have never been a fan from nancy pelosi at all.

in fact, i think the best thing i can say about her is she is a pretentious hypocrite. she was talking about, oh, we need to bring these people in on the democratic party. well, the seat that hank johnson now has was occupied by cynthia mckinney some years ago, and, you know, she went to the capital, and this is when they were implementing -- if you were representative, you have to wear a pin on your lapel so people recognize you. she was like, that is ridiculous, i am not going to do that. she wanted to go in, they stopped her, and she was like, get out of my way, i am an elected person. forget you. [laughter] so, she -- there was a scuffle or something. nancy pelosi just threw her under the bus. that was really important.

there is more i want to say, and with ukraine, this putin fellow, he is like stalin. he has sent murderers overseas to kill people because, you know, they did not agree with him. and this thing in ukraine, we have got to put the cub bosch on putin because that is just -- that is no good. host: we are not going to get to the last thing because we are out of time, but eggs for calling, and everybody else that calls during the program. that is it for today's "washington journal." we are back tomorrow morning, 7:00 a.m. eastern.