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three hours of washington journal. we focus on the classified documents facing the obama administration discovered last year at a thing take -- think tank. the documents were returned to the national archives in november and they are getting a lot of attention from armor president trump who remains under investigation for keeping documents past his time in the white house. this morning we start out your view on this story. our phone lines are divided as usual by democrat parties. democrats (202) 748-8000 republicans (202) 748-8001 independents (202) 748-8003 or you can also text us at democrats (202) 748-8002

and you can also reach out to us on facebook/c-span. we have the latest reporting on these documents. attorney general merrick garland decided to investigate documents mark classified that were found at the -- they are from president biden vice presidential office at the center. and cbs news has learned that they are involved in the u.s. attorney inquiries. and they were discovered november 2 just before the presidential election. and there was a statement put out yesterday on the documents to various news organizations. here is that snt. the white house is cooperati with the national archives and the department of justice with

the discovery of what appears to be the -- obam administration. including -- classified marking. the scovery of these documents were made of president biden's personal attorneys. there were not at the request of in the individual. the process is ensuring that any obama biden administration records are appropriately in the archives. that statement coming from the special counsel president biden yesterday area and as we said, those documents are getting a lot of attention in the wake of the rate of former president trump's mar-a-lago -- the raid of former president trump's mar-a-lago home. it was posted on his troops social account yesterday where it said that the many homes of joe biden -- these documents

were not being classified. president trump and his social account yesterday. we show more action around capitol hill and washington but we want to hear your reaction to this story about the classified documents being found at the private think tank here in washington dc ending back to the obama administration. democrats independents (202) 748-8002 and we have a democrat from florida. go ahead. caller: i'm curious to see if there hypocritical yet again. joe biden cap documents in his house, trout cap documents in his house but we see so much

democracy in democrats democrats accused trump of trying to subvert the mark was was it not democrats that tried to overturn the election with the line in 2017. we see democrats criticized trump for january 6 inciting violence and public riots. but did democrats not support the 2020 riot throughout the country? we see democrats criticize trump for that tax cut in 2017 yet joe biden has not yet appealed the tax cut and there is no criticism for him to do so. why not? i hope we can find consistency from the democratic party. we can wait and see. host: staying in florida, branford florida this is richard for the democrat line. good morning. caller: yes sir, thank you for having me. host: what are your thoughts on

the story, richard? [no audio] host: i think we lost richard. it is democrats (202) 748-8000 republicans (202) 748-8001 independents (202) 748-8002 caller: yes, i feel like if they don't -- it is a double standard and it is not fair to the american people or president trump. host: that's pamela in south carolina. republican members on capitol ll echoing some of the comments this is from congress roman marjorie taylor greene tweeting yesterday evening that joe biden at the white house did not have the power to seek the classified only president joe biden stole classified documents

this is a serious crime and the department of justice. and it cannot be swept under the rug and persecute trump. this is from the republican of florida. the question was what was former vice president biden doing with those classified documents in his possession? why did it take six years to search for it. and why was there a raid at mar-a-lago? and the chief quoting james covert who is the incoming oversight at the main investigative body in the house. the republicans now control. president biden nash be responsible under the biden administration, the doj, and the presidential record makes it a top priority. he goes on to say we expect the same treatment for president biden which apparently inappropriately maintained unclassified documents in a

similar setting for several years. that is a reaction on capitol hill. and the reaction across the aisle as well including tweets from matthew miller. a few miller was the department of justice public affairs press record spokesperson during the obama administration. he said in a series of tweets yesterday noting the former govement official -- that what former government officials have said since the mar-a-lago raid. the documents removed from the government is still -- fairly frequently and he reported the document and they didn't damage assessment and that is usually the end of it. and that is in a series of tweets yesterday he went on to say that if you cover up and lie about repeatedly they have a range of documents to receive and you can expect a criminal charge in that case.

saying the difference between what happened with president biden and vice president biden at the time and former president trump he said the biden administration prioritized and turn them over and cooperated with the doj and what difference with another official. that tweet again is from one of a former spokesman from the justice department during the obama administration. back to your phone calls on this story this is allie in bristol, virginia. good morning. caller: yes good morning you read the statement i was going to make what is the big deal here? the documents, what is the big deal? the president did not clear this to them. so for me, this is just republican making a lot of noise. we have biden -- he will not go

anywhere. thank you, sir. host: craggy and kansas, independent good morning. go ahead -- craig in kansas, independent, good morning. caller: like i can see who with the caller who was on. you don't know -- host: do not know where the last color was from so please focus on your comment. -- caller was from so please focus on your comment. caller: i am waiting for china to us. that would be very helpful. thank you. host: we have another caller in. caller: good morning. i think this will be another chance for it to be a got you moment. i do understand that there is criminality behind this that is

what we need to find out and know for sure. on both sides whether it is trump having document issues, or biden document issues, but it will be a talking point. and i think it is being more harming to a toxic environment. i think this creates more of a rift and adds political fire on both sides. host: in pennsylvania this is lisa a republican good morning. caller: good morning. why was kamala harris allowed to start a fund to have violent criminals out of jail during the insurrection. host: what are your thoughts on the document story? caller: the document story i

think it is great. they should have limits 12 years. also, i feel if the state is not doing their job they should be dismissed from their job. i am glad that people are stepping up and going after joe biden and kamala harris, and hopefully nancy pelosi and also the fbi and exposing their corruption and also the corrupt election. in georgia where they pooled suitcases under the table and stated there was no border drying. host: out of pennsylvania with the ability to dismiss a speaker and making it easier under the rules of the 118th congress. it is now a lot easier to dismiss a speaker. republicans in the house on the front line voted late yesterday having their rules package that discover how they will operate

the 118th congress. here is the front page from the washington times. the first big win yesterday for republicans making a significant change to the way that it operates. this was -- house lawmakers will make it easier for them to pass bills that have spending. and more difficult to improve tax increases. two republicans did not vote. the role in dallas did not vote and otherwise it was a saight party line balance to the new york times story. this is a breakdown of what is actually in the package specifically on the issue of making it easier for the speaker. it is the most disgusting change in the rules package and it promotes a single lawmaker to vacate the chair allowing them

to remove the speaker. historically that has been the position of the house and lawmakers refrained from deploying that since 2018 and then they used it as a threat for john boehner. and they say a majority of the house members get the -- republicans have reverted to requiring that to a single member. that is from the new york times. that rules package is passing yesterday -- late yesterday evening. it is after the speaker vote that the house takes. back to your phone calls about the classified documents being found at the biden think tank. the private office in d.c.. a caller out of california independent good morning. caller: good morning how are you doing? host: doing well. caller: this is crazy stuff because the democrats will say

no, no, no, and i do not think this will win because they have crazy stuff. and they've been getting away with this. i hope that they will opt to cool out joe biden. host: what constitutes a win? what constitutes that she said i hope they get a win what constitutes a win? caller: trump tries to do something right everybody -- becoming president and nothing was addressed. they never let him govern the country. right from the beginning they harassed the guy. they never let him do anything right. they say impeach him, and now, joe biden they will do it again. it is crazy so i hope republicans get a win on this. is there a difference in this story from your mind the fact that we know from the reporting

so part that the biden administration we are being told it was about 10 documents discovered by the president's lawyer that they reported specifically to the national archives and return those when it comes to former president trump. we are talking 325 classified documents and it resulted in a raid to get those documents back. is there a difference in your mind to the circumstances of those stories? caller: yes, because joe biden was the vice president and he took office nothing happened. why, i will tell you when president trump -- as soon as he -- takes office they jump on him. wanted to take so long on biden and not so long on trump? that is the difference to me. that is a big difference, you

know. they should have judged joe biden a long time ago. and with trump they had already done that. host: back in california. this is shuri republican good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. the thing is they tried to get biden's from the university and they denied trump that. so it is not the reporting, you are referring to, that is incorrect. they have tried to get those records. so, joe biden they knew the records where they are. -- where there. so it is not like his lawyers immediately just now found out that they were there. that is not true. host: for those who do not know,

tom sitton the judicial watch and the network that has often, during the biden administration, saw for a request and several other investigations. caller: excuse me? host: were trying to explain who tom was. caller: yeah he tried to avoid the records. and the university was not releasing them. this was right after joe biden got into office, i believe. host: that is shuri in florida we have david in madison lake michigan. good morning. democrat. caller: thank you very much for taking my call. conservative span there is no there, there. what trump did, they say they

found some documents for what? 10 or 12 years ago, really? well, trump stole the documents. they have been to find documents that joe biden's name was on. while, --wow there is no there there. i am surprised you took my call beaten with me being -- with me being a democrat and you right wing over there. i love that you have conspiracy this and you have conversations while we waited on the phone that we have a great. it is ridiculous how conservative span turned into a fox news. host: we have conversations with callers every day democrats, republicans, independent and we usually put up the lines like we did this morning getting your reaction to this story. this is mike, go ahead.

caller: high john, i am sorry for so of the call -- some of the callers. they are just misinformed. i am upset about this previous caller because john does a good job c-span does a fine job. host: i appreciate that what is your thought on the story that we are talking about. caller: i was looking on the internet and this is the first heard about it and i turn on the channel this morning. host: in most of the major -- we have a headline that biden has major classified times at the washington times this morning. -- classified documents at the washington times this morning. caller: i just got on google and everybody has got it. cvs, nbc, they got it.

they are liberal media. and this guy that called in, i will tell you what is going on here mary carlin better come up with the truth. d1 kamala harris as bidens impeachment? guess who gets in as kamala harris is -- she would be impeached and then you have the speaker of the house is next in line. isn't that ironic? that we can have kevin mccarthy as president here before summer. host: that is the thing you would want? caller: oh yeah, we would be in a better place for the country. look at inflation i worked three jobs, john, to make ann's meet. explain up from $.59 -- to make ends meet. eggs went up four dollars higher

in the past 51 years. are we receiving mexicans that are coming in, there are supply shortages. look at the prices. the middle class, we were bearing the brunt of what is going on in this country. host: that is mike, democrats in north carolina. go ahead. caller: yes, in here. -- i am here. ok let me mute my tv. host: i appreciate that. caller: yeah, i really do not know why we are having a conversation about the biden papers. i guess this is what we are in for the next two years this kind of silliness. this situation does not even compare to what trump did. you know, a few papers found

years later on a close down office, you know, that can happen, trump had truckloads of documents that walked out right along with him. he made sure of it. then, they had to go through -- try to get the stuff back while he claimed the papers were his. what is more intentional than that? i cannot understand why we are you been having this conversation thank you for letting me speak. that is loretta in northville, carolina. and the council making it important enough to put out a statement in the media a two paragraph statement with reggie park making that statement saying that these documents were found in a locked closet. they were found as files were being cleared out as they were preparing to vacate the office space at the pin biden center in

washington dc. reporting they are getting that statement from richard soured the special counsel to the president yesterday. a little more on the pin biden center according to the washington post, the biden opened the center in december 2018. the university of pennsylvania in washington attracting that country's top policy efforts and leaders that -- many include the top roles in the biden administration. that was a -- michael carpenter followed mckinney in that moment and served as u.s. ambassador to the organization for security and cooperation in europe. that included amy gottman who at the time was at the university of pennsylvania. and the board of trustees now serving as u.s. ambassadors. the background on the biden

center here in d.c.. joanne, nevada, republican, good morning, silver state. caller: yes, i am a little upset about this. and the cover-up is not going to get it. he was vice president at the time. he cannot declassify anything. and he had those papers we are where a basal whole time when he

-- where were they the whole time? and democrats would follow this as he shoot somebody in hollywood i tell you this is something. host: gary and independent. good morning. caller: good morning i am an independent and i am thankful for that. it allows me to make parties for both parties republican and democrat. i have no alliance with anyone party. -- annie --any one party. in this situation we have to be fair. if we do it to a republican and investigation of the republican we need to have one on the democrats. we need to stop the party

alliance and stop being unfair to the american people. whether democrat or republican, we fear each other. that is the only thing i have to say for today. thank you so much. host: republican california. good morning. caller: good morning. i am just so taken back at the democrat stance when it comes to biden versus trump. this is loretta in north carolina, first of all, trump has not been getting a single thing. he has been accused. and everything he was accused of doing was so true. you would think in years, they would have convicted him of something. secondly, joe biden is a joke. at the end of his day, i do not know how anyone can believe this imbecile of a president. everything he touches goes to

pot, i will say that word. at the end of the day, he is the worst president in american history. at the end of the day, the bottom line is if biden had the same thing going on with the classified documents as trump and not only trump and bill clinton, not even clinton, but obama. i remember when obama was there and protected susan -- and she was getting ready to get in trouble and he took her stuff and put it in his library to keep her from being convicted or prosecuted or brought up on investigation charges for whatever it was. with her corruption. host: that is ivanka in california speaking of president biden in mexico city meeting today as part of the north american leaders summit is this part of the 10th north american

leaders summit they had meetings this morning with the prime minister and the so-called family photo with lucas over door -- and the event at the national palace at mexico city. you will likely see those photos out of the photo op that will happen today. in the meetings that will happen today between various leaders you saw yesterday the arrival ceremony in mexico city as the biden and first lady attend that event. cheryl is in new york city, democrat, good morning, your next. caller: good morning think you for taking my call. i was going to say to the republican people that have called in on joe biden and donald trump, biden has done nothing compared to what trump has done.

he find him $11,000 -- 11,000 votes. look at when he was going to be president trying, look what he said in new york about he could grab a woman and this that and the other. look at all the things that have happen. look at inflation, you want to know why inflation is so high? ok. ask all the people in charge of it. it is nothing that biden has done. trump left that on them, give the money to the females, yeah, and now they are price gouging everywhere. i lived in new york city. trump was here. i saw the corruption and i do not know what all these people, i have watched the community go

against all the people that they call in to testify. they were all republicans. host: that is surely in new york city. speaking of new york city, this story getting a lot of attention today more than 7000 nurses striking a new york city walking out yesterday after talks to over these trike bailed -- v strike bail -- the strike bailed. about 3600 at mount sinai hospital in the upper soon -- up or east side of manhattan go on strike. that is after a weekend of negotiations and it led to about 7000 nurses striking in new york city. this is john, virginia, independent, good morning. caller: good morning. you guys get called liberals and conservatives i really appreciate you i think you're

doing an amazing job. the interesting thing about this when compared to trump you really got to take off your filters and bias on what party you belong to. and what i find interesting is that it was at a think tank where there was multiple people that will have access to these documents. such is the foreign diplomatic specialist. it is really important to understand these documents were being shared with multiple people they were not left in the file cabinet the whole time. host: the statement from the special counsel is that they were found in a locked closet as they were clearing out this office space. having seen yet who have access to this over the years but the president council making a point to say this was in a lot closet.

-- locked closet. caller: that is when they were clearing it out. at some point someone was looking at those documents. where, why? obviously the administration was worried about the senior document and the proof they had access to the documents. and at some point, it was related to the trump investigation. otherwise, you burn them and get rid of them. trump saw those documents and have proof they saw the documents and there were going to use that against the biden administration. and you can see that they are doing get everybody has been doing get. so, they are trying to get ahead of it. that is obviously what is happening. march of the story is yet to be told i am excited to learn more. host: here is larry in new jersey. the text messaging service.

as much as i like to about -- it is much as a light joe biden in what he is done for the country the same rules need to apply to him as apply to the former president although he has shown his willingness to show them. and donald trump has not yet. biden sharing this administration with -- stephen in florida saying timing is everything president biden is part of the entrenched establishment. what if this was known during the 2020 election? how much of biden's dirty work is cap from the american people? that is even in florida. this is sam nebraska republican good morning. caller: good morning i feel like a lot of people are missing the point with all the files coming out than the inclusion with the fbi this seems to be more of an fbi issue because president trump took classified documents that he was president here with the option of classified an hour -- or declassified documents.

that we are talking about a vice president with classified documents that he never had the ability to declassify he never should have had them. if you want to talk about fbi inclusion why were they so worried about the documents trump had and why were they not worried about the ones that joe biden had? it makes an interesting point if you ask me. thank you. host: we will be learning more it is inspected today about the new republican house majority and their efforts to investigate the fbi, doj, expecting an announcement later today about a special subcommittee within the house judiciary committee to do that. we will talk more about that later. but from what we are hearing, we are expecting that to happen today. this is phil in nebraska, republican, go ahead. caller: the doj is inspecting an announcement --

host: are you there? caller: hello? i do not think he is talking to me. host: i am talking to you. caller: the one thing that everybody needs to understand is breaking the rules is breaking the rules. i mean, i do not care if you rob a bank and steal $10,000 and do not tell anybody and lie about it, cheat about it, whatever, the bottom line of it is is that at the very beginning you broke the rules and you broke rules. why do not a lot of people in the country stand up and say we are tired of it. i go to work every day i follow the rules and do what i am told i do with the law says or i go to jail. what is with everybody in government just doing whatever they want and no fear. they have nothing to worry about. nobody will do nothing to them. nobody will put you in jail or come and take your stuff.

the american people need to stand up and realize what the heck is going on. this is got to stop. i do not care if donald trump was wrong or if joe biden did wrong, i don't care if it was nancy pelosi or some guy walking down the street, breaking the rules is breaking the rules. everybody needs to be treated the same. host: that is fill in nebraska. from facebook this is stephanie i support any and all investigations involving our political leaders and let the trips -- chips fall where they stay. marianne on twitter says this is certainly not the same as the trump documents but it makes me wonder how many documents are floating around out there. -- frack bill pennsylvania bill, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning.

i would like to say i really appreciate your discussion forum . as far as this issue we are discussing, i would like to say let the sides show because that is what it is. it is a sideshow, but reversed, and god bless g.i. joe. host: that is bill in pennsylvania this is patrick in florida. go ahead. good morning. caller: what is good for the goose is good for the gander. i know a lot of people do not remember that expression but we went after trump, now we are going after biden. i am waiting for the police to break into the biden home and confiscate all the documents there in his home like they did with trump. the other part of it is is that, the trump administration excuse

me, the biden's ministration -- administration which is rife with all kinds of people who had access to the documents. where will the investigation go following them as well? some of them are now ambassadors all over the world representing the u.s.. this is just the tip of the iceberg on the biden administration. this is the worst president we have ever had. the most corrupt. maybe andrew johnson way back before lincoln was a little more wrapped. at this guy is just awful. he needs to go. the american people need to wake up and get somebody in there who is responsible to us, the u.s., the american people. thank you very much for c-span. host: mike in hyattsville, maryland, you are next. caller: good morning, let me say outright that i agree with the

young lady from north carolina she was on point. there was absolutely no comparison to what trump did relative to classified documents. and i do not understand how people can call c-span and act as if they have little or no knowledge of anything relative to real news. it is clear that trump had total intent of deceiving the american people relative to the classified documents. in his home in different compartments in his home. the part that bothers me the most is the fact that the fbi showed up there and spent -- before they showed up it was 18 months trying to get documents from donald trump. that he did not willfully turn them over. then, the people who support trump, it is beyond me. how you can ignore the intent of this man and they will say biden

is the worst president. he is nowhere near the worst president. the worst president is out of office right now the worst president -- he was impeached twice. multimillion was impeached he was not impeached once he was impeached twice in four years. you want to talk about someone impeached and then he is -- talking about the american people who voted for biden. we are letting you know those naysayers -- we beat them in the popular vote i 7 million votes. guess what if biden chooses to run again, seven more people will put him in office. you see, you cannot win no matter what. you keep forgetting the most important thing. the most important thing is that we all as americans come together and go with the proof, not made up stuff, but the truth. host: that is mike in maryland. when it comes to this case the

attorney general merrick garland as the district illinois attorney general to review the documents to -- according to the people familiar with the matter that is according to the wall street journal. cbs saying it is the internal documents we are talking 325 classified documents were so that former president trump had in his possession. that effort to review those documents is ongoing as well. we are talking about this story in the first hour of the washington journal. the washington -- the documents found in the biden think tank back in november. the national archives returned, but that coming out yesterday in a statement from the president's personal counsel yesterday about the documents. it is making the headlines today and we are getting your reaction. phone line for democrats, republicans, independence. this is courteous in chicago, democrat, good morning.

caller: good morning, america. this saying is 80's either or or either not. because this is made -- mainstream media every republican party is believing this. which way do you want it? first, [indiscernible] now you believe everything they said about biden on this. which way do you want it? either or. and when trump did it, there are still holding out on documents. biden almost brought it to their attention. so which way do you want it? is it fake media? the mainstream? or what? republican, check your mind. thank you.

that is curtis out of chicago this is michael out of san francisco. good morning. caller: good morning. i have to comment. my first comment is we have seen a mishandling of documents by three important politicians in the u.s. area hillary clinton mishandled documents, and possibly or probably hurt her in her presidential bit. now we have seen trump do it and biden do it. so my comment is why this cavalier handle of these documents by these individuals? they know better. and that leads to my second statement. host: can i ask you on the first point. if it is happening at those highest levels, i wonder what it makes you think about handling classified documents at lower levels. do you think that -- there's

more sensitivity to classified documents at lower levels or what does that tell you if it is happening at such high levels? caller: if your leadership is doing -- i am sure people at lower levels feel that they have somewhat of the same rights. especially the people who have already had a security clearance. as for those who have never had a security clearance, that is a tremendous problem. but that leads to my second point, you listed a number of officials that worked at this biden think tank and all of them, to the best of my knowledge, have had to have many sessions with security officials explaining to them what they could do with and not do with classified documents. i am sure almost every year these individuals have to go through those kind of training procedures. and so the people that took the documents over to this think

tank and the individuals who actually got to see them, if anybody got to see them, we do not know that yet, if anyone would have seen those documents at the think tank would have immediately understood that they, were violating the law. that is my comment. host: that is michael in san francisco about 15 minutes left in this segment of the washington journal. we are focusing on this story getting a lot of attention today. former president donald trump remains under investigation when it comes to taking classified documents from the trump white house. the speaker of the house kevin mccarthy also weighing in on this story today this is from fox news. the house speaker kevin mccarthy says democrats overplayed their hand in handling the classified documents at mar-a-lago in light of the new revelation that came out yesterday. i think from the same point that the democrats came out with the

mar-a-lago case it is proof of that they said monday evening to a reporter's question about the new report a small number of documents with classified markings were discovered at the penn biden's into her. and news about 10 documents reporting on the -- biden center . it is about 10 documents compared to the 325 documents that trump had or so. steve, good morning. caller: good morning america. i am a military veteran. i worked in secure areas and you had a question of who else gets to see claire -- classified documents? my year in the military i was assigned, i worked in an underground secure location and you need a different site passed

to get in. the site pass was a classified document. classified confidential. i carried it in my wallet and took it home. but i was responsible for it. there is different levels of classification; confidential, secret, top secret, top-secret crypto. when i was in the military. so, we have not incurred the level of classification of the papers taken over. where is civilians in the military have to have security clearances and arl are -- and they are allowed to take this stuff. until all the facts are in, i guess conservatives are out for their pound of flesh there

richer regions. and i will just enjoy the program for the rest of the morning. host: steve, before you go, on the documents that we are reporting about the documents found in mar-a-lago there were documents marked with levels top-secret, secret, and confidential according to the reporting about that. we do not know it directly with the documents are but what does it tell you about that hash of documents? caller: if it is top-secret, secret, there are chances that it should have been in a locked closet. and it needs to be looked at. was it a mistake or was it deliberate? i think we will find out. i will be listening. and paying attention. thank you, again. host: when it comes to the documents found at mar-a-lago during the fbi raid president

biden has talked about those documents and about president trump's handling of those documents. this is from an interview with cbs news back in september 2020 the mar-a-lago range. this is what president biden had to say. [video clip] >> when he saw a photograph at the top-secret documents laid out at mar-a-lago what did you think to yourself? >> how that could possibly happen. how anyone could be found responsible? i wondered what data was in there that made compromise of sources and methods. by that i mean names of the people that helped. and it just is totally responsible. host: that is from september last year. this is the headline this morning from the washington post justice department. reviewing classified documents found in biden's post vice

president office. that is the story we are focusing on today. catherine chicago illinois. democrat good morning. your thoughts. caller: good morning. what i want to say is -- the more this gets announced aton -- announced the better biden looks on the news. he said let's go about it and see what happen. but on the other hand, trump tried to cover it up he did all the shenanigans. more this comes out the better biden looks and the worst trump looks. it is a good versus evil type of thing that is all i wanted to say. host: howard, texas, republican, good morning. go ahead, howard. caller: yes, good morning, how

are you'll doing? how can the documents be there this long and just now come out? how many years ago did this happen? where is the doj, and the fbi? and the one that you just had on their he talked about himself he put himself in the category when he talked about the previous president it has nothing to do with this. what he did is wrong is wrong. whether you're a democrat or republican it is wrong you needs to be looked into area how long did biden know about this? host: we do not have an exact timeline of the documents but what we do know is the vice president left the white house january 2017 after the 2016 election. the biden center where the documents were found was opened in 2018. and they were cleaning out the office space in the biden center back in november and they found these documents and reported

them to the national archives, the doj, and they were turned over to them. that is what we know about the timeline right now and there were -- reporting is about 10 documents. caller: that we know of. he reported there were 10 documents? host: cbs news. caller: while i will be in worried about c-span. it should be about what c-span has found. host: we are not have -- having an investigative reporter on this. we are here to talk about the news and the reason i comment on cbs news is that they are the first one with the -- with this story. caller: and then we have c-span i am worried about what c-span has found. host: good morning,. .

caller: c-span is very good to let being -- letting americans voice their opinion. i want to say these documents obviously need to be looked into, however, it also needs to be explained to the people properlyause there is quite a bit of difference between what happenmar-a-lago and this. it is really up to the media with journwerehe people from the white house to hten it out. it is people like us, what real happened, -- host: this is what counsel to the resident told the media yesterday this is part of his statement the white house is cooperating with the national archives and the doj regarding the discovery of what appears to be the obama biden administration records including a small number of documents with

the classified marking. the discovery of the documents was made by president's attorneys. the documents were not subject of any previous request or inquiry by the archives. is the discovery, the president's attorneys have cooperated with the doj to ensure any obama biden administration records are appropriately in possession of archives. that is what they put out yesterday. caller: yes, and unfortunately, it has been so misconstrued on the net -- news channel. and so forth as far as the comparison of hillary clinton did this, joe biden did this, it is really -- that explains it so well. resident biden sent that letter to -- president biden said that letter was to every single american. and they agree. i think it is hard in this environment that is with c-span alike to see with pete -- what people are thinking because it is so terrible how it is blown

out of proportion already on certain news channels saying he should have his -- the white house should be rated and all of his homes should be rated. and as an independent, american citizen i would like to take this opportunity to say how disgusting i find the american politics today. especially what went on in the house chamber the other night. i do not have much faith in people telling the truth. it is all about telling the truth don't you agree? host: we are here to hear your thoughts, patty. and throughout this morning we are having the conversation through the first hour of the washington journal. at 10:00 eastern you will see more at the house after that. we will take you live to the gavel coverage when they do come in. this is steve in san jose, california republican good morning. caller: i would like to read three very quick points. biden was interviewed by the

liberal news media at the time that the documents were found. at mar-a-lago. and it might be useful if you have that -- those tapes regarding what he thought about that situation. point number two, is that biden was ask yesterday regarding the documents that were fellow in his office. -- found in his office. and point number three, it is a well-known fact that the chinese donate $50 million to the pennsylvania education center where the documents were found. when you donate that kind of money, you have reason to expect

something in return. such as the keys to the office. host: you are referring to the new york post story if those have not seen it. the government watchdog is saying that hunter biden in delaware is investigating the tens of millions of anonymous donations to the -- from china to the university of pennsylvania where the academic center is named for president biden. the ivy league college ranked and a total of over 54 that -- $54 million in 2014 through june 2019 and donations including over 23 million dollars in anonymous gifts in 2016. and in february 17 -- 2017, it would create the pin biden center for democracy -- caller: what a coincidence.

yes, that is what i am referring to. if you donate that kind of money, you can expect that in return. in specht b -- i would it specht the keys to the office. host: that is stephen california this is ryan in phoenix, arizona, good morning. caller: good morning. the last caller and a few other ones, the hypocrisy i am not a fan of trump, but this is a double standard the way the media handles all the truck things. -- trump stuff. the bike new ministration is looking to be super corrupt. 100 lap stop -- the biden administration is looking to be super corrupt. and the 100 laptop situation. and interactions with china. with trump obviously things were better with trump dollar went

further and my 401(k) was better. he was keeping russia in line. it is not a coincidence that we have been feeding the flames since 2014 on the war. there is a lot of correction since biden became in the white house. i am not a fan of trump either like i said, i did not like the career politicians the white house is really shady. we need to wake up and stop thinking about trump it was two years ago. we need to wake up. host: one last call in this segment of the washington journal. they're not handled by presidents, they are not handled by vice president. they are classified documents handled by the staff and there's all sorts of comparisons you could make, but clearly this

disclosure was not accidental. it was done not to make one vice president look good or bad, it is done to show the american people that you are imbeciles in large part. you will jump at the first thing you see. you have no understanding and you don't realize you are being jerked back and forth on a continual basis. that is what you need to pay attention to. wake up, pay attention to what is going on. pusser brain, do not believe everything you hear. host: ourast caller in this first hour of washington journal. a little later today we will be talking with the founder and ceo of the watchdog group "open the books." we will talk about the republican-led house, the democratic-led senate, efforts to rein in government spending. but up next, it is our open

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>> washington journal continues. host: it is just after 8:00 a.m. eastern and the time here to turn the program over to the viewers. any public policy issue or political issue that you want to talk about, phone lines are yours. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. as you are calling in this morning, the newspaper with this headline on the republican majority in the house. house republicans passing the repeal that is not expected to get any traction in the senate controlled by democrats or even if it is signed by president biden, an effort to pull back some of the funding that the democratic house and senate signed into law last year for the internal revenue service. congressman adrian smith, the republican of nebraska spoke

about that along the floor of the house yesterday and here is what he had to say. >> the overwhelming majority of americans, about 85% follow the law and pay their taxes. the last thing they need is more irs agents knocking on their doors to conduct audits. yet this is part of the broad strategy to tax and audit exponentially more americans by looking into there accounts, requiring online payment services to report them when they split the dinner check with friends or pay the babysitter after a night out, and then target then using 87,000 new irs employees. americans deserve to know the government is working for them, not against them. today, you're going to hear democrats saying there really won't be 87,000 new irs and ways -- >> please take your conversations elsewhere. the gentleman may resume. >> employees aren't going to target middle-class families and that republicans don't care about the irs customer service

failings. let's focus on the facts. when the federal agency hires a new employee to replace one who retires, it does not increase the agency's headcount. yet the biden administration's own documents say they are increasing headcount by 87,000 over the next decade with these funds. secretary yellen's own instructions stated auto rates of families $400,000 should continue to be audited at historically similar rates. under those instructions, nine out of every 10 new audits can target families earning less than $400,000. and because republicans are committed to delivering a government that is accountable, this bill retains funding for customer service despite the fact these accounts would be more appropriately addressed through regular appropriations to ensure irs have the resources to make much-needed improvements to taxpayer services. there are numerous reasons to

support this bill to protect families and small businesses. it assures agencies are funded appropriately. most importantly, it stops out of time and funding from out-of-control government agencies that are perhaps most in need of reform. the irs needs to fix its customer service and return to not focus on auditing families and small businesses. americans want the irs to work for them, not against them. this bill is a great first step in that direction and i reserve the balance of my time. host: republican adrian smith yesterday on the house floor on that bill for tens of billions of dollars that congress has approved the irs passed on a party-line vote. democrat richard neal of the top democrat on the ways and means committee. he are his comments on that legislation. >> mr. speaker, as if we didn't get enough of the entertainment

factor last week, we are going to pursue again this evening? 87,000 irs agents? let me debunk that right away. how about the methodology of computer upgrades, and investment in technology, or should be have an irs that operates the way southwest airlines did last week? this is a messaging's bill, mr. speaker, and the methods that they choose to send, the first bill that they have submitted according to the congressional budget office adds $114 billion to the federal deficit. legislation number one. they don't want a fair tax administration. they think it is bad for some of their supporters. but you know what, what they are attempting to do tonight is bad for middle-class families, bad for small businesses when they are asked to pay more when the

people at the top don't pay their fair share. he points out in the opening paragraph -- and by the way, we know what that means -- he said that last year, the federal government failed to collect $574 billion of taxes that were legally due, but not paid. they want to reduce the deficit, we should do a better job of tax compliance which is the basis of a representative democracy. 86% of the american people, they pay their taxes every year on time. do you know why? the american people are wise to what is being presented here tonight. we live in a computer tech system. wage earners follow the rules,

wealthy billionaires get to skirt their responsibilities, and that is what we are being asked to vote on tonight. irs funding has been stagnant, staffing levels. how many times will we continue to let those at the top get away without paying their share? host: democrat richard neal on the floor of the house last night. the house is back in today, about an hour and 45 minutes from now. we will of course take you there when they do come in. it is open for him unfolding for washington journal." we turn the program over to you and let you leave the discussion. phone lines for democrats, republicans, independents. florida, democrat, good morning. caller: i just want to mention that throughout my years watching your show, there has never been one person who complained about the border and

complained about what is going on at the border and people coming in. i've never been concerned about it and the problem that exists in the inner cities. like people and people of color being sent to schools where they elect the person they send the people do. the prisons are more advanced. people are never concerned about that, but they are always concerned about what is going on at the border. we know what it is about. politicians having the conversation, americans don't care about the border so they do nothing and let democrats keep having that problem. host: kimberly in the land of enchantment. republican, good morning. caller:caller: good morning. i wanted to say from the last segment, i believe -- and

somebody did mention this earlier -- 325 documents, what i think the problem really is is the timing. the timing of when we find out about trump's misdoings. trump was always doing some kind of political season and biden is always after it is done. that is when we find out about biden. i think that is part of the problem with what is going on. people are frustrated with that. host: the vote coming up in 2024, do you think people will remember? caller: they will for trump for sure, because the media will keep that going. what they keep going for biden, the media is on his side, the mainstream media. and they do cover for him. and they don't ask him hard

questions most of the time. so we will see what happens. host: this is manny out in california, independent. good morning. caller: hello, this is manny. i just came back from havana, cuba. my 70th birthday party down there, invited 200 people on my qa mail list. host: i remember that, how many people showed up? caller: about 40 from the u.s. and 40 from cuba. i had 81 people at my old country club. it cost me $100,000 and i got sick, so i didn't even get to show up, but i just wanted to give you a follow-up on that. host: that is an expensive birthday to miss, manny. caller: it sure is, but my kids grew up in la jolla and they

were used to having paul mccartney come to weddings. people out here are so rich, like tucker carlsen. his stepmom was a billionaire. a whole different level of the types of people. $400,000 for my birthday party is not a big deal. my cuban wife freaked out. talking about tucker carlsen, you and tucker carlsen shared the same background. that building behind you. the same building is in downtown havana. when i came for elementary school, i grew up in northern virginia, and i was actually a senior class president.

and it was great growing up in d.c., but that building, they've got the same building that i have down in downtown havana. host: i tell you, fox news shares the same building where we are, it is just across from the upper scented park and the lower senate arc, the north side of the capitol. this side of the building has that view down to the similar side of the capitol building. there is a similar news building above and below where this video is to get that shot dewar looking at. -- you are looking at. caller: tucker carlsen and you guys shared the same backdrop they said yeah, but our building is a foot taller than yours. 20 years ago when i first came here as an adult to havana, i was just shocked. it looked the same inside as

outside. it is just amazing to me. host: is this the capitol of -- el capitolo, is that what is called? caller: yeah. when i grew up in d.c., i hung out in georgetown with a bunch of druggies. when i went to gail i did a follow-up study, i published a cover story for the washington post. january 4, 1976. host: i know you are a freak collect to this program. let me show this picture before you go. this is the building you are talking about. this is the wikipedia article,

the picture of the cuban capital. the similarities between that and the united states capital. at some point if we can bring on an architect, a historical architect they could talk about this difference. but that is the building you are talking about? caller: 120 countries, the biggest organization after the u.n., it is 80%. even though wikipedia says it is 65% of the world population, includes china. 80% of the world population just elected cuba. little cuba, communist cuba as their leader. host: pennsylvania, republican, good morning. open forms. caller: good morning, yes. the same thing will happen to

biden that happened to hilary. that happened to trump. i am a 100% trump supporter. last night, they claim that five officers got killed at the insurrection, but i zero officers got killed. they got killed from an officer that was unarmed and her mother was arrested the other night for remembering her. host: this is angel in oklahoma. democrat, good morning. caller: yes, i just want to bring america together. we started out when they bashed

george w. bush. donald trump, he tells us that he believes putin over us. and american people still stand behind him. what is it going to take for this man to show us exactly what he is? he keeps telling us. he is going to turn around and bite us. we need to stand up as americans. take biden out. if he doesn't walk, prosecute him. why does anybody think anybody is above the law? host: this is randy in suffolk, virginia. republican, good morning. caller: good morning, this is randy.

nothing happens in the house and this 118th congress. you've got the democratic-run senate and the republican-run house. let's be honest, nothing is going to get done legislatively. one thing i'm looking forward to is having those involved in the russia collusion, everything that they accused trump of doing, they did. that is a fact and it is all going to come out. host: in a few minutes we are going to focus more on republican efforts to investigate that, expected to launch a judiciary committee into that today. we will talk about that in about 10 minutes. yesterday in the house, what happened legislatively, passing a rules package for the 118 house to operate under.

it was steve scalise that talked about that package yesterday evening. >> let's just be very clear up front. we saw a lot of debate about this last week. at the heart of all of this discussion last week was very clear, surely from our side, that washington is broken. and not just as washington broken, but the way that this house has been run last two years has not been designed to address the problem's of the people across this country. in fact, we've seen many of the problem that families are facing across america created by the things that have come out of this congress. why is inflation running away? because spending is out of control. because bills appear by the dark of night. where members are even allowed to give input.

in committees, on the floor, to address problems they know their constituents will face if these bills pass, and yet these bills passed because they are written in rooms behind closed doors by a small number of people not concerned about the consequences that will affect so many millions of people across this nation. furlong time we've been saying this needs to change. in fact, we ran on an agenda to change the way that washington works to fix this rokita system, to get our country back on track and we were georgie by the people across -- majority by the people across this country. so today start that process of fixing what is broken in washington so that washington to finally start working the people of this country are struggling. host: majority leader steve scalise announcing that rules package on the house floor yesterday.

before that vote, the top republican on the rules committee on his opposition to the package. >> it has become crystal clear of the past few days the extent to which the republican party has been hijacked by the extremist maga faction. a faction not interested in governing, but in their own goes. not in compromise, but in their own power. not inputting people over politics, but interested in putting their own political ambition over the people we serve. now here we are nearly a week later considering their deeply flawed rules package. the first legislation on the floor and they are using it to gut the office of congressional ethics, attack women's access to abortion, make it easier for big oil companies to pollute and interfere an ongoing criminal investigation the president trump. they are making it easier for billionaires and big corporations to avoid paying their taxes. is that part of the contract with america?

is that the dig plane to help everyday people? because most people who read this package with think it must be a joke. and what i'm concerned about is not just what is written down here. i'm concerned by the back room deals that speaker mccarthy made with the freedom caucus in exchange for their votes. like nancy mace said just this weekend, "we don't have any idea what promises were made." this is unconscionable. we are only one week into this and this is how they are running this place. there is a report that i may read that says there is also a secret three-page addendum that mccarthy and his allies hashed out during several days of negotiation with that house freedom caucus. this includes the most controversial concession that mccarthy made in order to become speaker. the receipt on the rules committee for conservatives. this is what the majority leader

meant when he talked about a new day and transparency? host: democrat jim mcgovern, democrat from massachusetts. the house again expected to be back at 10:00 eastern, about an hour and a half from now. we will take you for gavel-to-gavel coverage when they do. washington democrat, good morning, you are next. caller: thank you for taking my call, sir. i just wanted to say something last week about aging congress. host: you mean the new members of congress, not the overall age? it is a younger congress with the freshman coming in. caller: i really appreciate that. i graduated high school june 2001. i enlisted in the air force.

i had no clue what was going to happen. that is where i was for most of my early 20's. i came back to the recession. i've seen this past generation of people. god bless them, my parents are boomers, but they don't understand the modern science, they don't understand climate change, they don't understand what it is like to live in turmoil. i for one cannot wait until this generation is out of power. the ones that are in power right now, the chuck grassleys, the mitch mcconnells, i don't think a person like that belongs in power. if you haven't been to college

since 1960's or the 70's and you haven't done a single thing for continuing education, i just frankly don't think that you should be running the country. host: i've got the number for you for the 118th congress from a beast.-- nbc news the average age of a senator, 63 .9, so almost 64 years old. in the house, the average age of all members, 57.5 years old. caller: for me, can somebody be in a position of power and understand the average, everyday american? things are going to get worse with the environment and climate change. prices are only going to go higher. it's going to be more difficult for housing. all of this is going to change. you look at cultural

anthropology and its intersection with meteorological science, a lot of historical research on it, the globe has had a really difficult time adjusting, and so has our global system. and i'm worried that nobody is prepared for this because honestly, there are people in power that study science back in the 60's and 70's and that is a really big concern. nobody is focusing on the issues. i'm worried that it is going to be too late. thanks for taking my call and i wish everyone a cheerful day. host: that is mike in washington. 8:30 on the east coast. still open forums, so go ahead and keep calling in. (202) 748-8002 republicans. -- (202) 748-8001 republicans.

(202) 748-8000 democrats. (202) 748-8002 independents. the new york times focusing today on an effort by the republican majority in the house to create a new subcommittee focusing on the justice department and the fbi. what do we know about this new investigative body and what specifically are they going to look into? guest: they will be there today the subcommittee, within the judiciy committee, and the chairman was supposed to be jim jordan of ohio. the purpose of this committee, according to republicans, is to investigate what they call the weaponization the federal government. the fbi, cia, other agencies. they are very concerned that the federal government has become a force to discriminate against

conservatives and is biased against republicans and conservatives. well, the democrats are equally concerned about the committee but believe it has the potential to run amok, to interfere with federal investigations, interfere with important work of certain agencies. so depending on how you look at it, this is a very good thing from the republican side of the aisle or a very dangerous thing. host: the need for a new subcommittee, explain why there is an oversight committee. as already the judiciary committee. there is intelligence committees, they all have investigative powers. what is the purpose of creating a new subcommittee for this? guest: i would say it is mostly about extra resources and staff. you are right, the judiciary

committee already has subpoena power. they've already been investigating some of these issues for the judiciary committee. but with this new subcommittee they will have additional staff, additional resources to really go after some of these subpoenas that they want. course, the question is whether or not it will get compliance from the justice department. a lot of legal experts i've talked to have said the justice department would be very unlikely to cooperate with requests for that ongoing criminal investigations. that is something the justice department has drawn a hard line on in the past and is unlikely to return to the files. host: what about the creation of the select january 6 committee? there was a lot of discussion

about the minority members joining that committee. what do we know about where democrats will serve on this new subcommittee? caller: the committee -- guest: the committee's 13 members. eight would be republican, five would be democrat. i do expect democrats to serve on this committee. i think the lesson learned from the january 6 committee is that there is some regret on the inside of the aisle that they did not participate in that committee and allow the january 6 committee to have a really streamlined narrative. for their republicans, just one side of the story. other numbers in there to disrupt across other weaknesses, so i would expect the democrats to participate and to play that role. jim jordan is asking the tough questions, a leading democrat.

could play the role of defense attorney. host: when it comes to house republican investigations, do we know about any other new subcommittees or select committees being created? what have you heard? guest: the republicans' first year, we obviously have the republicans with the irs last night, but three of their first ask are going to be investigation. an investigation into the government handling of the coronavirus is going to be present. host: the oversight committee chairman? guest: correct. and the other thing they will be working on today is investigate china's competitiveness with the u.s., investigating what china's capabilities are in terms of the economy, technological capabilities, and then coming up

with recommendations for the united states to not be surpassed by china in any of those areas. with this weaponization committee, three of the very first things that republicans are doing our investigations. in some ways because we have divided government, oversight investigations will be the primary role of the house republicans. host: a busy week in the life of the congressional correspondent what else are you looking out for today when the house gambles in and your coverage starts? -- gavels in? guest: the investigations are the do's of the day. now it is all about these two bills. the china investigative committee and the department of justice investigative committee. that will be my focus today.

getting reaction from the democrats, and then more from the republicans about exactly what they have planned. host: and you can check out the pages of the new york times and find him on twitter. appreciate you starting your day without son washington journal. guest: thanks for having me. host: about 25 minutes left and are open forms and we are turning the program over to you as we often do. what is on your mind? gary has been waiting in new hampshire. good morning, independent. caller: yes. i finish register independent --

found out that what they are going to do is create more members with more access in the house when it comes to rules that would be approached. [indiscernible] also, the irs -- the democrats

are saying they are trying to get money -- middle-class and the poor. and they spend two weeks cleaning of the border. i thought that was pretty disgusting. host: talking about the importance of the house, the change in the rules package that was approved yesterday focus on that. this is the new york times, rules approved ended proxy voting and remote committee hearings after democrats put the practices in place at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. republicans will now move to keep lawmakers in washington to be certain they have the votes

to advance the legislation. vast immunizations and after that began during the previous congress under which democrats passed legislation on capitol hill and the legislative branch. georgia, republican, good morning. >> yes, good morning. i am waiting to see how the news media is going lay this one. i noticed they were being very careful with what they were saying about it. so we will just see what comes about. i noticed with trump, they crucified him. host: to the old dominion,

virginia, democrat, good morning. caller: we need god in all of this. i'm surprised about the older people who called in about how the country is being taken care of. we were supposed to be more mature people. and on the money says in god we trust. who do we trust? we need to trust god in everything we do and stop looking to we need to get back to the basics, church. that is all i have to say. host: south carolina, independent, good morning. we will give you one more try

and then we will go to michael in san diego. democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to say happy new year's to you folks at c-span. host: we appreciate that, go ahead. caller: i didn't get a chance to talk to you in december, but i did watch and when she was talking about the dysfunctional trump administration, i turned to my girlfriend and less than five minutes later she used those exact words to describe the administration. so i guess i'm on a good thought process with knowledgeable people, in my opinion. i don't know what else to say to you right now except i sure wish that it would stop every session

because separation of church and state, i actually one time tried to put away the hurricane. it wasn't god, it was the emergency medical people on the field. i guess that is about all i have to say. host: thanks for watching program on c-span book tv. the first sunday of every month at noon, a deep dive, in-depth discussion across the political spectrum. that is a program that you can also call into and talk with some of your favorites. two hours on the first sunday of every month. if you want to take a look, all of those programs available at c-span.org. this is celia in kentucky, republican, good morning. caller: good morning.

it looks to me like the democrats are focused on fighting back in orphans being together. one of the things i would like to say, when will the community look over nancy pelosi's tax returns? some of these committees that are getting together and stuff like that, it will cost the taxpayers lots of money if it goes on and on. we need to close the border completely until we get this straightened out area thank you, that's all i've got to say. host: cape cod, mass, independent, good morning. caller: good morning, how are you doing? host: doing well. caller: you know, i really appreciated your coverage of

what went on in the house the last week or so. it was pretty fantastic to watch. the one thing that i think deserves saying is the last time we had this happen with the civil war, and i couldn't help think as i watched the people in congress, it is almost like it was ukraine vs. russia in that chamber. i really was scared, it is a very sad time. i would just like to say that what has led up to that, the media and the government agencies right before the election, it has been proven now beyond a shadow of a doubt to

push the scales of the current president by covering up things that people should have known and having known the election would have been different, multinational corporations, but when the government actively puts their finger on the scale in collusion, entities against a candidate, it is amazing that trump ever won considering the republicans, the democrats, the media and everybody -- host: got your point. he talked about liking a covered last week. c-span is no longer in control of the cameras as we were last week during this debate. that house is back in control of those cameras. c-span is taking the feed and airing it in its entirety when that feed drops.

when that is live, we will be going to the house at about 10:00 a.m. eastern, a minute or two before or a minute or two after. we can't give you an exact time, but there are so many members of congress who watch c-span to stay in charge of those cameras all the time when the house is in session. the head of one of the key progressive caucuses on capitol hill, this is his tweet from yesterday. last week, c-span's coverage was worthy of an oscar requiring the house cameras continue the caption the full chamber and not just what the speaker wants, thanking democratic matters -- members who joined him in that legislation that he used to try to get this network in charge of those cameras all the time. this is kathy in ohio, good morning.

caller:caller: i just want to say that it was secret documents locked in the closet and it was after the renewing -- host: the documents from cbs news, the statement from the white house is that it was a locked closet that they were found in. caller: biden does work at his home and he sent in a judicial paper, they were cleaning out the office and they found them in there. obviously they were forgotten, i don't know. anyway, it was like 360 four top-secret documents found in his home. all over the floor. another thing i want to say is trump had a fundraising dinner, and he told russia and putin

that he could go ahead invaded ukraine. from the very beginning, it was trump who encouraged to inveigh ukraine because trump -- there's a lot of things i wanted to say, but i can't remember. host: good morning. caller: how are you? i want to go back to january 6. a lot of people are in a position of power now, a lot of them don't even know what the word means.

[indiscernible] host: this is maria, democrat, good morning. caller: my name is mary and i just want to say one thing. two years ago, i looked on washington journal -- i treated the people very very badly and i just want to say i'm very, very sorry for what i did 10 years ago. i feel a lot different about the borders.

as far as them coming in, -- now, everybody tells me i am a little bit more sensitive. that is all i can say, i'm very sorry. host: so what made in that 10 years? caller: the biggest thing that made me change my mind is 10 years went by and -- let's see. over 40 years, and i work in lot with the migrants and i felt

threatened by them and now i feel different because i see them trying to make their lives that are and i should have done that. that's all. host: what kind of work did you do back then? caller: i'm a laborer. i thought that they were overstaying the program. we can do for the people coming over here, i really believe that with all my heart. it is not just the mexicans. it is el salvador, nicaragua. they are trying to make their lives better and i really, really do -- i was out of place,

and i'm sorry. and as far as our presidents, president trump and biden, everybody tried to be as neutral as you can. work on your heart and vote what you feel is best for the country, that's all. thank you. host: before you go, is this your first time calling back into c-span since then use ago? caller: no, two months ago, they got the money from saudi arabia.

host: republicans come good morning. caller: c-span -- speaker today -- i missed the part about represented mike rogers. he got up and he made his way to matt gaetz and he couldn't get a seat. how did he get that? i am told there are illegal immigrants in the computers.

host: you can watch the entire speaker vote all available on our website at c-span.org. i was trying to get you specifically to that clip where that happened on our twitter page. kevin mccarthy had come back up the aisle to talk to him, clearly expecting that he was not going to go the way he did. the congressmen were talking about coming down to confront mandates from the aisle, pulled back and restrained from another member of congress. able to see that because we stayed in control of the cameras

c-span.org is where you can go. host: -- take issue out there -- caller: thank you, thanks a lot. host: and thank you my producer for pulling that up this is denise in california, independent. caller: hello? host: go ahead. caller: i'm calling you -- i can easily -- the job. why don't we have somebody at

the white house was obviously blind so we want them for mining took down trains, planes, and mobile towers. it is compromise and --

host: the report that they are reviewing those documents and how they got involved there. the institution was housed, this is the story from the new york post but i think you are referring to. the watchdog, the u.s. attorney putting hunter biden in delaware investigate anonymous donations from china to the ua inversely and the vania president biden raked in a total of $60 billion and 2319. . in 2017, do we create the center for diplomacy and global engagement, and it was of course there, but the establishment that have been the focus had 24 hours. it was in a locked closet. biden officials reported that to the national archives and the

department of justice and here we are today. cheryl, republican, good morning. caller: i have to say, you guys are one of the most entertaining shows on tv ever. >> the nuke height -- news hike costs and get a life. spend some activity time with your friends or loved ones. -- so wrapped up in themselves, i've never seen anything like it

millions of people voted for him and a lot of people still don't get it. trump was just a man, he is going to be dead someday. but his policies, he really did want to do something for the country of the american people. anyway, if you look back at the history of the century, there is a lot of violent activity of the. we have like 90 -- 300,000 churches, i think, in this country. caller: we have 90,000 schools are so and the indoctrination -- that is going on and some of them -- host: ok we have a color her

name is annie, -- a caller her name is annie. caller: i want to say -- i want to make a point about how sanders and luna at st. petersburg here putting in nicely and it is disturbing that nothing has been done about santos yet. he is just hanging out doing what he is doing. after all that he did. and all of the lies. i think the republicans are acting as little kids that have not have anything for a long time. have a great day. thank you. host: annie, our last hole in the open forum -- our last call

in the open forum. and now we will be joined by adam andrzejewski talking about congress trying to rein in government spending. stick around for the session. we will be right back. ♪ >> if you're joining book tv, scan the qr code on the screen to see a list of upcoming programs, author discussions, book programs and more. it is anytime online at book tv.org. for serious readers. ♪ steve carnegie his national political correspondent for nbc news received an offer around

campaigns on election night. he recently finished a seven part podcast series called the revolution with steve fracking. it is the story about the republicans about them taking over the u.s. house of representatives for the first time in 40 years. it happened in 1994 it was organized and led by former congressman and speaker of the house cambridge. >> steve carnegie on this episode of book notes. you can find us on c-span now app or wherever you get your podcasts. ♪ >> high school students it is time to get your phone out and start reporting -- recording. by entering c-span's documentary, test -- contest. we ask students to picture yourself as a newly elected

member of congress and what your top priority would be and why. create a 5-6 minute video showing the severe issue from opponent and supporting points of view. be bold with your documentary. do not be afraid to take risks. the deadline for entry is january 20, 20 23. for informatioow tget star it our website at studentcam's.org. announcer: c-span is your -- c-span now app is an unfiltered view of government keeping up to date with live proceedings in hearings from u.s. congress, campaigns, and more from the world company. -- commentary all at your fingertips. you can also stay up-to-date with your latest episodes of washington journal and c-span radio and a variety of

compelling podcast c-span now is available in the apple store and google play. download it free today. c-span now, your front row seat to washington anytime, anywhere. ♪ >> washington journal continues. host: at the start of a new our we are checking in with adam andrzejewski the author of a book. remind us of what you do and why you do it. >> we believe that we revolutionize politics. we authorize -- the most in american history of documents we captured trillions of dollars worth of federal, and state victories. for the first time in history, we open --spending in california in the golden state. we filed a lawsuit with

california superior court. we did not get a transaction we filed a 442 sunshine request on every single california state agency. we compiled account -- california textbook by opening $87 million -- $87 billion -- host: do you think the 118th congress will be more transparent than other congress is? >> one republican jump ship and voted democrat. every republican other than that voted for -- with the rules

package passed last night by the republicans a sickly one republican jumped ship and voted democrat. every other republican voted for and one mcgrath voted against it. there are different rules in the package. summarized in three areas, one is transparency of legislation, spending reforms, and widening and expanding the scope of future investigations. on the transparency of legislation, the first thing is legislators and members of congress will simply have to show it to cast vote now. they got rid of proxy voting which is voting from home. the spinning reports we advocated for the last two years we run a petition and openthebooks.com to read the bill. people on a bipartisan basis are sick of this massive spin israel's ash spending bills

dropped in the middle of the night and voted on immediately it creates a 72 hour window to read the bill. our petition of openthebooks.com had tens of thousands petition signatures on that. i am really excited and proud of our team that now, republican house rules packages have adopted the transparency measure. host: i want to focus on the idea that there are no more -- spending bills have to be voted on separately. it is one of the spinning reforms we put it on the screen for viewers to see what is in the rules package. why is it any better for reining in government spending or creating transparency? guest: it creates the conversation and debate where every subject has an up or down vote. drew the committees in congress, the different lines within that single subject legislation can

be defeated. it gives the public, press, and all of us were time to digest and make decisions on what is in the congressional legislation. it is high time we do this. host: why haven't we been doing that? why do we have to have on the abyss spending bills? and do you believe the congress will do all the work in the yearly budgeting timeframe they have? guest: congress has not done the hard work for a couple of decades now. they will have to belly up to the table and get to work. it is more work to be able to do this process than the spinning process. the massive thousand page and -- thousand page bills dropped in the middle the night are sick things written by lobbyists the top-down control of the house speaker in the appropriations, they bring that in and increase

this -- the skids which i believe has led to corruptions with a small seed in federal spending. host: you probably heard of pay as you go on capitol hill. what is cut as you go with the term that we've been hearing with this package? guest: this is a package spending reform. now, they will be on a spending bill. they will be able to target specific federal programs for cuts. and they will be able to target individuals to be fired or diminished of pay. in terms of increasing the debt moment -- limit that will have to be done by spending cuts. let's put this in contrast over the course of the last 20 years. when george bush took office, the national debt was $5.8 trillion. by the time to time zone -- two terms under bush into terms under obama national debt was

$19.9 trillion. donald trump left office the national debt was nearly $28 trillion. today we are over $31 trillion. we are up five times on the national debt in 20 years. it has been republican, democrat , republican, democrat. congress has led the way on the overspending. we are spending too much. it is about time a rules package was put in place to curb this amount of spending our tax money for political power. host: the u.s. debt c lock.org has over -- this amount posted on the screen. we are taking your phone calls. adam andrzejewski is with us until the house goes in at 10:00 eastern.

it is democrats (202) 748-8000 republicans (202) 748-8001 independents (202) 748-8002 as people are calling in, the debt ceiling how concerned are you about reaching the debt ceiling about whether it will be raised ahead of any financial cliff? guest: it is always a fear. this goes back over many budget matters. the tension has been necessary over the years to put spinning herbs -- curbs in place whether it was in the obama years or after the proper intention -- tension between spending and debt needs to be on the table. host: do you think we will be able to raise the debt ceiling in the decades to come. the rules package we go over here includes an effort to require spending reforms and cuts for raising the debt ceiling. guest: that will be the great

public debate on the table. eventually, the debt ceiling will get raised. however the spending cut as to be in place on a long-term basis. it will not be easy. back in 2017 the u.s. senate rand paul had a penny plan. cut 1% of the federal spending. and the budget would have been balanced in five years. today, rand paul's plan is not the one penny plan, it is a six penny plan. you still cannot get traction on it. any spending cuts, even if these inflated levels of spending, it will be a tough addled but it needs to be a debate. host: do you think we can have a balanced budget in this day and age in congress? guest: we haven't had one in 20 years that is for sure. i think it goes back to the newt gingrich years in house speaker. this is a heavy lift. but look, there is one thing in the house republican rules package they missed, it is a concept of earmarking.

we believe earmarks are the currency of corruption in congress. republican leadership refused to have a ban on air marks. nancy pelosi two years ago as house speaker coupled with 102 republicans that took a secret vote to bring back the practice of earmarking. local projects know about the members to get the vote on the spending bill. our former honorary chairman of openthebooks.com was dr. tom coburn from oklahoma. he called earmarks the road -- gateway drug to the runaway spending bills. the air marks were $16 billion 7500 of the projects in the bill reach the skids. republicans were unfortunately the biggest air markers on the bill that just passed. seven out of 10 earmark were

republicans. host: didn't make the process work any better? guest: they put, it was 1.7 trillion dollars. it was 4100 pages. host: we ended up with the spinning mill anyway. guest: the earmarks graced the skin. the -- it was 4100 pages it was dropped at 1:30 in the morning tuesday. the house voted friday. nobody knew what was in it but decided it is earmarks of the gateway drug for the runaway spending bill. host: plenty of goals for you. if you want to join the conversation as max did out of colorado, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning, i realize that the current congress was to keep the focus on spending. and spending cuts, but i think it is important also to say, especially right off the bat on

this station that you guys mentioned obama, trump, and all the deficits that occurred. if we can remember, bush started a war we did not need. and at the same time, spinning all the extra money cutting taxes on the wealthy and big businesses. obama ended up having to clean up the mess. that cause more deficit. that was something we had to do. the next president, trump, and we were coming out of a recession cut taxes for businesses and wealthy. businesses that were still making record profit off their accessor. i understand that spending cuts are important and it is true but having this conversation without keeping a mind the revenue that we have given away is

irresponsible. to turn this into what are we going to cut now, what are we going to cut now, does not seem fair. host: adam, you can jump in there. guest: it is a good perspective. we have to go back to when we were ahead of the pandemic. trump was in the white house republicans were in the control in the senate and congress. i came on c-span washington journal and i railed about the fact that during both times republicans in charge of government were running trillion dollar budget deficits adding to the national debt. then the pandemic came along, so if you take a look at the four years of trump, they added so much debt about $7.7 trillion, it was $24,000 equivalent debt of 24,000 dollars per man, woman, and child in the country. it was extraordinary. host: the debt per citizen in

the country if you divide up the $31 trillion at this point would be $91,000 per citizen in the country -- $94,000 per citizen in the country. to make up for the debt. this is susan in fairfax virginia, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. two points, number one, it will be a messy couple of years. speaker was messy but i love seeing it because people who want to do the hard things were pushing to do the hard things. it is so easy to spend other peoples money. and you are not accountable. i have decades of experience in financial services, financial specialist, i see it over and over, it is easy to spend other peoples's money. what is hard is to say no. we cannot afford it.

it is hard for individuals to do that and it is next to impossible for the government to do that. second point, i hear a lot of talk about the -- contrary. but i am beginning to think it really is not a division between liberals and conservatives, republicans and democrats, i think it is a decision -- division between the professional politician class and americans. -- american citizens. thank you for letting me on today. host: i agree with your perspective. look, democrats and republicans are addicted to spending your taxpayer money. so, we need a war on waste in the country. we can start with the covid a programs. -- covid aid programs. in congressman 40 million people lost their job in the peak of the pandemic in march of april,

2020 when politicians for the first time in the history of the world shut down and economy. they threw $800 billion of unemployment aid at people who had real needs. now we know, up to 50% of that $400 billion was stolen by criminals, crime artists, around the world. it is an open question as to whether chinese and russian hackers funded entire year worth of their military spending on our stolen unemployment aid to. the chinese military budget has $200 million a year and the russian military budget is $80 million a year. it is an open question as to elements in the chinese and russian military stole enough unemployment to fund their entire apparatus for the next year. this these to be a part of the congressional bipartisan investigation. host: you are an independent organization outside of the government. how have you tried to track those things down? how do you do that in books?

guest: with openthebooks.com we look at how the federal discloses data we download it and reorganize it we do it on a forensic basis. we follow the money. the giveon example, in the payment protection program, this is a covid aid row graham that was supposed to help him and pop businesses on the businesses who were shut down during the economic lockdowns. it is about $800 billion program. when we downloaded the forgiven paycheck protection program loans, they were loans taken out, but forgiven like a grant or subsidy. we look at the biggest law firms and accounting firms that had a forgiven loan and this is what we found. 126 of the largest 300 laura for cash law firms in the country took alone and it was forgiven. the top 10 of the law firms each

got over $10 million forgiven. they had hundreds of millions of dollars worth of revenue. their partners on equity payments made millions of dollars. they do not have an identifiable financial need for the money. because congress watched the bill, they qualify for the money, they got it forgiven, and the top 10 law firms each receiving $2 million or more on forgiven ppp that amounts to 100 million dollars right there. congress should investigate. same thing with accounting firms. the top 300 largest accounting firms to the top three firms in the country earned -- ernst & young for their guam location got three point -- three quarters of the million dollars for their loan. i think they need to go before congress and they need to explain themselves to the american people. host: viewers can go to openthebooks.com right now at the top of the cage

-- page bears a search bar. 120 million public employee salary and pension records across the u.s.. what do you see people using that for? guest: writing your own pertinence -- principality and township across the country, we have the entire payroll of public employees. and there retirement and annuities. there is a search video that is 90 minutes -- 90 seconds and then you will be up to speed on how to search the website. and for 20 million employees with salary pensions every year you can search in your own area. you can say who by name in what position is making how much money. for example, in los angeles county, you can look up lifeguards. the top aide lifeguard in l.a. county last year all in made 510 thousand dollars. there is actually 98 l.a. county lifeguards that made over $200,000 last year. those are the types of things

you can see become a surge of salaries of pope -- government employees in openthebooks.com . host: you're on the washington journal. caller: good morning thank you for taking your -- michael. i will be watching your face because you smirked. there are two points on that that i want to discuss. i'm trying to remember i hate to give each away, but but i think the biggest economic boom in the history of the world was when 91% tax -- income tax on millionaires, billionaires, and 70% net made over 100,000 up to $1 million. and some would say wise the tax rate so high for millionaires and billionaires? and it is so the money could be

circulated in the economy. and during that time, we built and interstate highways 8 million people went to college for free under the g.i. bill, and we put a man on the moon. i am wondering if it is considered governor spending or the lack of revenue that we have now about 7530 billionaires and 20 million millionaires that have a network according to bloomberg about $163 trillion that -- back in 2020. yet they only paid 40% of the taxes and they had 95% of the wealth. i think because of reagan-nomics that destroyed our budget. host: we got your point. on tax increases. guest: i was born in 609i did not see most of the 50's and 6 -- i was born in 69, i did not

see most of the 50's and 60's. but the tax-cut, the latest one out of the trump administration, let's look at the underside -- the other side of the spending ledger. it shows on a study from the national taxpayers union that from the founding of the country to the year 2000 on inflation-adjusted basis, the u.s. government spent in total about $200 trillion. sincere 2000, the u.s. government has spent about $100 trillion in the last 20 years. that shows the rapid expansion of the size, scope, power, and spending of the federal government. as we discussed, that pushed out our national debt five times over the last 20 years. and the spending problem in addiction is bipartisan. as discussed, it is republicans and democrats draining the

treasury from the left and right. host: do you have a sense of what kind of federal budget you think the federal government could operate on? do you think it is $3 trillion, is it a target you want to get to? guest: i defer to the u.s. senator rand paul on this. to balance the budget in five years, right now, it will take a six penny cut to spending. and if you do that cut on the numbers coming out of the pandemic and covid, you get to a balanced budget over five years. you can get to a balanced budget sooner or do less cuts if you grow the economy. so i think, if any policy that spurs economic growth and invest in the private sector and unleashes the power -- those are policies that need to be put on the table. host: tax about $4.6 billion a year. -- trillion dollars a year. -- more than $3.1 trillion

budget deficit he year. u.s. debt clock.org breaks the numbers down and helps you understand the federal budget. this is colleen out of iowa. republican, good morning. caller: hello, thank you. host: are you with us? are you still there? we will go to john with -- in texas. here on. caller: good morning. i see the debate going on about spending and the debt limit, one thing that concerns me is if we don't increase the debt limit and we default, that will really hurt our standing all over the world. i understand there is too much government spending. and i don't know for sure how to control it.

there has been talk about a balanced budget amendment. which may help. yet, i just want to make one side comment, during the election of the speaker of the house, c-span cameras were not allowed to go anywhere and seek interaction of how the congress -- conference actually works. i think that was a great idea and it should continue more transparency to the american people of how the american government operates. host: i tell you what, john, there are members of congress who agree with you including arco canon of wisconsin who is introducing legislation to that effect. so we will see what happens with that. but i want to go back to john's comments about the debt mitt as we talked about this yesterday on the washington journal. it was mark sandy of moody's analytics the chief economist was on with us yesterday.

he talked about the impact of not raising the debt limit ceiling. this is what he had to say on it. [video clip] >> the debt limit is the amount of treasury that can be outstanding. we are bumping against the limit now. if we hit the limit and the treasury runs out of the cash it has in the bake accounts -- bank accounts it can issue more treasury bonds to help the finance of government spending and tax policy. someone will not get paid. it could be a social security recipient or someone in the military. or bondholders the people who own treasury bonds you may have that in your pension plan to afford investors bullies investors, japanese investors, chinese investors. if someone does not get paid, that is a bomb throughout the

global financial systems. one of the bedrock principles of the well-functioning global financial system is that the u.s. pays its debts and on time. so it is risk-free. you buy a bond from the u.s. treasury, you will get your money back in interest no questions asked. if someone does not get paid because of the bet -- debt limit, that blows that on the water. it goes skyward because investors will say hey, we are trying to get paid this is not risk-free you will have to pay me more in the treasury to compensate. and that means everything will be worth a lot less. stocks will be worth less and bonds will be worth less, housing, commercial real estate, everything will be less. that goes into your savings it would be catastrophic, so catastrophic that it is hard to imagine that even with the

dysfunction we are observing in washington that they would that lawmakers would allow that to happen to go down that path. obviously, that is a significant rising risk of the context of the difficulties we are observing in congress today. host: that was mark sandy on the program yesterday. on the debt limit. and the comments out of the -- out of that. guest: he articulates a lot of the why about a decade ago michael mullins is the chairman of the joint chief of staff under barack obama under the national debt in the national security debt in the future. we are happy at openthebooks.com that the spending will be on the accounting side of the ledger rather than the tax cut side. tax cuts are at their historic lows or just about, we need to focus on god in taxpayer abuse and we need transparency to do

that. for example, the biden administration on agency payrolls when we file the freedom of information act request last year they redacted $365,000 -- 365,000 federal executive agency employees we estimate there is over $30 billion of payroll that we cannot see who is receiving how much. let's put that in terms of context. host: this is national security staff and names they do not want out there? guest: yes cia and other agency payrolls have always been off the books. he did not have access to that but there is about 141 million of paid employees where we've been able to see who is receiving how much with the bucket for the bonuses. during the obama years, there was 2300 names redacted from the documents and we thought that

was a lot today it is 360 5000 names redacted from the federal payroll. we have a hard time even on federal payroll -- you got the u.s. post office refusing to turn over there -- the gao government accountability office has lost $70 billion we want to review line by line spinning and opened the checkbook at the post office, for example. host: you say lost you do not mean lose it you mean they are in the red. guest: yes, they are in the red. host: anthony on twitter saying they want to see open the book's take on a possible pentagon audit. what are your thoughts on that? guest: under president trump, he major the pentagon is sudden -- subject to an audit. they've had four audits over and they keep flunking it. they were very hard on the

department of defense. they look at the contract within the last 30 days of the fiscal year. incredibly one out of every 10 contracts of the pentagon -- one out of every six contracts is left in the final 30 days in the fiscal year in the department of defense. that is no way to run the finest military in the world. it opens it up for abuse of the system. host: about 20 minutes left the house comes in. adam andrzejewski it is with us from openthebooks.com a lot of the interactive viewers may want to go there. this is chris from wisconsin, good morning. caller: good morning, can you hear me? host: yes, go ahead. caller: adam, the first man they called in ask about if the trump and the bush tax cuts.

what you cleverly did you played a trump move you deflected it on covid spending. i want to know directly, did bush and truck tax cuts pay for themselves? the second question -- trump tax cuts pay for themselves? in the second question the child tax care in the u.s., they did an audit on it, they discover that jeff bezos was making billions of dollars and under been he was paying zero taxes and getting a child tax credit. do you believe that top taxpayers should pay a minimum tax? host: i get this to questions. do tax cuts pay for themselves? guest: under bush and donald trump, the tax revenues to the u.s. treasury the tax cuts actually in -- increased. but where we have the problem was the spending side of the accounting ledger.

the spending side increased more adding to the national debt. you need spinning support. host: on the wealthiest americans paying little to nothing and tax. guest: that is to be put on the table. that does not pass the smell test. the tax code is complicated. certainly there needs to be reform within the tax code. host: our third caller from euphoria, virginia, william, republican, good morning. caller: yes, good morning. we stop giving the countries -- i think we could benefit if we stop giving countries money. i would never bother -- borrow money if i was not able to give it to somebody. i would not borrow money to give to somebody. i think they now within the military, i went to -- hundreds of countries i was in there 20 years and i see all the money we give the foreign countries.

the people that really lead it never get it. when you're giving off a couple years, it does not make any sense for us to give money and borrow money to give to somebody. host: that is william and euphoria, the population about 5500. your thoughts on this? guest: i am glad if he -- he asked the question. if there is one part in the bipartisan consent to be looked at it is typically foreign aid. we have a lot of issues to investigate. on our website, openthebooks.com we tried to quantify how much every year it is on foreign aid. we identified $50 billion a year in u.s. foreign aid. for example, if u.s. foreign aid paid from congress to a state before the pandemic, of course, the u.s. foreign aid would rank third out of the 50 states.

only the state of california and new york to see more money out of the federal treasury than the u.s. foreign aid. if you look at the breakdown as to where foreign aid goes, the number one recipient is israel. for a long time, the member two recipient was afghanistan. we should have gotten a dividend by pulling out of afghanistan. we are taking a look at that at openthebooks.com . and we wanted to know how much generosity out of the -- did we pay for in afghanistan. we annealed the number back in the day it was just a treasurer of what was left behind. from -- host: from virginia, to dan population of about 10,000 or

so. good morning. caller: good morning i have to as the question every economist that comes on. i understand what the debt is, but i also understand the work of the house so i understand my debt. i ask you, how much is the united states of america worth? messick it question, it is not really a question is, there are so many people -- my second question is not really question, there are so many people on tv lying, i am wondering if they would be able to hold up their hand and swear to tell the truth. that is all i would like thank you. host:, seizing the u.s. is worth? guest: it is assets minus liability. when you determine asset you have to put in -- unfunded liabilities of programs of good intuition -- intentions like social security.

the math is complicated. not only do we need more transparency in the federal agencies at the post office, but our leadership means transparency. what many people do not know is that the office of vice president is immune from the freedom of information act. they do not produce or fulfill or even acknowledge -- because they say they are not an agency. so, the office of vice president you would think they would want to show people how they spend their tax dollars with who they employ in with the vendor spending looks like but it is not the case. that needs to be opened up as well. host: how about opening a congressional third-party pay travel of opening books on that last year. what did you find of congressional third-party pay travel? guest: there are two ways the congress travels diverse ways on taxpayer dime. you get permission by leadership you go on a trip, in newspaper or i taxpayer dollars.

the second way is not taxpayer money but it comes up with third-party interest. they add business before congress. we did a that lane open the amounts -- laid open the amounts of 40 pay travel who was paying it, who was receiving it, and what the payor stood to receive from congress after they pay for the congressional travel. host: the five most popular overseas travel destinations when it came to travel for congress about 1000 trip to israel, 1032 germany, berlin. 1022 -- 102 into paris, 102 tokyo, and 76 in brussels. guest: openthebooks.com at we try to shine the lights on the dark corners.

the investigations we have run over the course of the last 12 months is to open up the secrecy in public health space specifically over the national institute of health. an investigation we launched in may immediately land to congressional hearings. we discovered the hidden secret third-party royalty stream of 1.3 by -- 1.35 billion dollars. for example, many people during the pandemic felt the government was very close to being pharma. and now we know it's ackley how close they are. every single year the national institute of health goes up 32 billion dollars worth of grantmaking 256,000 health care entities. that buys you a lot of allies. now we know coming back to the other door over the course of last 12 years has been $1.35 billion in industry pay royalties to the agency, its leaders, and scientists.

we had to file a federal lawsuit to find how much money and how many of the scientists to see if hidden royalties. the numbers are staggering. there is 2407 sired that received -- scientist that received 20 $500 million. it led to a house appropriations hearing where the nih director was in the hot seat. he admitted that yes, every single one of the payments has appearance of conflict of interest. but the nih is acting like they have a lot to hide. from closures 3000 pages 56,000 royalty payments for over 320 $5 million to scientists, they redacted the name of the third repair, the number of -- amount to each individual scientist, and what the scientists invaded -- invented on the taxpayer dime. we pay for them they redacted the license number and the patent number, that needs to be investigated.

host: adam andrzejewski with all these numbers off the top of his head. we go to the reports. we have of you are asking whatever became of simpson bowles? what was simpson bowles? guest: ok. that was a compromise between democrats and republicans to try to get to spending reform. to try to balance the budget over the course of a period of time. host: with specific caps on spending, why did we get away from that? guest: i think we will go back to that. in terms of the house rules package that just passed last night according to the house rules now. it will increase so that the discretionary spending is going to be captain the 2022 levels. and if they want to raise the debt ceiling they have to come in with corresponding spending

cut on future spending. so i think we will go back to some sort of new brake on caps, cuts, and spending reform. host: perhaps we will be hearing more on tax cuts in years to come. you can watch it tonight -- we covered the rules package in its entirety. you can watch it on c-span.com. and there was money that congress had already appropriated to the irs that was appropriated for the pandemic response. your thoughts on pulling back the irs money. guest: this is the tension going on in washington dc in congress. you have the extension of the administrative state and as government expands, freedom of liberty contracts. so you have them taking on the suspension -- expansion of the

administrative state. after republicans pass a bill that would clawback $80 billion of irs spending. now this is over the u.s. senate, that is controlled by chuck schumer that slight democratic majority. the thinking is they will not even touch the bill it will sit there and die. host: to kermit in texas, this is derived. -- kermit, texas. this is gerard. caller: good morning to have a couple questions. the first one, as an american who is a former mortgage holder, i pay my mortgage off, the first question, in the 90's, bill clinton got together with another individual, and they

went ahead and raise the taxes and pay down the debt. and in that office we were in the black. then after that, when bush came in, he had the opinion that this money belong to the united people. i want you to comment on the effect of that strategy to pay down and ending a quick credit card to the debtholders who may have been american -- what would have been the impact if that policy would have stayed in place? host: that is a big question let's focus on that. the budget surplus to budget deficit, what would have been the impact it budget surpluses were still part of the policy? guest: first off, when

government spends more than what they take in, necessarily the power increases versus the private sector. it is power encroachment of government truth and diminishment of the private sector. the reason for that is, all of us, have to take a piece of our productivity and efficiencies and liberty and send it to the federal government. and if they spend more than what they take in we have to pay that down in the future. that is an encroachment on future generations. during the bush years, they cut taxes, revenues grew, but they spend even more. money. so, the fear is, as the national debt increases, that when you have interest payments that rival. the biggest budgets like the department of defense it crowds out other spending and this is why you have admiral mike mullen's the chairman of the --

saying the debt threat is the number one threat for the security of the country. host: at 31 point $5 trillion where it stands today, what is too much debt? is there a tipping point or a number you are worried about is hitting in the future that is too much in the system coming apart? guest: i'm worried about the national debt level right now. we are at the debt to gdp the size of the economy is more than it wasn't the end of world war ii. certainly, we have time, but time is of the essence when it comes to the critical issues on debt spending. host: when it comes to crises, wars, or the pandemic that we had, are you more comfortable with the deficit spending that what you would normally be? guest: certainly in a crisis. i think we need a congressional

investigation on the pandemic spending. host: was some of it justified in your mind? guest: some of it has to be justified if you make the political decision to shut down and economy. for example, no one has ever gone to a university and learn how to shut down the economy. this was unique in all of history to shut down and economy. it may go down is one of the worst political decisions in the last 100 years. so we need to unpack our covered response. i think we need to, why, for instance, were schools shut down when covid did not impact children to a great degree? why was the economy shut down when productive, healthy people in working years were effective less -- effected less than people in their older years. we need our congressional hearings on that.

we need congressional hearings on whether dr. anthony felt she at openthebooks.com we unearth the memo that he is the top aide bureaucrat. he made two times his bosses boss salary. and he out-earn the president of the u.s. and he was paid that much money because he was paid to stop the next pandemic. through research, defense, obviously the effort failed, and then he crafted the national health care response to covid. first question is, did anthony found she -- anthony found she -- dr. fauci set in motion the wheels that created the pandemic? the second part of that is, was a crafted response worse than the virus itself. and those things need to be unpacked. america is ready for a robust

and deep debate on both of the issues. host: another reboot from -- report from opening the books available at openthebooks.com. gary is in kentucky, republican, less than 10 minutes before the house goes in session. good morning. caller: i want to ask adam if he thinks the daughter -- solar will be replaced with digital currency with irs and the -- dollar will be replaced with the digital currency with the irs. as i how less? -- and by how much? guest: we do not track the. our auditors file in assumption and we capture that inputted our website at openthebooks.com to empower you to give you the fuel

to be able to follow the money. that is our mission. host: how many people work there? guest: we have 35 full-time equivalents. many of them follow up of local units of government, insect production, break it open, and map it to our website. not only do we open the books, we audit the books and the audits make national news those urban teams are run. for example, over christmas holiday went southwest could not get a plane in the air, they canceled flights and affected millions of travelers, we were the ones that quantified their federal government subsidies since the year 2020. southwest airlines incredibly it is a huge amount of money they subsidize by taxpayers in congress to the tune of $7.2 billion. they had 54,000 employees, this money was used to -- have been

used for payroll benefits and in amounts, on average, $133,000 per employee. so taxpayers basically took in an entire year of southwest payroll and subsidize the airline. southwest was the first airline to return in the first quarter of 2021. they started the first quarter of 2021 with $14.3 billion with cash on hand in the bank accounts. but what they did with the money, they did not cure i.t. systems. based set up market hubs for instance, in february of 2021, they added o'hare, midway in chicago, their i.t. infrastructure could not keep up with the current footprint. but they examined the footprint and that is what led us to the problems. host: for all the works and reports, how do you think of money? how do you pay for what you do? guest: we are charitable

nonprofit. we are a nonprofit night for -- nonpartisan organization so we get our revenues from the generosity of the american people. we do not take any government money we are entirely nonprofit funded. host: what are your books on how people find out that information? guest: we made the decision to keep our private donors private that we have 990 information disclosures on the website. you can see her highly comp dated employees -- are highly compensated employees are. you can see what i made in the past year and others in the organization we been set so it is easy for people to see on the website. host: openthebooks.com is the website. if you have questions about it we have a couple minutes. this is debbie, roswell, new mexico, independent, good morning. caller: good morning, can you

hear me? i am listening to you talking about government spending. you're right, dear spending too much but you neglected the reason of why we are ending too much and the reason is we do not get a decent salary to anybody in the u.s.. if salary kept up with inflation he would be $2150 --$21.50 an hour. and if there were kept up with subsidy we would not have to deal with housing and so on. but you did not talk about that you just complain about how it is being spent. you stick with the memo but you're doing exactly what you're supposed to do. guest: so when government spends money that comes from the taxpayer, so jane the hardware store owner, when she pays taxes, she hires fewer people, she pays her employees last, she pays less in benefits because the money goes to washington dc

or the state capital. so, if you minimize the impact of government then there is more money in the private sector to unleash entrepreneurs and economic growth, wage growth, and so, we ask one question and openthebooks.com what government program is running well? we have never investigated a government program at any level we thought was running honestly, frugally, and using dollars to help people who have real needs. we find a ton of ways in every single government program. the efficiencies are in the private sector where the tolerance is squeezed. and the tolerance for waste is very narrow because of the incentives in the private sector which is the profit. host: as we wait for the house to gamelan for bidet. we have nathan from houston, texas the line for democrats. you're on with adam andrzejewski

. caller: this is my first time calling. he is making a point. but you rejected my question. he claims to be from the open books organization, so, it would be fair, and i think it would make a lot of sense for his organization to also report their books so we can see the power behind that. because this is somebody that is pushing the agenda for the organization with their own private agenda to have taxes o so, it is good for the person to let us know how they get funded. guest: it is an interesting perspective. here is our position on this. we believe the government should be put -- transparent, but the private sector already has a lot of transparency. for example, whether it is your

property taxes that you pay on your home, basically everything about the private sector is nearly fully transparent in the electronic age, that it is government at every level that is, when they spend our tax money, that is why transparency is necessary because they are actually spending our money so we need to be able to hold them accountable. it is actually constitutional back to article one, section nine that dates aware regular statement in accounts and expenditures are -- shall be published from time to time. as a private organization we are not bound by those rules neither are you at home. i should be able to see your tax returns, because we are not funded by any government money, if we were we would need to open the books i agree. but since we are private we made the decision to keep our private donors private. host: it