♪ host: this is "washington journal," december 26. with the passage of the one point $7 trillion omnibus bill, the legislative work has ended.

democrats have called this a success, pointing to major legislation with some republican support. some republicans criticized the spending involved with some of the legislation and also the method in which legislative work gets done. that in mind, what grade would you give the 117th congress and while you are thinking of a grade, tell us why. (202) 748-8001, republicans. (202) 748-8000, democrats. (202) 748-8002, independents. if you want to text us your grade with a bit of explanation, (202) 748-8003. you can post on facebook, facebook.com/c-span, twitter, @cspanwj, and follow the show on instagram. the folks at gallup keep irregular to on rational approval as they say it. they don't give it a letter

grade with a break it down terms of approving and disapproving in the latest survey was december 9 through december 22. the approval rating for congress was 22%, compared to a disapproval rating of 73% with certain expressing no opinion and numbers staying largely consistent throughout the course of the survey this year when the approval was at 17% and disapproval was at 79% with only 33% of those no opinion when it comes to their rating of congress. when it came to the work of the 117th congress, nbc breaking down some of the legislation that was passed during the time of the last two years. they saw the sweeping climate tax bill, inflation reduction act, the largest attempt to combat clap -- climate change in u.s. history with clean energy funding covering cars, homes, and businesses, methane

emissions with money set aside for communities affected by air pollution. saying the legislation contains new measures to lower prescription drug costs. they highlighted election law aimed at preventing another january 6. revising the 1887 electoral count act that made it clear the vice president could not discount electoral votes and raising the threshold for objections from one member of each of the house and senate until 1/5 of both change -- chambers. in the congressional work passing what nbc highlighted as the best new gun law in 33 years. tightening gun laws in the safer communities act, a bipartisan bill led by chris murphy and john cornyn of texas, with grants for states for leg -- red flag laws against people who

presented a threat to themselves or others. these are the latest bills passed in congress. when it comes to that effort you can look at legislative or other things and if you wanted to give congress the grade and tell us why you did, give us a call. (202) 748-8001, republicans. (202) 748-8000, democrats. (202) 748-8002, independents. if you want to text us that grade and explain a bit of why you gave it, you can text us at (202) 748-8003. it was after the passage of the omnibus bill last week that the senate majority leader, chuck schumer, talked about the work of congress and what he felt was a legislative victory for congress. here's a part of his statement from last week. [video clip] >> looking at the seven or eight guest bills we did last year were bipartisan. let's look at this great summer

that we had. guns was bipartisan. admission to nato was bipartisan. further back, the post office was i partisan. most of what we did was bipartisan and i think that's going to continue. that is where the republicans want to be to try to work with us when they can. doesn't mean we will always agree or get what we want but i think you will find bipartisanship continuing in the next congress more than the prognosticators believed. >> do you worry, though, in the next congress that the votes you were siding, 52, 53 votes, when you look across the aisle next time you won't see rob portman, you will see j.d. vance. you will see eric schmitt. you know, we will see how katie britt is. she's not going to be dick schaap b. do you worry that the conference across the aisle is going to be

of a different type? >> that is, on the one hand we have lost some of the republicans who worked in a bipartisan way successfully, but i think that the republican party as a whole, the mainstream of the republican party has learned and is learning that, you know, the trump way doesn't work. the maga way doesn't work. that was the first test, the sound of this bill. it had the people that were still there but you can be sure if you look at the votes it was a desire on the republican side despite pressure from what the house republicans said to get this done. i think you will see the same pressure continuing, i think that is indicative. host: chuck schumer from last week when it comes to grading

congress, what grade would you give them. you can choose the letter grade or factor other things in as well. (202) 748-8001, republicans. (202) 748-8000, democrats. independents, (202) 748-8002. text your thoughts. that's (202) 748-8003. russ in california gave congress f for their work, saying they stumbled and bumbled, waiting until the last minute to spend our money foolishly with no regards to debt. saying it's outrageous. greg from facebook saying that he calls it a c, he agrees that there are some things that should be passed versus the obstructive republicans who have no counterproposals. another comment from facebook giving a grade of f saying that they are more concerned about

filling their pockets and getting reelected, they don't even show up for the bill, they don't read it, they are not concerned about u.s. citizens. scott from facebook saying c minus, the only reason they don't get a fail is those who kept a sense of independence or who changed parties when they felt it was right, going on to say that a good example of this was liz cheney and kyrsten sinema. may not always agree with either but going against their parties has certainly shown that independent spirit we need so badly in government. that's some of the letter grade social media provided. you can text us at (202) 748-8003, you can call us on the phone lines, (202) 748-8001 for republicans, (202) 748-8000 for democrats, and independents, (202) 748-8002.

the chips and science act, a major piece of legislation and message that the u.s. doesn't intend to fall behind china when it comes to global competitiveness. the law that grew out of the bill negotiated by chuck schumer and todd young of indiana making a whopping 280 billion dollar investment in u.s. semi conductor manufacturing, research development, tax breaks for the production of chips. highlighting one of the final pieces, the respect for marriage act from tammy baldwin, democrat of wisconsin, openly gay american elected to senate forcing the federal government to recognize legally perform same-sex marriages and provide full benefits regardless of sit -- sex or ethnicity or national origin. they will enjoy the benefits if they get married in a different state. factor those in if you wish when it comes to your grade of congress, the grade you would

give them. let's start off with john in south carolina. republican line. the idea of the grade that you would give congress, john. thanks for calling, you are up first. caller: the grade would be 94, limited to two terms like the president and of every day they missed on being there, reduce their pay. if i don't show up, i don't get paid. why should they get paid if they don't show up? they need to do the job they are there. host: did you say 94 or something else? caller: no, i said i would grade them low, around a fortiori 45 -- 40 or 45. they miss so many days for other things. i also feel that for every dollar they spend overseas, they

should help the people in the united states. host: all right, thank you. let's hear from max in michigan. independent line, max. go ahead, your grade for congress. >> thank you for taking my call, i would give them a t because they have committed treason. a good percentage of them have all committed treason. host: how so? caller: they went against the constitution into go against the constitution is a treasonous act. host: what specifically do you mean when you say you they went against the constitution? >> like any time you go against, you even think about going against constitutional rights, you are committing treason. these are the penalties of treason. like what happened to those reporters after world war ii. host: let's hear from michelle

in florida, republican mine. grade for congress. michelle, go ahead. caller: i'm 76 years old, i've been republican, democrat, independent over the years. can you hear me? host: go ahead. caller: i would give the congress this year about a 90%. no country is perfect in its politics. we are all one people in the united states. we should be helping other countries, such as the ukraine, which is fighting for its democracy. no republican, democrat, or independent once our country to go down the drain, to go down the lifestyle promoted by the

last president. i will not mention his name, he is just a person who does not understand what the constitution means and the love of our country for freedom. host: when you gave congress 90%, what are you basing that on? caller: all the different bills they have passed this year . i know our president isn't perfect. the present president, biden, is not perfect. but they have tried and i'm sorry to say, even though i have been republican in the past, they have not, all of the republicans have just gone counter to biden because they feel that they are, that he is not doing an excellent job.

there's not going to be any president that does an excellent job. so the congress did the best they could this year. they passed a lot of good bills for the people. yes, we do have a voter problem. many countries, many people want to be here in america. they want to work. they want to help us build our country even better into what it has been in the past. host: ok, that's michelle in florida. independent line, a viewer in wisconsin. allen, hello. caller: good morning, pedro. merry christmas, happy new year. i have to give the most recent congress a big, fat f. unfortunately, the democrats control the house and senate and they have a decades long standing commitment to return bankruptcy protections that

exist for all other homes in this country to student loans, you know? there are 43 million student loan borrowers and even before covid 38 million of them were underwater on their loans. this is a big government college enriching monstrosity. the core of the whole thing is the unconstitutional stripping of bankruptcy rights. democrats a been promising since 2006 to return this and as the year finished out instead of seeing them actually do this, two great bipartisan bills in the house and senate that could have been passed, they wrapped themselves in this palace intrigue, january 6 nonsense and other issues that don't cause the wealthy elite one penny one way or the other, which everywhere they go, and that's what they did, the entire system is finished.

even before covid more than half of all borrowers were never going to be able to pay their loans. 85% were underwater. half of these people were republicans and independents. congress betrayed 38 million distressed loan borrowers. it makes blood shoot out of my eyes. host: you can bring specific issues when you consider grading congress on the lines. this is james hopkins off the facebook page, saying that if the analogy is one of congress being a subject like math and a report card is due, trouble markers made learning impossible. every student has to repeat the subject after the obstructions are removed and the grade is incomplete. you can do that, to, if you wish, want to phrase it that way when you make your grade. the lines are there if you want

to call. social media sites are available . a lot of you posting on facebook and twitter as well. one of the things one of the collars talked about was showing a pervert -- for work. the topic of proxy voting that came up in the house and at the hill, saying that proxy voting went out with a bang when the house closed shop in the last week, saying the majority of lawmakers voted remotely and what would likely be the last time that members can utilize the procedure, talking about the passage of the omnibus bill saying that fewer than 50% of lawmakers showed up on the floor to weigh in on the $1 trillion measure, 52.4% of the body when accounting for vaccines voted remotely on the omnibus bill, leaving the chamber far emptier than usual with 120 four democrats utilizing the procedure compared to 92 republicans, marking 4 different -- person difference when it came to proxy voting.

you can see more of that on the hill if you want to check it out there. fill in south carolina, republican mine. what grade would you give congress this year or if you want to look at the last two years, go ahead. caller: well, i would give them f, you can't give them no worse a score. bottom line. done nothing for the country. i heard some lady talking earlier that we need to take care of other countries and help other countries. this congress, i don't know what, $8 trillion in the past couple of years? they haven't helped no one in any other countries. they made a mess of every other country they attempted to help in because it won't really help. we just want to act like we are helping. just like in the united states. they don't really want to help, they just want you to think they are helping and if you can keep

thinking that way in thinking that way, the people keeping their grandchildren in debt, the great great great great great great grandchildren, nothing no one will do about it. all they done to us for the last three years is lie, lie, lie, and steal. they ended up at the end of this year with the republicans jumping right in there with them and start lying and stealing from us, too. this is all we got to look forward to. everyone forward to this republican congress next year, i don't think any republicans, democrats, anyone left. it's all me, me, me, me, what can i get in stuff in my pockets , that's what congress gets, a big fat f from me. host: in the house last week, kevin mccarthy, who hopes to become the house speaker next

year, when the new congress is seated, talks about the new congress involving the price tags you have seen over the last few years. here's a portion from the last week. [video clip] >> the appropriations process has failed the american public and there is no greater example of a nail in the coffin of the greatest failure of the one-party rule of the house, senate, and presidency than this view here. you controlled it all. mr. speaker, i just heard them brag about how great the rules committee is. they are so great that they care about the people. they care so much about the people, they never did their work. the senate didn't pass one appropriations bill. not one so that people could read it or have debate. they passed a continuing resolution for the people so

they wouldn't shut down the date they picked. let's take it right before christmas so the members won't be here or read the bill or vote by proxy. they care so much about the people, they created a system to control the floor. all those votes in their back pocket. so the people have no say. the country is tired of it. mr. speaker, i know you are busy reading, but i know that this is true, the country is tired of it. you know why? they told you last month. they told you last month that you don't put people before politics and you have done nothing but put politics before the people of america so you know what, they fired you. they fired you. they chose a new direction for the country by electing a house

republican majority for the 118th congress. host: tomorrow that if you want to see it on our website, c-span.org. what grade would you give congress? tony says f, they blacked out the country to accept an omnibus mizzen straw city and equate spending with success and in reality they have done nothing. a twitter viewer says bnd, but that they are amazed at what did get accomplished. another viewer saying f minus for the congress. one viewer, william stein, saying that with no voting rights bill, he gives a c grade. another viewer giving a plus saying that they are perfect at being a corrupt hottie. -- body. texting is available if you want to text us.

we will go next from cheryl in pennsylvania, independent line, talking about the grade for congress. cheryl, good morning. caller: good morning, i hope you have a very happy new year and that for the sake of america i hope we can do something right in the government. i give congress f. the bill they just passed, all these little pet projects, when we have american citizens that cannot pay for oil to heat their homes? it's ridiculous. i hope they are watching. believe me, i'm one of the ones who sits and calls daily. i think average americans, average democrats, average independents, average republicans, we need to start running for office to get this spending under control.

all of these folks warming the seats up there, they have money in their bank account. a lot of us don't and we don't have it because they took our jobs. they are voting by proxy through the emergency situation. why didn't they get back after covid was over? we work every day and they tax us more and more. now we are dealing with crime. you know how you deal with teenage crime? those that don't go to school? reinstate the draft. put them in the military. get them off the street. there is so much we could be doing with the money. the border. we are giving money to another country for their border when we are being invaded? how does that make sense, pedro? host: tom, california, republican line. caller: i just want to say i

don't think, i mean 99% of the votes here, yeah, people are still voting for republicans and democrats. it makes zero sense. i wish that congress right now would be working for the people and not for themselves, which is what i see happening. host: when you say that, what makes you believe they are doing that, specifically? caller: because they are both like battling with one another? on tv, showing all their weaknesses on tv, the people don't want to see that, they want to see that they are working for the people and they are not doing that. host: that's thomas there in california, his assessment of what grade congress should be getting. gallup, keeping track of these type of questions, they ask about the level of competence

that congress has when it comes to those who responded to a pole. this one was done from the first of the 20th of june of this year, asking the question about the level of confidence. only 2% saying they have a great deal of confidence in congress. 5% saying quite a lot. 36% saying some, going up to 54 when they said very little and then when it comes to no level of confidence, only 3%. but that is the level of confidence, you can use that if you factor in a grade, if you wish. factor it into your social media posts. tony, michigan, you are next up. caller: happy holidays, everybody. hopefully people are staying warm. starting to hear people dying from the cold. if the republicans have a chance to make anything great happen it will be to get rid of kevin

mccarthy. i don't know how anyone can sit here and listen to that man speak, yelling at everybody, just yelling at everybody. cronies behind him there, terrible. if they have a chance of making some headway, they will get somebody else in there besides kevin mccarthy. host: and the grade you would give congress? caller: d. what's it going to be next time around, you know? host: what leads you to give that grade? caller: just because it's hard to get anything done when you got to battle constantly like that, you know? so. i mean, they try their best. this next congress is going to be worse. you got it? host: ok, heard it. texas, independent line. caller: how you doing this morning? host: fine, thank you.

caller: i've got that statement from yesterday, talking about religion in congress, but jesus christ, man, my lord, jesus christ love all the people but i blame the people for the congress. i give d+. they fight against each other, like that guy calling in later, earlier, then later, calling in about the plank that does nothing for the people and when they tried to do something for the people they complain who going to pay for it so i blame the people. they talk about timing but they only talk about timing for one party. nobody equal. they going against the people, they should be against the people in congress against them but they vote them back in. that's what i'm pointing to which one. they know who they are. and i blame the people. not the people in the office but the people keep voting them back

in. i love everybody but the people got to have love for each other to solve this problem. host: you heard chuck schumer the top talking about accomplishments. five major bills passed into thousand 22 alone. is that not worry the of a higher grade or are there other factors there other than what you are talking about? caller: well, we still talking about congress. you can't separate. can't do that. democrats, republicans, supposed to be the congress. it's all of them. i give them the b plus because they not working together. all of them fighting against something good. again, that's the congress fighting against themselves. doing what you doing against yourself to keep yourself from doing good. host: ok. ross cao, -- roscoe, republican

line. caller: looks like f is the letter of the day to me. because i don't know, we can spend, but nobody here in the united states can work anymore, with the borders completely open. so i, i, i don't know. the homeless people. we got homeless people here. what about them people coming across the border? we cannot, we gonna figure that out or just forget? you know? host: is it strictly the border that you look at? caller: no, no, passing this right before christmas, could have done it before, could have had debate on it. i enjoyed the lady from pennsylvania, all her good comments there just a little while ago. host: ok, that was roscoe in

south dakota. we've gone about half an hour in grading congress and the grade you would give them this year. you can look at the 117 congress of the last two years and if you want to give your thoughts over the next half-hour, it's (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. independents, (202) 748-8002. if you want to text us, it's (202) 748-8003 is how you do that. facebook page, facebook.com/c-span. you can post on twitter, @cspanwj, if you wish. follow the show on instagram there as well. mike, massachusetts, democratic line. good morning, your next. caller: i give congress a c plus.

it's all right. i think no matter what they do, people are going to love them or hate them. this is my point. biden gave the republicans a christmas gift of a lifetime with the mammoth defense budget they passed knowingly create hundreds of thousands if not millions of jobs. i believe that republicans in congress crossed over to make sure the bill got past. they are going to use all the other things in the bill to criticize the president. deep down they are celebrating with champagne in the white house. a lot of those constituents work with top wage benefits and i see how they came together, the republicans and the democrats. especially on that issue.

i don't know much about the other issues and of the spending bill but i don't know if it works, but that is why i wanted to emphasize the defense is it in how it went over this time and how and why the republicans crossed over. they wanted that in a big way. that's what i wanted to say. host: thank you for coming in, mike. you may be interested in this omnibus bill. at our website, we have the resources where you can educate yourself about the bill in the debate that took place on the floor. if you are interested in pouring through that to see what was included, moneywise, all of that is available at c-span.org. davis, twitter, saying the question is congress getting a d because of the legislation that was passed, democrats get a, most republicans at. -- f.

another viewer says c and retiring head teacher hello ca plus. linda from texas saying the senate gets a for all the senate -- all the judges past so far. those are some of the twitter responses if you want to make your point there. mike in florida, republican line, good morning. caller: good morning, i hope everyone is having a wonderful day and a better day tomorrow. i have followed congress and senate the past few years and i see one major situation, they really don't represent the people they represent. they represent an agenda and i feel like it's like a, almost like elitist. we need to follow the money. an excellent example is you always hear tax the rich. why would you tax yourself?

the second thing i look at our the results. inflation is causing one of the greatest problems in america. we are becoming the land of the homeless and the hungry. we have to take care of our brothers and sisters first. we are doing a bad job. so i just hope everybody realizes that when they look at the congress, last statistics i read, 355 congresspeople are attorneys. 57 of the senators are attorneys. we need to get like the lady mentioned earlier, some individuals in there that are not attorneys to look at the people that represent. a good thing that happened in my opinion is individuals are going independent. we need some more republicans and democrats to go independent to represent the people who voted them in. host: ok, mike in florida giving

us his thoughts. this viewer, charles, from facebook, saying that congress gets f for him for feckless, fraudulent, and foolish. brian saying c plus, would have been higher but a bunch of members thought it was more fun to stand in the way of meaningful legislation then pass it. alan brandt -- brown doesn't offer a grade but says they need to start acting like adults and work together to make country work together instead of dividing the country every day. that the voted in leaders cannot get along and they clash on every policy and government is a joke, that's how he phrases it. we posted that before the start of the show this morning, you can add your thoughts there on twitter, @cspanwj, and you can

text us at (202) 748-8002 -- (202) 748-8003. jim, pennsylvania, republican line. caller: good morning, thank you for listening to me. i do believe that this congress, these people running this country are self-centered, power-hungry. i think the democrats love to be history making people. they should have a grade lower than whale dung. that's my, that's my thoughts on this government. the government, the people running this country. not the government, the people, the democrats and republicans are in there for themselves. it took them how long, two hours, to give them all a $25,000 raise? mr. biden promises college students a break and what did he deliver? nothing.

the great should be lower than whale dung. that's all i have to say, thank you. host: charlotte, north carolina, thanks for calling in, you are on. caller: ok, i give congress a failing grade. the policies they espouse and pass did not benefit the average american citizen. i actually am thinking, why am i paying taxes? first of all you have a border situation that does not benefit the average american citizen. and you are spending so much money. our budget, as a person who doesn't live in debt, hasn't for over 20 years, i tremble that we will be like venezuela, not having enough food to eat, getting a dictator not letting us get out of the country. i just think the policies that

congress has been responsible for, and especially, even though i'm independent, the democrats tend to spend so much money. what is he trying to do with that open border? it's not working for the average american person. i can't, and they make so much money, these people in congress. i don't think they can relate to what the average citizen is going through. at all. host: ok, that was jeanette in north carolina, giving us a call. one of the things you can watch out for in congress is the debt ceiling. they write about that here in something to watch out for where you can factor in your grades, saying that congress should probably take up the debt ceiling early and it's clear that hardline representatives are spoiling for a fight with

the biden administration, some demanding that they add the yet determine speaker to not bring a bill as far as the majority of house republicans where the rule is kicking off the moderate republicans who would see it as a disaster for their country to pass a clean bill without spending cuts. freedom caucus members saying they wouldn't vote without agreeing to balance the budget over 10 years and that there is a lot of garbage that is off mission from roy and duncan where they want the cuts to be mandatory along with spending and other programs like drivers of spending and also the republicans in virginia saying they don't fear not easing the debt ceiling, believing incorrectly that if we didn't.

ere is more there from cornell when they find it on their website, the hill.com. good morning. >> pedro i think we should give them a triple f. all we have is crooks, politicians. and i have paid into social security. ironed that. if them crooks left their hands out of it, left it where it was set up to be, there wouldn't be no shortage. the crooks is taking it all. three raises in a row from the

early 80's. they continue to do so. they should cut their salaries by 75%. thank you, pedro. host: republican line. tony, arkansas, go ahead. caller: when it comes to the omnibus bill i don't thing i could put my trust in 539 people. i would put that to a public cloak and then see. see what the people would have voted for. there is so much pork in their. as far as a grade, we've become a socialist country. no doubt about that. you know? we are not representative like we should be. put it to a popular vote. all the big stuff. thank you. host: ok. james is next. james, ohio, democratic line.

go ahead. caller: i'm actually complaining about what the republicans are talking about, in terms of that guy before at what he was talking about, social security and entitlement. that's a republican. democrats don't do that. people talk about health care. republicans don't want you to have health care. during the pandemic we just went through, all that money, they created inflation. great for the country,. people eating and surviving. i'm disappointed they didn't get the voters right act, but i realize there was a lot done. there's a lot of things that need to be done. but when these republicans get into congress, there will be no voters rights, nothing.

it's not going to be for the regular person. unfortunately, people need to think about what they are talking about and what the cause of the problem is. i think congress, i give them a for all the situations they have been in, even though i'm disappointed in not having the voters right act passed. host: ok. sandy on facebook is in alabama, she gives the congress was she disguised -- describes as a friggin f. she says it doesn't matter which one falls out, that they are all the same except biden ain't. and this one, a minus for the accomplishments of the year.

poor at highlighting accomplishment support. and if you have called in the last 30 days jack in new jersey you are next up, hello. >> i just heard someone say they gave themselves a $25 -- $25,000 per year raise, some people don't even make that much of the year. i give them an f for living in a fantasy world. i can't believe they see this with their eyes and don't believe them. thank you, merry christmas and happy new year. host: jack, new jersey. steny hoyer is the house

majority leader, giving one of his last speeches before the new congress comes in in the next year, specifically highlighting this legislative work and what he sees as an accomplishment. [video clip] >> striving for consensus, proving the naysayers wrong, and reaching across the aisle to republicans, to fellow americans , when we needed their help to deliver results. indeed, we ran the floor. because of the psychology of consensus. coordinating with the senate, the biden administration, our house majority enacted major legislation, even against unified republican opposition. our members stuck together on very tough votes. the american rescue plan, the inflation production act were

the result. arresting economic freefall, deploying hundreds of millions of life-saving vaccines. reopening businesses and schools , creating a historic number of new jobs and setting us up to tackle the climate vices head-on, enabling american workers and entrepreneurs to make it in america. much of our success in the 17th, -- 117 congress regarded bipartisanship. with other crucial legislation of the country. we provided support ukraine it's

our hour of danger. host: some of you brought up the idea of salaries for congress. here's a political story from congress of last year. claiming that members of congress got a pay raise, they are calling it for -- false in the short section, saying it didn't increase for the members of the u.s. congress after the passing of the spending bill. members received increase for office budgets, including pay for staff and other official expenses. several pull of fact services out there if you want to consult that for yourself. mark is next in indiana on the republican line. caller: yes, i'm calling. are you there? host: yes. caller: i don't have my voice on

tv host: you shouldn't because it will be distracting to you, go ahead with your question or comment. caller: ok. calling. um, um, not to sound crazy, people gone crazy in the world. i was at the stores the other day. when i told people that they don't matter, that if things keep going on the way they are, it will be like charles bronson movies, one, 2, 3, four, where people crazy hurt people. host: ok, so when it comes to a grade for congress, what would you give them? caller: high points for what they are doing. host: why is that?

caller: they are doing a good job, that's what i think. host: mark, they're in indiana. viewers who are waiting, if you are waiting to hear yourself on television, all viewers, turn it down. here we have an a for legislation. another, d for dummy, waiting until after election day. rushing it through. this one from twitter saying f, saying a few common sense voices are drowned out by the money spent on the nonsense and the power-hungry. suffering american suffering as a result in kids suffering much more. people tweeting at us this morning. you can do that on the c-span wj twitter feed.

if you want to post on facebook, you can do that, to. we have about 10 moreines if you want to comment on this idea of what you would give congress this yeafor a grade. if you missed out this time, n't worry, 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. we will do this question again in give you the opportunity to comment if you haven't done so already. let's go to jack in ohio, bridgeport, democratic line. caller: thank you for taking my call, we finally have the democrats and republicans working together on something, doing something good, then we get all these people saying it's a bad thing. getting them working together, i give them a b plus. they want to talk about how he talks and so on and so forth?

give me more of joe biden. i think the country needs that. host: what are you thinking about specifically when you grade congress with a b plus? caller: finally you got democrats and republicans working together on something. host: were you surprised by legislation were the democrats and republicans worked together? caller: everything we have been watching on television, that former president, how bad he was for the country. i just think that now maybe if the people see how bad he was and they work together it will make this country better. host: ok. lauren, from topeka, kansas,

hello. caller: how are you? host: fine, thank you. excuse me, we need to work together. thank you for taking my call. host: topeka, kansas, the nbc site, in their view, mitch mcconnell, the senate minority leader, a bit of a victory lap so to speak for the work down in the senate when it comes to topics of preserving the filibuster and boosting military spending, it goes on to say that

from our perspective, this is mr. mcconnell quoted in there, if you already spend that on your domestic priorities we won't pay you a bonus to meet defense needs of the country and he reportedly told joe biden during a white house meeting that he recalled a gambit that worked. called parity for the billions in pentagon funding with 772 .5 billion for domestic funding and it goes on to quote mr. mcconnell saying that he never budged, never budged on it, yeah i'm proud of it he said, calling it an extremely important win for conservatives saying that he will no longer pay a ransom on the domestic side in order to procure heavy -- hefty military spending along with dick durbin in illinois saying that he's disappointed in the unequal spending levels and argues that

the kentucky republicans used their leverage to take advantage. you can read more of that at the nbc site, that interview with mitch mcconnell. five minutes, left for that thoughts on congress and the grade you would offer. texas, michael, good morning. caller: how y'all doing? ok, five-minute. i got out of school in the 70's. they need to go back to the regular order of congress. the senate and the house. you don't need no 50 vote for no majority. ok? congress, f. republican. f minus, democrat. on defense, i give them a b but they look like they almost always look, with that rate that

they do all the fighting for. come on. so everything needs to go back to regular order in the senate. 51 with control of the senate. 200 to 400 and the house. whatever it is [indiscernible] with 12 appropriations committee to form the budget along with the house and everybody else and they can vote on it. don't get all that stuff together. trying to make low income like it one thing. no, boy, i say house vote for everybody in the united states on their grade. thank you very much. host: michael there, texas. gary on twitter saying that it is like the abc reality show.

not sure what he's implying when it comes to afghanistan. giving the package and after. with significance, with speaker pelosi and the majority leader schumer, getting the electoral count on the best there to protect against future trump treason. then he talks about the department of justice possibly indicting the former president for january 6. that's his grade. let's hear from dottie. dottie in georgia, republican line. talking about grades you would give congress. go ahead caller: yes i would give them f2. i was a little bit happy about

the bill for the migrants but then i realize they couldn't spend any money to monitor or close the border. that's the most dangerous thing of ever heard. once it actually being used for? i'm one of those people who goes back every year to look at the ridiculous money we are spending on ridiculous things. i showed some of that to my students at school. i'm still furious last year from them giving money to the russians to experiment on cats trying to make zombie cats. who comes up with these things? it's crazy. host: so f is the grade you would give your teacher? >> i can't even give that to the students at school. host: and you would not grade on a curve? caller: it's ridiculous, i agree with these other people. them waiting until the last minute every year? i show my students the debt clock, show them what they will have to deal within a few years

when they start working. i teach middle school. host: dottie, republican line, finishing off the call there. thank you to all of you who participated in this part of the program. for the next week or so we are going to feature authors. the next hour of the program, a lot of different political perspectives being presented and discussed. our next author is going to talk about his book, "race and reckoning," from the founding fathers to modern disruptions. that's next on "washington journal." ♪ >> first time in two years they will return to washington as a

divided government with republicans controlling the house and democrats retaining control of the senate. the incoming members are younger with average age of 47 compared to the average age of 58 in the previous session, more diverse, with a record number of women serving, including more women of color. holding the election for the new speaker of the house and new members taking the oath of office. new congress, new leaders. watch opening day of the 118th congress, tuesday, january 3 at the new congress will be more -- nemeers take the oath of office, new cgrs, new

leaders,ch the opening day of the 118th congress live on c-span and on c-span2, also on c-span now, our free mobile app or c-span.org. ♪ >> life sunday on in-depth author and pulitzer prize winning journalist chris hedges will be our guest to talk about war and incarceration in america. include america: the farewell tour and most recently the greatest people is more. --join in with your calls, texts and tweet live this sunday on

-- >> to get political information but only on c-span do you get it straight from the source new matter where you are from more where you stand on the issues c-span is america's network. unbiased, word for word if it happens here, on here -- guest: the book is essentially a history of race in america, beginning before the revolution and before the constitution. originally, the question i had set out to answer was the question of how do we arrive at a state where in 2-16 we decided -- 2016 we decided to elect donald trump as president.

a lot of the issues ultimately had to do with race. instead of doing the book i was going to do, which was going to be a political analyses of a lot of different things, the most important thing to look at in this context was race. i did a book on race beginning with the arrival of the first africans in jamestown. host: why do you think it is important to take a wide scope approach to these topics? guest: we think of questions that interest us and then we try to answer them. we have a tendency in this country to underestimate the impact of the racial dialogue in their actions as they relate to race. i think for that reason, you have seen in several states efforts by legislators, republican in this case, to ban the teaching of the part of our history having to do with race.

i think that is a mistake. i think you are not really teaching history. we cannot govern a country where its people are guided by myths raz opposed to reality. host: reading our viewers a little of what you wrote, " spe divisions that stretched back before thti of lincoln, americans share a cultural belief in liberty. we also he a history of rginalizing those who are not white and shrinking from inrrial equality. we are engaged in a war over that history and over which version of america will prevail, the version that rejects the idea that all are equal or the idea that all americans are entitled to citizenship." can you elaborate on that? guest: when you think back to

the moment that donald trump came down the escalator and decided to announce his candidacy, some of the topics he touched on immediately or ethnic and racial issues. he touched on immigration and mexicans who he denounced as thieves. he touched on the religious issue in a very ethnic way talking about muslims. i think that defines his presidency in many ways. you had an appeal the issues that were very polarizing, but very polarizing in a specific way. they were polarizing along ethnic and to some extent religious lines. h never outgrew thate -- he never outgrew that. the republican party made a decision, and the decision was that they were, to the extent

possible, be a party that catered to the anger of whites and demonized african-americans. in many instances you have seen the party doubled down on that vision. in order to understand where we are now and how we got here, we need to unravel that somewhat. host: cose our guest for the hour. if you have questions you can call in. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. the last part of the quote that says " accepting americans are equally -- are you saying minorities are

not enjoying those privileges as whites would? guest: i'm saying each generation seems to get much better and with each generation, more and more people believe that human beings ought to be treated as human beings, not as members of a racial or ethnic group. we are making a lot of progress and we are further along now than we were 30 or 40 years ago. in terms of a political dialogue, in terms of how we understand many of these issues going from incarceration yo welfare -- to welfare, many of us look at them through a racial lens and that is what polarizes this country and contributes to our disunity in an unhealthy way. host: when you say we are making progress, what do you attribute that to? guest: i think it is hard to

grasp sometimes that until the 1960's and after, brown versus board, which was in 1954, and the 10 or 15 years it took to implement that, parts of america believe very strongly that black-and-white ought to be totally separated. that blacks and whites should not be allowed to be part of the same group, the same society in effect. i think that has changed radically. you have generations who come up with a very different idea of thinking when it comes to people who different from themselves. they attribute it to that. host: you can call, text or tweet us.

you are on with ellis cose, the author of " race and reckoning." caller: hello. down here in broward county, we are at the forefront with our governor, governor desantis. your book touches on two things that are important right now, both education and the epidemic are due to a eugenics bias that stems from the 1860's when the people who founded both our education institution and our perceptions on what science and evolution are -- that is where the great words eugenics and survival of the fittest come from, it is from herbert spencer who came up with our education system. education is not about competition. education has nothing to do with competition.

what we are doing is separating the chaff from the wheat. we thought the chaff where the black people. they were trying to use science to justify racism in the 1860's, and we are perpetuating that. that is why we are separating -- suffering deaths, mostly elderly. covid-19 was a grandparent genocide. the reason we are accepting of it is because of this eugenics bias. " they are sick and elderly, and they deserve to die." that is what implicit bias is. it is beneath our awareness. we would hate to admit it of ourselves but that is how our education system is set up. equity is nonsense. it is about making a level playing field. host: ,r -- mr. cose, go ahead.

guest: that is a lot to deal with. eugenics is a theory that grew up in the mid 80's -- mid-1800s, i should say and then spread across many sectors of civilized american society and governed many of our policies. the theory was there was a racial hierarchy in the world, and northern europeans and western europeans were superior than southern europeans, that whites were superior to blacks, that christians were superior to jews, so forth. they were behind the immigration acts of the early 1920's.

we are far from that way of thinking officially in america. virtually any scientist who is not a fraud leaves there is no medical difference between races in america or anywhere else. we are all creatures of the same genome. you still have the effects of history that persist. the fact that we outlawed slavery as a country in the wake of the civil war does not mean that the fact that we had slavery had no effect. in many cases, it has determined how much wealth people have. that is something that is hard for many to grasp. people tend to say, " we haven't

had slaves in over 100 years, so whatever effect they had on our society has vanished at this point," which is simply not true. the fact of those years is what accounts for a lot of the economic disparity to this day. host: is there something tangible you would look at that solidifies that something exists today because the race issue existed back then? guest: look at the income gap or the wealth gaps between whites and blacks. it is huge. one reason it is huge is because whites have always had a lot more wealth them blacks, which has given them the ability to pass their wealth onto their children. blacks for the most part had no wealth. in the age of slavery they were not permitted to have wealth in most places. you had black families that

started from 0 when it comes to their economic welfare. whites who started significantly removed from zero -- you have segregated living to the extent that there are white neighborhoods, there are black neighborhoods, there are increasingly latino neighborhoods. discrimination is itself a legacy of our slave history. it is all connected. i don't want to be misunderstood -- i don't want to say we are stuck in that reality but we have to understand that reality to understand current american society. host: we have a viewer off of twitter. he asks you what you mean by the term " disruptors"?

guest: those people who want to make fundamental changes in the way america works. that could be people on the right, it could be people on the left. it applies to people like former president trump who wanted to shred significant portions of the constitution. host: from a color in washington dc, independent line -- caller in washington dc, independent line. caller: we know america created this nation as capitalist so it is about wealth management. black people were brought to this country to be a permanent underclass.

things continue to resonate from that to today. could you please address for the audience, or for anyone listening, how they have classified in american history, which is a black history, not america's black history, what happened with riots in black communities where black people had a certain amount of economic power that allowed black people to use quid pro quo to manipulate and move legislation and politics in the direction we needed for our communities. riots made it seem like there were good people on both sides, or that both people exercised the same violence when it was white people specifically attacking black people. could you talk to the audience about that? guest: let me also address

something else you mentioned, which was that black people were brought to this country to be a permanent underclass. in point of fact, that is debatable. in 1619 when the first slave ship docked in virginia, it was not clear what the role of blacks were going to be in this country. we spent the next 100 years sorting that out. a significant number of blacks in the beginning were not slaves. they were indentured servants the same way many of the white people brought from england were indentured servants. they had the right to be able to earn their way out of servitude and become landowners and employers of people themselves. one of the early africans who was brought over ultimately became the owner of several slaves in virginia.

we made a decision, and we made a decision over the subsequent 100 years or so that blacks were going to be a permanent underclass. there is one point for that in 1705 when whites were given the right to kill back slaves who disobey them -- black slaves who disobeyed them. we made a decision that blacks did not have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of the american dream. in terms of where we are today we have tried very hard to try and change that but we have not. the second point you made were about riots. there have been race riots as long as there have been countries. there were many riots in the race of world war i. there were incidents like in

tulsa where a black town, a black part of town in tulsa was invaded by whites, supposedly because a black person on an elevator had done something insulting to a white woman. you had major riots in washington in the wake of world war ii, which were characterized by the press at the time as basically thousands of lax going crazy -- blacks going crazy, even though virtually all of those were touched off by whites and resulted in massacres of the black community. you had a riot in the early 1900s in helena, arizona after what was an attempt by black farmers to organize a union so

they could get better money for their crops. it became described as a black uprising and was treated as such as the major press. you have many examples. there were riots, which were essentially whites showing that they were not going to let blacks invade their neighborhoods. one of the worst riots in chicago was a brian it because -- a riot because blacks went to a white to swimming section and whites kill them. -- killed them.

in the beginning -- that was very much something in play and that evolved. host: you right beyond the experiences of blacks, you bring up the japanese and the racism they experienced. guest: not just the japanese. but yes, the japanese in world war ii, some were born in america and japanese-americans were denied the right to citizenship. going back to the first naturalization act, which was passed way back in 1790, we limited nationalization to those who were white. you had the spectacle in succeeding decades where people from india, asia, and china

having to convince people they were white in order to get nationalized. it was not just blacks. we had a series of exclusion acts, the most important began in 1882, which barred the chinese from entering this country. we had the indian removal process. the indian removal act of 1832 basically moved thousands of native americans to the western territories, effectively stealing their land. we had the immigration acts which i refer to earlier in, 1921 and 1924, which tried to make the united states into a white nation. that was the origin of the ethnic origins of a lot of

legislation where we tried to replicate in this country the ethnic mix that existed at the time, the time in this case being the 1920's. you have several instances where we as a country made the decision that america was supposed to be a white, country and we did not really change that until the immigration act where we got rid of the immigration origin part. we decided to be serious about guaranteeing equality. that is a small part of the existence of this country. we have to consider the whole history. host: ellis cose joining us. let's hear from ron in maryland,

republican line. caller: ok, let's get to the real problem. guest: what is the real problem? caller: there are 42 million lax in the nation today. 32% are doing great. the barack obama's, the football players, the educated blacks are doing fabulous. 78% of the blacks were put in section eight projects in the worst sections of our cities and for the last 55 years they have gone nowhere except to present. now every night in this country, poor, young blacks are being murdered. that is what happens in those section eight projects when they

die. they pass on an empty apartment so the blacks never accumulate any wealth. you know who is doing anything about it? nobody? do know how many blacks own section eight housing in this country? none. guest: that is a lot to chew on. let me build on it. 70% of blacks do not live in section eight housing. section eight housing is basically subsidized housing by the federal government. essentially, there is a limit to how much people -- there people of all colors. to the extent that they do live in section eight housing,. in

section eight housin their rental prices are capped, so they do not have to pay full market price for rent. segregated housing is a problem in section eight. there have been controversies when section eight people move into areas that are not segregated. attributing the difference in black economic security to the relative handful of blacks who live in section eight housing -- we have a huge issue with black property in this country. we have an issue as well with latino poverty, but that is not a consequence of section eight housing. it is largely a consequence of people -- a consequence of the

success of people's parents. host: since you talked about president trump, you probably heard about him talking about his efforts in the black community, the unemployment efforts under his presidency. how do those factor into what the former president did for black americans? guest: we have a practice in this country because it is simple and easy to give the credit it -- credit to the president for anything that happens while he is in office. i think that -- i don't credit

the former president with much of that at all. he did not initiate anything major in terms of economic uplift for poor communities, which potentially might have had a huge impact. he said unemployment has gone down, let me take credit for that. under our system, we give him credit for that, but that is ridiculous as giving the president credit for the weather. he has something to do with those things, but only something and not a great deal. when you look at the contributions of a former president, the major -- of the former president, the major contribution was a negative one. that was to basically denounce anyone who raised the issue of civil rights.

it was to sanction restrictive voting legislation that made it more difficult to vote. clearly things that were positive occurred during the trump administration. positive things occurred during virtually any administration. they have very little to do with the president. the lasting legacy of president trump is political incoherence. it is difficult to make sense of what he was doing because he did not have a consistent set of policies. host: sonny in kansas, democrats' line. caller: good morning. i was wondering what your thoughts are on this term, it seems to be quite controversial, particularly with republicans --

"woke" and crt, and why the push from republicans to stifle that debate? it seems to me that what they want to do is silence a certain aspect of history to whitewash it, so to speak, to not make themselves look bad to a certain degree. what are your thoughts? to me "woke," i don't see how that could be deemed a bad term. woke as opposed to what? asleep? guest: we are talking about what has been deemed the culture wars, the denigration of "woke"

people is not substantially different from the denigration of people who hold politically correct ideas. it is an attempt to say that individuals are not thinking individuals. they are just ideologues and they arbitrarily designate things right and they arbitrarily designate things wrong because they and their ideological compatriots adhere to a bunch of things, and a bunch of ideas that make no sense. i think rather than try to disentangle the hostility to "woke" as a term, what you need to understand is the hostility towards certain policies one by one. "woke" is one of those words that when you use it as an

insult it shuts down a conversation. it is like calling someone a jerk or an idiot. it is just a way to call somebody a name. host: there is a multiracial array of people who want to be free of the preconceptions of the past to realize that acknowledging the role of racism is not the source of our division, but our deliberate. a society that fails to recognize that is headed down the same, dark path." how did you come to that conclusion? guest: it comes from basically blaming people who are lacking in education or lacking in

options or their roan circumstance as opposed to an attitude that says, " how can we make this into a city, a state where everyone who is willing to work and who is willing to study can become much better off"? we have tended very often to demonize entire people and then to blame them for their roan circumstances. it is not just now that this is happening. if you go back to the aftermath of the civil war and the andrew johnson presidency -- he was of course president lincoln's vice president and he became president when lincoln was assassinated.

his views on many things were different than lincoln, who was a republican. he vetoed the civil rights act that came along in 1865, '66. why did he veto this act? he argued that it created rights for black people that even white people did not have, that this was discriminatory to white people. you only have to reflect for a second to realize how absurd that very notion is. we are talking about people who have literally been enslaved, who have literally been not allowed to accumulate property, to vote, to get an education in many cases, to do anything that could allow them to progress, and now we are getting concerned

because we made minimal efforts in that direction that it will disadvantage whites? whatever you think of the specific policies, that is just idiotic thinking. we have examples of that idiotic thinking that flow-through history whenever there has been an attempt on a group basis to try and elevate people. there has been a huge push back to it, certainly in the wake of reconstruction when the across the south and elsewhere, but mostly across the south, blacks were fundamentally in most cases denied the right to vote. it was seen as taking measure -- taking action against measures that had gone too far. mississippi was praised in 1899

when it came up for literacy laws, which require people to quote some parts of the constitution, and came up with taxes that require blacks to pay for that right. it solves what the atlanta constitution called " the black problem." many of us have a tendency to think of this country as one that rewards those who are self-reliant and punish those who are not. that is way too simple a way of looking at reality to make sense, at least to me. host: our guest is an author and the director of renewing democracy. what is that? guest: it is an organization i

founded roughly a year or so ago trying to invite people to the conversation about democracy. this year and the year coming forth, we will be having a lot of talkback sessions and universities to talk about the state of our democracy, to talk about what is good about it, what needs to change, to talk about the world of young people, and how young people can be more effective in trying to alter it. it is an organization -- it is a project rather i am doing with several universities, including long island university and northwestern university that is designed to elevate this entire conversation we are having about political access in this country. host: on the republican line from north carolina, this is richard for our guest. caller: i have a lot to unpack

on this. first thing is wasn't slavery the way of the world? anybody could have been a slave, and everybody could have been a slave. guest: weight, let me respond -- wait, allow me to respond to one thing at a time, if you will allow me to. historically, race-based slavery has not been all that common. the huge difference in many countries in the united states is slavery was often imposed on people who were defeated in war and they are men became slaves -- their men became slaves.that was not visited on their children and the children of their children and so on.

the united states' slavery was particularly rigid. it was not an example of slavery imposed because of who we had gone to warren defeated. it was a stay imposed because people were available and were of a different color and had very different rights than other people who were brought to this country. we could have made a different decision in america. we could have made a decision to treat africans the same way we treated europeans who came over and whose way was paid for by merchants and by owners of plantations and allowed them to work for a period of years and then gave them freedom. we decided not to do that. it is misleading to say that every country has had what

america has had. in the 1600s, you had other countries including much of south america. the fact that slavery has existed in many societies throughout history seems to me not a good argument for why it should exist anywhere, and certainly not a good justification for not dealing with inequities that were rooted in slavery. host: the caller hung up. sandra from missouri, independent line. caller: good morning. hi, sir. i want to mention i am going to get your book and i will check out your organization and get involved. i really appreciate you.

i can't wait. i'm looking forward to it. i think it is critically important for you to do exactly like you did and intervene on the conversation when someone is about to go down a road without the proper knowledge and education regarding slavery. the history of the institution of slavery or oversimplifying it as it relates to chattel slavery, which was started in this country after victims rebellion. i think it is important that slavery did not start with the early 1600s with jamestown. people were brought over, like you so accurately said, through the head rights system. the head rights system was through europe and england where

certain people who cannot afford to come over to this country, to the colony of virginia specifically, to work -- host: caller, are you there? it looks like the call was dropped. go ahead. guest: i think she is right. of course i think she is right, she is agreeing with me, but she is right on the facts. part of the theme of my book is that there were decisions that could have been made otherwise. we made a decision in world war ii to have a segregated military. there was nothing that mandated that decision other than the fact that white southerners, for the most part and others as well, were not comfortable with the idea of an integrated military. it took major efforts after world war ii to create a

military that was integrated, and it became a great success of integration. this very notion that things were just done everywhere the way we did them in the united states is flat out wrong, and the idea that things, that things could not have been done any other way is equally wrong. in every instance we made decisions. there was nothing compelling the people who were part of the first legislature to decide that people who were naturalized had to be white. that was a decision that was taken at that time, and it had consequences for decades after that. there was no compulsion in 1941

and 1942 to undertake a policy when we were facing hostility from italy, from germany, and from japan to solely focus on japanese or internment and not to intern enemy aliens from other countries. we made a decision to do that. the list could go on and on. the kind of thinking that says, " this is fate and that is what happened around the world in all places," is simply -- it exhibits a lack of awareness of reality and history. host: in jackson, mississippi we will hear next from philip on the independent line. caller: in mississippi we went

through a lot of frigid weather and we do not have any running water. it makes you wonder sometimes about how do these things just happen to jackson all the time? i am an original resident of the washington dc area. i had this interest in integration and the whole process of race relations back when it was unpopular. i wrote a book, " run in my shoes," trying to explain to people how to come together as races go because i saw how sport can be that catalyst of race relations. i want to touch on something people generally do not touch on when it comes to the subject of race relations.

basically, the socialization process -- first of all, i was a resident of orlando, and i left there because dissenters was going in the direction of not allowing race topics. guest: you moved from orlando to jackson, mississippi? caller: about seven weeks ago. i felt unsecure about working on the race relations piece there because there was so much negative talk about not allowing it in the school system. i'm still trying to work on a program i have been involved in for 20 years in the system of mentoring all youth through sports. my main focus is how can we get the new immigrants coming into this country to understand the

reality of the history of america? i know there are a lot of black-and-white who do not quite understand our history, but by the same token there are people who are coming here who have lists theories of -- host: we will leave it there. thanks. guest: i will respond. i think i understand the question. it is basically about how can immigrants get a better sense of race in america. many immigrants, particularly -- understand our history better than many nativeborn americans do because they have to show they know certain parts of history but i do think -- and i think to the extent that they

get an education in american schools are american universities, they will learn the same thing american citizens learn, so i don't think there needs to be a particularly special program for immigrants. i think there certainly is a need for institutions that work with immigranta and make sure -- immigrants and make sure they have a better education. part of having a better education as p -- is understanding the history of the united states. the caller said he had moved from florida to mississippi. in jackson, mississippi what is going on there with the water shortage and the treatment of that community is a casebook example of how we still have the legacy of race we are dealing with. jackson is mostly black.

the legislature is not. jackson is not a priority. infrastructure has been allowed to collapse their that never should have happened -- there that never should have happened. host: because you spoke about the former president, what do you think of the current one? guest: i think he is sincere. he made a very impressive supreme court appointment. he has tried to do something about the restrictive voting laws that have been passed. he has not accomplished much, but he has a very narrow majority and a very hostile republican group that he has to work with.

if we are judging sincerity, i think he has done a lot. if we judge him by his votes, it is mixed. host: jerry is in new jersey, democrats' line. caller: good morning. i am very sympathetic to blacks right now. you have organizations like black lives matter. the leaders are making millions of dollars and buying million-dollar homes on the facts of blacks trying to get ahead. you have al sharpton who does not pay taxes, probably one of the most corrupt leaders. they have you trying to make money on a book. you called them uneducated.

they are staying uneducated because people like you do not do anything for those people. guest: let me answer. host: let her finish and then we will get your response. caller: he likes interrupting. you cut the republican off because he was saying the same thing. let him talk and let him get himself in a whole. host: stay on the line. go ahead. guest: i'm not sure how many people from black lives matter are living in million-dollar mansions. if the caller has evidence of that, she ought to present it. if they live in million-dollar mansions illegally, than they ought to be prosecuted. al sharpton certainly has spoken out very loudly against a lot of

racial issues, and i'm sure he does it because he thinks he is doing the right thing, but i think -- i have problems with this whole attitude that things -- it goes back to what i mentioned before, people who are poor or bad off are there because of their own fault or in the caller's opinion because some prominent blacks are saying crazy things. the caller seems to me ill-informed but if she has evidence that black lives matter proponents are making millions of dollars of of this s she should present it. host: this is from npr saying

there was a report about the black lives matter global network buying a $6 million home. caller, do you have a follow-up? caller: i agree with that. they have excuses about how they bought it. host: please address it to our guest, we have to move on. caller: i have seen it on the news. of course they are losing,. they are fading out, you do not hear much about them. the problem is like i said, i grew up in williamsburg in 1958. i grew up with a lot of blacks. we were all on welfare. nobody was rich. welfare today is not like it was in 1958. we were watched like hawks.

i know what it is like to be poor. if we want to give reparations, i think i deserve it too. host: you can follow up on that. guest: i don't have any response. i'm sure she did grow up poor. i'm sure she did have rough times. two expect well-known blacks to change all of this is to ignore what the problem is. most well-known blacks don't have the power to lift up the whole black community and make it wealthy. she seems very upset about something. i'm hard-pressed to come up with a response that makes any sense. host: from marie in mississippi,

you are next. caller: good morning. i wanted to see if you would touch on during the late 60's and early 70's when they would go to apply for jobs and they were being told for this particular job you have to have this certification, or this degree, which those jobs only required a high school diploma, which the majority of white women who worked there, that was all they had. that is when the hbcu's became more prominent because blacks all over the country were told they had to have this particular degree for a job that was not really required, but hbcu's really blew up at that time. what a difference a day made!

it shows you how after -- they went to get these degrees, how a four year period puts them back further than the white people who were working with only their high school diplomas. black people have always pushed the thing about having degrees because we were told we have to have more than what everyone else has in order to make it. i wanted you to touch on that if you could. guest: i think there has long been a believer articulated in the black community that says essentially work twice as hard to get half as far. that informed people for generations. when you talk specifically about the hbcu's many of these were

formed at a time when it was very difficult for blacks to get into white universities. it was only in the 60's that several universities, some of them under court order, that had not accepted blacks previously began to accept them. in that era when the whole question was highlighted a number of people turned to hbcu's because they did not want to deal with the possibility of racial discrimination. there is a long history with hbcu's and that is a small part of it. the question of credentials being demanded of black sand not

whites is why you have a lot of civil rights laws now, which were formed to combat that discrimination. same issue in housing where blacks would show up and a property that was listed was no longer available. this sort of discrimination is reality. i think that hbcu's have a noble and complicated history. at times people have turned to them to get credentials they thought they needed that were difficult to get otherwise. host: with everything you wrote about in your book, how do you think a reckoning comes about and what elements have to come into place to make that happen? guest: we are having a continual reckoning. by reckoning i mean we are in

various ways having to consider these issues, put them on the table, and rethink them. the previous caller mentioned black lives matter. that is part of a reckoning. it is part of an attempt by a significant group of people to rethink what we are doing with race. we are having another reckoning around the whole issue of voting rights and representation. we are having several things come together at once and all to mentally are going to have a lot of these issues right. i think we need to take a hard look at some constitutional issues as well, including the electoral college, including the senate. the senate was organized in a different time or at least was graded at a different time when it made sense for each state to have the same number of representatives.

at that time virginia was the largest state and it was eight times as large as the smallest state, delaware. now you have a place like california, which is close to 70 times as large as wyoming, the smallest state today. we are facing a society, in some case novel issues we have not dealt with, including the internet and its impact on speech. host: the book is race and reckoning, ellis cose also the director of -- guest:

happy holidays to you. guest: thank you for your time. host: we will finish this show in the last hour of the way you started in the first. you can expand that to the work -- >> bergen has reported on google for the past seven years. youtube was bought by google in 2014 for one point -- one point force $6 billion -- $1.46 billion. google is first.

book -- bloomberg reporter -- mark bergen on this episode of the notes person -- but knows plus -- book note plus. >> be out today ilatest publishing with book tv -- plus bestseller lists as well as enters the -- and history news. you can find about books on c-span now or wherever you get your podcasts. >> we order your copy of the congressional directory for the 1/18 congress. it is sure access -- it is your access to the government.

recording information on state governors. scan the code on the right to is to $9.95 plus --$29.95 plus shipping and hampton -- shipping and handling. >> "washington journal" continues. host: you can post on your -- the page. folks at gallup put a quote together about approval or disapproval of congress and they do this on a regular basis. 22% of those participated saying that they approve of the work congress is doing. for those who disapprove, 73%

say they disapprove of the work congress is doing 5% not offering a opinion. we asked you if you want to take that idea of how you grade the work of congress. now only this year but the one -- 117th congress if you want. call us at (202) 748-8001 if you are republican. (202) 748-8000 if you are democrat. (202) 748-8002 if you consider yourself independent. a democrat from utah -- new york talked about the draft -- track record he and he -- his cause colleagues -- he and his colleagues say they had. >> from the very beginning of

this current term, press -- democrats have been delivering and getting things done. the american people recognize that. the american rescue plan, money in pockets, it's back in school and saving the economy from a deep recession and the infrastructure investment and jobs act created jobs and fixing crumbling ridges and roads and sewer and water systems and ensuring high-speed internet access in every single community. gun safety legislation. for the first time in 30 years, that will save lives. the chips and science act, bringing domestic manufacturing jobs to the u.s. and investing in science and technology and

interfering, mathematics, education so the american people have the skills to succeed in a 21st-century economy and the inflation reduction act, striking a decisive and -- blow against the climate crisis. lowering energy costs, lowering health care costs for millions of americans. the vision for the future, lower costs and better paying jobs and putting people over politics and a track record that backed it up. host: akeem jeffries talking about what he saw as accomplishments. this is mark stone from twitter saying, he would give them b. for all the unnecessary spending, that is pouring gas on

inflation. you can make the comments on twitter at c-span --@cspanwj. jennifer, you are first up. guest: -- caller: first of all, it is challenging to be in congress and there are so many things they have to overcome and achieve. i think that right now, with financial circumstances, they are overdoing it. it will make it challenging for the people. . host: when you say overdoing that, what do you mean? guest: overs -- caller: overspending. the things they are wanting to achieve, i don't think it's a bad thing and i think it is a

matter of timing. they need to get our economy back up and running and get in our country financially stable. i think that should be the focus, getting our country out of debt. but they are getting our country more in debt. it will be hard for our country to be able to pay these debts. and they are not thinking about that. what happens if our country goes bankrupt and collapses? that is scary. host: lawanda --luana in -- access. --texas. caller: i will also -- respond to the immediate college and i will state my pipe -- state my

point. i find it interesting that people have vague references about getting the country out of debt when the majority of spending bills are focused on immediate assistance to citizens in this country. the citizens are the ones that are holding up the country financially. when he talk about spending bills that are for the military, those can be extreme. tax cuts -- giving tax cuts to the wealthy, those are the things that need to be reined in a little bit more. i believe he spent close to 70% of our budget on military. currently, we are in tight spot -- a tight spot with helping other countries out like ukraine, which helps us out.

the spending bill that people are always referencing our to help individual people in the country. four to help the infrastructure bill, fixing bad sleeps and drainage issues. that is money that needs to be spent. if we had the proper taxing structure -- this is the wealthiest country on earth. we can find all of these things correctly if we have the proper taxing structure and we were not taxing the middle class out of existence, we could afford these things to help citizens and keep the background -- backbone of the country strong. host: let's hear from arnold in north carolina -- ronald in north carolina. republican line. caller: i, first time, -- i am a

first time caller. i am nervous, a little bit. to piggyback on the last caller, some other things i noticed in congress, if i were to give great, they have been doing good things but i would like to see congress operate as they were designed, and they do the ominous bill that was passed but not signed. if they would go through the committees and get rid of some of the fluff, or some things that are necessary but not immediate, that is what we need to focus on. i agree with people needing help in getting things done for the communities and citizens.

we need to go ahead and make sure we are focused exactly as we what -- as what we need to spend it on and where we need to spend the money at. that is all i had to say. host: ronald in north carolina giving us a call and offering grades for congress. (202) 748-8001. four republicans. (202) 748-8000 four democrats. (202) 748-8002 four independents. the scholars at the brookings institution did an analysis on the committees in congress that provide oversight over the executive branch and the work they did on that front for the 1/17 congress. --117th congress.

" the median share of activity that involves oversight of the executive branch was 24.9% and the 117th congress compared to 36.9 in the 116th. the largest shift coming from the energy and congress intelligence and judiciary committees. only three committees in the 1 17th house increased activity. " host: more there and the link is provided on the work they have done it -- done. it is -- what did the 116th

and 117th congress spend their time on. we will talk to maggie. caller: i have to give the congress a deep plus. --d+. it is a fake out great --grade. host: why it d --a d+? caller: i, democrat from massachusetts -- i am a democrat from massachusetts. i think they need to work a lot harder. i think mr. biden is trying to

do his best. [applause] -- [laughter] i hope things will improve next year. i have a lot of hope. i have faith, but we will see what comes of it. host: gotcha. let's hear from david in indiana. republican line. caller: i would give congress a d- because they are not trying. basye have -- basye have coal in their stocking for christmas -- they should have coal in their stocking for christmas. if they would just apply the laws -- it would just be oil on our land instead of general oil somewhere else, if we strengthen our borders instead of

strengthening borders overseas, and tried to get this money to good use instead of printing money out of thin air. they are trying to do what is right. the democrats, and republicans and independents, it is like a baseball team where you have some people doing things and pinch-hitters. if the congress people would take the labels off, instead of being democratic -- democrat and independent and republican, if people would just do what they are supposed to do and find -- fund the police and cut down the waste and the spending and alter

boondoggle -- all the boondoggle pork. if people would close the border and stop lying and bickering -- host: you make ose points. nbc takes a look at legislation. there was a bill passed for dealing with climate health and taxes. there was the reform act that would change election law. that is the safer communities act. when it comes to china and the chips and science act, a major piece of legislation. the u.s. -- and a bill that would -- a law that would take on same-sex marriage -- marriage

and enshrining those rights. that is 2022 with legislation. that may affect your grade. next call, our viewer is in ohio. i will try it. hellme --melba? caller: i give congress eight b --a b. there is a lot of stuff that needs to be done and there is no better time to do with the now. host: that i'll never this bill is expected --the omnibus bill is expected to be signed sometime this week. this is mike in ohio. if he could punch it for me >>

-- you -- if you could punch it for me? mike in ohio. caller: i give them a f. host: why is that. caller: they have not protected our borders. when you have immigrants brushing our borders and congress is not doing anything to investigate or stop it, they are not upholding the constitution. host: what would you want them to do legislatively? caller: will the wall -- build the wall. how to stop people from walking across an imaginary border? you cannot do with a drum. --drone. host: go ahead and finish her thought. --your soft --thought. let's hear from john.

caller: i give them of the and disney+ for keeping it going --a b- and c+ keeping it going. the republicans -- all they do is talk about all the things that need to happen and they don't happen and they lie about things and they never tell the truth or, with solutions -- or, up with solutions --come up with solutions. host: what had -- made you come up with a great --that grade. caller: the only time -- have anything good to say is when they are touting what the democrats have done. host: some republicans are making an issue of that figure

of $1.7 trillion. that is not issue for you? caller: not all. -- not at all. we are only helping the world. host: independent line. this is calvin. good morning. i am sorry, guys. caller: good morning. i think congress -- time to get out. they need a term limit and elation -- an age limit. the house should have no more than six terms and three, they need to increase the minimum wage and four, they need to fix the immigration problem and democrats and republicans, they

position, it is for something and they get on -- host: a lot of people will bring up term limits. why do you think that is the best way forward? why would that fix things? caller: when you have democrats and republicans, they stayed so long, they develop enemies. if you have term limits, -- when you are staying up for 30 years, every time you select -- all they do is develop bad feelings and to protect -- tips for tat --tit for tat. after so many years, that is shameful. congress should not get wages unless they wage be what -- minimum wage -- the minimum wage.

you should leave congress at the age of 65. host: you made those points and we will let them stand. we have less than 40 minutes for you to comment on congress. as far as a great is concerned, how would you change the grade or what would you give them? you can call them -- as. --us. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8002 for independents. you can text us at (202) 748-8002 --(202) 748-8003. he writes this.

there is more because there from kevin gosar -- thoughts bear from kevin kosar. another writer writes this.

host: there is two perspectives on congress and you can use those to factor in as far as making a grade. dylan and aesop the quota -- in south dakota. caller: we have a lot of veterans around these black hills here. we voted on certain issues and our governor, i guess are both -- our vote isn't any good

around this country here. host: as far as a grade for congress, what would you give them? caller: i would give them a d. that is what i would give them. host: -- caller: the same old squabble. everyone is arguing back and forth and beating each other up, instead of being united. like we were in vietnam. all different colors and everybody got together. we did one thing, survive. a lot of us did not. i am 72 years old and what i was over there, i was 18 and 19. i was in the bush. i was a grunt. host: when it comes to congress, when you say everyone is divided, does that mean you expect congress to work on

everything and not an --a a disagreement? caller: everyone has a opinion but they should be respectful and set up back-and-forth. just the same old squabble. ever since i was little, they were arguing. nothing is getting done. we are sending money overseas to help fight. i am grateful for the little rai se i got this year. i got $292. that is a lot for me and i lost my wife to covid. i am going through a hard time and i have for me to hear and was talk about closing down the va hospital. is not crazy -- is that not crazy? host: this is the republican line. caller: good morning.

one thing about congress, my view is a f. look at all the senators and most of these politicians, and what they were before. they were lawyers. how many of these senators of the 50 are millionaires? why are you going to have a rich billionaire like that representing -- millionaire like that representing the middle and the low class. the poor class and the middle-class and represent them with their ideas and they are will get errors -- millionaires. they don't have to live with the repercussions of the laws they pass. for instance, look at mr. channels wife -- mitch mcconnell 's wife. her dad is a chinese and he has

the biggest shipping container bases in china and -- business in china and she vetoed every bill that would help american shippers during that. in my opinion, i think nancy pelosi, joe biden and kamala harris and the democratic party and others should be tried for treason for not closing the southern born. we are being invaded. we need emigrants but do it legally. when they come across the border, they don't have anything and who pays for their school and housing? host: i got the point but to the original point as far as money, there are analyses done on who makes what in congress. this is from open secret.

a published april of last year at the time saying -- a piece published from last year at the time saying -- a goes on to say that according to estimated network calculations, senator rick scott is the wealthiest lawmaker. he dethroned senator mark warner for the top spot. goes on from there and includes,

at least for the 118th congress. there is analysis there if you are interested. this is george from the independent line. caller: i would say d and that stands for democracy. this is a republic and it is supposed be run by the people. i would say that most of those people are doing a tough job because it is a hard thing to do to go against all those -- host: you are still on. caller: yeah, going against obstacles like religion. talking about the climate -- i am talking about the climate.

they are yellow, and if you add a green, yellow, you get green -- yellow and blue, you get green. host: democrats line. caller: as i listen to the viewers are the people speak -- for the people speak, i am a democrat. i am flabbergasted on how how -- hypocritical they are. when the $2 trillion tax cuts were going, i didn't hear anything about spending. now, but congress is trying to take a bill -- the congress is trying to take a bill and i am piggybacking on a person who is saying that they are paying a bill -- the hypocrisy is astonishing. i don't understand the perspective of the republicans. it seems like, they don't look

at the facts. i don't see republicans helping the middle-class -- middle-class and the low class. i would love to understand them but i cannot. i look at the facts and i don't see what they rode on. i look for the facts at cnn. i watch fox. i don't know if it is the culture war that they blind themselves, and they don't know who is creating the loss. when the migrants come, christiana, -- christianity, bear into christianity people when they are migrants coming to the states, they say, no, let them die. let them be called. --cold. host: ok.

let's hear from robert, north carolina, republican line. caller: i have to get congress of the american people a d. it is an invasion in america. the people have a chance to vote people out and change policies and close the border. we did not do it. there is -- you have opportunities as americans to make a change. congress don't care about the people. they care about themselves. new start this -- president from blowing money he does not have. you shut the water down, period -- border down, period. host: what do you think the congress can do legislatively to shut the border? caller: you have to do something. it is an invasion. build a wall.

go to immigration policies that work years ago. why they won't work today, people want to make excuses. we are not telling these people to come over here. this president is. he is saying, here's the border, come on. it is an invasion. host: one of the things you may see play out in the next congress when it comes to the house, is who is going to take a certainpot when it comes to democratic leadership. this is from the hill saying --

the answer has been complicated by the soon to be minority status. by conclusion -- confusing reshuffling of the pecking order. there is inside baseball when it comes to the work of congress but you will see that play out along with other things as the new congress get seated and to work on c-span on january 3 and that is the day when the 118th congress starts. we will have coverage on that. let's hear from heidi in new york. caller: thank you for taking my

call. our biggest problem is money and -- in politics. when donors give this money to the politicians and they are the only people they listen to. they don't have to solve problems. they gerrymander the districts. they need to have term limits. . i don't think anything is going to change. the media plays a large part in this, stirring up everyone's feelings about certain things like immigration. you want to curtail immigration, you need to go after the people that employ illegal immigrants, who are breaking the law. host: what rate would you give congress? grade would you give congress? caller: absolutely an f. host: for those things or something specific? caller: they don't resolve problems.

people need medical care in this country. we should have universal health care and universal childcare. we should have programs for the working people. rich people, corporations should pay taxes. the reason why they don't is because of money and politics and because of the media. host: las vegas, republican line. caller: good morning. it is night --nate. i give them a f. the letter -- american marxists in the country, you just heard from them, they want to give everything for free. they are giving goods and services from the diminishing wealth of the real producers. several tears -- socrates said that a long time ago and he committed suicide and they let

you have a big party and get drunk for anyone who committed suicide. we are messed up and congress is a reflection of the american people. american people make excuses and they now -- they are not what they used to be and the republic it -- republic is in danger. if a guy is successful and makes money and decides to go into politics like trump, that is great but these guys that come in here and a perfect example is obama. he had nothing and is -- manipulated and everything to make money to become a multimillionaire. we are in trouble. host: let's hear from ray in california. democrats line. caller: i would like to echo the sentiment of the woman who

called a couple calls ago, about campaign finance. on the whole, the congress is therefore the donors -- and wealthy people who say they don't want to pay the amount of taxes they should be paying. and so, they don't represent the people. in the last congress coming to an end, i would give nancy pelosi's parts of congress a b plus because of the bills that affect the working people. i would give the republican part of congress, a b-. they don't seem to put forth any solution. it is more like complaints and obstruction of the process -- of

the process. that is how i evaluate this congress. by the way, without -- i feel any federal position, the campaign should be finance out of our national treasury. it is a fixed amount of money and nobody can donate. you can't even donate yourself to your own campaign but you get a fixed amount for representatives. host: congress, independent -- line. caller: i give them a big, fat f. they are useless. they spend their money. they cannot return the product. this is pathetic. we need to go back to the old ways of communicating and the

previous caller, i agree with her. they need to have a set amount of money and can accept donations. -- cannot accept ok -- accept donations. host: back to your original point, you said they spend the money but do not return the product. what do you mean? caller: we are not where we should be getting for $700 billion. after that will be wasteful spending -- half of that will be wasteful spending. look at the covid bill. all that money was stolen, more than likely from other countries. it is ridiculous. we have no accountability for everybody -- anybody. now one has went to prison over anything.

host: larry in springfield, ohio. republican line. caller: hello. host: you are on. caller: acer taking my call -- thanks for taking my call. if congress is trying to bankrupt the country, they are doing a terrific job. that goes back to the stimulus spending. the stimulus package was pretty steep and only 6% was actually stimulus. the rest of it was -- [indiscernible] and just like the infrastructure. host: do you mean stimulus spending under the obama administration or what are you talking about specifically? caller: when joe biden took office, one of the first things

he did was shutdown the pipelines and they came through with a stimulus package that was supposed to help the economy and 6% was only stimulus and the rest of it was for everything else. everything brought out and every time they passed something, it has been for one thing or another but it covers other things that are pork. marv us feel that way and we were spending -- many of us spent -- feel that way and we are spending a lot of money that we don't have. if people want to be citizens of the country, they will take on expenses of the spending. host: democrats line. caller: i give congress a b. we did more than we usually do when the republicans are in charge.

i think we have a lot of -- enough money in the country to take us out of the recession. if we audit the big businesses, if they have been skipping taxes, we have enough money that we can build this country into a better place. it is these people would spot -- stop voting for the party and set other people that put them there -- instead of the people that put them there, we would be a better country. the united states is powerful and they can do many things but we need to give back to the people that are starving and don't have a place to live and -- congress had did that this year. i am sorry we are going to lose and the is going to republicans

but all the republicans want to do is fight among each other and talk about how bad everything is and how rich they are getting and how poor the people are getting. host: that is regina in bronx, new york. one of the people making comments after the passage of the $1.7 trillion omnibus bill. here's a portion of a speech -- >> i care about the men and women like you do but joe biden's budget increases the spending. we increased defense spending by 10% and the biden button increase nondefense spending by 13% and we clipped it. the defense spending went up 10% and the men and women of the military got a raise and they got more money than inflation and if you did nothing, you are

producing defense spending at a time of great danger. the process sucks. i am hoping the congress, they will pass 12 spending bills and i have a better choice of cutting the men and women in the military's ability to defend the nation are voting for a bill -- or voting for a bill. i am hoping people can fix that on the house side. if you sent over a budget that cuts defense or doesn't keep up with inflation, it will be dead on arrival. my number one goal is to defend this nation and you cannot have defense budgets both low -- below inflation when the world is on fire and that is why i voted on it. host: some of you commenting on the facebook page. this is great healy from facebook. --greg healy from facebook.

she says a big fat zero. tom says yes is steep -- cheaper from a year ago and that is a a +. jenny wells saying -- the comments on the facebook feed through the day. our twitter feed is @cspanwj. you can text us at (202) 748-8003. joe is in north carolina. republican line. caller: the name is jim. host: re: about that -- sorry about that. caller: i would give congress a

f. the border is wide open and you cannot let people keep coming in and new york is a liar. he keeps saying " it is closed" and everyone says it is not closed. we cannot keep everybody or we will sink. they are letting crime into the country and the president and his son have done shady business deals with china and the fbi won't look into the -- it. they harassed president trump to death over a hoax. this country is crooked and crime is running rampant and they let them loose and that is mostly the impact and no bail bond and that is the liberal left. they keep talking about the extreme right but what about the extreme left? this country as a joke. in east -- it needs to be

cleaned up and they need to investigate liver -- little joey and hunter. if that were tromped, they would have went off but the media is biased and the fbi is corrupt. host: you will go to georgia, democrats line. -- we will go to georgia, democrats line. what grade you give congress -- do you give congress? caller: i give them a f. bernie sanders needs to run and dependent. we can afford health care and education. two things that are essential, we can afford it. nobody cares and i don't understand why. both are basically box out -- bought out. i have been voting democrat my whole life but i am an independent.

host: you are calling on the wrong line. let's go to david on the independent line. caller: i would give this congress a e for democracy -- a d for democracy. i think there were of the few calls back where they were talking about how they are being donated a lot of -- the congresspeople are being donated a lot of money and wasteful spending like their mothers credit card bill. that is clear as day. nothing is being done. this is a republican government. the election officials need to represent the constituent that they are being, being looked up to to represent. they are failing to do that,

period. all of us are sitting here on all of the channels, facebook, c-span, etc., complaining and talking about the problems but nothing is happening to change that. we are being viewed as a bunch of complaining, whining people. host: let me ask you this. you gave it a d. what would change the grade for you specifically? what would improve the grade? >> what -- caller: what would improve the grade to me is more reaching out from the people in the positions of power. if there was more reaching out to their elected -- this issuance -- constituents. and they actually make it very known that they are listening,

and they are not just hearing it. they are listening and reacting to it in a way that is appropriate. host: we will go to ray in tennessee, republican line. caller: hello. i have a statement. they are getting a d or a f. the congress should know that batman has shut down christian churches -- that man has shut down christian churches. he put his opposition in jail. we are behind the military. this country has bankrupt -- been corrupt and we need to be careful about spending our money on them and the thing that is going on. host: you mean ukraine spending.

caller: they are against christianity. the leaders, not the army, but the leaders in the army is doing well and trying to fight off this russian coming in. congress, shape -- they should study that stuff. they don't care. it is like, you scratch my back and i will scratch yours. our money goes down the train. --drain. host: the love in michigan -- philip in michigan. democrats line. philip in michigan? walmart time for philip -- one more time for philip. we will go to michael in decatur, georgia. he hung up.

we will try don in oregon. democrats line. caller: i would grade congress a d-. the accountability of these 70 years old on valentine's day and of all the money that has been spent and no one account supported -- accounts for it, where is the accountability of all the money going to either obama or trump or biden? i hear about all this money but i don't hear any follow-up on accountability. did you get where it was going and do what it was supposed to do? who counts?

what committees or subcommittees are organized to tell the american people after -- avoiding all this money out but no one accounts for. -- for it. i never hear about accountability. that is my take on congress and i give them a d-. host: that is don. let's hear from mike in florida. republican line. caller: i am watching that show and first-time color and what i have noticed is, you can take this question and see the complete party alignment. democrats are saying, congress is great and republican say congress is a f. the bigger question for people is, do you think congress has basically taken your morals and what you wanted congress to do

and have a post your agenda? -- have they pushed your agenda? to me, congress has failed. you are at a congress that has dissociated themselves from the constituent. host: also -- how so? caller: congress, in is -- as its, they look at power and change like the wind. the democrats in power, whatever it is the hotbed to get elected, they do it. how many years ago, seven years ago, we had chuck schumer agreeing that the border need to be controlled and now that it is a hotbed issue and certain constituents on the far left heart inflamed. this weekly -- the squeaky wheel gets the oil and they flip in that direction and what will

happen is another thing will come along and they will sway like the wind. the people who are the about bone -- the backbone of this country do not have a true implementation on what they want and how they want it done. these people are bought and paid for by special interests. if you look at the republican side and democratic side, they are a f. host: one more call in mississippi. republican line. caller: thank you for taking my call. i think both parties are air --f , clearly, for what they have done all the time they been there but his last deal that passed the omnibus bill. $1.7 trillion. we are $31 trillion in debt.

all i see is people wanting to go to washington with their hands out. , 81 years old -- i am 81 years old and i have never seen this country and this place. --in this mess. i don't think we will ever get out of it. host: the great is a f? --grade in -- is a f? caller: absolutely. host: this quote -- this show is done and we thank you for watching another addition of washington journal. become your way tomorrow morning at 7:00 -- we come your way tomorrow morning at 7:00. we will see you then. ♪

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